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

Tyrique McGhee reportedly to miss season-opener

It looks like Georgia could be without a possible starter for its first game against Austin Peay on Sept. 1. According to a report from 247Sports’s Jake Rowe, defensive back Tyrique McGhee is expected to miss four-to-six weeks. That timeline would most certainly put him out for the first game of the season and probably the week 2 game at South Carolina.

McGhee injured the foot during Saturday’s scrimmage and head coach Kirby Smart was aware of the injury. But when he spoke to reporters on following the scrimmage, he was unaware of the severity of the injury.

“Tyrique McGhee had a little foot injury but I don’t know the results of that yet,” Smart said on Saturday. Unscathed to me would be exactly that. Those two things didn’t seem serious. We’ll know more later on. You go into these scrimmages a little worried because you’ve got guys on the ground more often. It seemed like we came out all right.”

McGhee has spent time playing at a number of spots in the secondary, most frequently at the star position. He’s appeared in 27 games in his first two seasons in Athens.

The Bulldogs have a number of young players who could step in, such as former 4-star safety Deangelo Gibbs or 5-star cornerback Tyson Campbell. But none of them have the game reps that McGhee does.

Georgia’s game against Austin Peay is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

ESPN tabs Monty Rice as the best replacement for Roquan Smith

No single player is going to be able to replace what Roquan Smith did for the Bulldogs last year, at least at the start of the 2018 season.

Smart has said as much, joking that it might take three players to possibly replace all that Smith, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, did for the Bulldogs. Nevertheless, ESPN has tabbed sophomore Monty Rice as the player most likely to fill the shoes left behind by Smith.

Rice is similar in size to Smith and could grow into the sideline-to-sideline linebacker that Smith turned into a season ago. Last season, Rice had 22 tackles in 14 games, but he did lead all Georgia players in tackles in the spring game.

In addition to Rice, Georgia also brings back veteran linebacker Natrez Patrick, who starred alongside Smith last season. The Bulldogs also have a number of former star recruits such as Channing Tindall and Nate McBride.

Bowl projections braces Georgia for a Rose Bowl rematch

The 2018 Rose Bowl game against Oklahoma was one of the best games in the history of the Georgia program. And Georgia might be seeing them again if a number of the preseason bowl projections are to be believed.

CBSSports released its projections for the upcoming season, and it had the Bulldogs heading to New Orleans to take on Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. USA Today predicted the exact same matchup, while Sporting News has Georgia playing TCU in New Orleans.

The reason for so many Big 12 teams is because if Georgia is indeed in the Sugar Bowl is because the bowl game is contractually obligated to take an SEC and Big 12 team, even if one or both conferences have a playoff participant, provided that the site is not hosting a College Football Playoff game.

While a trip to New Orleans would be great, it certainly isn’t the bowl game many Georgia fans would be hoping for. Of course, no one thought the Bulldogs would make the College Football Playoff a year ago and Georgia ended up three plays away from the national championship.