ATHENS — Georgia defensive players Trenton Thompson and Reggie Carter remained out of practice Wednesday, further decreasing their chances of playing in Saturday’s game against Missouri.

Both players missed the Vanderbilt game and would figure to start if available. Thompson sprained the MCL in his knee two weeks ago at Tennessee, while Carter suffered an undisclosed injury in the same game.

Thompson, arguably the team’s best defensive lineman, has 17 tackles in five games, including three tackles-for-loss. But the team is deep on the defensive line.

Carter, the team’s first inside linebacker off the bench, would have been the starter at Vanderbilt because of the four-game suspension that Natrez Patrick began in that game. Juwan Taylor started in his place while freshman Monty Rice also saw time off the bench. Carter has eight tackles in five games.

A few other observations from the media viewing period:

• Jacob Eason looked good while doing a quarterback rollout-and-throw drill. Eason, returning from his sprained knee, has appeared in the fourth quarter of the past two games as the team tries to get him more comfortable.
• Receiver Ahkil Crumpton continues to catch everything thrown his way during media viewing periods. The junior college transfer didn’t have a catch in a game until Vanderbilt, when he had two.
• Freshman Mark Webb continues to work at cornerback, where he moved earlier this season. A night earlier Smart said this when asked about Webb’s devleopment: “He’s growing. He’s getting better. He goes out there every day and competes against the wideouts. He does a really good job. I think he’s going to be a really fine player.”
• There was a slightly entertaining sight as the defensive line conducted a punch drill: Scout-teamers and strength staffers stood on the blocking sled to prevent it from moving, so the D-linemen could work on hand placement. At one point six different people were on the sled to prevent the 300-pound-plus linemen from moving the sled.
• This was another indoor practice, as the temperature in Athens is 90 degrees, and it was humid as well on this mid-October day.