http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/sha...es_ravage.html

Injuries ravaged Dogs in 2008
By Chip Towers | Thursday, November 20, 2008, 07:04 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

According to Ron Courson, Georgia’s director of sports medicine, the Bulldogs had only two season-ending injuries this time last season and one of those was to walkon Chris Gaunder, who managed to return later for the bowl game.

This season that number is 18.

Let that number roll around in your head a moment.

People wondering what happened to the Bulldogs this year can rest assured some of their struggles are at least partly due to injuries.

To be sure, not all of those are starters. If you count starters only, they have missed a combined total of 49 potential games so far because of injuries. That number includes of course left tackles Trinton Sturdivant and Vince Vance, defensive tackle Jeff Owens, middle linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, tight end Tripp Chandler and, the latest, right tackle Justin Anderson.

“That’s a lot,” coach Mark Richt stated flatly Wednesday.

But the number of starters missing doesn’t paint the full picture. That doesn’t take into account players like wide receiver Tony Wilson, linebackers Darius Dewberry, Akeem Hebron, Marcus Washington and Charles White and safety Quintin Banks. Those are players that, in addition to playing a lot of snaps on offense or defense, played on nearly every special teams units the Bulldogs field.

“It affects your scout teams, it affects your special teams, it affects everything,” Richt said. “I don’t want to go through that again.”

Georgia’s not alone. Auburn has had 16 players from its two-deep miss a combined 57 games. Among those are three starters — LB Tray Blackmon, OL Chaz Ramsey and DB Aairon Savage.

Anyway, regarding Georgia’s injuries: Legitimate reason for losing two games and not looking great in a couple of others or just lame excuses?