As we all know, Matthew Stafford’s early departure for the NFL left the door open for – Orson Charles?

Charles, once a big-name tight end prospect, is now a Bulldog. Many have pointed to him as the man who will restore Georgia’s reputation as a tight end powerhouse.

But what if Stafford hadn’t left, and hadn’t left his No. 7 jersey up for the taking?

“I think that was kind of really the deciding factor on me coming to Georgia was that I was able to keep my same number,” Charles said, seemingly only partly kidding.

“That seven means a lot to me. I switched schools [to Plant High in Tampa, Fla.] and switched to No. 7, and that was my change. I had wanted to change completely, and then seven is God rested on the seventh day, he created Earth and rested on the seventh day. So that meant a lot to me.”

Charles pulled down three receptions for two touchdowns and 55 yards in the Bulldogs’ first scrimmage of fall camp Wednesday, as rain forced it to be moved to the morning. With redshirt sophomore Aron White out with a sore hamstring, Charles got more chances, and didn’t fail to impress.

“Orson’s had a good camp,” head coach Mark Richt said following the scrimmage. “We’ve got some good tight ends and receivers going.”

The 6-foot-3 freshman has already put on 13 pounds since coming to Athens (up to 233), and will be looking to be a strong complement to receiver A.J. Green and what’s looking more and more to be a stable of running backs.

Sophomore tailback Richard Samuel was a star in Monday’s scrimmage, running for 108 yards and a pair of TDs on just five carries, and also pulling down a 70-yard touchdown pass. Redshirt sophomore Caleb King, who for now sits atop the depth chart, ran for 18 yards on five carries, while Carlton Thomas had 60 yards on five carries.

“[Samuel] ran the ball well,” Richt said. “He definitely had more space to work with than any other back, there’s no question about that. He broke some tackles also, finishes runs strong. He did have a fumble, he’s one of the ones that had a fumble, so he’s got to make sure that doesn’t come across during the season.”

Running backs to be ‘reracked’

Wednesday’s scrimmage was the first step in forming any semblance of a real depth chart at tailback. Richt said that Samuel and King, viewed as the two guys vying for, at least in name, the starting position, took most of their reps with the No. 1 offense, but Samuel usually had more space to work with.

That said, Wednesday’s performances will factor in heavily, at least for now.

“We’ll probably rerack it and see where everybody is,” Richt said. “But again, it’s like I told you when we started all this, until we get in a game, we evaluate more on a scrimmage – It’s as live as we can get it’s as real as we can get, so it’s going to factor in a lot. We understand if a guy has more space and other guys don’t, but you can’t look at the amount of yards Richard got and say he wasn’t impressive today.”

Mettenberger’s poor performance not a concern

Freshman quarterback Zach Mettenberger went 1-for-10 in Monday’s scrimmage, a disappointing performance no doubt.

But Richt cautioned the media not to look too far into it.

“You hate it for him because the great majority of his passes that were incomplete were batted at the line of scrimmage,” he said. “When he got in there he didn’t get much help from the line at all. When Mettenberger gets time and space he can do it, he just didn’t have that luxury.”

Just happy to be healthy at D-end

Defensive end Roderick Battle booked an impressive performance Monday, with four tackles, including 3.5 sacks.

Battle, well, battled a myriad of injuries that saw him in and out of the lineup in 2008, and like the rest of the injury-plagued D-ends, he’s now just happy to be healthy.

“He’s healthy, he never really got on track [last year],” Richt said. “He’s excited he’s healthy and he’s practicing at full health. It’s good that we’ve just got a bunch of healthy D-ends right now.”