Someone to look up to

Freshman linebacker Jordan Jenkins said he'd love to one day be like Jarvis Jones.

Apparently, so would Jones.

"He definitely works me to death to try to be like him," Jenkins said after practice Monday. "He doesn't let me get away with anything. He's always helping me out on the sidelines, and in scout work he's telling me what to do in case I forget. I just want to be able to contribute like he does to the team."

Jenkins certainly had the best game of his young career during Georgia's 41-20 win over Missouri in Saturday's SEC opener.

The former Harris County standout contributed four tackles, including one for a loss of 2 yards and recovered a key fumble deep in Tiger territory.

"I thought I had six, but I forgot the entire Missouri team was behind me," Jenkins said. "If I had gotten another step, I was diving in the end zone."

Jenkins, who is now listed as the top backup at both the Will and Sam positions, is pleased with how he's performed thus far.

"This week I think I played better than I did against Buffalo and I just like the fact I'm getting more tackles and I'm almost making impact plays," Jenkins said. "I'm just trying to get where I'm closer to being with Jarvis Jones and Cornelius Washington. I just want to be a big contributor to this team."

Injury update

Monday's injury report included four defensive starters, including Washington, who did not participate while resting a left hamstring strain.

Three others were listed as limited, including Jones (right groin strain, right shoulder contusion), cornerback Malcolm Mitchell (left ankle sprain/left shoulder contusion) and cornerback Damian Swann (right knee contusion).

Other notables included wide receiver Michael Bennett who was limited with a left knee contusion and backup offensive lineman Watts Dantzler who did not practice while resting a left ankle sprain.

Theus vows to get better

Freshman right tackle John Theus says don't worry. Whatever issues he had during Saturday's game are correctable and he'll personally make sure that will be the case.

"I'm going to get better every week," Theus said. "Obviously, this week I had some stuff that I messed up on. But I've looked at the film a couple of times with Coach (Will) Friend. I'm going to fix it."

Theus, who started and played the entire games despite spraining his ankle against Buffalo, was called for three false starts.

He said the injury did not affect his play.

"Once you're in the game and the adrenalin gets going, it's all good," he said. "I was out there full speed."

Rome thankful for constructive criticism

It was approximately three weeks ago when head coach Mark Richt appeared to publically challenge tight end Jay Rome during one of his post-practice press conferences.

Monday, Rome said Richt's words were exactly what he needed to hear.

"I just felt like Coach Richt wanted the best out of me and he wanted a way to push me. He just wanted me to do better and to play to the best of my abilities," Rome said. "I may have not been playing as fast, still trying to sort things out in my head and that was just a sign to me. I'm glad he did it, just to get me going."

Rome made his presence felt during Saturday's win when he hauled in his first career catch, a 15-yarder to give the Bulldogs a key first down.

"I knew he didn't mean it as 'I'm doing bad and need to do this or that,'" Rome said. "It was just his way of giving me a little tap on the butt, that I needed to pick it up a little bit and they were counting on me."

Florida Atlantic's Pelini just worried about Owls

Nobody has to tell Florida Atlantic coach Carl Pelini that his Sun Belt Conference Owls (1-1) have quite the challenge Saturday against the Bulldogs (7:30, CSS).

FAU is coming off a 31-17 loss to Middle Tennessee State after beating Wagner 7-3 in its season-opener.

"I just want to see improvement. Despite the loss I thought we were a better team against Middle Tennessee than we were against Wagner," Pelini said in Monday's Sun Belt Conference teleconference. "I told our coaches that ultimately everything is based around your conference play. You take these out-of-conference games for what they are, you just don't want to take a step back as a program, so we're just going to try to be better in practice and be better against Georgia than we were against MTSU. Next week, we'll try to be better against Alabama than we were against Georgia. We have enough problems without worrying about Georgia. We just have to fix us."

Yes, Florida Atlantic travels to Alabama one week after playing the Bulldogs.

Last week, FAU gave up 302 yards rushing to the Blue Raiders in their 14-point defeat and almost 500 for the game.

"We're very elementary in terms of what we have available to us and what they know and what they can execute. We'll use movement or pressure rather than have an answer out of base package," Pelini said. "Those are issues that will be addressed as we develop a better understanding of our package and what we can do. As that grows, then your answers grow on Game Days."

Quotable

"There was a TV timeout and one of the Missouri linemen were talking a little trash to John Jenkins and some of them. But Franklin came over and tried to lighten up the mood, saying 'Hey Jarvis, do me a favor and stop hitting me so hard.' He's (Franklin) a good athlete but he was definitely tired of Jarvis hitting him." - Jordan Jenkins on Jarvis Jones.

This and that

Next week's game between Georgia and Vanderbilt will be televised live on ESPN2 starting at 7:45 p.m. It will mark the Bulldogs' second appearance on the network, following the team's 41-20 win at Missouri Saturday night. … Richt did not conduct his usual Monday call-in show while dealing with a "family issue." Instead, offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham fielded calls from listeners.