A month ago, Georgia lost receiver Michael Bennett to an ACL injury.  Luckily for the Dawgs, Malcolm Mitchell was able to move from his brief emergency role in the secondary back to UGA’s receiving corps.  Question is: Who’ll step up now that receiver Marlon Brown has also been lost for the year to an ACL injury?

Brown is a senior and the injury he suffered Saturday will bring his career to a close in Athens.  For those wondering, Bennett is a sophomore and will return next season.

Mark Richt said of the injury:

“It’s just a hard thing to swallow right now…

We still have some playmakers, but Marlon and Michael were just two outstanding football players.  I mean at the time of the injuries they were both leading the team in receptions and actually have a nice physicality to them, as well, at that position.”  You know, we’ll miss that.  Other guys will just have to step up and get after it.”

Bennett had 24 catches for 345 yards and four touchdowns when he went down.  Brown exits with 27 catches for 469 yards and four more TDs.  That’s a lot of production to have to replace.

Georgia won 37-10 over Ole Miss and has remaining games against Auburn, Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech remaining.  If they beat Auburn, they’ll wrap up the SEC East title and likely be treated to a date with Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.  Against the Tide’s defense, it’s best to have all your weapons loaded.  If UGA faces Bama… they won’t.

On Saturday, receiver Michael Bennett was hauling in five catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns in Georgia’s 51-44 win over Tennessee.  Yesterday he was helped off the Bulldogs’ practice field with a torn ACL in his right knee.

According to The Macon Telegraph, Bennett is now done for the season.  The redshirt sophomore leads Goergia with 24 catches for 345 yards and four touchdowns through five games.

Bennett announced via Twitter:

“God has a plan for me and everything happens for a reason.  Get ready for a historic season Dawg nation.  Our boys are gonna get it done!”

Expect Malcolm Mitchell — who just moved back to receiver from defensive back last week — to see his role expand with the loss of Bennett.  Bennett had basically picked up the slack while Mitchell served his stint on defense.

For the season, 12 different players have caught passes for the Dawgs: eight receivers, two tight ends and both freshman running backs.  If there’s a bright spot to this it’s that UGA is deep when it comes to pass-catchers.

The Florida roster is seeing some ebb and flow today.  During his morning presser, Will Muschamp said that defensive lineman Ronald Powell is already partially back from an ACL tear in the spring and has already been cleared to do some running drills.  Though Muschamp wouldn’t give a date, he did say Powell would play at some point in the season.

The coach also announced that tight end AC Leonard — who pled no contest in April to a domestic battery charge for allegedly dragging his girlfriend by her hair and tossing her out of his domicile — will not return.  Leonard will transfer to another school.  The player was also cited in may for driving on a suspended license.

Meanwhile, four-star defensive line signee Dante Phillips is apparently set to join Tennessee’s roster.  Phillips was inked by the Gators in February and cleared by the NCAA, but earlier this month he was denied admission to the University of Florida.  His new twitter name is “knoxville bound.”

When it comes to recent SEC history, defensive coordinators entering their second year at a school can expect their troops to perform better than in their debut seasons in a new system.  From Nick Saban to Todd Grantham and more, the second year usually shows a nice jump.  That should be reassuring to Florida fans who are wondering what Dan Quinn and Will Muschamp — it’s his system after all — can pull out of their hats this fall.

When it comes to linebacker, Rachel George of The Orlando Sentinel says two players have emerged as “the heart of the group.”  Senior Jonathan Bostic and junior Jelani Jenkins both had solid 2011s and are expected to be as good or better in 2012.

But what about the third starting linebacker and beyond?

“After Bostic and Jenkins, the Gators are slim.  Lerentee McCray earned the starting spot at strongside linebacker last year but missed time because of a shoulder injury. He’ll be one of the players counted on to replace Ronald Powell at the Buck position while he recovers from ACL surgery. Mike Taylor wasn’t as productive as coaches had hoped for last season, and Graham Stewart transferred this month after one season at Florida.”

Florida — like most of the SEC East’s teams beyond Georgia and South Carolina — is a tough squad to read.  There is talent, but much of it is young.  It’s the second year of Muschamp’s reign, but there are still some Urban Meyer guys running around (but hopefully not running amok) on campus.

While the D-line is experienced, question marks remain at quarterback, running back, defensive back and linebacker depth.

If it all comes together, the Gators could surprise.  If not, Muschamp could be looking at a hot-seat year in 2013.

South Carolina star tailback Marcus Lattimore is expected to be back to full strength by the time the Cocks open practice later this summer.  The Heisman candidate is coming off surgery to repair ligament and cartilage damage to his left knee, an injury that cost Lattimore about half of the 2011 season.

Steve Spurrier said yesterday that he thinks his star should be fine:

“Marcus, again, is about a month or two away from full speed, but he should be 100 percent in August… I watched him during spring practice, he ran on the sideline, ran straight ahead.  And I think the month of May, he’s going to start making some cuts and planting and so forth.  But from watching him run straight ahead, I don’t think it will be a problem when he starts cutting and juking and jiving and so forth.”

Carolina’s coach also said that Shon Carson — a key backup to Lattimore — is recovering nicely from his own ACL tear last September.

Bad news from Gainesville today where it’s been confirmed that starting linebacker Ronald Powell will be out for four to six months with a torn ACL.  Powell — a junior — injured his knee during the Gators’ spring game on Saturday.

He will not undergo surgery until swelling around the knee goes down.  If the injury and surgery require six months of recovery, Powell could miss the early portion of Florida’s season.  His backup at the “buck” linebacker position is Lerentee McCray, but McCray was held out of spring practice with a shoulder injury.

Missouri football fans got good news and bad news this morning.

The good news: Tiger coach Gary Pinkel says the surgery on quarterback James Franklin’s surgery was “a very good repair” and that he’s optimistic about his player’s recovery.

“He’s a pretty special guy; he’ll heal quick.  He works tremendously had in the training room.  And so much of it is having a great attitude.”

Franklin is expected to miss the remainder of spring practice and then be ready to return in the fall.  But Pinkel did caution: “We’re expecting that he won’t (miss time), but to say that that can’t happen, I can’t say that.”

The junior — thrown into the fire unexpectedly last year — led Mizzou as much with his legs as he did his arm in Pinkel’s usually pass-first system.  He accounted for 2,865 yards passing (63.3%) with 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.  He also rushed for 981 yards and 15 more TDs on 217 carries.

The bad news: Tailback Henry Josey still hasn’t had surgery to repair a torn ACL.  Josey suffered “a one-in-a-million” terrible knee injury against Texas last November.  He underwent a five-hour procedure at the time to repair a patellar tendon rupture, a torn meniscus and a torn MCL.

Pinkel said that Josey should be ready to have the ACL repaired “in the next two or three weeks” but he wouldn’t say whether or not his tailback will play at all this fall.

In 10 games last season Josey rushed for 1,168 yards and 9 touchdowns.

Atlanta running back Justin Taylor has inked scholarship papers with the Kentucky Wildcats.  Taylor made national news recently when Alabama’s Nick Saban told him that the school would no longer have room for him as an immediate signee, despite the fact that Bama had held Taylor’s commitment for nearly a year.

Taylor told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution two weeks ago that Saban wanted him to grayshirt and become a part of the Tide’s 2013 class.  Taylor waffled back and forth before deciding to take the bird in hand UK was offering.

Taylor is recovering from a torn ACL he suffered last September.

Auburn’s T’Sharvan Bell has a long, hard road back to the playing field.  The defensive back injured his left knee in the Tigers’ lopsided loss to Georgia back in November and he arrived for AU’s media session yesterday on crutches.  He explained the injury and the rehab:


“I tore my ACL, my MCL, my posterior medial oblique.  I think I did a good job with it… of just tearing everything. …

(Rehab is) going good.  The first week or so, I’d say it was probably the easiest.  Ever since then, it’s been getting harder, but it’s not anything I can’t handle.”


At least the kid sounds like he’s got a good attitude about the rehab process.  There is no timetable for his recovery.

Bell will be a senior next season.

The leading scorer from Auburn’s basketball team last year is heading west.  Earnest Ross announced yesterday via Twitter that he is transferring from The Plains to Missouri.

Ross averaged 13.2 points a game and 6.6 rebounds a game for the Tigers last season, leading Tony Barbee’s squad in both categories.

“There was never a mutual agreement between me and the (Auburn) coaches,” Ross said yesterday.  “I came to this decision with me and my family, and I think this is the best decision for me and my future.”

Compare that to Barbee’s official statement: “I have mutually agreed with Ty Armstrong and Earnest Ross for them to go in a different direction both academically and athletically.  We with them the best in their future.”

Armstrong and Ross are both juniors.  Armstrong tore his ACL last summer but returned to play in 12 games for the Tigers.

Ross will have to sit out a year before suiting up for Frank Haith’s Tigers — the ones in Missouri — in 2012-13.