While reporting on the UGA Countdown to Kickoff event for the fans this morning, UGA beat reporter Radi Nabulsi tweeted out the following reports:

Que- short for q-ball - is one of the possible replacements for Russ. He and "Gus" will get tryouts first. Switch will be made this year. — Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) July 11, 2015

Russ, who is already 11 years old, will pass on the torch later in the year. School will look for a cooler temperature game. — Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) July 11, 2015

UPDATE: Seth Emerson also has reported this news from the same event, so even though the University hasn't officially confirmed it, I'm treating it as no longer a "rumor."

So we will be seeing the handoff to a new Uga X sometime this season. I think Russ has been my favorite Uga to date, because others kept being selected over him, but he just kept doing his job and playing his part until his time came. He also broke the "Uga color barrier" by being the first Uga with significant brown spots on his body, so you gotta like that.

As for Uga X, my inner nerd hopes that "Que" is selected, because I have already christened that dawg "Q" in my mind, and I am already coming up with tons of Star Trek-themed puns and metaphors for use in the coming years.

Go Dawgs!