A clue to what’s been missing in Dogs’ running game
Nobody at UGA worked harder than Thomas Brown. (Associated Press)
While a lot of fingers have pointed at departed Georgia assistant coach Stacy Searels’ underperforming offensive line as a big reason for the Dogs’ running game being only the 10th best in the SEC this past season, there obviously was more to it than that.
The fact that thanks to injuries and disciplinary problems Georgia rarely had both its top two running backs, Washaun Ealey and Caleb King, playing in the same game was a factor. As was Mike Bobo’s tendency to abandon the ground attack for long stretches and his insistence on trying to run Carlton Thomas up the middle at inopportune moments in close games.
But at times there also seemed to be something lacking in the effort of the backs themselves. Rarely did you see Ealey or King break tackles.
And I think maybe you can get an inkling into why that was the case from comments made Friday by former Georgia tailback Thomas Brown, who’s joined the new strenth and conditioning staff under Joe Tereshinski.
The diminutive Brown, who battled for playing time with Danny Ware, Kregg Lumpkin and Knowshon Moreno, played like he was much bigger than he was thanks to his phenomenal strength and competitiveness. In talking with the media about the decline in the Bulldogs’ strength and conditioning in the three seasons since he departed, he said: “I think you can solve most problems with more competition. I think that’s one of the biggest things that’s different from when I was here as a player and here now.
“When I came in, I was highly recruited, the No. 1-rated running back in the state of Georgia, No. 3 or 4 in the nation. I came in, I was No. 7 on a depth chart of eight running backs. I had to compete, and I think that kind of makes guys raise their level of expectations. I think it’s harder for guys to be motivated when they know they’re kind of guaranteed to play. So I think … bringing in guys to compete with those guys will make everybody a lot better.”
That fits in with what Blair Walsh said after the Liberty Bowl disaster about some of the players on the team having a sense of entitlement. Ealey runs his mouth a lot and King thinks he’s too cool for school, but rarely has either looked like the hardest-working back in the game.
Whether or not Georgia signs Isaiah Crowell, that’s got to change if the Dogs are going to consistently run the ball in the SEC.
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480 comments Add your comment
Hunter
January 24th, 2011
12:44 pm
Murray ranked 10th in the SEC on 3rd down, as far as accuracy goes. So a lot of times, he just made a bad pass on 3rd down, didn’t convert, and punted the ball. That’s why Murray’s offense was 7th in the SEC on 3rd down conversion rate.
Hunter
January 24th, 2011
12:46 pm
Caleb King averaged 8 yards a carry on 3rd down, don’t know why Georgia was throwing the ball so much.
McDawg
January 24th, 2011
1:11 pm
Ealy is a fine back
Mark Richt
January 24th, 2011
1:12 pm
Mike Bobo is going to be fired so ya’ll don’t worry about any of that. Mike Bobo’s inability to call plays is driving me and the rest of the staff nuts. He will be fired as soon as I get back from my missionary trip in Brazil..We’ll see you soon dawg nation.. We are going 12-0 this year.. for sure!!
George
January 24th, 2011
1:24 pm
Bobo’s 3rd down conversion rate was excellent with Stafford in 07′ & 08′, 42-45%. Hasn’t been good with either of the last 2 sub-par QB’s, Joe Cox, and Joe Cox Jr (Aaron Murray), who both averaged around the worst in the SEC.
Once Bobo gets his new SEC calibre QB in there, either Mason, Lemay, Marshall or Gray, it will be back to normal.
George
January 24th, 2011
1:29 pm
Murray is a lot like Joe Cox, size, interceptions, 3rd down percentage, except Murray can’t beat a team with a winning record, only difference. Joe went 8-5, Murray went 6-7.
how2fish
January 24th, 2011
1:33 pm
George there was another little difference between Murray and Joe…Joe was a 5th year senior and Murray a red-shirt freshman but really not a big deal right?
George
January 24th, 2011
1:42 pm
No, both were first year starters and both had lousy season, especially Joe Cox Jr.
George
January 24th, 2011
1:45 pm
the biggest difference in Joe Cox and Joe Cox Jr was WHO they threw the most td’s to.
Joe Cox threw 17 of his 24 td’s against teams with WINNING records.
Murray only three 8 td’s against teams with winning records.
Thus the porblems with the rush offense, no one was worried about the pass, put 8 in the box, bam, 6-7.
George
January 24th, 2011
1:47 pm
When Cox went against teams with bad pass defenses (Ark), he had a field day.
Cox Jr didn’t (Col, SC, Miss St, etc.)
George
January 24th, 2011
1:50 pm
Cox schedule was harder to: Ok St, Arizona St, LSU, etc.
Cox Jr had a cupcake schedule.
how2fish
January 24th, 2011
2:08 pm
George Joe Cox was in the system for 4 years, Murray for 1..your really saying that was not in Joe’s favor the extra 3 years in the system? Plus Murray started his first 4 games without his no.1 target you think that might have skewed the stats just a bit?
Buckeye
January 24th, 2011
2:50 pm
What’s been missing?
Hmmm. A running back? A hole to run through? an OL to create that hole?
AltamahaDawg
January 24th, 2011
3:05 pm
That would pretty much cover it.
tired dawg
January 24th, 2011
3:11 pm
even the players know what they need. let’s get going coach richt, you need to stand up and take action or step aside.
larry
January 24th, 2011
3:17 pm
Hey George…maybe our 3rd down conversion rate last year was bad because of the play calling on 2nd down.
That stupid draw play on second and long…that every DC knows they are going to see at least 15 times a game…the one that never ever fools anyone…gets blown up to set up a 3rd and even longer.
Also Hunter…that 8 yard average is likely misleading. If he avereraged 8 yards and we were constantly in 3rd and 10+…you are always short at least 2 yards. I know on 3rd down most defenses will defend the first down line…now ours doesn’t but good ones do. All teams would gladly give you 8 when you need more than 8. Right?
excessive celebration
January 24th, 2011
3:50 pm
who cares at this point. nascar starts in two weeks. c-ya in the funny papers!
npgator
January 24th, 2011
4:17 pm
One thing that has been missing is games! The season ended last month so that would explain what is missing from the running game.
AltamahaDawg
January 24th, 2011
5:07 pm
See how bad it was npgator, the season ending didn’t even affect our running game.
larry
January 24th, 2011
5:41 pm
Well at least todays arrest wasn’t one of ours…so we’ve got that going for us.
Herschel's Jock Strap
January 24th, 2011
5:46 pm
LOL!!!! Ealy?!! Wahshun Ealy?!!
He couldn’t even SNIFF me let alone CARRY me!!!
yogii
January 24th, 2011
6:21 pm
Caleb King was not worthy of the scholarship. He was not talented enough to begin with and it has shown. He is from a Christian school that does not play against tough competition
Dirty Dawg
January 24th, 2011
6:26 pm
OK this is it…just read that Herschel, at 48, wants to play football again, and that he would like to do it in his home state. While he was talking about the Falcons, I say, dammit, somebody – Herschel, UGA, somebody – petition the NCAA to allow anybody with remaining eligibility, regardless if they played professionally, and once they’ve reached the age of, say 45 and have been out of pro-ball for at least five years, can return to college and play. Talk about making headlines…and I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that he could run for way more than a thousand and set an all-time career rushing record that’ll never be broken…talk about solving our running-game problem.
JDAWG
January 24th, 2011
6:52 pm
http://isportsweb.com/2011/01/24/texas-am-to-the-sec/
JDAWG
January 24th, 2011
9:41 pm
http://isportsweb.com/2011/01/24/herschel-walker-contemplates-nfl-return/
Bulldog Joe
January 25th, 2011
7:13 am
Cutting out two-a-days and #1 vs #1 scrimmages last year weakened this team as much as Coach Van Halanger’s health issues did.
With no true venue to compete, we had very little idea who you could count on in the fourth quarter against SEC-level competition and who you could not count on.
Again, we did not use all of our scholarships (only used 80-81 last year) and had fewer players competing for playing time than our competition did.
Also if a player loafs, an assistant coach should be able to use negative motivation tactics as well as positive ones without fear of intervention from the head coach.
If McGarity and Richt have not already fixed these issues, Coach Richt will be coaching somewhere else next year.
monty
January 25th, 2011
11:29 am
Looks like this may be the last post to this blog so I may be talking to myself. But compared to the other power teams in the SEC GA runs the ball less frequently which goes along with what I believe is CMR philosophy of pass 1st, run later.(finesse you to death)
GA run vs. pass 2010-56% to 44%
GA run vs. pass 2009-55% to 45%
GA run vs. pass 2008-51% to 49%
BAMA run vs. pass 2010-65% to 35%
BAMA run vs. pass 2009-63% to 37%
Auburn run vs. pass 2010-68% to 32%
Auburn run vs. pass 2009-60% to 40%
Florida run vs. pass 2010-69% to 31%
Florida run vs. pass 2009-69% to 31%
Florida run vs. pass 2008-62% to 38%
I’ll leave it up to you the reader to interpret this but it sure looks like something is alot different than other team’s philosophies.Either we couldn’t run and had to pass, or we just didn’t believe running is key to winning in this league.(Big mistake IMHO)
Jerry
January 25th, 2011
11:40 am
I think it’s a pass 1st offensive philosophy, that doesn’t work in the SEC.
Ealey gets 5.5 ypc over his career, King ain’t far behind that.
1) Too low % of run calls
2) poor 3rd down conversion rate by QB
Bulldog Joe
January 25th, 2011
12:53 pm
Richt and Bobo are slaves to a balanced offense rather than what is working at the time. Opposing teams can keep a play count to anticipate with pretty good accuracy what Georgia’s next play will be on 1st and 2nd downs.
When Coach Richt studies football this year, he just might uncover why this is a problem for Georgia.
Bulldog Joe
January 25th, 2011
12:56 pm
Also, Georgia uses the same check down signals at the line from year to year. This isn’t hard for opposing teams to figure out either.