A couple of rumors involving the future of a couple of defensive ends got cleared up this week.

RSo. Neland Ball received a medical disqualification earlier this season. His career is over due to a chronic back problem. Ball was the nation’s #16 weakside DE in the recruiting class of 2007 according to Rivals.com, just a few spots below teammate Justin Houston. We wish Neland the best going forward.

On a more positive note, UGASports.com was able to confirm ($) that freshman DE Montez Robinson will not transfer and will remain with the Georgia program. Robinson admits that he was homesick and considered a transfer to Purdue. Robinson, rated the #8 strongside DE by Rivals.com in the 2009 recruiting class, was Georgia’s only defensive end signee in 2009 once Toby Jackson went the JUCO route, and he’s played in all eight games so far. An important figure in Robinson’s decision to stay seems to have been TE Arthur Lynch whose own struggles with homesickness were an issue earlier in the year.

We wrote yesterday how the DE position in particular had been hit by the attrition of highly-regarded signees, and you can now add Ball’s name to that list -a 4-star, top 20 national prospect at his position whose contributions to the program won’t be nearly what the coaches had banked on (through no fault of his own of course). Robinson’s decision not to join that list is important – guys like he, Houston, and Washington are going to be counted on for a lot of playing time until an incoming recruiting class that includes at least 5 defensive ends gets up to speed.