ATHENS — Georgia’s already thin wide receiver corps took another big hit this week.

Head coach Mark Richt said freshman receiver Tavarres King was “very unlikely” to make the trip to Tennessee for Saturday’s game after suffering a concussion last week against LSU.

That leaves Georgia with just five healthy scholarship receivers, but only two — A.J. Green and Michael Moore — have any significant playing time this season.

“All hands will be on deck, I can say that,” Richt said.

Tight end Orson Charles and cornerback Branden Smith have both been used in wide receiver roles at various times this season, but the injury to King likely means more playing time for sophomore Israel Troupe and freshmen Rantavious Wooten and Marlon Brown.

One of the country’s most highly recruited receivers last year, Brown has seen just a handful of snaps so far this season and has not caught a pass, but Richt said he has continued to make progress during practice and could be part of the game plan this week.

“He’s one step closer than he was before Tavarres getting hurt,” Richt said. “He’s not a whole lot different than what was happening with Washaun Ealey. We kept getting him ready and getting him to the point where he could function in a game, and Marlon is rapidly moving in that direction.”

Playing time would be particularly rewarding for Brown this week, as the Memphis native would have a chance to play in front of his homestate fans against a program that was in hot pursuit of him during the recruiting process.

That extra bit of pressure doesn’t worry offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, however.

“He’s an even-keeled kid who works hard,” Bobo said. “I think he’s got the right attitude and he’ll be successful if he keeps that attitude.”

King has 10 catches for 170 yards and a touchdown in five games this season. Wooten has two catches, and Brown and Troupe have yet to record a reception in 2009.

PULLED IN ALL DIRECTIONS

After working a few snaps on offense in each of Georgia’s first four games, Smith might see less action on that side of the ball for the next few weeks.

Smith, who has one catch for 3 yards and six rushes for 80 yards this season, didn’t earn a touch on offense last week against LSU after his practice time with the group was cut short during the preceding week.

“With some injuries at corner, he’s been playing more corner here lately, so practice time with Branden has gone down a little bit,” Bobo said. “Yeah, it’s easy to draw up a play and say we’re going to do this play, but if you don’t have guys to practice it, it’s a little more difficult.”

The same situation holds true with backup quarterback Logan Gray, who Bobo said has been avoided in the game plan because of an injury to third-string quarterback Aaron Murray.

“You have Aaron Murray out and your backup in the game running some plays, if you get him hurt, that puts you in a situation where you really don’t have a back-up quarterback,” Bobo said. “So that changes your thought process a little bit of what you’re going to do offensively with Logan Gray.”

Despite the apparent limitations on two of Georgia’s change-of-pace weapons, Bobo said both Gray and Smith will continue to have a role in the playbook.

“There’ll always be a few plays with (Smith) in the game plan and with Logan,” Bobo said. “But it just depends on what we feel gives us the best chance.”

MORE INJURY NEWS

Tailback Caleb King also suffered a concussion and a broken jaw after a hit during last week’s game, and Richt said he was almost certain that sophomore Richard Samuel would get the start this week.

Linebackers Marcus Dowtin and Akeem Dent will miss this week’s game, as well. Dent is still recovering from a lingering hamstring injury that has kept him out of the past two games, and Dowtin underwent surgery on a torn ligament in his left ring finger on Sunday.

Senior Marcus Washington and sophomore Nick Williams likely will handle the majority of the reps Dent and Dowtin would have played, but Richt said there was a chance some of the younger linebackers such as Christian Robinson, Akeem Hebron and Charles White could see action, too.

“We’ve been repping them all along and giving them as much work as we can, and more than likely they’ll get more opportunity in the game than they have,” Richt said.