Isaiah Crowell in action at Georgia's practice.ATHENS, Ga. - Isaiah Crowell racked up three milestones in four days.
After his first collegiate 100-yard rushing performance in Saturday's 45-42 loss to South Carolina, Georgia's touted tailback was named Monday as the SEC co-freshman of the week. Tuesday, Bulldogs coach Mark Richt tabbed the 5-foot-11, 215-pounder from Columbus to start this week's game against Coastal Carolina.
Crowell, who has backed up junior Richard Samuel the first two weeks, rushed for 60 yards on 15 carries against Boise State and for 118 yards on 16 carries against the Gamecocks. His 89 yards per game ranks sixth in the Southeastern Conference.
"We do have him slated as the starter this week," Richt said. "Part of it is his production as a runner, but Richard is also hobbled."
Richt said Samuel has a heel injury and junior Carlton Thomas is the likely No. 2 tailback this week.
Pressure needed
Georgia has been credited with one sack through two games, with that coming from Sanders Commings on a corner blitz against South Carolina. The Bulldogs are tied for last in the SEC in sacks, and they're also tied for last in sacks allowed.
"We're getting some pressure, but we're definitely not getting the sacks," Richt said. "We are challenging our guys to rush the passer without having to bring different types of pressures to get the sacks. We just have not had anybody really step up and do that on a consistent basis."
Said defensive end Abry Jones: "We need to take more advantage of the one-on-one blocks that we get and get back there with more enthusiasm."
Moving on up
Brandon Boykin's 184 yards on seven kickoff returns last Saturday gave the senior cornerback 2,107 yards for his Bulldogs career. That is a school record and ranks eighth in league history, and he needs 60 yards to pass Alabama's Javier Arenas [2006-09] for seventh place.
Florida's Brandon James [2006-09] holds the SEC career mark with 2,718 yards.
Among the many
Count Richt among those who have watched Coastal Carolina coach David Bennett's bizarre rant last week in which he demanded his players be more like dogs than cats. The clip had nearly 600,000 views on YouTube as of Tuesday night.
"I don't know the context of it," Richt said. "It looked like it jumped right into the middle of the conversation, so I'm really not 100 percent sure what it was about other than motivating his guys to get after somebody's rear end. Whatever works is the way I see it."
When asked Tuesday about his speech, Bennett said, "I don't mean no disrespect to cats."
Odds and ends
Georgia began playing football in 1892; Coastal Carolina made its gridiron debut in 2003. ... Richt on senior fullback Bruce Figgins: "I haven't seen Bruce this happy in a while. He's had some tough bumps in the road, but this kid has overcome it."