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Suspensions leave Georgia shorthanded for opener

Aug 30, 2008 - 10:14 AM Georgia Southern at No. 1 Georgia, 12:30 pm EDT

ATHENS, Georgia (Ticker) -- Georgia may have been the best team in the country at the end of last season and earned the preseason No. 1 ranking partly due to the way it finished the 2007 campaign.

But off-the-field legal problems have caused embarrassment in Athens, as four players will be suspended for Saturday's season opener against Georgia Southern.

Georgia, which went 11-2 last season, will be without long snapper snapper Jeff Henson, safety Donavon Baldwin right guard Clint Boling and linebacker Darius Dewberry. Michael Lemon was dismissed from the team after a Georgia student claimed he'd been attacked by the defensive end in July.

"It's certainly been a distraction," Richt said. "There's no way you can say it hasn't been a distraction because it has been. But we have to realize, No. 1, it's not every guy on that team. No. 2, the ones that have misbehaved are paying the price for it."

Sixteen starters return from a team that finished last season with seven straight wins, including a 41-10 victory over previously unbeaten Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. Eight starters are back on offense, including junior quarterback Matthew Stafford, who threw for 2,523 yards and 19 touchdowns last year.

The top returning receiver is Mohamed Massaquoi, who caught 32 passes for 491 yards and four touchdowns.

Georgia figures to again rely heavily on the power running of sophomore tailback Knowshon Moreno, who could be one of the nation's top running backs. Moreno rushed for 1,334 yards and 14 touchdowns on 248 carries as a freshman.

Saturday's contest marks only the fourth time the Peachtree State rivals have met. Georgia won the previous three games, including a 48-28 victory in the last meeting in 2004.

Georgia Southern has won six Division I-AA (now the Football Championship Subdivision) national titles, although the Eagles' last crown came in 2000. They rebounded from a dismal 2006 season (3-8) to finish 7-4 last year.