By Charles Odum

ATHENS - It wasn't easy for coaches to pick a receiver to serve as Georgia's captain for Saturday's game against Mississippi.

Mikey Henderson? All he did was make the game-winning touchdown catch in overtime to give Georgia its 26-23 victory over Alabama last week.

Mohamed Massaquoi? The junior caught two passes last week and was praised by coach Mark Richt for his solid all-around play as a receiver and blocker.

Sean Bailey? The senior led Georgia with five catches for 74 yards and, due in part to his consistent leadership, was chosen by Richt and receivers coach John Eason as one of the game captains.

"I thought Sean played one of his best games," Richt said. "I thought Mohamed played one of his best games. I thought Mikey played one of his best games.

"We had three receivers who easily could have been named captain after that game, but Bailey has been not only on the field doing it right, he's been in practice doing it right and in meetings being helpful with the young guys. He has just shown great leadership for coach Eason."

Bailey, who missed last season with a knee injury, has four or more catches in three of No. 15 Georgia's four games. He leads the Bulldogs with 16 catches for 237 yards.

"He's having a really solid year and I wouldn't be surprised to see him break out even more," Richt said. "We're getting more and more confidence in him."

Bailey already has matched his total for receptions in 2005, when he made 10 starts.

Massaquoi only has eight receptions, but he caught Richt's eye last week.

"I was really pleased with Mohamed," Richt said. "I think he changed the level of his game. He played with a focus I've not seen on the guy and he did it for 60 minutes."

Massaquoi said he was motivated by the big-game setting in Tuscaloosa.

"It was just a great atmosphere to play a game in," Massaquoi said.

"I'm having fun. I'm having a lot of fun right now and having a lot of fun with my teammates. We have a great chance to do a lot of good things this season."

Matthew Stafford passed for 224 yards and two touchdowns against Alabama, and the receivers stepped up after Richt earlier last week proclaimed "I don't think we've scared anybody enough with our wide receiver corps and our passing game to make anybody think stop the pass first."

The receivers helped compensate for three drops by tight end Tripp Chandler.