After breaking his left hand in practice last week, wide receiver Kris Durham is the owner of nine new screws in his hand, but said he’s still hoping to play in Georgia’s bowl game.

He also said he wasn’t sure if the injury was sustained when a defensive back stepped on it, or when he tried to catch a heater from the arm of quarterback Matthew Stafford.

“I dove for a ball and when I dove, the DB that was guarding me jumped over me and landed on my hand,” he said. “I stayed in, caught a pass and that’s when I knew it was pretty much broken.”

Linebacker Darryl Gamble, who emerged as a defensive factor when Dannell Ellerbe went down with an injury against Alabama, broke his leg in practice last week as well, but won’t be as lucky as Durham.

“I don’t think [Gamble] will play,” head coach Mark Richt said Wednesday. “There’s no surgery involved, but I think [Director of Sports Medicine Ron Courson] already said he’s out for the game. There’s been a lot of [season-ending injuries] this year. I guess it would be considered that … we only had one last year.”

The Bulldogs have been decimated by injuries all season, whether it be their best offensive lineman (Trinton Sturdivant), best defensive lineman (Jeff Owens) or best linebacker (Ellerbe). Richt estimated after Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech that his team has sustained 18 season-ending injuries.

“It’s part of the game. Injuries are going to happen,” Durham said. “You’ve got to fight through it. You realize that you’re fortunate if you get through the season without any nicks or bangs or anything like that. All of us know that.”

His 2008 season is over, but Gamble, just a redshirt sophomore, is looking on the bright side of things.

“I’ve got two more years to look forward to,” he said. “It’s not an end, just an end to one chapter.”

Richt looks for new kicker for bowl

Because of freshman kicker Blair Walsh’s recent struggles on kickoffs, Richt has joked more than once since Georgia’s 45-42 loss to Georgia Tech about signing “some kid from Poland to boot it out the back of the end zone.”

Wednesday, one reporter asked him if he was serious.

“If I knew he could literally knock it out of the end zone, I’d sign him,” Richt said.

Walsh had two kickoff attempts go out of bounds against the Yellow Jackets, including one that set up a one-play, 60-yard scoring drive. Walsh is 14-of-22 on field goals as well, but Richt has iterated that he’s more than comfortable with him as the Bulldogs’ extra point and field goal man.

If Eastern Europe doesn’t work out, Richt said, seemingly only half-kidding, that there’s plenty of other places to find a kickoff specialist.

“There might be a kid on campus, I don’t know,” Richt said. “I think we have some club soccer around here. There might be a guy that can just knock it.”

Richt reaches SEC ‘dean’ status

With Auburn and Tommy Tuberville officially parting ways on Wednesday and former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer already out in Knoxville, Richt is now the so-called “dean” of SEC coaches.

His eight-year tenure at Georgia is the longest for any current SEC coach at one school, but Richt downplayed its significance.

“Doesn’t feel any different today than yesterday,” he said.”

- Tyler Estep