Ok, so maybe not but I have heard that soph DE Derrick Lott got injured on his scooter yesterday and could miss some time, but how serious the injury is depends on what rumor mill you read. A deep cut to the bone or just a simple scratch, bottom line, unless the leg is broken or there is some tissue/muscle damage via a tear, I am going to say this injury shouldn't be that bad. I am sure more updates will be available later today. I know a lot of UGA faithful tend to believe the sky is falling with all this player movement, injuries etc but I just chalk it up to normal. In years past, we have had the players leaving or getting suspended due to off the field issues, so to me this off season is no different except that this year the issues have not been players breaking the law. I admit that I am concerned about losing Caleb King, I hated that Brent Benedict left, and of course the worst of them all, the injury to Trinton Sturdivant. But, we have to move on with the horses we have and I personally still think we have a lot of talent and ability to have a great season.
A few more tidbits before I get to the 2012 schedule, Brent Benedict is headed to Virginia Tech. I wish him the best and I am happy he picked a school we will not face unless it is a bowl game. He will have a chance to help VaTech beat up on the Insects so I hope that pans out. The AJC has an interview with Brent today, confirming that he had issues with Joe T and our strength/conditioning program. Now, I am no expert on weight training but I have to believe VT will have a pretty strong weight training program there. In reading the Q/A, it sounded to me like he didn't like the strength program under Coach T, talked to Coach Richt about it in hope he would allow him to do workouts like he wanted-in other words, be given special treatment, and when Coach Richt said no we can't do that, both parties agreed he should move on. I know Brent had a bad knee injury but UGA stuck with him after he injured the knee in HS, they brought him in and were patient allowing the knee to recover-helping him rehab the knee back to health. The kid does have a lot of good things to say about UGA etc but after reading what he said, I think Coach Richt made the right call. You can't start giving players special treatment-then others will want special treatment etc etc and that is when it becomes a lack of control within the program. I think honestly a lot of our problems in the past couple years were due to a lack of control-a lack of disicipline (both on and off the field), a lack of respect for coaches and teammates, lack of work ethic, entitlement, you name it. I am NOT saying Benedict was a kid that fits that description but I am saying I think Coach Richt is tired of being a guy that lets things slide. He realizes that he has to shape up the program or he will be shipped out. The fact remains, Benedict would have likely played some this year for us and been in line to start next season, if he would have just been able to deal and make the best of Joe T's workout program. To date he is the only player we have lost that has made it public they wanted out because of this reason. So, best wishes to this guy but I think we will be ok without him as well.
Caleb King made an official announcement yesterday, he is entering the NFL supplemental draft. Well, I hate to say it but I DOUBT Caleb will be drafed. He will be a free agent and I doubt a team will take a look at him-I hope he at least gets a shot but he REALLY needed his senior year to make a statement. Instead he made a negative statement by flunking out of school. I still say his best shot is to try the Canadian Football League or Arena Football.
As for our offense now that King is gone, well, this is just my opinion but this is what I believe we will have to some of the time at least. Both Murray and Crowell played in almost a spread offense during their HS years-QB in shotgun formation, with one back in the backfield. I doubt we turn our offense into a spread but I DO think Mike Bobo might have to actually think outside the I-formation box this year due to lack of depth at RB. We could employ the two back set-putting Figgins or Olgetree in the backfield or putting Figgins as an H-back, but I honestly do believe we need to run the spread type offense a good bit this year. Murray is a mobile QB that can move and throw the ball well on the run, Crowell is a guy that is good in space and has good cutback ability. I hope for us to run out of this formation a good bit but then also use the I-formation as is our normal base offense. I am also curious to see if Nick Marshall does indeed line up some in the wild dawg formation. I can see this maybe being the case a few times a game but simply put, Aaron Murray is too valuable to our offense to not have him under center or in shotgun formation 99% of snaps. Just throwing that out there, I have read others say the same thing, UGA running a spread, or NO WAY UGA should run the spread. I am just of the belief that you run plays that best utilize the talent you have at your disposal. I also think this type offense suits Carlton Thomas much more than does our traditional I.
Finally, our 2012 schedule appears complete and I REALLY like how it is set up.
Sept. 1: Buffalo
Sept. 8: at South Carolina
Sept. 15: Florida Atlantic
Sept. 22: Vanderbilt
Sept. 29: Tennessee
Oct. 6: at Alabama
Oct. 13: at Kentucky
Oct. 27: vs. Florida
Nov. 3: Ole Miss
Nov. 10: at Auburn
Nov. 17: Georgia Southern
Nov. 24: Georgia Tech
So, why do I love it, well here are my reasons. As much as I like having tough opponents to start a season, it can hurt you as well sometimes. The jury is still out on how this Boise game will help us this year, obviously a win is great but a loss, how does that impact us going into the key SEC game the next week. In 2012, unless we have a Michigan letdown, we beat Buffalo in game one and hopefully get a lot of PT for our reserves. Of course SCarolina is always tough regardless of year or location. We follow that up with another school we should handle before playing Vandy. Granted, Vandy can beat us as they did a few years ago but I really like us playing Vandy before UT as the chances of getting beat us still remain higher playing UT than playing Vandy. Now, of course the drawback to playing Vandy first is that then we have to play UT and Bama back to back which kind of stinks. But, at least UT is at home, so no back to back road games there. The next week is at Kentucky-that will be a tough game because it follows two physical games and it is also on the road, but talent wise we should always have the edge on UK. We then get another week off before the game in JAX, then play a home game against Ole Miss, on the road at AU. Two home games back to back to close the season against state rivals, but I like playing Ga Southern later in the year, as opposed to first game. Why, because a team in that division of football doesn't have the depth we have and the later you play them, the more beat up they are and the more film you have on them. They run a very similar offense to that crap the Insects run so we get back to back games against that offense, which I think helps us out. The one schedule change I wish we could make would be to play our west opponent-say like Ole Miss in the spot where we play SCarolina-flip those two. SCarolina is never going to have the quality depth like we do, they are improving in that area but still, I have always felt it is typically better to play SCarolina later in the year than early when they are fresh and healthy. If you look at this schedule though, I can see a 9 win season without question, maybe better. I think again, win the SCarolina game and 9 wins should happen-Buffalo, SCarolina, Fla Atlantic, Vandy, UT, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Ga. Southern and GT, that leaves Bama, UF and AU. Win one of those three and you have 10 win season. With Murray a JR, with Crowell a year wiser, hopefully the OL reserves will play some this year and give us some depth, another year of the D grasping the 3-4 and some of our stud D players being a year older, I think 2012 can be a really solid year. First things first, having a 9 or better win season in 2011. I think if we can win 9-10 games in 2011, the stage will be set for us to have a 10 win 2012 and when you start talking about double digit win totals, you never know what might happen.
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