Ok so today marks the last time I will blog for the year 2011-which happens to be the first year of my blog. I started this blog in January because I just like to write my opinions about my favorite school in the land-and because it was free and available, I said what the heck and just started it up. I have no idea how many people actually read this blog or follow it in any way, but it really doesn't matter if anyone follows, I plan to keep on going in the new year. I think 2012 is going to be a great year, well, maybe not so great for our hoops program and not sure about our baseball program either. BUT, after looking at our new schedule for 2012 in football, I feel REALLY good about us having another shot to play for an SEC title-and, if things break our way, possibly having a shot to play for a national title. Course, all of that is just speculation on my part and it seems UGA typically struggles when they are in the leader role. I think back to 2008, even before that back to 2004, and you just get an uneasy feeling in your stomach. But, as is the case with every new year I believe you should always start a year off being optimistic for the best. So let's quickly take a look at the 2012 football schedule-
Sept. 1 Buffalo
This school was 3-9 in 2011.
Sept. 8 at Missouri
First SEC game for Missouri-they finished 8-5 in 2011
Sept. 15 FLORIDA ATLANTIC
They were 1-11 in 2011
Sept. 22 VANDERBILT
Vandy is 6-6 heading to bowl game
Sept. 29 TENNESSEE
UT was 5-7 this year
Oct. 6 at South Carolina
Possible best record ever in Columbia this year if they beat Nebraska, enter game 10-2
Oct. 13 Open
Oct. 20 at Kentucky
5-7 in 2011
Oct. 27 vs. Florida (Jacksonville)
Worst season for Gators in MANY years, enter bowl 6-6 in 2011
Nov. 3 OLE MISS
New coach in place after horrible season in 2011, 2-10
Nov. 10 at Auburn
AU limps into bowl game at 7-5
Nov. 17 GEORGIA SOUTHERN
Southern made a pretty deep run in their playoffs, 11-3 final record
Nov. 24 GEORGIA TECH
Nerds enter Sun Bowl at 8-4
So if there was ever a schedule made for success, more than even 2011 because you replace Boise with Buffalo, you replace what was to be Bama with Missouri, I think this schedule qualifies. The good news for us, our roster in 2012 should be STRONG. What also helps, Mark Richt and Todd Grantham will be getting new deals, our recruiting class hopefully will follow suit and finish strong, then we have a great 2012 and again we have another dream team type class in 2013. Granted UGA always recruits well but we do not recruit on the same level as Bama or LSU-those two schools seem to always finish ahead of us, and look at how strong those schools are year in and year out. In fact, if you really look at that LSU team that beat us in the SEC title game, the biggest things that jump out to me, besides our losing the specials teams battle yet again, depth along the lines of scrimmage, in the secondary, and at running back. Those are areas where we need to get better and I believe we are getting better.
Before we can even talk about the 2012 fall season, we need to look at the first game of 2012, that being the Outback Bowl in Tampa this upcoming Monday. We play Michigan State and I believe the Spartans are the third best team we have played this year-I think only Boise and LSU are better than MSU-and we got beat by both of those two easily. Michigan State nearly beat Wisconsin in the first Big10 title game, coming within a roughing the kicker call from being in the Rose Bowl. MSU had three losses on the season, same as us with all three being away from home. They lost at Notre Dame 31-13, at Nebraska 21-3 and then @ Big10 title game 42-39. All their losses came against quality opponents, same as us, but unlike UGA they did beat two schools going to BCS games, Michigan and Wisconsin. This is a dangerous opponent and actually the two teams really do mirror each other in a lot of ways. Streaky offenses and stout defenses. Let's take a look at the Spartan starters on O and D.
Offense-Power I
OT-Dan France 6-6 304 Soph
OG Joel Foreman 6-4 310 Sr
C Travis Jackson 6-3 265 Fr
OG Chris McDonald 6-5 290 Jr
OT-Fou Fonoti 6-5 295 Jr
TE-Dion Sims 6-5 277 Soph
WR Keshawn Martin 5-11 185 Sr
WR BJ Cunningham 6-2 223 Sr
FB Todd Anderson 6-2 260 Sr
RB Edwin Baker 5-9 208 Jr listed but could be Le'Veon Bell 6-2 237 Soph
QB Kirk Cousins 6-3 202 Sr
A few things jump out to me about this side of the ball-first the center, that looks to be a big advantage for us-course last time we went against an undersized center (Boise) that kid got the better of our NT's but that was game 1 of the season. I have a feeling Jenkins or Geathers will demand double teams in this game. Another thing, WOW, the size of their TE and FB-big boys there and that will be interesting to watch. Course it appears both the big boys are blockers more than WR targets since Sims has 12 catches in 13 games while Anderson has 6 catches all year. Cunningham is the big threat, with 72 catches for 1240 and 12 TD's, while Martin also is a big weapon, with 62 catches for 642 and 4 TD's. Rushing wise they list Baker the starter but Bell is the leading rusher with 900 yards rushing and 11 TD's. The QB is a steady and polish SR in Cousins who has thrown for 3016 yards, 24 TD's and 7 Int's. This is an offense that has some balance and will be a good tough matchup for our defense.
Defense 4-3
DE Marcus Rush 6-2 250 Fr
DT Jerel Worthy 6-3 305 Jr
NT Anthony White 6-2 320 Jr
DE William Gholston 6-7 265 Soph
LB Chris Norman 6-1 225 Jr
LB Denicos Allen 5-10 218 Soph
LB Max Bulloch 6-3 240 Soph
CB Darqueze Dennard 5-11 185 Soph
S Isaiah Lewis 5-10 199 Soph
S Trenton Robinson 5-10 195 Sr
CB Johnny Adams 5-11 170 Jr
Ok, everyone knows that UGA has a great D but Michigan State is just behind us in most stats-and in pts allowed per game, they are ahead of us. Course we all know that a few of our games have had pts allowed inflated due to our poor special teams play all year and or turnovers by the offense. But, in looking at the Spartan D, I notice they are pretty young-much like we are, they will return all but one listed starter-we will lose only two, unless we lose someone to the draft of course. Their secondary, pretty small-and not very heavy either-a 170lb safety-I see Orson Charles having a big homecoming. I really can see us attacking the middle of the field as their LB's and safeties look to be possible passing game targets. We also have the height advantage outside with our tall lanky WR's. They have some big boys on the LOS so I wouldn't imagine we will produce a great run game against this defense, unless the passing game spreads them out enough to allow some running lanes. I really look for us to pass the ball around on this team quite a bit. I think both teams are going to have to pass to win this game honestly.
My keys to a UGA win will be to stop the MSU run and then come after Cousins-he is not a very mobile QB but he can move around a little bit. Also we can't turn the ball over and expect to beat a quality team like Michigan State. Of course I am also worried about our special teams play, that could become a factor. You also have to believe Michigan State is VERY motivated to win their bowl game, they have not had a good recent history in bowl games. Course our guys should be motivated to play as well-coming off the LSU game, this should give them a chance to get back on the winning track again and also, after our dismal bowl game last year, we should want to perform well. I think this is a going to be a VERY tight and close game. I think ultimately we have more talent than does MSU do I will pick us to win. I see the final score being in the 21-17 or 24-21 range.
Finally, looking at our hoops team, they have won 4 straight games now, with wins against Southern Cal, Mercer, Furman and Winthrop-wow, that was some game there, Winthrop had us beat but we made some clutch shots down the stretch to force OT and then win going away in OT. Next up is our last non conference game of the year, against Delaware State a team at 4-6 that we should handle. That would put us at 9-5 heading to SEC play. Now, that is about one game below what I had expected-I thought we would handle GT, instead they easily handled us-to me that is the ONLY bad loss we have thus far. We have lost to a good Cal team, games at Xavier, Colorado, and Cincinnati. Colorado we could have beat and probably should have but still they are decent and tough at home. Xavier is really good, as is Cal. Cincinnati is always a pretty good team. Again, that GT loss is the really BAD loss. This team is very much a work in progress. The FR Caldwell-Pope is playing pretty well, our leading scorer and you can tell very talented. Robinson, Ware and Williams, all playing good basketball. What is really killing us is no real inside game-Donte' Williams is doing ok, much improved over last year but not nearly the offensive threat we need. Marcus Thornton was doing a good job defensively and rebounding, not a threat offensively in the least but now he is hurt and out probably 3-5 weeks. The EURO kid Djurisic is doing a pretty good job but he is more a perimeter type player than inside force. The three bigs Fox brought in, Dixon, Florveus and Cannon are really nothing more than projects at this time-they can't score, don't really contribute much of anything on the floor. Bottom line, this is likely to a real struggle to win more than 5 conference games this year. First up in conference is a good Bama team at the Steg January 7th. After that back to back road game at UF and Vandy before returning home against Tenn and Ole Miss. I believe if this team can somehow, someway win the first three home games, we might inch toward 6-7 conference wins but if Fox can get this team above 5, I will consider him to have done a great job. This team just flat out scares me with lack of scoring punch but they do have some depth, they are capable of playing good D so maybe, just maybe with some luck they can win 6-7 conference games. That would put them at 15-12 or so, and with a TOUGH non conference schedule might qualify them for an NIT bid, that is the most optmistic I can be at this time.
Well, all for now, hope you all have a HAPPY NEW YEAR. If you are a regular reader, thanks for checking out my opinions, tolerating what I am sure are numerious spelling and gramatical errors-hey, back when I DID do some writing back in college, I had an editor!! I don't even do a spell check here because I am not getting paid and I figure even if I mispell something it is not butchered too bad. As for my grammar, again if you are that nitpicky you need not read!! I hope you all have a wonderful end to 2011 and hope 2012 is a great year.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
So glad things turned out so well for Richt and company
This time last year, there was a dark cloud hanging over Athens as UGA had to beat GT to even make a bowl game. Ok so they win that game but then get sent to Memphis to play Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl, to which it was obvious the team didn't care to be there by how they played, and the coaches didn't much care either-Coach Richt was dogged for weeks about his early decision to kick a FG instead of go for a first down inside teh UCF 5. People were angry, people were talking and the talk was not good. Course behind the scenes, changes were being made. Numerous players were shown the door or just chose to leave-or maybe a combo of the two. The coaches were out hitting the streets recruiting what would be called, "the DREAM TEAM". Spring practice rolled around, everyone seemed happy about the recruiting efforts-and many golf folks were thrilled the spring game did not interfere with that big tourney over in Augusta. Also in the works, a deal to put us in the spotlight opening week of the season, against Boise State. Yeah, we were struggling but surely we could handle a team like Boise. Then along comes that game and we lose it pretty badly after a decent showing in the first half. The next week is the first conference games against the team that won it last year, a team that we ALWAYS seem to play close games with. Sure enough, that game is VERY close, we turn in over 5 times, they have a big DL turn a fake punt into a nearly 70 yard TD run, yet we still lose by only 3. But, the damage is done, there are posts all over the message boards, who do you want as our new coach etc etc. The cloud was continuing to hang but the man we have in charge never gave up-in fact he told his players after the game against SCarolina to hold their heads high, we could right this ship and turn this thing around. Sure enough, they did right the ship and although some games were closer than maybe we all thought they should be, despite the fact our schedule was viewed as weak and several of our rivals were "down" this year, a team that puts 10 straight victories on the board is doing something right. Along the way, we all got to witness some young pups growing up and we realized, wow, this team has a lot of promise for the future. Malcolm Mitchell, Isaiah Crowell, Amarlo Herrera, Chris Conley, Ray Drew, Watts Dantzler, David Andrews all play worthy snaps from dream team to reality of depth charts. Q Harrow, Damian Swann, Nick Marshall, and Corey Moore, still more dream teamers that contributed as true FR. You then had players that had been around but were young making huge contributions, Mike Gilliard, Garrison Smith, Michael Bennett to name a few. You had a transfer come in and make All American, you had a stud of a safety move to LB and although hurt for much of the season, you can just see the talent. Of course how could we forget another dream teamer but not from HS, rather from JUCO to come in and plug the middle of our D, along with Geathers who also had very little impact until this year. We had running back by committee this year due to injuries and suspensions, yet we had our best running year since I believe 2002. Our OL really had zero depth but managed to make it through. Bottom line, this year to me brought a lot of satisfaction to me because all the negative quickly turned to positive as the year played out. As happy I was for UGA, I was equally as happy for Coach Mark Richt-this guy is our most succesful coach of all time. Some will say Dooley but I disagree with that. Mark Richt has brought so much to our program, but yet he was being called out and questioned constantly during the last two seasons, and for sure at the start of this year. Granted, everyone has the right to call out the head man, especially when he is getting paid a LOT of money to win football games. But, that being said, he has built the expectations so high that sometimes fans have to realize, not every year is going to be rosy. I was at UGA when Ray Goff was hired. His first year, he went 6-6, with a bowl loss to Syracuse, his second year-you know the magical 2nd year, my senior year as I went the JUCO route first, 4-7 final record. Now, Goff in years 3 and 4 did have strong seasons but then it went downhill from there. Jim Donnan had a losing year his first year in Athens, after that he picked up the pace, but eventually started a downward trend in record, and Jim was not the best PR representative of our program. While I enjoyed listening to him on the call in shows, many were offended. His handling of the Quincy Carter mess, amoung other things-like losing 3 straight years to Tech, spelled doom for Donnan. In came the OC from FSU, everyone knew immediately that this was a man of class, but we didn't know he coach coach football-until the hobnail boot game in Knoxville during his first season.
Now we are 11 years in, minus a bowl game, and Coach Richt is going to get a contract extension when the bowl game is over. I am thrilled because I like having a man like Mark Richt leading my alma mater. Have we won a national title yet-NO. Do I think we can win one with Richt in charge-YES. We have been awfully close to one a couple times before. The fact is, we have a coach that cares about his players and coaches. Here recently we learned he committed NCAA violations for paying assistants out of his own pocket when the former AD Evans refused to pay what Richt wanted. Now, granted he makes more than enough to give some money away BUT, how many coaches around the nation do you think actually DO give money out of their pocket. I bet very few. There was a recent story about Nick Saban stepping over a Dolphins player who was struggling to stay alive basically in the locker room, needless to say, I KNOW Mark Richt would not do such a thing. Sure, Nick Saban has two national titles, he will play for a third in another couple weeks, but for me, I would MUCH rather have a coach with class, dignity, compassion, and character than a man that ONLY cares about one thing, that would be to win a football game. I want to win, and I want to win a national title but if I have learned anything in my nearly 43 years of life, it is that there are FAR more important things in life than winning a football game. This time of year it especially comes into focus. If you have children, especially kids under say 10, the joy on their faces at Christmas time is one of the most special moments in the world. To know that your kids are happy, to spend time with your family and realize you never know how many more of these special times you will have, it just causes me to reflect on what is truly important in your life, that would be your family and your friends. Sure everyone has to work to survive but your job will always be there, will your family?? When you hear Mark Richt speak, you know he values his job greatly, and you know he is a competitor and he wants to win badly. BUT, you know also know he loves his family, he loves God a lot more than he loves UGA football.
I hope to blog again next week so until then, Merry Christmas. I hope everyone enjoys time with family and friends during this holiday season, and if traveling, be safe.
Now we are 11 years in, minus a bowl game, and Coach Richt is going to get a contract extension when the bowl game is over. I am thrilled because I like having a man like Mark Richt leading my alma mater. Have we won a national title yet-NO. Do I think we can win one with Richt in charge-YES. We have been awfully close to one a couple times before. The fact is, we have a coach that cares about his players and coaches. Here recently we learned he committed NCAA violations for paying assistants out of his own pocket when the former AD Evans refused to pay what Richt wanted. Now, granted he makes more than enough to give some money away BUT, how many coaches around the nation do you think actually DO give money out of their pocket. I bet very few. There was a recent story about Nick Saban stepping over a Dolphins player who was struggling to stay alive basically in the locker room, needless to say, I KNOW Mark Richt would not do such a thing. Sure, Nick Saban has two national titles, he will play for a third in another couple weeks, but for me, I would MUCH rather have a coach with class, dignity, compassion, and character than a man that ONLY cares about one thing, that would be to win a football game. I want to win, and I want to win a national title but if I have learned anything in my nearly 43 years of life, it is that there are FAR more important things in life than winning a football game. This time of year it especially comes into focus. If you have children, especially kids under say 10, the joy on their faces at Christmas time is one of the most special moments in the world. To know that your kids are happy, to spend time with your family and realize you never know how many more of these special times you will have, it just causes me to reflect on what is truly important in your life, that would be your family and your friends. Sure everyone has to work to survive but your job will always be there, will your family?? When you hear Mark Richt speak, you know he values his job greatly, and you know he is a competitor and he wants to win badly. BUT, you know also know he loves his family, he loves God a lot more than he loves UGA football.
I hope to blog again next week so until then, Merry Christmas. I hope everyone enjoys time with family and friends during this holiday season, and if traveling, be safe.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Long time no blogging, well it is that time of the year
So for those that do frequent my blog, I have not been here that much and that is likely to continue with the holidays coming up-just too busy to blog. Anyway, there is not much going on with UGA sports this week, with it being finals week. The hoops team had a very painful and quite pathetic effort against GT their last time out. Losing to that program is always HORRIBLE but to lose at home to them, for the first time since I was 7 years old-a LONG TIME AGO, and considering this Tech team is not very good at all-they will be lucky to win 3-5 games in the watered down ACC this year, just can't say how bad a loss that was. Next up is a game in Los Angeles this Saturday against an equally bad Southern Cal team. Hopefully Coach Fox has used his time off wisely and will change some things up going forwad. Here are my suggestions-get the most playing time to the following-Vincent Williams, Gerald Robinson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Donte' Williams and I guess by default, Marcus Thornton. The EURO kid-Nemanji Djurisic has potential if he will stop shooting so many threes. Bottom line, this team is challenged offensively. But, we do have depth-they might not all be SEC caliber players but they can run and jump and that is how I think Fox is going to have to approach this season-PRESS, PRESS and PRESS. Try to wear the other team out-course if teams break the press, they get easy scores but this team needs to get out and try to get offense in transition because we just don't have enough scorers on offense. What ends up happening is we toss the ball around the perimeter for 30 seconds, last man with the ball takes a 3-regardless of whether it is a good shot or not. Robinson and Williams do offer the ability to penetrate a zone and get some open looks but Caldwell-Pope, Ware, Nemanji are just not hitting them at a high enough percentage. This team can play well in spurts, typcially in the first half but then can't do anything after the break. Against Cincy and GT, last two home games, led at half but then dominated in the second half. This team is very frustrating to watch needless to say. A more disturbing thing is, Coach Fox is not recruiting all that well. He has picked up some decent talent but not some of the best in the state-Bama, Auburn, GT, Memphis, UVA, Vandy, they are all coming in here and taking high ranked kids in Ga than we are getting. I have always thought Coach Fox was a good X and O guy-he can coach but a coach needs to talent to work with and of course the person responsible for brining in that talent when it comes to college basketball is the head coach and his assistant coaches. Much has been made about how other schools are using AAU coaches, adding them to their staffs, or coaches that have VERY strong ties to AAU programs. I think Fox needs to look into this, he simply has got to have more connections to the AAU circuit to start building those relationships.
As for football, the Gala was last weekend and all went well. Below are the awards handed out, see below direct from UGA rivals site.
Senior center Ben Jones, sophomore quarterback Aaron Murray, sophomore linebacker Jarvis Jones, senior punter Drew Butler and redshirt freshman Kosta Vavlas took home the top awards at the University of Georgia football annual team Gala Saturday night at the Classic Center in Athens.
Ben Jones was named the recipient of the Vince Dooley Most Valuable Player of the Year Award, Murray was named the team's Most Valuable Offensive Player, and Jarvis Jones received Most Valuable Defensive Player honors. Vavlas and Butler were named Most Valuable Special Teams players.
Sophomore guard Chris Burnette and sophomore linebacker Alec Ogletree of Newnan were named winners of the David Jacobs Award as the players who, by example, portray courage, spirit, character and determination.
Ben Jones was also named the team's overall permanent captain for 2011. Junior tight end Orson Charles and senior guard Cordy Glenn were elected as the team's offensive captains, senior defensive back Brandon Boykin and Jarvis Jones were chosen as the defensive captains, and Butler was named the special teams captain.
The Leon Farmer Award for dedication to the strength and conditioning program was presented to Boykin and Ben Jones.
Outstanding Scout Team Awards went to redshirt freshman quarterback Greg Bingham, redshirt freshman linebacker Corey Campbell, senior cornerback Eric Elliot and sophomore cornerback Luis Capella of Augusta (special teams).
Most Improved Player Awards were presented to senior tackle Justin Anderson and Glenn (offense), junior defensive end Abry Jones, junior linebacker Mike Gilliard, of Valdosta and redshirt freshman safety Connor Norman (special teams).
Newcomer of the Year Award winners were redshirt freshman receiver Michael Bennett, freshman receiver Chris Conley, freshman receiver Malcolm Mitchell (offense), freshman linebacker Amarlo Herrera, junior nose guard John Jenkins of Meriden, Conn. (defense) and freshman defensive back Quintavius Harrow of Columbus (special teams).
Coaches Leadership Awards went to Charles, Murray and Ben Jones (offense), Boykin and senior defensive end DeAngelo Tyson and Butler (special teams).
The Governor's Cup trophy for the victory over Georgia Tech was officially presented by Shelton Stevens from Healthcare of Atlanta.
Of course UGA got the verbal from North Carolina RB Keith Marshall last week, this week from JUCO OL Mark Beard, a kid that has 3 years left to play and will enroll early. So, in two weeks now, UGA has recruited and got commitments from two very strong areas of need-RB and OL and both kids will be in school starting in January-that is OUTSTANDING. The two major areas of concern as UGA heads into 2012 is RB depth and OL depth. With these guys enrolling early, they will get to go through mat drills, spring practice, spring game, and then be on campus all summer-it is a HUGE advantage. We are also still in hot pursuit of Avery Young, the big OT from down in Florida, it is thought to between UGA and AU. With the coaching turmoil in Auburn, that could help our chances. Also Young grew up in Ga, his cousin is former player Thomas Davis. Along with Theus and Beard, getting Young would be a huge pickup considering we need a lot more depth on the OL. Visiting Athens today is Stephenson RB Mike Davis-who decommitted from UF last week. He is also going to visit a lot more schools but we at least have a shot at him. He is more a power/speed back, his brother James Davis was a standout at Clemson-a school that has also offered him so they are one to look out for. I think now that Richt is safe in Athens, our recruiting class is going to finish really strong. Probably not like last year but a top 10 class I feel sure.
I close with a congratulations to my local HS, the Grayson Rams. They totally dominated Walton to win the schools first state football championship. I have enjoyed watching this team play during the year and they did a great job winning the title last Saturday night, 24-0. Of course I continue to be amazed at the talent of the JR Robert Nkemdiche, he will be the top rated recruit in the USA next year. All the Bama rumors are accurate, I do think they lead for him this very moment but UGA is coming on strong and since he is a JR, that gives me hope that we still have time to swing him. I have noted on the Dawpost, Mickey Conn, his HS coach is someone that big Robert LOVES and he wants to please him-that is why I believe Bama leads as there might not be a bigger Bama fan than Conn. That being said, Grayson is a UGA community by and large and Mickey knows this. Also, if there is a HS coach that is more like Mark Richt that Mickey Conn, I would like to see him. This guy is a strong Christian man, he is bigtime family man, his boys are always on the field with him and his wife after the game-his oldest is a ball boy on the sidelines (usually wearing a Bama hat I might add). I don't know Mickey personally but our kids play in the same rec leagues and so I see him quite often-he seems like a very genuinely nice guy who loves his family, I totally respect that. So, I do think in the end Mickey will be happy with wherever Robert goes but I know deep down he wants him at Bama. But, I think if he doesn't go to Bama, Mickey would pick UGA as second choice because of Mark Richt, also because it would give the Grayson community-just about 40-45 miles from Athens, a chance to continue to watch Robert on the next level before he depart for Sunday afternoon football. All for now, hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
As for football, the Gala was last weekend and all went well. Below are the awards handed out, see below direct from UGA rivals site.
Senior center Ben Jones, sophomore quarterback Aaron Murray, sophomore linebacker Jarvis Jones, senior punter Drew Butler and redshirt freshman Kosta Vavlas took home the top awards at the University of Georgia football annual team Gala Saturday night at the Classic Center in Athens.
Ben Jones was named the recipient of the Vince Dooley Most Valuable Player of the Year Award, Murray was named the team's Most Valuable Offensive Player, and Jarvis Jones received Most Valuable Defensive Player honors. Vavlas and Butler were named Most Valuable Special Teams players.
Sophomore guard Chris Burnette and sophomore linebacker Alec Ogletree of Newnan were named winners of the David Jacobs Award as the players who, by example, portray courage, spirit, character and determination.
Ben Jones was also named the team's overall permanent captain for 2011. Junior tight end Orson Charles and senior guard Cordy Glenn were elected as the team's offensive captains, senior defensive back Brandon Boykin and Jarvis Jones were chosen as the defensive captains, and Butler was named the special teams captain.
The Leon Farmer Award for dedication to the strength and conditioning program was presented to Boykin and Ben Jones.
Outstanding Scout Team Awards went to redshirt freshman quarterback Greg Bingham, redshirt freshman linebacker Corey Campbell, senior cornerback Eric Elliot and sophomore cornerback Luis Capella of Augusta (special teams).
Most Improved Player Awards were presented to senior tackle Justin Anderson and Glenn (offense), junior defensive end Abry Jones, junior linebacker Mike Gilliard, of Valdosta and redshirt freshman safety Connor Norman (special teams).
Newcomer of the Year Award winners were redshirt freshman receiver Michael Bennett, freshman receiver Chris Conley, freshman receiver Malcolm Mitchell (offense), freshman linebacker Amarlo Herrera, junior nose guard John Jenkins of Meriden, Conn. (defense) and freshman defensive back Quintavius Harrow of Columbus (special teams).
Coaches Leadership Awards went to Charles, Murray and Ben Jones (offense), Boykin and senior defensive end DeAngelo Tyson and Butler (special teams).
The Governor's Cup trophy for the victory over Georgia Tech was officially presented by Shelton Stevens from Healthcare of Atlanta.
Of course UGA got the verbal from North Carolina RB Keith Marshall last week, this week from JUCO OL Mark Beard, a kid that has 3 years left to play and will enroll early. So, in two weeks now, UGA has recruited and got commitments from two very strong areas of need-RB and OL and both kids will be in school starting in January-that is OUTSTANDING. The two major areas of concern as UGA heads into 2012 is RB depth and OL depth. With these guys enrolling early, they will get to go through mat drills, spring practice, spring game, and then be on campus all summer-it is a HUGE advantage. We are also still in hot pursuit of Avery Young, the big OT from down in Florida, it is thought to between UGA and AU. With the coaching turmoil in Auburn, that could help our chances. Also Young grew up in Ga, his cousin is former player Thomas Davis. Along with Theus and Beard, getting Young would be a huge pickup considering we need a lot more depth on the OL. Visiting Athens today is Stephenson RB Mike Davis-who decommitted from UF last week. He is also going to visit a lot more schools but we at least have a shot at him. He is more a power/speed back, his brother James Davis was a standout at Clemson-a school that has also offered him so they are one to look out for. I think now that Richt is safe in Athens, our recruiting class is going to finish really strong. Probably not like last year but a top 10 class I feel sure.
I close with a congratulations to my local HS, the Grayson Rams. They totally dominated Walton to win the schools first state football championship. I have enjoyed watching this team play during the year and they did a great job winning the title last Saturday night, 24-0. Of course I continue to be amazed at the talent of the JR Robert Nkemdiche, he will be the top rated recruit in the USA next year. All the Bama rumors are accurate, I do think they lead for him this very moment but UGA is coming on strong and since he is a JR, that gives me hope that we still have time to swing him. I have noted on the Dawpost, Mickey Conn, his HS coach is someone that big Robert LOVES and he wants to please him-that is why I believe Bama leads as there might not be a bigger Bama fan than Conn. That being said, Grayson is a UGA community by and large and Mickey knows this. Also, if there is a HS coach that is more like Mark Richt that Mickey Conn, I would like to see him. This guy is a strong Christian man, he is bigtime family man, his boys are always on the field with him and his wife after the game-his oldest is a ball boy on the sidelines (usually wearing a Bama hat I might add). I don't know Mickey personally but our kids play in the same rec leagues and so I see him quite often-he seems like a very genuinely nice guy who loves his family, I totally respect that. So, I do think in the end Mickey will be happy with wherever Robert goes but I know deep down he wants him at Bama. But, I think if he doesn't go to Bama, Mickey would pick UGA as second choice because of Mark Richt, also because it would give the Grayson community-just about 40-45 miles from Athens, a chance to continue to watch Robert on the next level before he depart for Sunday afternoon football. All for now, hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Rumors, our society EATS THEM UP
Our society in 2011 thrives on rumors, thrives on getting information immediately-we can't or don't want to wait on anything because we HAVE TO know right now what is going on. I can only imagine how tough it must be for a young person today to imagine life without a computer, life without an iphone, ipod etc. Now we have instant gratification and even that is not instant enough for most it seems. This leads me to the latest and greatest rumors surrounding the UGA football program.
First most rumors centered around Isaiah Crowell. He has used up his welcome in Athens, Richt is going to dismiss him. OR, he is going to ask for his transfer because he has had enough OR he is having academic problems and thus will ask for his transfer because he going to be leaving Athens ASAP. Also, he smells like pot all the time so he is going to fail another drug test and be gone. I mean, I have heard just about everything possible except Crowell has been taken by aliens and will not play next year because they have said they will not bring him back until UGA meets certain demands!! Now, all the Richt to Texas A&M garbage is running rampant on the message boards-primarily driven by "those in the know" at A&M-as in their message board insiders. Richt and his wife have already made the trip to College Station, taken the tour, met with the AD and boosters have put together quite a package to land him-oh and he will make a decision before Monday. Ok, you NEVER say NEVER but this is about as close NEVER as I will go. Coach Richt is NOT going to A&M and I think that is pretty easy money were I a betting man. Now, I would love to offer up one Kirby Smart to the fine folks at A&M. I have NO IDEA whether or not he will be a good college head coach, but I do know I want him away from Bama. He is a former UGA player obviously but if there is anyone around the southeast that recruits more negatively towards Georgia than does Smart, I would like to know who he is. Kirby is the prime Bama recruiter in Georgia for Sab(t)an. Losing him would help our cause without question. Bama's D on the other hand would not miss a beat if he left, Sab(t)an would promote someone or hire someone and then Nick would still be heavily involved and little to no change would happen. So, let's just go ahead and say, Smart to A&M please. Speaking of coordinators leaving, Front Butt Charlie Weis left the Gators and Muschump after one year. When Mussy hired Big Charles, I thought what....., why would a offensive coordinator leave the NFL to come be an offensive coordinator in college, the only reason was to get another head coaching job-mission accomplished for big Charlie. Course little did I think that after UF had such a lousy offensive year that Charlie would get a gig this quick but we are talking about Kansas football here.
On the recruiting front, Keith Marshall is the big news this week and then we have the Gala this weekend-which is the prime recruiting tool Richt and company like to use. It is the tux party of the year, where our players get to eat some nice food and get awards while reviewing the season just completed. The atmosphere should be very positive this year, very upbeat. A lot of top recruits will be there including Avery Young the massive OT from Florida, also the committed LB from Stn Mtn-Eligwe, he committed to FSU, also Josh Harvey-Clemons is supposed to be there, and many more. A lot of our current commits will show up as well so this weekend should be a very positive experience for UGA football.
On a not so postive note, the mens hoops team was very bad the other night. Let me share my thoughts on this team-I posted on the Dawgpost earlier today-rather than type it over again, let me paste it below.
Nominate | Report
First most rumors centered around Isaiah Crowell. He has used up his welcome in Athens, Richt is going to dismiss him. OR, he is going to ask for his transfer because he has had enough OR he is having academic problems and thus will ask for his transfer because he going to be leaving Athens ASAP. Also, he smells like pot all the time so he is going to fail another drug test and be gone. I mean, I have heard just about everything possible except Crowell has been taken by aliens and will not play next year because they have said they will not bring him back until UGA meets certain demands!! Now, all the Richt to Texas A&M garbage is running rampant on the message boards-primarily driven by "those in the know" at A&M-as in their message board insiders. Richt and his wife have already made the trip to College Station, taken the tour, met with the AD and boosters have put together quite a package to land him-oh and he will make a decision before Monday. Ok, you NEVER say NEVER but this is about as close NEVER as I will go. Coach Richt is NOT going to A&M and I think that is pretty easy money were I a betting man. Now, I would love to offer up one Kirby Smart to the fine folks at A&M. I have NO IDEA whether or not he will be a good college head coach, but I do know I want him away from Bama. He is a former UGA player obviously but if there is anyone around the southeast that recruits more negatively towards Georgia than does Smart, I would like to know who he is. Kirby is the prime Bama recruiter in Georgia for Sab(t)an. Losing him would help our cause without question. Bama's D on the other hand would not miss a beat if he left, Sab(t)an would promote someone or hire someone and then Nick would still be heavily involved and little to no change would happen. So, let's just go ahead and say, Smart to A&M please. Speaking of coordinators leaving, Front Butt Charlie Weis left the Gators and Muschump after one year. When Mussy hired Big Charles, I thought what....., why would a offensive coordinator leave the NFL to come be an offensive coordinator in college, the only reason was to get another head coaching job-mission accomplished for big Charlie. Course little did I think that after UF had such a lousy offensive year that Charlie would get a gig this quick but we are talking about Kansas football here.
On the recruiting front, Keith Marshall is the big news this week and then we have the Gala this weekend-which is the prime recruiting tool Richt and company like to use. It is the tux party of the year, where our players get to eat some nice food and get awards while reviewing the season just completed. The atmosphere should be very positive this year, very upbeat. A lot of top recruits will be there including Avery Young the massive OT from Florida, also the committed LB from Stn Mtn-Eligwe, he committed to FSU, also Josh Harvey-Clemons is supposed to be there, and many more. A lot of our current commits will show up as well so this weekend should be a very positive experience for UGA football.
On a not so postive note, the mens hoops team was very bad the other night. Let me share my thoughts on this team-I posted on the Dawgpost earlier today-rather than type it over again, let me paste it below.
Nominate | Report
Posted: Today 9:25 AM
What can Fox do??
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
LSU was just better than us, great recruiting news
OK, so back to the blog after the SEC title game. I have to say, after that game was over I was really not overly disappointed. A tad bit frustrated that the game got so out of hand, because NO WAY do I think LSU is 32 points better than us, but it was just one of those games where once the snowball formed, it kept gathering speed and size and then just rolled over us. I think what stood out to me the most in the game was how much we miss having a solid run game, also how much we need a more physical and dominating OL. Granted, against the LSU front you are not going to run the ball much but we really didn't have enough of a run threat to give those guys any fear at all. After playing aggressive football in the first quarter, it looked as though our coaches pulled back a bit because our D was playing so very well. And let me just say, our D was outstanding in that game, 237 total yards, ZERO first downs in the first half. I think obviously the nation came away impressed with LSU but I do think despite the score that folks had to be impressed with our D and how it played. If all our guys come back, as Jarvis Jones has said they will, WOW. We just have to take care of Todd Grantham and Mark Richt, give them more money and years. Yeah, I know you don't want to go crazy with salaries and contract extensions but our athletic department HAS the money to pay guys deserving and to me after this year, those two guys deserve it. Grantham obviously because this D is getting better and better and kids WANT to play for him in his system. Richt because he survived a bad start and turned the season around, has built this teams confidence back up and we return a great nucleus of talent that should have us in contention for an SEC title again next year. Simply put, a head coaches needs to be under contract for 3-4 years at all times, so his job status is NOT used against him on the recruiting trail. More about recruiting coming up later. It was announced that we will play Michigan State in the Outback bowl Jan 2nd. I think that is a very interesting matchup-one of the best of the bowl season honestly. Michigan State has lost 3 games same as us-Notre Dame, Nebraska and the Big10 title game to Wisconsin-a team they also beat. The Spartans also easily handled Michigan, so they have beaten both Big10 BCS teams. If we should beat them, they would become our most impressive win of the year. So, a lot to play for in Tampa next month-and it will be a homecoming game for Aaron Murray and Orson Charles-that has to make it extra special for those guys. UGA has opened as the early 3 point favorite which sounds about right to me.
Let's take a look at 2012 for a minute, I will give you the Haney projected starters for next year. First let's take a look at defense, where we lose only Brandon Boykin and DeAnglo Tyson, assuming all come back as the players are currently saying. A LOT can happen between now and when these kids have to declare for the NFL so you always project with a grain of salt.
DT-Abry Jones SR
NG-Jon Jenkins SR
DT-Garrison Smith JR
OLB Cornelius Washington SR
ILB Christian Robinson SR
ILB Alec Ogletree JR
OLB Jarvis Jones JR
CB-Sanders Commings SR
S-Baccari Rambo SR
S-Shawn Williams SR
CB-Branden Smith SR
WOW, just take a look at that folks. Course the scary news is, other than Garrison Smith, we probably would be replacing the entire D for the 2013 season. Granted, we have a lot of younger guys that would get a lot of playing time-Ray Drew, Amarlo Herrera, Damain Swann, Nick Marshall, Corey Moore, possibly Kwame Geathers, Mike Thornton, etc etc but that will be a lot of talent leaving Athens after next year-you see that Robert Nkemdiche.
Now for the offense, I will assume Orson Charles comes back but right now I would say at best it is 50-50 on him. He had a great year and has the potential to work his way into a great draft position. One thing we do need to keep in mind now, becoming a first round draft pick is not very important. With the new labor deal the NFL worked out over the summer, even the 1st round picks will not make nearly as much as before but the later round guys also likely will make less than before. Here is a look at my projected offense-the OL is the biggest guessing game right now.
OT-Kenarious Gates JR
OG-Dallas Lee JR
C-David Andrews Soph
OG-Chris Burnette JR
OT-Watts Dantzler Soph or John Theus FR
TE-Orson Charles SR or Arthur Lynch JR (if Charles leaves of course)
WR-Tavarres King SR
WR-Malcolm Mitchell Soph
FB-Zander Ogletree JR
TB-Isaiah Crowell Soph
QB-Aaron Murray JR
The offense of course is much younger in terms of experience and starters than the D. Assuming Murray stays for his SR year, all would be back in 2013 except King and Charles, that is pretty impressive. King and Charles also play positions of great depth so their loss would not be as big as other spots. You also know that we have a bunch of young WR's already contributing, Crowell will certianly be pushed by current players and recruits, an interesting battle will take place to see who is #2 behind Murray at QB. I honestly believe if the OL group can gel and come together, next year figures to be a strong year. 2013, well, offensively I can see it as being a great year, but the D will be reloading. The good news though, the bullets we will reload with, many of those guys will be upperclassmen. Drew, Herrera, Moore, Swann, Marshall, etc, those guys will be juniors. This recruiting year is all about restocking the talent pile-I would suggest that there will be a lot of guys signed this year that will redshirt but we need a strong and deep class this year. Depth chart is truly where the two SEC elite programs have us beat-LSU/Bama. They have so much talented depth, they simpy reload each and every year. I think we are on our way to that now-when you see a position like LB or WR for example, where we suffer a lot of injuries but young guys step up and play extremely well, that is where you gain your strength. You have recruited talent that is good enough to come in and play early and not hurt you on the field.
Now taking a look at our current recruiting class, yestereday we picked up the #1 ranked multi purpose RB in the nation in Keith Marshall. This not only gives us back to back #1 backs in the nation, but it gives Mr. Crowell some top notch competition in practce. Marshall is an early enrollee which means he reports to Athens in early January-in time to go through MAT drills, in time to go through spring practice-in other words, he will be ready to roll come next August. He is a bright kid, with a 4.2 GPA, he will have time to pick up the offense, gain strength, and get started in the classroom. We still have 10-11 spots left in the class. Below is how I would break it down-
RB- Gurley and or Davis
WR-Patterson-the JUCO
LB-Lee and Eligwe (both currently commited to other schools but we still have a shot)
DE-Jenkins and Whitehead
OL-Young and maybe someone else or JUCO
CB/S-Elder
One final note, hoops team plays host to GT tonight. Both teams enter at 4-4. We really need to make it 3 straight over the Nerds tonight, then hopefully pick up a road win at Southern Cal, win the other non conference game to get to 10-4 before SEC play. I figure we might win 6 conference games, that would put us at 16-11 and have potential for an NIT bid. I don't see them team being NCAA caliber as just not enough scoring potential. Caldwell-Pope is certainly looks to be a good player, Donte' Williams is really playing better but overall we just can't score enough to win a lot of games. Tonight's game starts at 7p and will be televised on Fox Sports South. Go Dogs!
Let's take a look at 2012 for a minute, I will give you the Haney projected starters for next year. First let's take a look at defense, where we lose only Brandon Boykin and DeAnglo Tyson, assuming all come back as the players are currently saying. A LOT can happen between now and when these kids have to declare for the NFL so you always project with a grain of salt.
DT-Abry Jones SR
NG-Jon Jenkins SR
DT-Garrison Smith JR
OLB Cornelius Washington SR
ILB Christian Robinson SR
ILB Alec Ogletree JR
OLB Jarvis Jones JR
CB-Sanders Commings SR
S-Baccari Rambo SR
S-Shawn Williams SR
CB-Branden Smith SR
WOW, just take a look at that folks. Course the scary news is, other than Garrison Smith, we probably would be replacing the entire D for the 2013 season. Granted, we have a lot of younger guys that would get a lot of playing time-Ray Drew, Amarlo Herrera, Damain Swann, Nick Marshall, Corey Moore, possibly Kwame Geathers, Mike Thornton, etc etc but that will be a lot of talent leaving Athens after next year-you see that Robert Nkemdiche.
Now for the offense, I will assume Orson Charles comes back but right now I would say at best it is 50-50 on him. He had a great year and has the potential to work his way into a great draft position. One thing we do need to keep in mind now, becoming a first round draft pick is not very important. With the new labor deal the NFL worked out over the summer, even the 1st round picks will not make nearly as much as before but the later round guys also likely will make less than before. Here is a look at my projected offense-the OL is the biggest guessing game right now.
OT-Kenarious Gates JR
OG-Dallas Lee JR
C-David Andrews Soph
OG-Chris Burnette JR
OT-Watts Dantzler Soph or John Theus FR
TE-Orson Charles SR or Arthur Lynch JR (if Charles leaves of course)
WR-Tavarres King SR
WR-Malcolm Mitchell Soph
FB-Zander Ogletree JR
TB-Isaiah Crowell Soph
QB-Aaron Murray JR
The offense of course is much younger in terms of experience and starters than the D. Assuming Murray stays for his SR year, all would be back in 2013 except King and Charles, that is pretty impressive. King and Charles also play positions of great depth so their loss would not be as big as other spots. You also know that we have a bunch of young WR's already contributing, Crowell will certianly be pushed by current players and recruits, an interesting battle will take place to see who is #2 behind Murray at QB. I honestly believe if the OL group can gel and come together, next year figures to be a strong year. 2013, well, offensively I can see it as being a great year, but the D will be reloading. The good news though, the bullets we will reload with, many of those guys will be upperclassmen. Drew, Herrera, Moore, Swann, Marshall, etc, those guys will be juniors. This recruiting year is all about restocking the talent pile-I would suggest that there will be a lot of guys signed this year that will redshirt but we need a strong and deep class this year. Depth chart is truly where the two SEC elite programs have us beat-LSU/Bama. They have so much talented depth, they simpy reload each and every year. I think we are on our way to that now-when you see a position like LB or WR for example, where we suffer a lot of injuries but young guys step up and play extremely well, that is where you gain your strength. You have recruited talent that is good enough to come in and play early and not hurt you on the field.
Now taking a look at our current recruiting class, yestereday we picked up the #1 ranked multi purpose RB in the nation in Keith Marshall. This not only gives us back to back #1 backs in the nation, but it gives Mr. Crowell some top notch competition in practce. Marshall is an early enrollee which means he reports to Athens in early January-in time to go through MAT drills, in time to go through spring practice-in other words, he will be ready to roll come next August. He is a bright kid, with a 4.2 GPA, he will have time to pick up the offense, gain strength, and get started in the classroom. We still have 10-11 spots left in the class. Below is how I would break it down-
RB- Gurley and or Davis
WR-Patterson-the JUCO
LB-Lee and Eligwe (both currently commited to other schools but we still have a shot)
DE-Jenkins and Whitehead
OL-Young and maybe someone else or JUCO
CB/S-Elder
One final note, hoops team plays host to GT tonight. Both teams enter at 4-4. We really need to make it 3 straight over the Nerds tonight, then hopefully pick up a road win at Southern Cal, win the other non conference game to get to 10-4 before SEC play. I figure we might win 6 conference games, that would put us at 16-11 and have potential for an NIT bid. I don't see them team being NCAA caliber as just not enough scoring potential. Caldwell-Pope is certainly looks to be a good player, Donte' Williams is really playing better but overall we just can't score enough to win a lot of games. Tonight's game starts at 7p and will be televised on Fox Sports South. Go Dogs!
Friday, December 2, 2011
LSU here we come
So now it is time to really see how far we have come this year. From the 0-2 start, FIRE RICHT, FIRE BOBO, FIRE the players, to SEC EAST CHAMPS-victories over UT, UF, AU, GT in the same year since what 1980?? Our first 10 game win streak since, the 80's perhaps?? Much has been made of our weak schedule-I will freely admit, it HAS been weak but let's take a look at it further. Boise is still a top 10 team, SCarolina is right with us, top 15 team with two losses. We lost both those games, Boise beat us badly but not SCarolina. In fact, you could say that Spurrier continues to be the thorn in our side even at SCarolina. Think about it, 2007 the loss at home kept us out of the SEC title game, most likely a shot at the national title-I think we take care LSU that year-they limped into that game with UT. This year, that loss is keeping US out of this SEC game potentially setting up to be a huge BCS showdown-winner gets title shot. Kind of disgusting to think about SCarolina being such a thorn. Obviously Coastal Carolina, Ole Miss, UT, New Mex State and UK are all teams not going to bowl games. Miss State, Vandy, AU, GT, and UF are all at least 6 win teams. So, we can say 7 of 12 games were against teams with 6 or more wins. Granted, not a strong schedule but not as bad as some make it out to be. Take a look at VaTech's schedule, certainly not any tougher-I say weaker. Heck, even Bama didn't exactly have the toughest schedule-they played Penn State early-they are not bad but have no offense, Boise is better put it that way. They played the two west powers LSU/Arky at home, they got Vandy, UT and UF from the east, North Texas, Kent State, Ga Southern. Everyone that says UGA avoided the top three from the west, how about saying LSU and Bama avoided the top two from the east??? Sure an argument could be made that had LSU/Bama played SCarolina and UGA, they would still have the same records while the east teams would have two more losses-but nothing is guaranteed in college football. Which leads us to the SEC title game.
EVERYONE expects LSU to beat us tomorrow. I mean, most think the game will be a laugher-the spread has gone up to 14 pts, it might be 16pts by kickoff. There have been some excellent posts on the UGA fan messsage board Dawgpost this week breaking down LSU. Rather than me take the time and effort to do the research, I will copy paste the information and of course give the author FULL credit-but the posts are so well done, I couldn't do anything nearly as well done. First is LSU pass defense stats, post made my jorge99, very good information here. Keep in mind that Mr. College football-the KING on 680, Chuck Oliver has stated how LSU has 6 NFL stars playing in their secondary so UGA will not have much luck throwing the football. Ok, so I will admit, LSU has great talent and we have some young pups catching passes but I do think we CAN have some success throwing against this team if we protect Murray-that is the key to our offensive gameplan.
LSU PASS DEFENSE
EVERYONE expects LSU to beat us tomorrow. I mean, most think the game will be a laugher-the spread has gone up to 14 pts, it might be 16pts by kickoff. There have been some excellent posts on the UGA fan messsage board Dawgpost this week breaking down LSU. Rather than me take the time and effort to do the research, I will copy paste the information and of course give the author FULL credit-but the posts are so well done, I couldn't do anything nearly as well done. First is LSU pass defense stats, post made my jorge99, very good information here. Keep in mind that Mr. College football-the KING on 680, Chuck Oliver has stated how LSU has 6 NFL stars playing in their secondary so UGA will not have much luck throwing the football. Ok, so I will admit, LSU has great talent and we have some young pups catching passes but I do think we CAN have some success throwing against this team if we protect Murray-that is the key to our offensive gameplan.
LSU PASS DEFENSE
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
SEC title game here we come, great win against PJ and company
I know we have bigger fish to fry but man, it NEVER gets old beating the Insects from North Avenue. Especially now with Paul Johnson in place. That guy, well, I am really surprised he gets ANYONE to play for him the way he cusses out his players when they come to the sideline. He is just a total jerk and idiot as well. There is no doubt he is very confident in himself as offense coordinator but yet if you look at his record at GT against his biggest rivals, unfortunately for Paul he can only play Clemson one time a year-well, he won his ACC title by getting to play them twice. He is 4-1 against them, but against UGA, Miami and VaTech, a total of 3-9. Of course it is easy to figure out why that is-those three teams have great athletes on defense and also on offense-so despite the scheme used by GT, those teams have figured it out and then use superior athletes to get it done. Oh and might I add, great coaching as well. I wonder if Mark Bradley is not having second thoughts about calling Paul Johnson a genius, using Chan Gailey's recruited talent to win an ACC title (well no longer as it was stripped) during his second year in 2009. The only win he has against us was in 2008, a game we had a big lead but fell apart and only lost by 3 points. The common theme in all the games, Tech has ZERO defense and our D while not great the first 3 years-Willie's last stand was a pretty impressive D performance in 2009, but this year we totally dominated the Tech offense. I KNEW Johnson was worried when he started doing the inside counter runs with his A-backs. That meant he was fully aware he could NOT run up the middle on us with his B-back consisently, he witnessed our speed on the edges and figured his best bet was to run those plays that honestly, I have not seen them run all year. He furthered panicked when he started throwing the ball to start the second half-and you could tell Tevin Washington was SCARED to death of our D with how he threw the ball. To the credit of Mike Bobo, he knew that GT could NOT stop our pass game, even with our lack of running game so he stuck with it. When the game was sealed, he then turned to the run game and we iced it. Ken Malcome, I thought did a pretty good job and needs to get more reps-more than Carlton Thomas-yes, the kid had a great game against Auburn but it is pretty obvious the AU run defense is pretty bad-Bama ran all over them this past Saturday.
One encouraging sign we have noticed time and time again this year, when injury happens, someone steps up and plays maybe even better than the starter. When Ogletree got hurt, Herrera and Gillard stepped up-even more so when Robinson went down. When Gates got hurt early, Dallas Lee stepped him and did a great job. When Crowell has been hurt, several backs have stepped in to fill the void, when Lee got hurt, Gates came back in and did outstanding-in fact, he might now be our best blocker on the team. Likewise, when Tyson went out on the second play against GT, Garrison Smith stepped in and yesterday won DL of the week for the SEC. He had the crucial stop on 3rd and goal at our two on Tech's first scoring drive-held them to a FG which really did set the tone for the game. So now, when you think about next year, assuming our JR's stay, we have our replacement for one of our two SR's we lose on the defense in Tyson. With Boykin, we have several candidates to choose from. Bottom line, the quality/depth we are starting to build is what championship teams do, RELOAD.
Speaking of championships, we have a shot at one this Saturday afternoon. Yes, EVERYONE is aware just how good LSU is. Just watch ESPN at any time of the day and you will find out just how dominating and good both LSU and Bama truly are. At this point, it really seems as if the SEC title game has no implications on the national title game-LSU is assured a spot in the game. What is bothersome to me, Bama appears locked in there as well even without playing for the SEC title. I just think it is totally wrong for a rematch to happen, regardless of whether Bama is the best team left to play LSU-LSU BEAT THEM at home, they should not have to beat them again. That gives Bama a second shot at a title, when they had their shot and blew it. Course the BCS system is flawed anyway so what is new. I am hopeful that Oklahoma State beats OU by 2 touchdowns this week. I also hope VaTech beats Clemson by two TD's in the ACC title game. Now, the Cowboys lost to an average at best Iowa State team but it was on the road and in OT. VaTech lost at home by 20 points to Clemson, a team that has lost 3 of its last 4. So, to me if Oklahoma State beats OU on Saturday, they would be the most likely to jump over Bama. Despite what the ESPN "experts" want, I think there are enough voters that HATE the SEC looking to move ANYONE above Bama so their is not a rematch. I hope it happens because I just don't honestly think Bama deserves that shot and if they do get it, I will be a HUGE LSU fan that night.
On the recruiting trail, December 6th is decision day for Keith Marshall-one of the top ranked running backs in the nation, out of Raleigh, NC Millbrook HS. All my sources are saying he is a UGA lock at this point, let's hope that is the case. It is apparent Isaiah Crowell is a talent back, but it is also apparent he is not durable enough to be our only elite RB. We are in the lead for Marshall and also most believe for his friend and fellow North Carolina product, Todd Gurley. Let's hope the Marshall commitment helps kick off the 2012 class, a class that so far is not ranked all that high but also a class that has about 10-12 spots left to fill. The season we have had, Coach Richt being safely off the hot seat, I think Marshall will get the ball rolling nicely.
One final thought on the SEC title game, I really believe that the major difference between the two teams coming into Saturday-DEPTH, especially at RB, and also OL. We have no depth at either position and I will be honest, our OL really concerns me in this game-mostly Bean Anderson. He has not been as good as I had hoped this year, he seems to have slow feet at times. We must have some sort of run game to mix in with the pass against this talented and deep defense. From all indications, Crowell will be back this week and he needs to be 100%. Also, hopefully Tyson can play, we need depth on the DL and LB's because LSU wants to run power football-and if we can slow that down, putting the ball in Jefferson's hands, or Lee if he comes in, I will take my chances. Both have shown tendencies to throw picks if you get a little rush on them. Course as Jefferson showed last week, he does have the ability to run which is another weapon that Lee does not offer. Regardless, I look at this game as a survival game-meaning, the longer we survive and hang, the better our chances will be. Other than Bama, no team has been able to really survive and make a game of it with LSU in the second half. We have been in tight games a lot more than they have. Let's force it to a 4th quarter game and then take our chances.
One encouraging sign we have noticed time and time again this year, when injury happens, someone steps up and plays maybe even better than the starter. When Ogletree got hurt, Herrera and Gillard stepped up-even more so when Robinson went down. When Gates got hurt early, Dallas Lee stepped him and did a great job. When Crowell has been hurt, several backs have stepped in to fill the void, when Lee got hurt, Gates came back in and did outstanding-in fact, he might now be our best blocker on the team. Likewise, when Tyson went out on the second play against GT, Garrison Smith stepped in and yesterday won DL of the week for the SEC. He had the crucial stop on 3rd and goal at our two on Tech's first scoring drive-held them to a FG which really did set the tone for the game. So now, when you think about next year, assuming our JR's stay, we have our replacement for one of our two SR's we lose on the defense in Tyson. With Boykin, we have several candidates to choose from. Bottom line, the quality/depth we are starting to build is what championship teams do, RELOAD.
Speaking of championships, we have a shot at one this Saturday afternoon. Yes, EVERYONE is aware just how good LSU is. Just watch ESPN at any time of the day and you will find out just how dominating and good both LSU and Bama truly are. At this point, it really seems as if the SEC title game has no implications on the national title game-LSU is assured a spot in the game. What is bothersome to me, Bama appears locked in there as well even without playing for the SEC title. I just think it is totally wrong for a rematch to happen, regardless of whether Bama is the best team left to play LSU-LSU BEAT THEM at home, they should not have to beat them again. That gives Bama a second shot at a title, when they had their shot and blew it. Course the BCS system is flawed anyway so what is new. I am hopeful that Oklahoma State beats OU by 2 touchdowns this week. I also hope VaTech beats Clemson by two TD's in the ACC title game. Now, the Cowboys lost to an average at best Iowa State team but it was on the road and in OT. VaTech lost at home by 20 points to Clemson, a team that has lost 3 of its last 4. So, to me if Oklahoma State beats OU on Saturday, they would be the most likely to jump over Bama. Despite what the ESPN "experts" want, I think there are enough voters that HATE the SEC looking to move ANYONE above Bama so their is not a rematch. I hope it happens because I just don't honestly think Bama deserves that shot and if they do get it, I will be a HUGE LSU fan that night.
On the recruiting trail, December 6th is decision day for Keith Marshall-one of the top ranked running backs in the nation, out of Raleigh, NC Millbrook HS. All my sources are saying he is a UGA lock at this point, let's hope that is the case. It is apparent Isaiah Crowell is a talent back, but it is also apparent he is not durable enough to be our only elite RB. We are in the lead for Marshall and also most believe for his friend and fellow North Carolina product, Todd Gurley. Let's hope the Marshall commitment helps kick off the 2012 class, a class that so far is not ranked all that high but also a class that has about 10-12 spots left to fill. The season we have had, Coach Richt being safely off the hot seat, I think Marshall will get the ball rolling nicely.
One final thought on the SEC title game, I really believe that the major difference between the two teams coming into Saturday-DEPTH, especially at RB, and also OL. We have no depth at either position and I will be honest, our OL really concerns me in this game-mostly Bean Anderson. He has not been as good as I had hoped this year, he seems to have slow feet at times. We must have some sort of run game to mix in with the pass against this talented and deep defense. From all indications, Crowell will be back this week and he needs to be 100%. Also, hopefully Tyson can play, we need depth on the DL and LB's because LSU wants to run power football-and if we can slow that down, putting the ball in Jefferson's hands, or Lee if he comes in, I will take my chances. Both have shown tendencies to throw picks if you get a little rush on them. Course as Jefferson showed last week, he does have the ability to run which is another weapon that Lee does not offer. Regardless, I look at this game as a survival game-meaning, the longer we survive and hang, the better our chances will be. Other than Bama, no team has been able to really survive and make a game of it with LSU in the second half. We have been in tight games a lot more than they have. Let's force it to a 4th quarter game and then take our chances.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Preview the Nerds, HAPPY THANKSGIVING
Ok, so not much time this week to blog, short work week, holidays etc but I do want to give a preview of the upcoming game against the in state rival, THE INSTITUTE. Unfortunately, I work so close to that place, I can smell the body odor of the Turkey neck himself, Paul Johnson. Ok, so you get the point that I DO NOT LIKE Georgia Tech. I will say, I have a lot of friends that are GT alums and fans. Most are truly good people and very good friends-in fact one of the best friends I have in the world happens to be a GT alum. He is NOT typical of their fanbase though. Here are all the common traits of the typical GT alum and fan. VERY smart, NERDY, arrogant (a know it all) and they have a superiority complex. That is the common theme for most Tech folks, in fact I often say about Techies, they are very book smart but very ignorant when it comes to common sense. Now I have a brother in law that is a Techie and while a good guy he does exhibit some of the traits I mentioned. Another interesting trait to watch is his passion for his alma mater in football-he could care less if they are struggling but he is ALL IN if they are winning-to borrow from Auburn. That is typically the way of the GT faithful and one thing is for certain, those folks HATE UGA probably more than we hate them. Bottom line, when it comes to football, we are their Florida Gators, they seem to find ways to lose to us most every year. I HOPE that continues yet again this year. The thing about Tech is, I have always wanted to beat them because I can't stand the arrogance of the general fan base and their players-they buy into the UGA is a football factory, we are true student-athletes, YEAH RIGHT. But with Paul Johnson at the helm, it has gone to another level. It is very similar to when George O'Leary was coaching over there, the coaches themselves are PERFECT for that fanbase because they themselves are so arrogant. So, that makes this game even more important. Johnson has really been full of bulletin board material this week-here is a sampling from the AJC-
After practice Monday, Tech coach Paul Johnson sarcastically played the woe-is-us card.
“They’ve got a heck of a team,” Johnson said. “Won nine in a row, SEC East champs. Hopefully we can stay with them.”
Johnson interrupted a question about his players not needing much motivation this week by saying they are “probably scared.”
“Personally, I think the conference thing is way overblown. How are you going to evaluate? Are you looking at the top two teams in the conference or are you going to take the conference as a whole? There’s four SEC-ACC games Saturday. Let’s see what happens. Who’s favored in the Clemson-South Carolina game? Who’s favored in the Florida-Florida State game? Wake-Vandy? I don’t know. But you see what I mean? Now, if we’re just talking about Alabama and LSU, that’s different.”
He was asked about the strength of the Dogs’ defensive line. He responded with some praise but added, “I don’t know. We’ve played some really good players. [North Carolina's] Quinton Coples is a first-round draft pick. [Clemson's] Brandon Thompson is a pretty good player. This won’t be the first good players we’ve seen.”
He was asked about Georgia tight end Orson Charles. He responded with some praise but added: “We’ve played against other tight ends who are really good. The tight end at Clemson [Dwayne Allen] is probably an early-round draft pick in the NFL.”
Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson, whose oft-unfettered tongue and unwillingness to back down to rival Georgia have earned him the admiration of Tech fans, apologized for a poor choice of words on his radio show Tuesday night.
Near the end of his show, a caller, presumably a Georgia Bulldogs fan, came on the air and said, “Hello? Hello?” and then began barking before either hanging up or being cut off. Johnson responded, “Hello? Hello? He just got off from Walmart.”
Johnson, who earlier in the day had commented how most Georgia fans he encounters are cordial, said, “Anybody who calls into a radio show and barks is either retarded or doesn’t have a life.”
Now, take all of that into account and then read what Mark Richt said about GT yesterday-
Taking a look at the GT starting lineups, no doubt we have a big size advantage (and I will add a big talent edge as well).
Offense Triple Option
OT Ray Beno 6-2 290 Soph
OGWill Jackson 6-3 285 Soph
C Jay Finch 6-3 283 Soph
OG Omoregie Uzzi 6-3 300 JR
OT Phil Smith 6-5 292 JR
WR Stephon Hill 6-5 200 JR
WR Tyler Melton 6-0 206 SR
HB-A back Roddy Jones 5-9 202 SR
HB-A back Orwin Smith 6-0 202 JR
FB-B back David Sims 6-0 218 Soph
QB Tevin Washington 6-1 205 JR
Defense 3-4
DE Jason Peters 6-4 277 SR
NT Logan Wells 6-2 299 SR
DE Izaan Cross 6-4 292 JR
LB Jeremiah Attaochu 6-3 235 Soph
LB Daniel Drummond 6-3 240 Soph
LB Julian Burnett 5-10 222 JR
LB Steven Sylvester 6-2 240 SR
CB Louis Young 6-1 201 Soph
S Rashad Reid 5-10 191 SR
S Isaiah Johnson 6-2 195 Soph
CB Rod Sweeting 6-0 184 JR
Ok, so the first thing that jumps out to me is they are very young on the OL, and not overly big. They have guys that are more short and stocky, can move well to block for the option attack. Put it this way, the ONLY OL we recruited that I recall out of their group was Uzzi who happens to be their biggest OL. Their backs are small, even Sims for the B-back position is very small compared to the 230-240 guys before, Dwyer and Allen. Of course their biggest playmaker this year has been Orwin Smith-and he did not play last week but will play this week-I doubt he will be 100% however. As I have said before and will say again, IF our NT's can take care of the middle dive, with the speed, power and athletic ability of our OLB and also the strength and power of our DE's, I really like our chances. I am really curious to see how our D stacks up on Saturday. IF they can play smart, assignment football, I really want to see how much success GT can have running the ball. They can't pass the ball, they will pull out a deep pass here and there but that is because they get the corners to bite on their play fakes-I think our corners can feel secure enough with the other 9 that they can play bump/tight man coverage and adjust to the play as it comes to them. Hill is a big kid height wise but pretty thin, Commings should be able to match up with him after facing some bigger guys this year.
As for the Tech D, they do have more experience on this side of the ball and they have had moments this year of playing pretty solid D-the most impressive being the game against Clemson. They will no doubt come after Murray early and often with blitz packages, let's face it, they have to do that to create some possible turnovers. They have proven time and time again this year that a good QB can and will pick them apart if given time, so I look for them to pressure Murray often. I would imagine they will also do their best to stop our run game, hopefully we get Crowell and Thomas back-we have to have balance but we also have to utilize our TE's, TE's have killed GT all year, also take some deep shots on their corners. They are not short corners but I feel our guys can beat them deep-and certainly some crossing patterns as well. I watched VT run their white WR in some crossing routes and burn them time and time again. There is no doubt our OL has a HUGE size advantage as is usual this year, and especially againt GT. They do actually have a good group of LB's so we will have to do a good job picking those guys up on blitzes and against our run. If we can have some balance and control the ball, thus giving our D some breaks/rest, I really like our chances to win this game.
I look for this game to have some scoring and it will depend on how we adjust to the option and how well our offense clicks to see how this game shakes out. The last three games against PJ and company, we have scored 42, 30, and 42, to expect us to not score much would be probably not a wise thing. Course under PJ, they have scored 45, 24, and 34 against us. SO, all that being said, I predict us to win this game 38-28. The way I see it going is GT comes out strong early, maybe taking 7-0 or 10-0 lead perhaps but the second quarter has been our quarter here lately and I would expect us to get back into it and maybe lead at half 21-14 of maybe behind 21-14, then in the second half we score a couple of TD's while they get one or two. I think we probably ice the game mid fourth quarter with a TD/FG and then run the clock out on them. This game is scary because we do have the bigger fish game next weekend in the dome but, I simply think we have way too much talent and I really can see our defense punishing some of their guys-I don't hope for any injuries but the way we hit QB's and smaller RB's, if we get clean shots in on their guys early, they are going to be feeling it all game long and will be tensing up during the game trying to anticipate another hard hit.
I hope everyone that stops by to read my blog has a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Let us all remember how blessed we truly are. Let us enjoy all our time spent with family and friends and not take anything for granted. Let us enjoy our spouses, parents, children, siblings, and friends letting them know either by words or actions just how much they mean to us. Life is short so let us all get along and be thankful for all our blessings. AMEN.
Go Dogs and thanks for reading.
After practice Monday, Tech coach Paul Johnson sarcastically played the woe-is-us card.
“They’ve got a heck of a team,” Johnson said. “Won nine in a row, SEC East champs. Hopefully we can stay with them.”
Johnson interrupted a question about his players not needing much motivation this week by saying they are “probably scared.”
“Personally, I think the conference thing is way overblown. How are you going to evaluate? Are you looking at the top two teams in the conference or are you going to take the conference as a whole? There’s four SEC-ACC games Saturday. Let’s see what happens. Who’s favored in the Clemson-South Carolina game? Who’s favored in the Florida-Florida State game? Wake-Vandy? I don’t know. But you see what I mean? Now, if we’re just talking about Alabama and LSU, that’s different.”
He was asked about the strength of the Dogs’ defensive line. He responded with some praise but added, “I don’t know. We’ve played some really good players. [North Carolina's] Quinton Coples is a first-round draft pick. [Clemson's] Brandon Thompson is a pretty good player. This won’t be the first good players we’ve seen.”
He was asked about Georgia tight end Orson Charles. He responded with some praise but added: “We’ve played against other tight ends who are really good. The tight end at Clemson [Dwayne Allen] is probably an early-round draft pick in the NFL.”
Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson, whose oft-unfettered tongue and unwillingness to back down to rival Georgia have earned him the admiration of Tech fans, apologized for a poor choice of words on his radio show Tuesday night.
Near the end of his show, a caller, presumably a Georgia Bulldogs fan, came on the air and said, “Hello? Hello?” and then began barking before either hanging up or being cut off. Johnson responded, “Hello? Hello? He just got off from Walmart.”
Johnson, who earlier in the day had commented how most Georgia fans he encounters are cordial, said, “Anybody who calls into a radio show and barks is either retarded or doesn’t have a life.”
Now, take all of that into account and then read what Mark Richt said about GT yesterday-
“We have Georgia Tech coming up. Coach (Paul) Johnson and his staff have done a fantastic job during the time he’s been there. They are really an outstanding football team and one that we really have a lot of respect for and one that we know we have our work cut out for us. Anybody who has ever played Coach Johnson’s offense, they know it’s an awful lot of work to get done in a short amount of time. We’re thankful that we don’t have school this week. It helps us to get in a few more walkthroughs and a few more meetings.Now you "get the picture" as Munson would say, the difference between having class and showing respect for your opponent, and being arrogant and showing no class.
“The toughest part for us it to get the scout team to try to vaguely resemble it. It’s hard to simulate what we are going to experience during the game. That will be one of the greatest challenges of the week as far as scout team to do a great job. They are number two in the nation in rushing and number six in the nation in pass efficiency. Third downs, which are so huge and we all understand how important it is to get an offensive team off the field, they are in the top five in the country in third down conversions. As we all know, Coach Johnson has a habit of going for it on fourth down too, and they make an awful lot of their fourth downs. That’s even more devastating, knowing that a lot of times if they don’t make it on third, they’ll make it on fourth, so they’ll continue the drive and put the pressure on your defense and your football team through that.
“I can’t imagine the atmosphere being anything but electric. I know that our players will be looking forward to the challenge. I’m sure they will too. We’re ready to prepare for that.”
Taking a look at the GT starting lineups, no doubt we have a big size advantage (and I will add a big talent edge as well).
Offense Triple Option
OT Ray Beno 6-2 290 Soph
OGWill Jackson 6-3 285 Soph
C Jay Finch 6-3 283 Soph
OG Omoregie Uzzi 6-3 300 JR
OT Phil Smith 6-5 292 JR
WR Stephon Hill 6-5 200 JR
WR Tyler Melton 6-0 206 SR
HB-A back Roddy Jones 5-9 202 SR
HB-A back Orwin Smith 6-0 202 JR
FB-B back David Sims 6-0 218 Soph
QB Tevin Washington 6-1 205 JR
Defense 3-4
DE Jason Peters 6-4 277 SR
NT Logan Wells 6-2 299 SR
DE Izaan Cross 6-4 292 JR
LB Jeremiah Attaochu 6-3 235 Soph
LB Daniel Drummond 6-3 240 Soph
LB Julian Burnett 5-10 222 JR
LB Steven Sylvester 6-2 240 SR
CB Louis Young 6-1 201 Soph
S Rashad Reid 5-10 191 SR
S Isaiah Johnson 6-2 195 Soph
CB Rod Sweeting 6-0 184 JR
Ok, so the first thing that jumps out to me is they are very young on the OL, and not overly big. They have guys that are more short and stocky, can move well to block for the option attack. Put it this way, the ONLY OL we recruited that I recall out of their group was Uzzi who happens to be their biggest OL. Their backs are small, even Sims for the B-back position is very small compared to the 230-240 guys before, Dwyer and Allen. Of course their biggest playmaker this year has been Orwin Smith-and he did not play last week but will play this week-I doubt he will be 100% however. As I have said before and will say again, IF our NT's can take care of the middle dive, with the speed, power and athletic ability of our OLB and also the strength and power of our DE's, I really like our chances. I am really curious to see how our D stacks up on Saturday. IF they can play smart, assignment football, I really want to see how much success GT can have running the ball. They can't pass the ball, they will pull out a deep pass here and there but that is because they get the corners to bite on their play fakes-I think our corners can feel secure enough with the other 9 that they can play bump/tight man coverage and adjust to the play as it comes to them. Hill is a big kid height wise but pretty thin, Commings should be able to match up with him after facing some bigger guys this year.
As for the Tech D, they do have more experience on this side of the ball and they have had moments this year of playing pretty solid D-the most impressive being the game against Clemson. They will no doubt come after Murray early and often with blitz packages, let's face it, they have to do that to create some possible turnovers. They have proven time and time again this year that a good QB can and will pick them apart if given time, so I look for them to pressure Murray often. I would imagine they will also do their best to stop our run game, hopefully we get Crowell and Thomas back-we have to have balance but we also have to utilize our TE's, TE's have killed GT all year, also take some deep shots on their corners. They are not short corners but I feel our guys can beat them deep-and certainly some crossing patterns as well. I watched VT run their white WR in some crossing routes and burn them time and time again. There is no doubt our OL has a HUGE size advantage as is usual this year, and especially againt GT. They do actually have a good group of LB's so we will have to do a good job picking those guys up on blitzes and against our run. If we can have some balance and control the ball, thus giving our D some breaks/rest, I really like our chances to win this game.
I look for this game to have some scoring and it will depend on how we adjust to the option and how well our offense clicks to see how this game shakes out. The last three games against PJ and company, we have scored 42, 30, and 42, to expect us to not score much would be probably not a wise thing. Course under PJ, they have scored 45, 24, and 34 against us. SO, all that being said, I predict us to win this game 38-28. The way I see it going is GT comes out strong early, maybe taking 7-0 or 10-0 lead perhaps but the second quarter has been our quarter here lately and I would expect us to get back into it and maybe lead at half 21-14 of maybe behind 21-14, then in the second half we score a couple of TD's while they get one or two. I think we probably ice the game mid fourth quarter with a TD/FG and then run the clock out on them. This game is scary because we do have the bigger fish game next weekend in the dome but, I simply think we have way too much talent and I really can see our defense punishing some of their guys-I don't hope for any injuries but the way we hit QB's and smaller RB's, if we get clean shots in on their guys early, they are going to be feeling it all game long and will be tensing up during the game trying to anticipate another hard hit.
I hope everyone that stops by to read my blog has a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Let us all remember how blessed we truly are. Let us enjoy all our time spent with family and friends and not take anything for granted. Let us enjoy our spouses, parents, children, siblings, and friends letting them know either by words or actions just how much they mean to us. Life is short so let us all get along and be thankful for all our blessings. AMEN.
Go Dogs and thanks for reading.
Monday, November 21, 2011
EAST champs, loss of a legend-RIP Larry Munson
Before I get to the UGA victory of Kentucky, I want to start out remembering the greatest play by play man to ever call a football game, Larry Munson. I can remember first hearing Larry back in the 70's, when my Dad would listen to the game on our OLD radio in the kitchen-back in those days, only one college game was typically on every week so Larry was truly the way to "get the picture" back in those days. He would come on the air and would say, "get the picture, Dogs in red helmets, red jersey with a black strip, with the silver britches", he would paint a picture of not only the teams uniforms but the stadium itself. When the game started, he would describe it in such a way you felt like you were at the stadium. You felt like you were playing in the game, you and Larry were teammates and the game was going on around you. Everyone will remember his famous calls, and they were so incredibly good that you can still remember them years after. But, for me, it was just that sense of comfort that Larry was there, he was calling the game and you knew he would pull the Dogs through victory but many times you would be exhausted after the game was over, because he kept you on the edge of your seat making the call. You knew just how much he loved UGA, you could hear it in his voice-and when you are a fan of the Georgia Bulldogs, for your announcer to share that love and passion with you as you listen, that is something special. The guys today try to avoid being too much of a homer-Scott Howard is certainly a homer and I think does a fine job, but he is no Larry and Scott would tell you as much himself. There will NEVER be another announcer to call UGA football any better than Larry Munson. I am sad to know he passed but glad he did get to see some of the game on Saturday-to see UGA beat Kentucky and win the east. To see his beloved program turn around from last year, I think Larry could rest in peace knowing order had been restored. I know the Munson family is in mourning and my prayers are with them now. But, the UGA family is in mourning as well, Larry was one special man and everyone that ever got to hear him call a UGA football game can attest to how special the man truly was. RIP Larry, you might be gone but you will never be forgotten.
Here is the official Larry Munson website where you can go hear some clips of the man that made UGA special to so many fans throughout the years. I have been doing a lot of reading about Larry this morning, reading a lot of tributes and I think one of the things that stands out the most to me is how many fans from opposing teams have taken the time to leave messages about how great Larry was. That speaks volumes when the other side can realize just how special the man was, even though you wanted UGA to lose against your school, you still loved to hear Larry call the game and pull for UGA.
http://www.larrymunson.com/
Ok, now back to UGA football as in this past weekend and moving forward. The game was in one word, UGLY. But, it was a WIN and that is all that truly matters. Think about it, in SEC games this year against a conference most believes (and rightfully so I might add) is VERY top heavy, check out our scores. SCarolina we lost by 3, Ole Miss we only won by 14, Miss State won by 14, UT only by 8, Vandy by 5, UF by 4 and UK by 9. So if you look at SEC games besides the Auburn game, and brake it down by the east standings, we lost to second place SCarolina, we beat third place UF by 4, fourth place UT by 8, fifth place Vandy by 5, last place UK by 9. We struggled in SECe games, so maybe we all should have expected what happend against UK afterall.
I think what happened on Saturday is twofold actually. First of all, there WAS a letdown involved, yes as crazy as that sounds when we are playing to win the east title. The players are human and they know how bad UK has been this season. Regardless of what the coaches try to do to get a kid to play his best, the kids have to make it happen. So, I personally believe our players at least early on were suffering from thinking about last week more than focusing on this week-even the defense didn't play the greatest early on. The other factor in this game was obviously the running back situation. I give Harton and Malcome a lot of credit, they did their best and other than each have a fumble, I thought both guys ran hard and tough. But, they are #4 and 5 on the depth chart for a reason. Without the balance, and with Murray having an off day, our offense didn't look good at all. Thankfully the D came to play, especially in the second half and once we got the lead before the break, you felt like the game was ours. Also a positive to come out of the game was better special teams play-KO return was much improved and forced a TO. Punt return was good, Walsh was 4-4 on FG attempts, Butler was booming his punts again. So, two out of three units played extremely well on Saturday. Next up is the state rivalry game and on paper, this is a game we should win-and I say that because we should OWN the lines of scrimmage in this one. I will break it down later this week, but we have a big size and talent advantages along the lines, and I really like our D matchup with the GT OL, and also like the fact that our secondary-both corners and safeties are GREAT open field tacklers. I also LOVE the speed and athletic ability of our LB's, you have to like players like Jarvis Jones, Ogletree, Gillard, Washington, Herrera and Robinson playing against this offense. Granted, it is unique and they will get some yardage but our guys are fast and so talented, it makes me feel better. If Murray can have time to throw, he can and will pick this GT secondary apart. I have watched nearly every team they have faced pick them apart and we have better WR's as a group than any team they have faced this year. We have tight ends that will give them fits, and if Crowell/Thomas can come back and play and give us some balance on offense, I can see us easily putting up 30+ points. But, GT will give us everything they got and we have to be ready to play and not be thinking about the SEC title game. I think the fact we will NOT have a clue who we are facing until Friday evening for the SEC title, is a GOOD thing for preparation this week. The coaches need to spend 100% of the time and energy focusing on this game. The SECe title can't be taken away from us but we need to win our state title before we play for the SEC title. We have a much better/talented team than does GT but as we found out against some lesser teams this year, it doesn't matter how much talent you have, it is how you play on the field. Heck, just look at this last weekend in college football to see where teams you would NEVER think could beat the big boys, did just that. Iowa State over Okie State, Baylor over OU, Oregon gets beat up by a good but not great SC team at home, that great Bama D gave up a lot of offense to Ga. Southern (who runs the same offense as does GT). You can never take anyone for granted in college football and I have confidence our guys will be ready to take it to GT on Saturday.
Here is the official Larry Munson website where you can go hear some clips of the man that made UGA special to so many fans throughout the years. I have been doing a lot of reading about Larry this morning, reading a lot of tributes and I think one of the things that stands out the most to me is how many fans from opposing teams have taken the time to leave messages about how great Larry was. That speaks volumes when the other side can realize just how special the man was, even though you wanted UGA to lose against your school, you still loved to hear Larry call the game and pull for UGA.
http://www.larrymunson.com/
Ok, now back to UGA football as in this past weekend and moving forward. The game was in one word, UGLY. But, it was a WIN and that is all that truly matters. Think about it, in SEC games this year against a conference most believes (and rightfully so I might add) is VERY top heavy, check out our scores. SCarolina we lost by 3, Ole Miss we only won by 14, Miss State won by 14, UT only by 8, Vandy by 5, UF by 4 and UK by 9. So if you look at SEC games besides the Auburn game, and brake it down by the east standings, we lost to second place SCarolina, we beat third place UF by 4, fourth place UT by 8, fifth place Vandy by 5, last place UK by 9. We struggled in SECe games, so maybe we all should have expected what happend against UK afterall.
| Sep. 3 | Boise State | L 21-35 | |
| Sep. 10 | South Carolina | L 42-45 | |
| Sep. 17 | Coastal Carolina | W 59-0 | |
| Sep. 24 | at Ole Miss | W 27-13 | |
| Oct. 1 | Miss. State | W 24-10 | |
| Oct. 8 | at Tennessee | W 20-12 | |
| Oct. 15 | at Vanderbilt | W 33-28 | |
| Oct. 29 | at Florida | W 24-20 | |
| Nov. 5 | New Mexico St. | W 63-16 | |
| Nov. 12 | Auburn | W 45-7 | |
| Nov. 19 | Kentucky | W 19-10 |
I think what happened on Saturday is twofold actually. First of all, there WAS a letdown involved, yes as crazy as that sounds when we are playing to win the east title. The players are human and they know how bad UK has been this season. Regardless of what the coaches try to do to get a kid to play his best, the kids have to make it happen. So, I personally believe our players at least early on were suffering from thinking about last week more than focusing on this week-even the defense didn't play the greatest early on. The other factor in this game was obviously the running back situation. I give Harton and Malcome a lot of credit, they did their best and other than each have a fumble, I thought both guys ran hard and tough. But, they are #4 and 5 on the depth chart for a reason. Without the balance, and with Murray having an off day, our offense didn't look good at all. Thankfully the D came to play, especially in the second half and once we got the lead before the break, you felt like the game was ours. Also a positive to come out of the game was better special teams play-KO return was much improved and forced a TO. Punt return was good, Walsh was 4-4 on FG attempts, Butler was booming his punts again. So, two out of three units played extremely well on Saturday. Next up is the state rivalry game and on paper, this is a game we should win-and I say that because we should OWN the lines of scrimmage in this one. I will break it down later this week, but we have a big size and talent advantages along the lines, and I really like our D matchup with the GT OL, and also like the fact that our secondary-both corners and safeties are GREAT open field tacklers. I also LOVE the speed and athletic ability of our LB's, you have to like players like Jarvis Jones, Ogletree, Gillard, Washington, Herrera and Robinson playing against this offense. Granted, it is unique and they will get some yardage but our guys are fast and so talented, it makes me feel better. If Murray can have time to throw, he can and will pick this GT secondary apart. I have watched nearly every team they have faced pick them apart and we have better WR's as a group than any team they have faced this year. We have tight ends that will give them fits, and if Crowell/Thomas can come back and play and give us some balance on offense, I can see us easily putting up 30+ points. But, GT will give us everything they got and we have to be ready to play and not be thinking about the SEC title game. I think the fact we will NOT have a clue who we are facing until Friday evening for the SEC title, is a GOOD thing for preparation this week. The coaches need to spend 100% of the time and energy focusing on this game. The SECe title can't be taken away from us but we need to win our state title before we play for the SEC title. We have a much better/talented team than does GT but as we found out against some lesser teams this year, it doesn't matter how much talent you have, it is how you play on the field. Heck, just look at this last weekend in college football to see where teams you would NEVER think could beat the big boys, did just that. Iowa State over Okie State, Baylor over OU, Oregon gets beat up by a good but not great SC team at home, that great Bama D gave up a lot of offense to Ga. Southern (who runs the same offense as does GT). You can never take anyone for granted in college football and I have confidence our guys will be ready to take it to GT on Saturday.
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