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Richt makes sure everyone has a place to go for Thanksgiving
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ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - Georgia coach Mark Richt wanted to make sure everyone had a place to go on Thanksgiving.

"We try to make sure they're with a teammate or somebody," Richt said.

He instructed the position coaches to talk with each of their players about their plans for turkey-and-dressing day. Richt was mostly concerned about those from out of state, who wouldn't have time to go home with the No. 6 Bulldogs (9-2) preparing for Saturday's big game against Georgia Tech (7-4).

"We want to make sure we talk with every one of the guys to find out where they're going to eat," Richt said. "You've got to ask them, because some guys don't have a place to go and they may not ask anybody."

Quarterback Matthew Stafford, a native of Texas, said his father was making the 14-hour drive from Dallas to spend Thanksgiving with his son. Safety Kelin Johnson, who's from Florida, planned to spend the day at a friend's house.

While the Bulldogs normally have a light day of practice on Fridays, they'll go a little harder than usual this week to make sure the players work off all those big Thanksgiving meals.

"Everybody tends to eat more than normal that day," Richt said. "We like to have a little practice the next day to run off a little bit of turkey and also get our focus back again. When you get around your family on the holidays, you tend to lose focus on the game. We'll use Friday to try our minds back on business."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

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