Greetings from Shreveport, La., after a Christmas morning drive through some icy conditions around the Dallas area. Along for the ride was a stranded David Hale from the Macon paper. He couldn’t get on his connecting flight.

Lo and behold, a holiday gift was delivered before Georgia’s first Independence Bowl practice. Center Ben Jones was made available for the first time this season to those that cover the team (I think it’s been that long). He was permitted to speak to a paper from his home state of Alabama a couple of weeks back.

It wasn’t such a great day for several Georgia players who ran the Independence Stadium steps for discipline. Read below for more on that.

Anyway, here’s some of the rare Q&A that Mr. Jones, who still watched what he said, had with reporters.

Q: How much attention have you gotten from friends and Georgia people for the way you reacted to beating Georgia Tech?

We have our college football preview section coming out in Sunday’s newspaper and online.

The section includes a story on Georgia’s senior defensive tackle duo Jeff Owens and Geno Atkins and another on quarterback Joe Cox as he replaces Matthew Stafford as starter.

Here are some outtakes that didn’t make it into the Owens-Atkins story:

Jeff Owens on his leadership role this year: “My Mom used to tell me how I used to lead my brothers and they’re five years older (Jeff’s brothers are 30, 28 and 27). My role on this team is to motivate the young guys and help them out and lead by example."

The busiest running back in Georgia’s second preseason scrimmage was sophomore Richard Samuel, but Carlton Thomas made the most of his work Saturday night in Sanford Stadium.

The redshirt freshman topped all rushers with 90 yards on six carries. Samuel had 55 yards rushing and a touchdown on 13 carries.

Thomas continued to show that even at 5-foot-7, 178 pounds, he can be more than just a third-down back.

“He’s tough, he’s a competitor,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “He’s kind of like Rennie (Curran). He didn’t like to hear about how tall he is. He’s just a football player.”

Richt said Georgia coaches don’t view Thomas as strictly a third-down back.

“He can play first, second or third down,” Richt said. “We wouldn’t pigeonhole him into a situational back. People tried to do that with Warrick Dunn when he was at Florida State.”

We are four weeks away from college football getting cranked up.

That doesn’t mean there’s not any sports for a Georgia fan to watch on TV today.

Former Georgia All-American John Isner faces Andy Roddick in the Legg Mason Tennis Classic semifinals tonight.

The rematch of the 2007 finals of the event in Washington D.C., is on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. Roddick won in straight sets two years ago.

I’m heading over to Butts-Mehre for practice in a while, but when I get home I’ll grab some dinner and tune in.

My interest is more than just to see Isner. It’s the tournament.

I grew up in the area, braving the humidity many a summer to see the likes of Roddick, Agassi, Michael Chang, Petrr Korda and--I’m really dating myself here-- even Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.

Even Roddick is thinking football.

It’s reporting day at Georgia. Then comes practice on Tuesday afternoon.

Mississippi State will be the first SEC team to practice this preseason when it hits the field later this afternoon. South Carolina and Tennessee join Georgia on Tuesday with their first practice. Ole Miss will be the last SEC team to practice a week from today.

At Georgia, freshman defensive tackle Kwame Geathers has yet to arrive as of this morning. Georgia is still waiting on word on Geathers from the NCAA Clearinghouse.

Defensive tackle Jeff Owens is among Georgia players that are coming back from injury.

His return to practice Tuesday after missing last season with a knee injury is a giant step for Owens, if not for mankind.

“It’s going to be another step, like walking on the moon,” Owens said.

Preseason camp will be big for the defensive ends.

Welcome to Day 2 here at SEC Media Days.

Just got out of an interview that Georgia coach Mark Richt had with beat writers and some select national writers. He’s scheduled to take the podium first this morning in the formal press conference setting.

Some quick nuggets from Richt:
-- The coaches still think that defensive tackle signee Kwame Geathers will be good to go, but the NCAA clearinghouse has not yet given Geathers the OK.
“We still expect him to be here,” Richt said. “There’s a couple of more hoops that he had to jump through and hopefully he’s jumping through him right now.”

Georgia starting cornerback Brandon Boykin isn’t downplaying what freshman tight end/receiver Orson Charles could mean this year to the Bulldogs after going up against him in summer passing drills.

“Orson Charles, I’ve got to say, is probably going to make a big impact,” Boykin said this afternoon. “I feel he’s a manchild. I don’t know where they’ll put him at. He can play both tight end or receiver, but I feel like he came in off the bat doing really good. I look for him to be making plays.”

The Tampa Plant product will play this year because the Bulldogs are thin at tight end. Aron White is the only player with game experience. He’s 6-foot-3 and in the 225-230 range.

---
Defensive end Demarcus Dobbs declared himself at about 85 percent as he returns from a broken left foot suffered towards the end of spring practices.

Another all-time greatest team is out. No surprise that legendary Georgia running back Herschel Walker is included.

Parade Magazine, which has been choosing a high school All-America team since 1963, has come up with its top 50 all-time players from its past teams.

Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner, was the only Georgia player to make the list.

According to a press release, they were selected “not only for their achievements in high school, but also the qualities that would make them legends in the NFL.”

One of the players on the team is from Highland Park High in Dallas. Nope, not Matthew Stafford, but lineman David Richards.

That’s the past. How about the present?

A longer version of this will be posted soon.

By Marc Weiszer
marc.weiszer@onlineathens.com

A quiet offseason for the Georgia football program was interrupted with the announcement today by coach Mark Richt that two players have been suspended for violating unspecified team rules and a third player is off the team after also breaking rules.
Junior tight end Bruce Figgins is suspended six games and sophomore defensive end Justin Houston is suspended for two games.
Junior receiver Tony Wilson is taking a medical disqualification, avoiding suspension.
Richt didn’t disclose what the players did to warrant suspension, but ESPN reported Friday, citing a “Georgia staff member,” that Figgins failed a drug test. That triggers an automatic suspension of 50 percent of a season, according to Athletic Association policy.
The suspensions come four weeks after Georgia wrapped up spring practice with its G-Day game.

Here's our G-Day coverage from Saturday:

The defense dominated the day
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/041209/foo_428310550.shtml

Notebook: Houston finishes spring strong, Georgia gets two more verbals for 2010
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/041109/foo_428262873.shtml

A look at the quarterbacks
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/041109/foo_428258504.shtml

Some G-Day quotes
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/041209/foo_428278388.shtml

Spring football is over, but keep checking the blog this week for more on Georgia football.