UGA coaches looking to see who wins spring Dawg fights
Can Jakar Hamilton win back a starting job at safety? (Associated Press)
After one practice March 10 and then releasing the hounds to play on the beach in Key West and other fun locales, Mark Richt gathers his team back on the Woodruff Practice Fields in Athens today to get serious about spring ball.
Between now and G-Day on April 16, some veterans will be trying to solidify their hold on a starting position (a few looking over their shoulders at the new guys coming in August) while other spots have been left pretty wide open by departures, as we discussed back before the first practice.
The bottom line, Mike Bobo told the Athens Banner-Herald, “is there’s going to be competition, you want competition. There’s going to be competition at every position on either side of the ball. We went 6-7, we didn’t get the job done. We didn’t finish at the end of games last year. We’ve got to have competition.”
While in reality some players probably do have their position locked down, the coaching staff obviously is encouraging the idea that the hungriest, hardest-working players will start.
There are several key spots where spring competition should be interesting. Washaun Ealey, Caleb King, Ken Malcome and Carlton Thomas will be competing to be the man Isaiah Crowell has to beat out. Marlon Brown, Rantavious Wooten, Israel Troupe, Michael Bennett and Chris Conley are trying to join Tavarres King at wide receiver before Malcolm Mitchell shows up. Can Jakar Hamilton, Shawn Williams or Marc Deas win the other safety spot alongside Bacarri Rambo, or will a true freshman figure there come fall? And how about the battle for backup quarterback or the competition for a starting spot under a new coach on the rejiggered offensive line?
Which of the battles for playing time will you be watching most closely?
BACK AT FOLEY FIELD
The widely traveled Diamond Dogs return home to Foley Field to face rival Georgia Tech tonight, with first pitch set for 7:06 p.m. The game, the first of three scheduled against the Jackets this season, will be televised by CSS. Last year, the hapless Dogs were swept by Tech, but while this year’s team got off to a rough start, they’ve improved a lot the past couple of weeks and have competed well against ranked opponents. Here’s hoping …
Go Dogs!
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133 comments Add your comment
Pago Pago DAWG
March 23rd, 2011
10:05 am
Being the number 1 school in Georgia….so why isn’t UGA number 1 in All sports??? Come on people.
Mike Vick
March 23rd, 2011
10:41 am
I believe the title of the Blog is a form of entrapment to dog fighters like me.
Buckeye
March 23rd, 2011
10:43 am
PETA is on the way. Poor choice of words, especially in this town.
AltamahaDawg
March 23rd, 2011
11:28 am
Good thing the Lady Dawgs weren’t depending on me too much. I guess I fell asleep or forgot to tune back in after the half. Lost track of the thing anyway.
Good for them. Way to go coach.
AltamahaDawg
March 23rd, 2011
11:38 am
Camel, I wouldn’t be overly “mortified” about it. If in 10 yrs the list of thing that they are behind in is that small, it’ll be ok. Especially consider that list contained duplications, things that have been corrected, things that are not unique to these coaches at all, and a couple of things that are purely made up opinion.
Like all staffs, they learn from mistakes and hopefully bank the knowledge, right?
Dogwholikesgatortail
March 23rd, 2011
12:04 pm
Tired of false hopes, arrests, poor coaching, poor playing, and not beating any team from Florida.
7576dawg
March 23rd, 2011
12:28 pm
Dogwhollikesgatortail
That’s why McGarity was brought in , to address the lack of success against Florida.
In football Alabama has the same problem with us. It doesn’t matter how good both are Alabama has had a mental problem against us for quite a while now and will again in 2012 unless we see them in the play off in 2010.
7576dawg
March 23rd, 2011
12:29 pm
Sorry I mean in 2011 in the playoff.
Mettenburger
March 23rd, 2011
1:14 pm
I like girls in tight shorts at dark bars who say “no”……a lot.
Nesbitt
March 23rd, 2011
1:28 pm
I like big fat women who look like Coach Johnson and wear big floppy hats and oversized sunglasses and 1 piece bathing suits two sizes too small.
AltamahaDawg
March 23rd, 2011
1:40 pm
Hopefully McGarity can help all the programs be more competitive, but I doubt he knows anything about beating UF specifically. Well he does, but any grad assitant working in the department can tell you what that would take…..bring a better team to Jacksonville. That has always been the answer to beating Florida (with very rare exceptions).
Duuuuuuhhh
March 23rd, 2011
1:47 pm
Hey AJ! How many feet are in 100 yards????? I’ll give you until Friday for the answer.
Montez Robinson
March 23rd, 2011
1:48 pm
Yep, Mett…does me good to slap em around.
FIFTEEN RUNS to your 6 runs
March 23rd, 2011
1:55 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!
Ed (The Original)
March 23rd, 2011
1:56 pm
Glad we have some horses coming in the fall, but until UGA upgrades at head coach, we will continue to be second-tier in the SEC.
tony
March 23rd, 2011
2:17 pm
@Just saying
Here’s some big hits for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxbFb_nl_vE
McDawg
March 23rd, 2011
3:08 pm
Diane Sawyer is kinda of hot
McDawg
March 23rd, 2011
3:08 pm
sorry thought this was the CSPAN blog
dawgfan
March 23rd, 2011
3:25 pm
I hope our guys had fun soaking up some rays on South Beach. Next time they are in the state of Florida they’ll be a little further north and they probably won’t find their surroundings quite as hospitable. I hope to God they’re ready. Reading crap like this makes me have serious doubts.
Thanks.
ChattaDawg
March 23rd, 2011
3:32 pm
Does any one know if the Athens cops are as easy on our football players?
The officer offered Barron multiple chances to provide more concrete details even calling Baron’s mother and grandmother at their home on Butts Street, Levy said.
Barron maintained his version of events and was told at that point the officer had no other choice but to arrest him and process him, Levy said.
Wow…you have to be really stupid to get arrested in Bama.
Aaron Zeir and Eric Murray are ......
March 23rd, 2011
4:35 pm
AM and EZ remind me of each other. Both played a game vs Florida and coulda/shoulda/woulda won it. Eric had the Dogs on the Gator 3 and his three passes into the end zone in a driving rain were dropped by Randy McMichael or another UGA TE.
Murray simply played horribly vs Florida in his one shot so far BUT did have a 50/50 shot but failed miserably. He CHOKED …………….IN his home state too. Not good. That OT pass was dumb and was FORCED. Dumb it was.
Both QBs have or will have some hefty stats. I do hope that Murray can make his count. He needs to have several big WINNING outtings vs the better SEC teams or he will forever be considered just another so so thrower.
This is his year to build that WINNING FOUNDATION. David Green, Andy Johnson, Mike Cavan and too many other UGA QBS had WONDERFUL soph years and were surrounded by less skilled talent.
Can Murray have that magic soph year?? Time will tell.
Goooooooooooooooooo Dogs.
VININGSDAWG
March 23rd, 2011
5:19 pm
Maybe new and improved talent but the same old coaching.
And as eveyone gets on Bobo’s back, why not Grantham? He came in at $750,000 and teams were scoring points in bunches against him. The choke sign and his stupid comments about the Auburn offense not being that good. (Dude they scored 42 on you in three quarters, Bobo’s group tried to keep up but your sorry play calling on defense couldn;t come close to stoping Auburn).
We are a ways away from being there.
SOUTHGADAWG88
March 23rd, 2011
5:21 pm
What’s the deal with all the Rambo hating?Fact is Bacarri was the only soph and under player in the top 20 in tackles in the SEC.Who said he was a big hitter to begin with?He’s a FS not SS….FS are you last line of defense run or pass.Considering our run defense was horrible AND our pass rush was weak(9th in SEC) it should come as no surprise that the kid may have bit too often on the play action pass.Just because he knocked himself out against AUB doesn’t mean he was some fearsome hitter to begin with…prior to that game he wasn’t known as some kind of a headhunter anyway.
ATLcracker
March 23rd, 2011
6:02 pm
Do the Falcons know Wes Durham ran a 4.43 forty at Dawg Day ? !
SOUTHGADAWG88
March 23rd, 2011
6:51 pm
Wes Durham doesn’t play at UGA
Bawbie
March 23rd, 2011
7:00 pm
Fire PERNO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MaxxDawg
March 23rd, 2011
7:24 pm
Bill- Is it just me, or is Hutson Mason the most underrated guy in Athens? This guy rewrites the Georgia HS record books, is not heavily recruited, then goes out and his first pass goes for a TD as a true freshman. His game reminds me of Sam Bradford. I think LeMay will have a tough time beating this guy out.
AltamahaDawg
March 23rd, 2011
8:30 pm
Wes ran a 44.3 actually.
Brando
March 23rd, 2011
10:15 pm
It Uga on the diamond. I know you don’t care about baseball until you beat Tech or make it to the Series.
Dawg Tired
March 24th, 2011
9:40 am
If Rambo is the best we have at one safety position, we’re hurting big-time in the back on D. Ever since he got knocked out making that game saving hit against Auburn two seasons ago he has played hesitant/scared.
Joe
March 24th, 2011
10:08 am
Wow!!!! Has Samuel just disappeared in the plans? How old is he now just 20? What a waste of talent moving him around. UGA seems to have wasted a lot of talent in recent years.
edumacated
March 25th, 2011
2:48 pm
My two cents….
1. The S&C program “upgrades” will help in 4th quarter conditioning this year, but not so much in size and strength. It took years for the decline to take effect, so I think it will take years for the turnaround to take effect as well. Common sense.
2. Bobo and Richt still play favorites, no matter what they say. It is in their nature. Unless you are a total scrub, if you pay your dues to them, you will not get benched by someone younger who is only marginally better in practice. In Richt’s program, you gotta really stand out like AJ or Ogletree to get in the game early.
3. If Richt can’t beat Florida this year then…..what a minute, I said that last year. The truth is, Richt will never beat Florida, more than on occasion. If McGarity and the alumni want more, then they had better place an add in the paper.
4. This year’s team might be worse than last year’s. Yes, get used to that idea. They lost a lot of key players, whom we don’t need to name. Murray is a bright spot, but he is short of some weapons (yeah, I know Crowell is coming). The defense will rely heavily on how that JUCO transfer NT works out. If he can’t jam up the middle, then our inexperienced LB’s and secondary are going to be gouged.
5. Bobo is still the OC. Nuff said.
SOUTHGADAWG88
March 27th, 2011
8:02 pm
This team is a lot more talented over all than last year’s squad IMO.