Heading out of town on my way to Nashville for the SEC men’s basketball tournament.

Since Georgia’s playing the late 9:45 ET game on Thursday against Arkansas, the Bulldogs and Razorbacks are practicing last later today.

Let’s make this a country-music themed blog post since we’re heading to the Music City.

I can’t say I knew much about Jason Aldean before I ran across a story from The Daily Collegian before he played a concert at Penn State and offered this: "I'm a big [University of] Georgia Bulldogs fan, but everyone roots for good ol' Joe [Paterno]."

So Tennessee may have Kenny Chesney, but Georgia’s got Aldean, a Macon native who has a No. 1 country song titled “The Truth.”

From The Boot.com:

Georgia forward Trey Thompkins was named today a first-team All-Southeastern Conference pick by the league's coaches, the first Bulldog to receive such an honor since Jarvis Hayes in 2003.

The 6-foot-10 sophomore is second in the SEC in scoring at 17.7 points per game and fourth in rebounding at 8.2. He averaged 12.6 points and 7.4 rebounds last year as a freshman.

Thompkins was one of five unanimous selections on the eight-man first team.

“I think Thompkins is a special offensive player,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said last week. “He is really, really terrific. He can score inside. He can score outside. He can make turnaround jumpers, jump hooks. He puts it on the floor. He does a lot of different things. …Not only in our league but in the country, I would be hard pressed to find too many guys more skilled and talented and gifted then he is.”

Here’s the complete list of awards from the SECsports.com
First Team All-SEC

Before we get to some Georgia-related items, a little comparison for you this morning.

After one day on Twitter, I’m up to 82 followers. After one day on Twitter, ESPN’s Erin Andrews is up to 6,522 followers. Hmm. Go figure.

I don’t watch “Dancing With The Stars,” which will feature Ms. Andrews this season, but I gotta say how can you root against Buzz Aldrin?

OK, moving on:
--Buck Belue gives the lowdown on Remerton, where Zach Mettenberger was arrested early Sunday morning on five misdemeanor charges.

-- Sporting News Today has former UGA defensive tackle Jeff Owens going 31st overall to the Colts in the first round in their mock draft.

I’m not the most tech-savvy guy around.

I was behind the curve in the late 1990s on this cell phone thing. I still don’t own an iPod.

But it’s not like I’m a dinosaur.

I live by the DVR, rely on the GPS on road trips and like satellite radio.

Anyway, the time has come to tweet.

I know that readers aren’t always coming to the Athens Banner-Herald Dogbytes page or the Hedge Clippings blog on their own. So I figured it’s time to bring our Georgia football and basketball coverage to you on my new Twitter page.

Please follow me at twitter.com/marcweiszer

I plan to post updates there. You will still find plenty of other Georgia athletics related stuff at twitter.com/abhsports from sports editor David Ching.

You can follow me for updates from Nashville later this week when I cover the men’s basketball team, which plays Thursday night against Arkansas.

Georgia will be the No. 6 seed from the Eastern Division in the SEC basketball tournament next week and play Arkansas Thursday.

South Carolina's 77-73 upset of No. 13 Vanderbilt clinched the No. 5 seed from the SEC East. Georgia's 50-48 loss to LSU later in Baton Rouge had no bearing on the seed, but it did leave the Bulldogs alone with a last place finish in the division.

Georgia (13-16, 5-11 SEC) will play Thursday at 9:45 p.m. ET in Nashville against the Razorbacks, the SEC West’s No. 3 seed. Arkansas (14-17, 7-9) ended up with the No. 3 seed after visiting Ole Miss came from behind to beat the Razorbacks, 68-66, this afternoon.

The Bulldogs will have what will be viewed as a more favorable draw than it would have as a No. 5 seed if its gets to the quarterfinals.

The winner of the Georgia-Arkansas game will face Vanderbilt on Friday.

If the Gamecocks win Thursday, they will have Kentucky—the nation’s No. 3 ranked team—waiting in a quarterfinal game.

Some leftover morsels today from Georgia’s first day of spring practice yesterday.
The team won’t go again until March 16 after spring break.

--Logan Gray admitted that he wished he would have had a chance to compete for the starting job last spring. Matthew Stafford left for the NFL and coaches installed Joe Cox as the starter right away.
“After Matthew left and they named Joe the starter immediately, I kind of wished that I would have had a chance to compete for the job,” said Gray, who is competing with Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenberger for the top spot. “Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who’s named the starter, whoever’s competing the best and playing the best is going to play. I think it’s just another opportunity for me to try to prove myself as the guy who’s going to be the next starting quarterback. I’m sure Aaron and Zach are thinking the same way.”

Welcome to Georgia’s first spring football practice.

Check back here today for updates. The team won’t be taking the field until after 4 p.m.

--Let’s start with something that is big news I’m sure to running back Washaun Ealey--he’s listed with jersey No. 3 on the spring roster.

Ealey said last week that he wanted to switch to his old high school number, but met some resistance initially.

“I’m trying to get it," Ealey said. "I’m still trying to talk coaches into letting me get it this year. I don’t really know if they want me to be No. 3 yet, but that’s the number I want. I think they kind of want me to stay in 24.”

More numbers: safety Jakar Hamilton is No. 23 and offensive lineman Kolton Houston is No. 66. Linebacker Michael Gillard has switched from 55 to 35, Rennie Curran's old number.

--Position update: Derrick Lott is listed as a defensive tackle and Kiante Tripp as a defensive end.

We’ll get our first look at Georgia’s defense under Todd Grantham when the Bulldogs open spring practice this afternoon, but it looks like it will be a brief look.

The practice is slated to be open to the media for only one period—five minutes.

Check back here late this afternoon for practice updates.

A few quick items this morning:
--In case you didn’t see this, Katharyn Richt, wife of Georgia coach Mark Richt, made the trip to Macon this week to hear Tim Tebow’s mother speak.

“I’m thankful for many things,” Richt said when she gave a blessing at the Sav-A-Life banquet at Macon City Auditorium. “I’m most thankful that Tim Tebow is graduating.”

--Former Georgia tight ends coach David Johnson has a new title at West Virginia: running game coordinator.

The National Football Foundation put out some figures this week that speak to the popularity of college football. Several caught my attention related to Georgia and the SEC.

Directly from their list:

*CBS Sports averaged its highest ratings since the sport returned to the network in 1996 with the SEC on CBS. The 4.4 rating represented a 29 percent increase over last year, and the network also landed the highest rated SEC Championship ever with the battle between No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Alabama earning an 11.1 rating or an 18 percent increase above the previous year's game between the same two teams.

*ESPN averaged 2.1 million households, 2.87 million viewers and a 2.2 rating per game this season, making it the most-viewed season for the outlet since 1994 and the highest-rated since 1999.

*The Southeastern Conference led all leagues in attendance, at 76,288 a game.

In case you didn't click over to our ABH sports section online this morning, you might not have seen a couple of stories I had in the paper this morning.

A look at Georgia's defensive staff and its preparations for spring practice:

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/030310/foo_569859279.shtml

On Senior Night, could this possibly be the last home game for Georgia's Trey Thompkins or Travis Leslie? Both are projected by some as future NBA first-round draft picks.

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/030310/men_569859368.shtml