Jeff Owens alerted via Twitter, “Today’s practice was better.”

Head coach Mark Richt echoed the sentiment, saying Wednesday’s practice, in less humid conditions than the previous day, featured increased hustle and improved play, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Richt cited picks by Sanders Commings, Bacarri Rambo and Prince Miller.

“The balls aren’t hitting our hands and dropping on the ground defensively, which is a great sign,” he said. “We continue to catch the ball when the opportunity presents itself, which is good.”

The defense is enjoying early success, adding to the four turnovers created Tuesday by linebacker Darryl Gamble alone. The junior had two picks and two fumble recoveries.

“That’s our job,” said sophomore linebacker Nick Williams. “Coach Martinez and Coach Jancek have stressed that we need to get more turnovers, and that’s what we’re focusing on – getting interceptions, making big plays and turning over the ball.”

Richt was encouraged by the improvement made from the first day of practice to Wednesday: “[Tuesday] overall was a bit of a struggle, it was very hot and humid, although today wasn’t. First day nerves, getting coached again for the first time and first day excitement to I think accounted for some of that. It was really up to our standards of hustle the entire practice.”

No more yellow flags

Richt indicated a change in his approach to reducing the amount of penalties the Bulldogs suffer, which hurt all of 2008.

The basic system, charting the penalties and reporting them to the appropriate coach, is still intact, but now a copy of all transgressions is handed to Richt himself. And for some infractions, numerous up-downs await the culprit.

“There are certain penalties that I will address on the spot, any line of scrimmage infraction, jumping offside, lining up in the neutral zone,” Richt said. “I’ll take them immediately, and pull them out of the drill, and they’ll miss the reps they were hoping to get to compete for a job and they’ll be with me doing some up-downs.”

The new method has grabbed the attention of players.

“It makes you feel pretty bad being singled out,” said senior linebacker Marcus Washington. “So if you did this, we’ll call you out on it.

Some players pointed out a correlation between off-the-field focus and a better performance.

“We took it upon ourselves to really hone down on those things, and get on the same page,” said senior wide receiver Michael Moore. “Nobody’s getting into trouble off the field, and on the field that’s carrying over.”

Richt also has instructed his coaches not to argue with officials over penalties called during practice. He’s expectant of a positive report between his staff and referees.

“We can’t let anything at this point, get in the way of taking a serious attitude towards every foul that’s called,” he said.

Freshmen “ahead of the curve”

Richt noted how well some of his first-year players were grasping their duties, attributing the quick learning to strong guidance from older players during summer.

“Michael Moore was talking about how much farther along [Rantavious] Wooten and Marlon Brown are compared to when he first came to Georgia in his first summer with Mohamed [Massaquoi],” Richt said. “He was halfway bragging on himself that the veterans had done a good job teaching the young guys. He was like, ‘we did a better job teaching those guys than the older guys did us.”

Moore helped bring Brown and Wooten up to speed this summer.

“They’re really ahead of the curve right now as far as understanding the offense,” he said. “During the summertime I was working more with Wooten because he was playing Z, so he knew everything coming in. Now I’m over at X with Marlon and I’ll be able to help him a lot more hands on. Over the summer they were hungry and we were able to get together and get everything going.”

The freshmen have yet to suit up in pads and take a hit, so there may be some bumps in the road.

“It’s going to be a struggle because of blocking and things like that, especially in our system,” Moore said about Wooten and Brown. “That’s the only thing they have to get used to. As far as knowing what to do, they’ll know exactly what to do. They’ll be able to pick up on things and execute.”

Richt had great things to say about a number of freshmen:
* “Yesterday I saw Marlon Brown going up strong for a catch, guys trying to rake the ball out there couldn’t do it because he’s got such strong hands.”
* “Saw Rantavious Wooten running routes, looking like he had been doing it for awhile. Got outstanding hands.”
* “Orson Charles made some nice catches, he’s needs much more precision on his route running of course, but he just got here. He’s getting a good feeling of what to do. He’s just got to refine his route running skills, and we’ll see how he blocks.”
* “I like how Washaun [Ealey] looks. He’s just a good looking guy. He runs with a great center of gravity, looks like he’s not going to get knocked off his feet easily. He looks like a running back, but he’s certainly got such a long way to go knowing what to do.”
* “Branden Smith is very, very lightning quick. He’s got good ball skills.”

Coming back from injury

Offensive lineman Trinton Sturdivant and defensive tackle Jeff Owens both went down with wrenching knee injuries last year, missing the entire season and spring drills. Both are back at full strength, participating well so far according to Richt.

“You see no ill effects,” he said. “You don’t see them favoring anything. Again, until we have that first day of contact you won’t know how that guys feeling on the inside. I’m sure he’s a little anxious about that first hit, but practicing at full speed right now, they’re have been no limitations on either of those guys.”