TAMPA - There was non-SEC schedule news here in Tampa, believe it or not, such as Mark Richt belaboring all the attention that's on Isaiah Crowell.

And even though I'm guilty of that myself sometimes, I don't blame Richt one bit.

In a larger answer about the changes wrought by social media, Richt belabored the fact that one of his players gets an inordinate amount of attention.

“There’s not a lot of wiggle room or breathing room in regard to anything that happens,” Richt said. “I mean, Isaiah’s under the weather and that’s the main story. Certain guys just can’t hardly do anything without having everybody talking about it, or writing about it, tweeting about it, all that kind of thing.”

Richt was referring to tailback Isaiah Crowell, whose ups and downs his freshman season have been well-chronicled. Crowell sat out the start of Tuesday’s bowl practice because he was sick, but on Wednesday he said he was all right.

Crowell was also asked again about Richt’s quote about it being a competitive situation this week.

“Everybody’s getting good reps. Everybody’s working hard. I don’t really know what he means by competitive, because we’ve been doing this the whole season.”

Crowell is coming being named SEC freshman of the year. But he seems destined to fall short of reaching 1,000 rushing yards, entering the bowl with 847.

“I’d like to get it. If I didn’t it wouldn’t be a big deal,” he said.

Some other quick items:

- DeAngelo Tyson (ankle) still isn't practicing. Although colleague Gentry Estes of Dawgs247.com pointed out Tyson throws a pretty good spiral. So maybe the senior defensive end can also be the emergency quarterback.

- Mike Gilliard, fresh off tipping cows, was in a green non-contact jersey for a second straight day.

- The team spent the afternoon at Busch Gardens, part of the Outback Bowl week festivities.

The players took in a hockey game on Tuesday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning versus ... well no one quite seemed to remember.

Nose tackle John Jenins, a native of Connecticut, grew up too late to see the Whalers, but he said he had been to one other hockey game before Tuesday night.

Jenkins also kidded around when asked just how good a time the players had after the game. There are, uh, distractions around Tampa.

"We all abid by the curfew," Jenkins said.

But Jenkins was smiling widely as he said it.

"Yeah, I mean we're gonna have a good time within the rules, why not?" Jenkins said.