GREEN BAY -- The Kregg Lumpkin Story has a happy ending. Well, it would if Lumpkin considered making the Packers' 53-man roster Saturday an ending.

"This is just the beginning," the undrafted free-agent running back from Georgia said after joining starter Ryan Grant and backup Brandon Jackson in the Packers' backfield after veterans Noah Herron and Vernand Morency were among 19 players released.

"I just have to continue to work hard and try to expand my game and my knowledge of the NFL and try to help the Packers to a championship."

Herron and Morency headlined the 22 personnel moves made Saturday by the Packers, who also placed three players on injured reserve.

The Packers also released wide receivers Jake Allen, Johnny Quinn, Taj Smith and Brett Swain; cornerbacks Joe Porter and Scorpio Babers; defensive tackles Conrad Bolston, Alfred Malone and Daniel Muir; offensive linemen Brennen Carvalho, Ryan Keenan and Orrin Thompson; fullback Corey White; safety Tyrone Culver; linebackers Spencer Havner and Danny Lansanah; and tight end Joey Haynos.

Long-snapper J.J. Jansen, defensive tackle Rodney Allen and center Junius Coston were placed on season-ending injured reserve.

Without Jansen, who suffered a torn lateral collateral ligament in his left knee during the Packers' preseason finale against Tennessee and will require surgery, will have to add a long-snapper before the Sept. 8 regular-season opener against the Minnesota Vikings.

Thomas Gafford, who went to camp with the Packers and was competing with Jansen for the job before being released to make room on the roster for Grant, was among the 20 players released by the Chicago Bears Saturday and is likely to be claimed by the Packers.

For the second consecutive year, Packers general manager Ted Thompson did not address reporters following the moves, breaking with precedent set by GM Ron Wolf and coach / GM Mike Sherman. Thompson will address reporters at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The Packers can establish their eight-man practice squad after 3 p.m. Sunday. Among the leading candidates are Lansanah, Haynos and Swain, the only draft pick released.

Fifth-round pick Breno Giacomini, who gave up back-to-back sack-fumble plays against the Titans, was the ninth offensive lineman to make the roster, although his spot may not be secure given the Packers' need at long-snapper.

The team could also make a second move Sunday to add a defensive tackle via a trade or the waiver wire because releasing Malone, Bolston and Muir and putting Rodney Allen on IR leaves the Packers with just three true defensive tackles after keeping six at the position in the final cutdown last year.

The three tackles are Ryan Pickett, who missed all of camp with a hamstring injury; Colin Cole, who started all four preseason games in place of Pickett; and Johnny Jolly, who could be subject to a league suspension in connection with his pending felony drug possession charge in Houston stemming from a July 8 incident.

Defensive tackle Justin Harrell, the team's 2007 first-round draft pick, is on the physically unable to perform list and will miss at least the first six games.

While the team kept only nine defensive linemen, it kept
seven linebackers: Starters Nick Barnett, A.J. Hawk and Brady Poppinga; top backup Brandon Chillar, the team's only offseason free-agent signing; Abdul Hodge and Desmond Bishop, who both had outstanding training camps; and special teams standout Tracy White. Keeping seven linebackers likely cost Herron or Morency their roster spot.

As expected, the Packers kept both their rookie backup quarterbacks, second-round pick Brian Brohm and seventh-round pick Matt Flynn.

By releasing Culver, the Packers opted to keep Charlie Peprah, who missed all but the first week of camp with a hamstring injury. Peprah is the fourth safety, behind starters Nick Collins and Atari Bigby and top backup Aaron Rouse, while versatile Jarrett Bush will serve as the fifth cornerback and fifth safety.

Lumpkin, though, was the feel-good story of camp, and his story will continue.

"Oh, man, it's a dream come true," said Lumpkin, who finished the preseason as the Packers' leading rusher (38 carries, 153 yards, 4.0-yard average, one touchdown) while adding seven receptions for 59 yards and another TD. "Bouncing through all the trials and tribulations and continuing to fight and work hard for what I wanted to accomplish, it's exciting."

After his promising college career at Georgia was derailed by injury, the odds that Lumpkin, who came out of Stephenson High School in Stone Mountain, Ga., ranked as the No. 2 prep running back in the country, would make it in the NFL appeared remote.

But every day, he quietly and consistently performed in practice, and despite a key fumble late in the Packers' preseason-opening loss to Cincinnati, outplayed his competition.

In the Packers' 23-21 preseason-ending loss to the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night, Lumpkin rushed for 27 yards on 10 carries behind shoddy blocking but caught a team-high four passes for 33 yards.

Lumpkin spent part of the day Saturday playing cards with Lansanah, Smith, Porter and Jake Allen. After watching all four go to Lambeau Field to turn in their playbooks, Lumpkin wondered if he was next as the 5 p.m. cutdown deadline loomed.

"All I could do is sit by my phone and wait," Lumpkin said.

When it finally rang, it was running backs coach Edgar Bennett with the good news.

"He told me 'Congratulations,'" Lumpkin said. "And at that moment, I was all smiles."