Here’s some of the highlights from what the Georgia Bulldogs had to say inside — and outside — the main ballroom Thursday at the Wynfrey Hotel at SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama:

Mark Richt

On the ongoing quarterback battle:

“I have no idea who the starter is going to be. We are going to have a tremendous competition, continue that competition for the position. It’s going to — I think it’s going to take awhile. We have 29 practice opportunities before the first game, and we’re going to get a rotation where we can see the guys that we want to see compete and then make a decision on who should be the starter.”

On Nick Chubb handling Heisman hype:

“Not all all. First of all, I normally try to bring seniors — it used to be just two guys. I’d bring an offensive and defensive senior. Then one time it became a third young man to come. This year in particular, commissioner Slive — or commissioner Sankey, I’m not sure which commissioner, wanted to have somebody who had a little bit of a story outside of just the football part. It happened to be Malcolm Mitchell for us this year. As far as handling Nick, first of all, Nick is a very — he’s a pretty quiet, unassuming guy. He’s a very hard worker. He’s a great a student. He’s becoming a great leader for us.”

On DE Lorenzo Carter’s improvement:

“Lorenzo did have an impact for us as a freshman, and we thought the greatest value that he had was more of an edge rusher, a speed guy off the edge. That’s kind of what his reputation was coming out of high school. But if you’re going to play every down, you’ve got to play the run. You’ve got to be able to set the edge on some plays and be able to handle fullbacks coming at you on the power play and things of that nature. So he’s becoming more and more physical, and he’s learning how to play the run game better.”

On making sure all playmakers get involved offensively:

“There’s no challenge, really. It’s just more of, like you say, it’s a privilege. It’s a blessing to have playmakers, and the goal is to keep people fresh, keep them healthy, find what guys can do well and get them in position to do it. But, again, it takes everybody doing their job for anybody to have success. I mean, Nick Chubb had great success last year when you look at the numbers. But he had a bunch of guys blocking for him — fullbacks, tight ends, linemen, quarterbacks getting in the right play, receivers blocking downfield — and then him being God-gifted and doing the right thing. So I think the more playmakers you have, the merrier, and that’s not too big of a challenge to try to figure out how to get it done. I’d rather have that problem of a bunch of them rather than trying to figure out do we have anybody who can make a play.”

On frustrations associated with not getting to Atlanta last two years:

“Obviously, you’ve got to win the East. That’s all there is to it. We’re going to play eight games in league play, and most of them within the Eastern Division. Those head-to-head matchups are crucially important, but all the games count. So the goal is to get back to Atlanta. The goal is to get there and win it when you get there. Our focus is on the process again.”

John Theus, OL

On the emphasis on this year’s South Carolina game:

“Every game we look at with the same matter of detail. We want to win every game. Playing in this league, we’re going to play teams who can play week in and week out. Obviously South Carolina is a very good team and has a very good ball coach. They can play with anybody. We’re going to have bring out best that Saturday to have a chance to win.”

On team’s stable of running backs:

“Without a doubt our running backs make us (offensive line) better. There are times when we open up some beautiful holes and then they call runs. To have those guys back in the backfield gives you confidence at the line and you know those guys are going to make you look good.”

Malcolm Mitchell, WR

On Schottenheimer’s new offense, installation:

“We’ve had a lot more meetings this offseason as a team, ran by the players to make sure that we all have understanding of the play-calls and how it all operates so we go into camp everything’s fluid.”

On his children’s book:

“Ive been encouraged by a lot of the kids going into the schools and stuff I read all the time. This is a product of that.  I decided to self publish because I wanted to get all of my ideas out the way I envisioned it. Sometimes when you see publishers before you get your product out, you’ll see changes. I didn’t want that to happen.”