Knox is moving up University of Georgia’s safety list

For someone yet to play a snap for the Georgia Bulldogs, redshirt freshman safety John Knox has reason to be nervous.

But why be nervous when there is fun to be had?

“Our defense is pretty much a safety system,” Knox said. “You can just tell from Thomas Davis and Greg Blue and the guys of the past. Every big play from the defense, and I’m not trying to count the other positions out, has pretty much come from safeties.

“The plays are called for the safeties and for putting them in the right position at the right time. Everything we run is going to have a safety involved.”

Knox began preseason camp as the fourth safety in defensive coordinator Willie Martinez’s four-man rotation, a rotation headed by senior strong safety CJ Byrd and sophomore free safety Reshad Jones. When sophomore Quintin Banks, who was backing up Byrd, tore his medial collateral ligament last Saturday for a six-week setback, Knox moved up to third.

Even before Banks suffered the injury, Knox was working at both positions, which occurs quite often under Martinez.

“John better get ready,” Martinez said, “because if we have one more injury, he’s going to be right up there in the thick of things.”

A 6-foot-2, 210-pounder from Statesboro, Knox has been a Georgia fan since elementary school. Davis, Blue and Sean Jones are probably the three most recognized safeties in the Mark Richt era, but Knox said his favorite was Jermaine Phillips, who played three of his four seasons under Jim Donnan.

Phillips had big-hit abilities that Jones, Davis and Blue were able to emulate, but the Bulldogs have yet to produce such a player since Blue’s eligibility expired after the 2005 season.

“Coach Martinez tells me every time I make a big hit in practice that that’s the reason they recruited me,” Knox said. “Every time I get a chance to make a tackle, I want to make it a big tackle. I want everybody, especially on game days, to call out my name like they called out Blue’s name.”

Knox is coming off an effective G-Day performance, having recorded four tackles and the game’s only interception.

Martinez credits Knox for having athletic ability and being great with the ball in the air. He admits there is still a lot for Knox to learn but does not rule out the possibility of him becoming the program’s next heavy hitter.

“He’s a big-body kid,” Martinez said, “so when he comes down to help with the run, he looks like some of the guys we’ve had here in the past.”

A morning swim

Richt canceled Wednesday morning’s practice and took players swimming for 45 minutes at the university’s indoor Ramsey Center.

“We wanted to break up the monotony a little,” Richt said. “We’re a little nicked up like everybody else across the country. We thought it was a good time to let them have a little fun and not get banged up, although a few of the guys might have gotten hurt going off the 10-meter.”

Tailback Knowshon Moreno and linebacker Dannell Ellerbe were held out of Wednesday afternoon’s workout with minor shoulder injuries unrelated to swimming.