Tuesday news and notes

It’s looking more and more like wide receiver Lawrence Cager and starting center Trey Hill will both be able to play in Saturday’s huge SEC game at Auburn (3:30, CBS).

According to head coach Kirby Smart after practice Tuesday, both players are taking part in workouts without any apparent issues. That’s great news for the Bulldogs, whom with a win, can wrap up the program’s third straight SEC East crown.

The positive update on Cager is especially welcome.

“He’s good,” Smart said. “He’s taking all his reps, catching balls, doing what he’s supposed to do. Hopefully, we can keep him healthy.”

A grad transfer from Miami, Cager went out with a shoulder injury in the first half against Missouri. Hill tweaked his ankle before being replaced by Cade Mays, who was ultimately replaced by Jamaree Salyer after Mays went down with an ankle injury of his own.

Mays is also cleared to play.

“Trey’s been fine; he’s taking all his reps,” said Smart, who added that backup defensive back Tyrique McGhee (foot) is still not able to practice.

Cager, who is Georgia’s leading receiver with a team-high 32 catches for 470 yards and 4 touchdowns, first injured his shoulder against South Carolina, and it’s been bothering him ever since.

"He's very tough. He's playing with a tough injury to deal with, but it's his choice. Once the doctors clear him, he has to make a choice if he wants to play or not and, absolutely, he wants to play. I mean, he's a competitor. That's why he came here,” Smart said. “The last thing he wants to do is say, 'Well, I'm going to take this week off and not play in this game and heal up.' That's not his perspective, because he knows that every game matters, and that it matters to our team. He's a team player; he's a competitor; he wants to go out and make plays. He wants to do that for the brothers on his team."

Smart said Auburn’s bye week before playing his Bulldogs is certainly an advantage for the Tigers.

Ultimately, however, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal.

“Early in the season, I don't know how important those are, because I don't know that you're to the point where you need recovery,” Smart said. “I would say the first four or five weeks of the season, it's a push if someone has a bye before you or you have one before them. But as it gets later in the year, it has an effect, because you're able to get guys back. Because what happens is the cumulative effect of the games in sequence, you lose guys, and you don't get recovery time.”

In the case of Auburn, the extra week has allowed some of its players to heal, including running back Boobee Williams, who is expected to be back from a recent knee injury.

“When you get recovery time, you can bring some guys back. It doesn't matter. We've all got the same number of bye weeks, and most of us have had the same kind of stretch,” Smart said. “Auburn had a really rough stretch earlier in the year, when they played consecutive [ranked] teams. It's just the way it fell this year, I guess."

From a percentage perspective, Georgia’s been one of the better red zone teams in the SEC, converting 37 of 38 trips inside the opponents’ 20-yard line into points.

The trouble is 12 of those trips only resulted in field goals—not quite the percentage Smart likes to see.

This week in practice, Smart said the Bulldogs are working hard to improve those results.

“We spend a lot of time on the red zone. We start with meetings, actually tomorrow. We talk about a game plan. We do it good-on-good every week. We take a series, and we've been fortunate defensively to have some good red-area series where we get to put that defense out there and go against our offense,” Smart said. “Our offense has won a lot of those battles against our guys, so I know they're capable. We just haven't finished off drives. A lot of ours didn't get to the red area—statistics lie, because it looks like we're doing pretty good, but a lot of them are field goals, and a lot of them are outside the red area field goals that we're not finishing off into touchdowns. We've got to do a better job of that."

Along those lines, Smart was also asked to address his team’s run blocking, which hasn’t produced the number of explosive plays that most expected it would.

Smart disagreed with the notion that opposing teams are stacking the box more than they did last fall.

"They're not stacking it any more than they ever have. It's not like there's more this year than there were last year. The fronts we see this year are very similar to the fronts we saw last year. There's not a whole lot difference as far as that goes,” Smart said. “They're not playing them different. We're probably not hitting as many explosive runs, and we're definitely not hitting as many explosive passes to try and loosen them up. We probably see more hard boxes consistently. In the past, we'd see the same boxes, just not as often. If they were doing 70 percent hard boxes last year, it might be 80 percent hard boxes, but the boxes are very similar to what they normally are."

How key is slowing down Auburn’s running game?

“It’s always important. You start with the line of scrimmage. If you can’t run the ball and they can, you’re probably in trouble. If you give up explosives, it’s probably a bigger sign than even the rush game. We have struggled in those games to stop the run. It’s something that we take pride in and have done a better job this year of stopping, but this is a team very similar to ours, in the caliber of being able to run the ball. They’re a stubborn run team, committed to the run—they want to find different ways to do it. They’ve always done that well.” – Smart

Last week’s play by Ben Cleveland, who was named the SEC OL of the Week:

“Yeah he got to play a lot more. It seems like he’s had a major role, minor role, big role, he’s taken on all roles. He’s kind of had that kind of career when you think about it. He’s starting and playing. Then he got the broken leg, and bounced back from that. He’s done a tremendous job. He was playing really good the other night, getting a lot of movement, getting a good pad level. And usually, when Ben plays well, we play well. He helps get us a lot of power over on the right side. So he did a nice job in that game and graded out well, and was happy to get that award.” – Smart

On preparing for Auburn freshman quarterback Bo Nix as opposed to former Tiger QB Jarrett Stidham:

“It's different. They allow Nix to do more with the run game. He pulls it and makes good decisions. He very rarely is wrong when it comes to pulling the ball. He runs the offense well. You can tell it's more what Gus is used to, as opposed to Stidham, who was probably more of a passer but was a good athlete, too.” – Smart

Georgia graduate place-kicker Rodrigo Blankenship has been included as one of 10 semifinalists for the Burlsworth Trophy, which is awarded to the most outstanding football player in America who began his career as a walk-on. …The only player from the Southeastern Conference on the list will now be eligible to be one of three Burlsworth Trophy finalists, which will be announced on Nov. 19.