No guarantee, but Richt sees possibility of ‘tremendous’ season
Bacarri Rambo drew praise from Mark Richt for the speed with which he picked up Georgia's new defensive scheme. (Associated Press)
College football head coaches have to walk a fine line when talking to booster clubs.
On the one hand, the fans who gather in the spring and summer to hear the coach preview the forthcoming season are looking to get revved up.
But there’s always the danger of getting expectations too high, as Jim Donnan found out when he said before the 2000 season, “I’ve been waiting 55 years to be the head coach of a football team that has this much potential. And I guarantee you that we’re going to get it done.”
Mark Richt usually is a bit more circumspect, sort of in the Vince Dooley mode, though he did fire up one booster gathering earlier this spring by saying, “Are we going to beat Florida? You’re dadgum right.” To be fair, of course, he didn’t say it would necessarily be this season.
Richt walked the line on Wednesday night when he talked to the Georgia Bulldog Club in Albany. As reported by the Albany Herald, the coach said he believes that if his coaches can sign all the “Dream Team” in-state talent they’re after, those players will win a national championship before they leave UGA. As for the coming season, Richt said, “I think a lot of the ingredients are there for a tremendous season. We’ve just got to go out and do it.”
So, no Donnanesque guarantee, but a pretty optimistic outlook.
In other comments to the Albany club reported by the Herald, Richt said he nearly tried to hire Todd Grantham as defensive coordinator a month earlier than when he finally did make the offer. But, he said, “I’m not sure we would have gotten him then. I’m not going to say why, but circumstances changed.”
Discussing some of the southwest Georgia players on the team, Richt offered a couple of appraisals that should ease the minds of folks worried about the Dogs’ retooled secondary. He praised safety Bacarri Rambo, who said he might have picked up Grantham’s new 3-4 scheme the quickest of the defensive players. “He’s got a great understanding of what to do.”
And he said he thought cornerback Vance Cuff “was the most improved player in the spring. He’s fast —might be the fastest guy on the team.”
As for quarterback Aaron Murray, Richt kept expectations in check in Albany. He said he wants the redshirt freshman to have a “healthy respect” for the ball (don’t turn it over like Joe Cox, in other words). His advice to the inexperienced Murray, who has 10 returning offensive starters around him: “You don’t have to be the hero.”
An enthusiastic but safe outing for the coach, I’d say.
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237 comments Add your comment
The Big W
May 27th, 2010
2:55 pm
Richt’s right about Murray. Jury is out, and he’s on a short leash after his Spring interception-a-rama (Murray threw more int’s than td’s in 3 srping games—3 int’s—2 td’s). If Murray falters, Gray or Mason will be more than ready.
The offense and special teams has to carry Georgia for the 1st 3 games until the defense learns the 3-4. If Georgia can inch by South Carolina & Arkansas, the defense will be ready to carry the team by the Florida game. And Richt dominates South Carolina & Ga Tech head to head.
The schedule sets up for Richt—not too many years Richt will see an offense this good, a punter/kicker combo this good, and a defense this strong.
Tron Jackson
May 27th, 2010
2:56 pm
Installing a new defense? Many of the same defensive players who struggled last year? A freshman QB who’s never taken a snap in the SEC? I don’t see this being a great season
The Big W
May 27th, 2010
2:58 pm
Richt is so right about this year’s recruiting class. We need Lemay to lead, and lasso em’ in. He’s the QB in the country, he needs to bring the talent with him, raid that ESPN TOP 150.
Note:
Georgia ALREADY HAS 7 of the ESPN TOP 150. And it’s only May. Dream team in route. Grantham, Belin, Lakatos, Garner all need to get there dream guys too.
Anyone can get lucky 1x, but it takes greatness to sustain it. Richt’s the man for the job, if anyone can set a new record for consecutive wins, it’s Mark Richt.
samuel
May 27th, 2010
2:59 pm
Looks like another boring 10-2 or 9-3 season. Can’t win the big ones.
Eisendawg
May 27th, 2010
2:59 pm
Nate, Bryan, and all non-believers – Why waste your time knocking UGA on here when you can go to Vegas and bet your home, or life savings against UGA. You can’t lose right? Here’s an opportunity for you to win sure money instead of gambling with the lottery. Go ahead, don’t miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime. Bet it all!!
Blackberry Cobbler
May 27th, 2010
3:02 pm
The ingredients have always been there.
The results haven’t.
That’s why CMR has 2 more years max to get things turned around.
The time for excuses is long gone.
The Big W
May 27th, 2010
3:12 pm
Cynics will always see the glass half empty, no matter how good the future looks.
we have heard that before
May 27th, 2010
3:15 pm
The cynics and pessimist all came out of the woodwork in 2001 & 2006. Said Richt’s future next season wasn’t bright. They were WRONG!
Richt finished #3 IN 2002, and #2 in 2007.
The cynics are ALWAYS wrong when it comes to Mark Richt because they don’t understand what makes him great.
Joe
May 27th, 2010
3:24 pm
Here we go again……you dont hear this kind of crap from UF, Bama, Ohio State, UC+SC., Texas……that is our problem- we talk so much smack in the spring/summer, the players start beleiving they are great and then the fall is a bust….why dont we just shut up and prove it on the field this year. We always tell everyone how great we are but the players never back it up. Before I really beleive and buy in to what Coach Richt is saying- I am gonna wait to see if his boys really do man up this year.
Bulldog59
May 27th, 2010
3:27 pm
Dan, my 2 cents…. I left the G-Day game with an uneasy feeling about Murray. He got a little rattled. But, bottom line, I agree with you on O, we will probably run the ball down a lot of team’s throats in 2010. Murray won’t resemble Stafford in any form or fashion.
On D, lots of good things coming….emphasis on fundamentals, better tackling, DBs playing tighter, not worrying about crossing boundries, pressure, pressure, pressure, etc. We’ll make some mistakes early, but the D should show a pattern of sustained improvement over the season. Grantham, Belin, and Lakatos are a huge improvement on our staff.
SC, Arkansas, Florida, and Auburn will be very tough SEC games for us this year. We win the rest of our schedule. UGA goes 6-2 (or better) in the SEC and wins the East. Conventional wisdom says you lose a couple with a freshman QB.
silly uga fans
May 27th, 2010
3:27 pm
big w,
Richt is 1-1 against the current GT HC, that is not dominating. I know UGA beat GT all day long with Gailey so stop fuming over my post but those days are done and I don’t expect either team to enjoy long winning stretches as things currently sit. This year will be interesting with both teams new Ds and UGA with a new QB and GT with a new line and deep threat.
HBTD
May 27th, 2010
3:30 pm
I sense another fun season to be a dawg!!
DirtyDog
May 27th, 2010
3:32 pm
Wow, this article is rich…..hey Dawgs: Why don’t you focus on beating KY. first before you go making any conference championship rings for 2010. Keep building that “Dream Team” CMR, “Dream” being the key word here.
AceDawg
May 27th, 2010
3:33 pm
Richt says the same thing about every quarterback these days. Some figure it out, some don’t. Murray gives me the feel of a “winner” for what it’s worth. But I was pretty high on Cox before 2009 started, and he only turned out OK… and was fine with Tereshinski before the season started…
Eisendawg
May 27th, 2010
3:34 pm
The two biggest criticisms I’ve heard about UGA football over the last few years have been the directional kick-offs and the soft zone prevent defense, and in spite of these, we still won a bunch of football games. Unfortunately, having talented players isn’t enough when you play other teams with talented players. An offense normally has a big advantage because it should know what it’s doing, but the defense doesn’t. The best way to counter that is to confuse the offense at to whats coming and where it’s coming from. With the new scheme and personel, I can see how Mark Richt is excited.
Jeff
May 27th, 2010
3:37 pm
Let’s see….hmmmmmso if we sign the dream team here, they will win a NC before they leave UGA. How funny- that’s the same thing that was said when Matthew Stafford came….he was the savior that would lead us to the NC.
The Most Interesting Man Alive
May 27th, 2010
3:42 pm
With Murray performing like a Heisman Trophy winner at G day, I smell National Championship. Wait that was Mettenberger wasn’t it?
Dawg 3/20
May 27th, 2010
3:43 pm
Just like 2008 Coach Richt?
http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/si_online/covers/images/2008/0812_large.jpg
The Most Interesting Man Alive
May 27th, 2010
3:44 pm
we have heard that before, what makes him great; the fine young men he is building minus of course the 30+ that have been arrested in the past 3 years.
1eyedJack
May 27th, 2010
3:45 pm
Stafford was just a hired gunslinger. I never got the impression that he bled red and black.
Guess Who
May 27th, 2010
3:48 pm
Georgia SUCKS!!!!!
The Most Interesting Man Alive
May 27th, 2010
3:49 pm
Sweet Dawg 3/20, A partyboy, babydaddy and a dancer. All me players.
Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce
May 27th, 2010
3:53 pm
Hey Georgia boys, don’t forget to pack those cute little black pants and black helmets for your annual whooping down here by the St. Johns.
dogsbite
May 27th, 2010
3:55 pm
Talk, talk,talk, your bite is always big in the summer, then in the fall, your bite has no teeth. Wonder why that is?
South Ga Dawg
May 27th, 2010
3:55 pm
I see 3 losses this season. Auburn, FL, and Tech.
DAWG DAZ
May 27th, 2010
3:57 pm
Keep in mind that some day you’ll need Murray to bring you back, so all you people who want to run a conservative game and hang on to a lead and hold your breath until the buzzer rings should be preparing yourselves for a loss or two. CMR teams tend to not blow anyone out, rather they allow people to stick around to the very end, and some times things just don’t work out. Hopefully the defense will be holding the other teams down, and the offense can score and get a few scores up. What’s wrong with attacking and putting the other team back on their heels. You have all of these great receivers and you’re still talking about the next coming of a Herschel Walker type of running game. Keep with that style of play and UGA will be finishing behind the same teams. Open up the offense and if Murray can’t get it done, then dial it back. Better to be aggressive and make the other team work, than to be predictable and just hanging on like it has been the past few years. Just an opinion.
Dawghater
May 27th, 2010
3:59 pm
Would CMR mean a year like the one UGA was on the cover of SI ranked #1. How did that work out?
The Ghost of Wally Butts
May 27th, 2010
4:00 pm
My wish list for 2010 Season:
1. Cut the hair.
2. Don’t dance.
3. Stay out of the Clark County Jail.
4. Speak the English language clearly in interviews.
5. No gansta rap over the stadium loud speakers.
6. Jimbo Fisher at FSU? 0 and 12, to spite the anti-Bowden crowd.
7. Lame Kitten at USC? 0 and 12, to the enjoyment of all.
8. Bobby “Pig Sooey” Petrino? Drop letters in the lockers and move on.
9. Expand the SEC to include Clemson, Tech , FSU – drop Vandy.
10. Boo Michael Adams the minute he steps on the field.
Billy Jack could fight
May 27th, 2010
4:01 pm
South Ga Dawg..??!! Tech you gotta be kidding….we’ll rush for 400yds
ThreeSheets
May 27th, 2010
4:06 pm
You all wish. Where is Whitegoat when you need him.
1eyedJack
May 27th, 2010
4:06 pm
I knew a Billy Jack once. He was red-headed with freckles and couldn’t whip an egg into an omelet. Some folks said he was retarded.
Hayseed Dixie
May 27th, 2010
4:07 pm
UGA has National Championship caliber facilities, recruits and money.
And they’ve had it for several years now.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
May 27th, 2010
4:08 pm
Here is my great season FL win, Tech win
everything else I could care less because I know there isnt a chance for NC with all the changes that have been made
BS Patrol
May 27th, 2010
4:10 pm
Oh yeah, this should keep everyone grinning over the MD weekend.
“We will run the ball down our opponents throats with our stable of RBs (Ealey & King)” .I’m killin’ me.
chazzo
May 27th, 2010
4:13 pm
Last season was just a few turnovers and/or calls away from being a heck of lot better than it turned out. Not blaming things on the schedule, but the last two have been brutal. Not so much the teams but the arrangement. There was a season or two under Green and then DJ, that a lighter schedule seem to hurt. The guys didn’t have to overcome that confidence building hurdle or two. The Gators suffered from that last year. The timing of big games and rivals is crucial. This year’s schedule looks ripe for UGA. Enough challenges and enough breathers. It is not insurmountable; it is not a blow over.
The year UF won the NC with Leak and Tebow, they fielded one of the best teams in college football history, and they played a the tough schedule. I will give them that. Ron Zook had put together won helluva team. The second NC was all Tebow and Charlie Strong.
chazzo
May 27th, 2010
4:14 pm
make that one helluva team. wish there was an edit function.
St. Richt
May 27th, 2010
4:16 pm
How2fish, I’d agree we’ve been terrible in bowl games the last 2 years but give me a break with the bad teams in bad conferences stuff. LSU was one year removed from a national championship and plays in the SEC, which even I can admit is the best conference hands down. And Iowa had more future NFL players on their roster this year than any other team in the country. Look at all of the players they had drafted this year and all of the players who stayed who are projected to be picked on the first day of next year’s draft. I can tell you that I didn’t give them enough credit and went to Miami expecting to steamroll them. But I came away with a different point of view- that Iowa team was loaded. Seems like the entire defense will end up playing on Sundays..
For what its worth, I think Georgia will have a good season. I would just think by now the Dawg nation and CMR would have learned to shut his pie hole. You have more offseason NC’s than any team in the country.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
May 27th, 2010
4:17 pm
The Ghost of Wally Butts good list
I like 2,3,5,7,and 10
The SEC doesnt need a highschool size fan base in TECH it already has Vandy but I do like FSU and Clemson
I would add beat FL
Destroy Tech then show The GREAT AND MIGHTY Paul BUYNAN Johnson the last 5 mins of the game on the big screen instead of the game. (just want to see how those fish will turn out)
Oh did I mention no more uniform changing crap or even talk about it
BEAT FL RICHT
RICHT TAKES FL GAME SERIOUSLY AND DECIDES TO THROW THE PLAY BOOK AND BEAT THEM
BEAT FL
and of course
BEAT FL just want to make sure Richt understands fans are tired of losing to FL
Timmy Dog
May 27th, 2010
4:20 pm
God bless, why do we fall for this EVERY SINGLE YEAR???? We have a retooled D that lost a ton of personnel introduced to a new scheme that couldnt’ create a turnover if he HAD to. We have a midget QB that hasn’t taken a snap in a game in almost 2 years, much less an SEC game. We set ourselves up for the fall every single year. Here’s some more: Preseason Natl Champs in 2010, 2011 and 2012. And please, stop with this Dream Team talk. The last few were 3 star kids and we always recruit strong. Coach Richt and Bobo just coach them down.
2_dawgs
May 27th, 2010
4:21 pm
what about those punts in the G-Day game? Yikes!
chazzo
May 27th, 2010
4:25 pm
Dirty Dawg,
You are absolutely right about UK. The thing is, they are the dark horse in the East. Nobody is talking about them. USC, UF, and UGA could knock each other out of the picture. I know UF has all kinds of talent, but I this is the year to beat them. They have a brutal schedule, a new QB, and a shake up on D. Nobody is talking about Florida vs. UK. UK has a couple of warm up games. UF plays UT the week ahead and Alabama afterward. Stranger things have happened.
Groundhog Day
May 27th, 2010
4:27 pm
Here we go again with the NC talk. Yep, its that time of year again. All bark, no bite.
UGA Me Lo Mama
May 27th, 2010
4:28 pm
UGA will suck this year !!!! Come On Jackets!
KimZ's Package
May 27th, 2010
4:31 pm
This Year for the dawgs is a killer. I want to bet the dawgs to win every game, but I have to keep twice the money I bet in the bank to BAILOUT the players. What to DO? 1EYEDJACK I don’t walk upright I am a UGA fake blonde bimbo. Daddy gave me Kneepads the day I go my acceptance letter from UGA. Mom bought me Blonde in a Bottle and dropped me off at the Phi Mu house. WEEE HAW I can be a HOTDOG HALLWAY for any UGA MAN now.
GT3O
May 27th, 2010
4:35 pm
BAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Drinking the kool-aide in May will surely have you dawg fans nice and drunk come September. Yeah right! Tremendous year with a new defense, new coaches, new starting QB who wasn’t good enough to beat Cox? I think not! 9 wins at best.
kevin
May 27th, 2010
4:48 pm
Tech Fans,
It’s interesting you all come to the UGA blogs and talk so much trash about how UGA football is no good. Georgia Tech is a great technical school and presumably its fans possess excellent math skills. Yet, 8 out of 9 somehow eludes them. Get serious.
There is at least one intelligent UGA fan
May 27th, 2010
4:55 pm
Joe
May 27th, 2010
3:24 pm
“Here we go again……you dont hear this kind of crap from UF, Bama, Ohio State, UC+SC., Texas……that is our problem- we talk so much smack in the spring/summer, the players start beleiving they are great and then the fall is a bust….why dont we just shut up and prove it on the field this year. We always tell everyone how great we are but the players never back it up. Before I really beleive and buy in to what Coach Richt is saying- I am gonna wait to see if his boys really do man up this year.”
Thank you to the one Non-delusional realistic UGA fan.
Georgia is starting a Freshman QB, Implementing a brand new defense without actually having the opportunity to recruit the right players to fit the system, have the same offense that struggled to run the ball last year until the last 3 games against mediocre teams. All this talk about UF being down is ridiculious and only proves the obsession that UGA fans have with UF. The problem with Georgia is that your success is dependent upon whether UF or other programs have a “Down Year”. Pathetic if you think about it.
Coach Small Johnson
May 27th, 2010
4:58 pm
Im not drinking the Kool Aid never have never will
I said for years Willie the dream Martinez was a mistake
What many dawg fans dont know is who really is calling the offense.
I know Richt gives Boo Boo several plays that must be called
I know there are many calling for BOO BO to leave but I dont know about that because Richt still has a hand in the play calling
The reason I say that is because the offense hardly ever seems to function on all cylinders and we seem to stay stuck on certain plays all the time instead of changing it up. Its like there is a tug of war going on with Richt and BooBO during the games
I feel though we will have at least 4 losses this year one being FL since Richt seems to think FL is not that big of a deal
Bulldog59
May 27th, 2010
5:06 pm
Off the subject, but check out the video of former UT player Nu’Keese Richardson stealing clothes at Wal-Mart while his friends video it.
http://bleacherreport.com/tb/b4hAp
Dawg Daily 28May: Leather Helmet Blog
May 27th, 2010
5:12 pm
[...] Wow! That's pretty strong for CMR: Richt walked the line on Wednesday night when he talked to the Georgia Bulldog Club in Albany. As reported by the Albany Herald, the coach said he believes that if his coaches can sign all the «Dream Team» in-state talent they're after, those players will win a national championship before they leave UGA. As for the coming season, Richt said, «I think a lot of the ingredients are there for a tremendous season. We've just got to go out and do it.»(emphasis mine -ecd) [...]