Around the Dawg House will bring you daily updates from what people and publications are saying about Georgia,  from inside and outside of Athens.

Adam Sasser dismissed from Georgia baseball team

On Wednesday, Georgia announced that first baseman Adam Sasser has been dismissed from the Georgia baseball team after he was being investigated for alleged slurs he made during the Georgia football game on Saturday that were directed at Georgia quarterback Justin Fields.

On Tuesday, Georgia football coach Kirby Smart addressed the situation.

“If what I read and heard is true, it’s really unacceptable behavior that’s not who we are at Georgia,” Smart said. “We’re trying to build a program on tolerance and mutual respect. You can’t control what other people say, but the expectation is that people that are part of our program and come to our games share the same beliefs that we do. It’s sad that something like this would happen. I’m disappointed. But it doesn’t affect our family, our unit here and our kids have been great. It’s not something I’ve had to address with them. I’ve addressed it with Justin. That’s the most important thing.”

Last season, Sasser was one of Georgia’s top hitters on l, which earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time in five years. He batted .317 with 10 home runs and 44 RBI. He was named second team All-SEC.

To read more on the Sasser situation and how this came about, you can read Chip Towers’ story on it.

D’Andre Walker gets high praise from ESPN

D’Andre Walker, Georgia’s senior outside linebacker, had a stellar first month of the season, as he racked up 4.0 sacks. The rest of the Georgia team just has 1.0. Walker also forced two fumbles and is in the running to be Georgia’s best player, regardless of position.

And ESPN certainly sees him as such, as Walker was named Georgia’s September MVP, for his play during the opening month of the season.

“Heading into the season, if you saw that a guy named D’Andre would win this, you would have assumed running back D’Andre Swift,” ESPN’s Alex Scarborough wrote. “And Swift has played well so far. It’s just that Walker, a senior outside linebacker, has been an undeniable difference-maker. He’s off to a phenomenal start, leading the team in sacks (4), tackles for loss (5) and QB hurries (8).”

Walker finished last season with 5.5 sacks which was second on the team, but this season’s he’s had to take on a bigger role due to the departures of Davin Bellamy and Lorenzo Carter. And so far he’s done as good a job as both of those former Georgia stars.

Other possible MVP candidates include cornerback Deandre Baker, safety Richard LeCounte, kicker Rodrigo Blankenship (don’t laugh, he’s been awesome), and junior wide receiver Mecole Hardman.

It’ll be interesting to see if he can continue this production over the course of the season.

Georgia won’t confuse Vanderbilt quarterback Kyle Shurmur

Vanderbilt quarterback Kyle Shurmur has seen some things in his time at Vanderbilt.

He’s in his third season as Vanderbilt’s starter and he’s seen a number of tough defenses and environments in his time. He’s faced Alabama and already played in Athens, which he did back in 2016.

And while his 2016 stats against Georgia weren’t great, 7 for 18 for 109 yards, Vanderbilt did end up winning that game.

Kirby Smart is well aware of this and he knows that this Georgia defense isn’t going to be to trick or surprise the experienced Vanderbilt quarterback.

“You go to gameplan for him and you realize you aren’t going to confuse him, he’s seen it all,” Smart said on the SEC Coaches Teleconference. “So it’s about executing when you face him, not tricking him because he’s not a guy that he can do that to.”

So far this season, Shurmur is completing 62 percent of his passes while throwing for 9 touchdowns to just 4 interceptions.

Georgia takes on Vanderbilt at 7:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network. The game can also be heard on WSB 95.5 FM/AM 750.

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