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Junior wide receiver Michael Moore and the football team look forward to fullback Brannan Southerland's return from injury against Tennessee Saturday afternoon.

Curran shares NFL experience

FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK

By:

Posted: 10/7/08

Sophomore linebacker Rennie Curran took advantage of the weekend off by visiting his old stomping ground, and seeing a possible future spot.

Curran went home to Snellville Friday to watch his Brookwood High School Broncos play, and experienced a little déjà vu.

"It was really weird having little kids coming up to you and asking for autographs and stuff like that, because I used to be one of those kids," he said.

Curran then made a trip north for a Carolina Panthers game and caught up with former Georgia linebacker Thomas Davis.

"That was amazing man, that was my first NFL experience," he said. "When I met [Panthers linebacker] Jon Beason, one of my friends started to introduce me to him and he was like, 'Rennie Curran?' That was wild. My mouth just dropped. It was wild. That was a wild feeling."

"Then meeting [defensive end and former North Carolina Tar Heel] Julius Peppers. I mean, my hands are pretty big but his

hands made mine look like baby hands. It was ridiculous. He's a monster."

Southerland returns from injury for game

After a prolonged rehab period, fullback Brannan Southerland is ready to take the field full-time against Tennessee Saturday.

"It's a great feeling," the senior from Dacula said. "It's been something that's been a longer recovery and whole process than we expected going into it in January.

"But being back to the point where I'm very close to 100 percent and being able to go out there between the hedges with all my teammates and everything again has been an incredible feeling."

After redshirting his freshman year and before being out during this season, Southerland had played in every game since he moved down Highway 316 to Athens.

"It's been a new experience, something I've never really had to do," he said.

"It was extremely difficult. It gets you down sometimes. You see everybody out there playing and all you want to do is get out there and go through practice with them and see what they're doing. It's a tough experience."

Ellerbe hopes to play against Tennessee

Linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, who sprained an MCL against Alabama, said Monday that he expects to play against the Volunteers Saturday.

"Hopefully it will be like 15 to 20 plays," he said. "I know it will be strictly on defense. Probably no special teams, probably just strictly on defense."

He said that trainers and coaches have been a little more cautious and that he will have to pass a few tests ("just showing that I can move and just doing little drills that they give me in practice") before he's officially cleared to play.

- Tyler Estep