ATHENS, Ga. -- The Georgia Bulldogs opened preseason football practice Thursday afternoon and will practice again this afternoon, but then they will shift to morning workouts until classes begin Aug. 15.

"We're doing that because of the heat, and we're also doing that because of the cycle of rain," coach Mark Richt said Thursday. "Normally the thunderstorms happen in the afternoon, and if it happens during the middle of the practice, it's just hard to recover that day. So we're going to schedule morning practices because of the weather patterns and because it is 10 to 15 degrees cooler in the morning."

Said junior tight end Orson Charles: "There were a couple of times this spring when we had workouts in the morning, and it was cooler."

The heat index was 103 at the start of Thursday's workout, but players are in shorts and helmets the first two days under NCAA rules. Richt said at least two extra water breaks would be provided.

Georgia did not have a natural grass practice surface last year because of construction at the Butts-Mehre athletic complex. The Bulldogs now have two grass fields and two turf fields, and Richt said 100 degrees on grass feels better than 90 degrees on the turf.

A Long Wait

Sophomore tackle Austin Long, who redshirted in 2009 while recovering from back surgery and did not play last season, is starting this year in hole as well. The 6-foot-5, 304-pounder from Memphis is battling mononucleosis and could miss a chunk of camp.

Long is allowed to attend meetings with his teammates.

"We're in the big meeting room, and he's like 20 rows back," senior center Ben Jones said. "We're keeping him quarantined from us. I hope he gets back well, because we could definitely use him out there."

Senior tackle Cordy Glenn can empathize with Long, because he had mono during last year's camp.

"The worst parts are the chills and not being able to sleep, just being weak all the time," Glenn said. "It took a couple of weeks into the season for me to get fully over it."

No Complaining

Although the NCAA allows 85 scholarship players, the Bulldogs started practice with 77. Of course, that's 24 more than defensive coordinator Todd Grantham had during his 11 years as an NFL assistant.

"He's so used to playing with a 53-man roster," Richt said. "When you look at a college depth chart and you're thinking, 'Man, we might be thin,' he's thinking, 'Coach, I'm used to playing with 53 guys,' and he's right. You can only play with 11 at a time."

Odds and Ends

Richt said it is unlikely redshirt freshman defensive end Dexter Morant will contribute much this season after the 6-7, 245-pounder underwent two shoulder surgeries to address a pre-existing condition. ... The Bulldogs will have 11 practices in full pads, including three scrimmages. ... Richt had no updates on sophomore linebacker Jarvis Jones, who has eligibility issues stemming from his '09 season at Southern Cal, or freshman linebacker Kent Turene, who has not passed through the NCAA Clearinghouse. ... Richt on how his new nose tackle got the No. 6 jersey: "Jonathan Jenkins leveraged the moment of truth of where he was deciding to go and asked the question, and it was available."