Georgia players claim they don’t play attention to what’s being said about the football program outside the walls of the Butts-Mehre Building.

Balderdash.

Don’t kid yourself for one second that the team doesn’t suddenly grow rabbit ears whenever critical comments start making the rounds.

I guarantee that’s true, especially after all the questions following the Missouri game. These include speculation that stopping the run could be a big-time issue for the Bulldogs this fall.

It would seem a legitimate concern.

If Middle Tennessee can rush for 158 yards and Missouri gobbles up 172 yards of ground, what’s going to happen against teams like LSU, Florida, Auburn, Kentucky, and potentially Alabama at the end of the year?

This talk doesn’t bode well for Tennessee.

After practice on Tuesday, I posed the following question to Natrez Patrick: Is the team tired of hearing how they can’t stop the run? The words had barely gotten out of my mouth when he shot back a response.

There was no "we don’t hear what people are saying; we don’t this and we don’t that." The Bulldogs know dadgum well they’ve underachieved as a run defense, and based on what Patrick had to say, it’s been the ONE main focus this week in practice.

Nick Saban may be up to his eyeballs in rat poison; not so with Kirby Smart, who left Missouri with plenty of areas that need fixing. Given that such a big deal is being made about the Bulldogs’ leaky run defense, it likely makes his job easier.

A lot of blame has been placed on the shoulders of the defensive line. But stopping the run in the SEC in an 11-man job—linebackers, secondary, everyone.

That’s why you can expect a very motivated Georgia team to take the field against the Vols as the Bulldogs look to prove the past two weeks’ effort was just an early-season blip.

You’d have won a bundle from me if you’d suggested Demetris Robertson wouldn’t have a single catch going into Saturday’s game against Tennessee.

Robertson wowed Bulldog fans when he scored on a 72-yard speed sweep in Week 1 against Austin Peay. But he has yet to catch a pass, and hasn’t even been on the field but a couple of times.

What’s the story, you ask?

After doing some snooping, the answer is just what we’ve suspected all along. He’s got to improve his blocking skills. It’s as simple as that.

I’m told progress is being made.

Also, word is that Robertson’s attitude has been great, and he is working hard to do what his coaches are asking. So long as he keeps improving, his chances are going to come.

Playing wide receiver at Georgia—or any SEC school for that matter—is much different than playing the position in the Pac-12, where receivers are rarely asked to block, especially at the rate they are in Athens.

Yes, Robertson is still a very big part of the Georgia’s offensive plans. It’s just been an adjustment period for the Savannah native. At some point—possibly very soon—we’ll see him display more of the skills that made him a five-star performer.

As I hope you read in Tuesday’s practice report, Divaad Wilson, who suffered an ACL tear in the spring, is back on the field practicing for the Bulldogs.

The Florida native still hasn’t been cleared for contact. He's probably at least a month away. But if Georgia has one player we can look to as a candidate for the new redshirt rule, Wilson is it.

Coaches are hoping they’ll have Wilson available at some point for four games late in the season, and be able to use him as a backup at corner and on special teams.

. . . D’Andre Swift rushes for 100 yards for the first time in his career.

. . . Somebody other than D’Andre Walker gets a sack.

. . . Mecole Hardman will score his sixth touchdown in five games this season.

. . . Isaac Nauta will have more than three catches.

. . . Elijah Holyfield will line up at a position other than tailback. Spoiler alert: Earlier this week we actually saw Holyfield line up at fullback with Swift as the tail. Courtesy won’t allow me to reveal what they did out of that package, but it was certainly interesting.