Caleb King as 2011 Dawgs’ savior?
Can Caleb King really be the lead Dog in 2011? (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
I’m afraid there’s probably an awful lot of wishful thinking fueling Buck Belue’s take on Caleb King, but I’d like nothing better than for old No. 8 to be right on the mark.
I think Buck’s right that Isaiah Crowell isn’t likely to be ready to be “the lead Dog” early on, especially considering the pass protection duties a Georgia tailback has.
Belue thinks that leaves King as “a young man in a good position. He’s motivated to have a big senior season. It’s his last shot to impress NFL scouts. He’s in the best shape of his life and can play physical at 220-plus. Caleb can hold up between the tackles, burst it outside, catch it and protect. Solid all-around skill set.”
Of course, Belue allows, King has proved disappointing in the past. “There have been injuries and issues.”
“The track record says Caleb King is going to disappoint you,” Buck writes. “Understand that. But I’m not buying it this time. I see a 1,000 yard season. 200 carries and 12 TD runs. A 5-yard per carry average. And as it turns out, a positive influence on Crowell.”
What do you think? A likely scenario or just a summer fan dream?
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319 comments Add your comment
Bulldog born, Bulldog bred ....
June 22nd, 2011
12:43 pm
SSIgator, Are you the same id–t who used to post as Saint Simons and daily posted the score of your only GT win over the Dawgs this decade? The kool-aid line seems to be on a similar one track
Keep it Simple
June 22nd, 2011
12:43 pm
Altamahadawg … Glynn Middle will win just as many games, have a better record and has a better coach …
Buckeye
June 22nd, 2011
12:44 pm
Isaiah, The Annointed One II, out of shape?
Say it isn’t so.
Dawg4ever
June 22nd, 2011
12:45 pm
Doesn’t matter who the R.B is, UGA will continue to run it’s painfully predictable running plays. The sprint draw is the slowest developing running play in football, and that is why the O.L. looks like it can’t open holes. They have to hold their blocks forever waiting on the play to develop, and even if they make a block, the defense has time to react and clog up the running lane. Richt and Bobo have been running the same sprint draw for years, and every defense knows it. These clowns have never heard of misdirection, or sweeps, mixed in with their famous sprint draw. The play action pass, and sprint draw is the only plays Richt and Bobo know, and by now, every team in the SEC know all about how to stop it. So who cares who starts, or plays running back. Until there is a change in coaching philosophy, UGA will never have a successful running attack, and UGA will never have a power running game. UGA fans have to suffer while other schools hire new creative O.C.’s. Auburn, Fl., Miss.St, Tenn., Clemson, all of the schools UGA recruits against have new O.C. that have been successful at other schools, but UGA has a damn Q.B. coach that was promoted with absolutely no O.C. experience, and now all UGA fans are stuck with this guy. The nightmare in Athens continues, when will it ever end?????
jumbeauxtiger
June 22nd, 2011
12:47 pm
It would not surprise me for King to have a solid game against Boise St then have a lousy game against SC and pave the way for Crowell to be the go to guy for the rest of the season.
King simply has not panned out and he almost came to BR. Glad we didn’t get him as we too have had our share of highly recruited players who have been disappointing.
Geaux Tigers
Go SEC
WDE
June 22nd, 2011
12:49 pm
@SSIgator got some koolaid for you son…the Gators win the SEC with a HC without a record and the biggest (pun intended) destroyer of buffets and college football programs on the planet…drink up buttercup!
SOUTHGADAWG88
June 22nd, 2011
12:50 pm
Dawgs4ever having said all that how do you explain the fact the team put up 30 plus 8 games in a row last year?The only games you can really say they struggled in were the 1st two SEC road games.Having a Freshman at QB could have had a lot to do with that don’t you think?Nevermind the AJ thing.
tide roll
June 22nd, 2011
12:50 pm
Belue’s kidding right ? UGA is hilarious. In Richard Samuel you have one of the best running backs in the country sitting at back up inside linebacker. 3,000 yards rushing and 43 touchdowns in two years in high school. 80 yard TD run vs. Arkansas as a soph. 6′2″ 230 lb. blaster, and rather than discuss moving him, Belue’s talking about King. Why am I surprised. Richt/Bobo projected Cam Newton as a tight end. No one in the Unitsd States of America would project that! Then, rather than being embarrassed ,Richt, right before the Auburn game, goes PUBLIC WITH IT . You guys are hilarious!
Keep it Simple
June 22nd, 2011
12:51 pm
DawginLex … well ‘cordial’ just doesn’t fit around delusionals … got to smack them and get their attention … how many Uga’s have lived beyond 3 years in the last seven? Sorta like UGA football … downhill fast … get a grip, take a deep breath and learn
SOUTHGADAWG88
June 22nd, 2011
12:52 pm
Some of you guys point out things about Bobo from 07-08-09 but to me it’s real hard to find a lot of fault in the guy LAST year.
SOUTHGADAWG88
June 22nd, 2011
12:54 pm
Tide Roll again with the Samuel stuff?Geez man it’s going to be fun watching you explain why Trent Richardson wont be leading the SEC in rushing this year…Maybe you will say Donte Hightower should have been the starting RB.
Iceman
June 22nd, 2011
12:54 pm
King is a bomb. Crowell will romp all over people for the Dawgs this year.
WDE
June 22nd, 2011
12:55 pm
Look everyone tide roll is here…Hey Tide you get that SEC HC gig yet ??
DawginLex
June 22nd, 2011
12:56 pm
keep it simple
Learn form you?
Nah, I am fine on my own.
How will you retard/haters exist/survive if Georgia wins a bunch of games this year and Richt gets an extension?
SSI, that sound you just heard is Weiss farting in Muschamp’s office while looking at film together. They are trying to find a clip where Brantley does something right. Muschamp just threw up in his mouth a little while watching.
Where will Will go after his failure at Florida? The Gators will turn on him for being a Bulldog and we dam sure don’t want him back.
There is always the MAC
dawgwalker
June 22nd, 2011
12:58 pm
I would love to see King have a big year. For the Dawgs and for him. Good kid, hope he finishes strong. No reason to think not at this point. Just a lot of hot air, guys trying to sound like they know a damn thing about the program, players and coaches. GO DAWGS!!
hop
June 22nd, 2011
1:02 pm
I am sure crowell IS NOT IN THE BEST OF shape since he has not practice since last fall.
He is attending summer school and he will have the enitre summer and early fall
to be ready for the season.
I hope buck is right about king,but belue batting averge except for baseball is not very good.
King has experience many challenges since he has been in athens,but this is his final
chance to impress the NFL so let’s hope that is enough incentive to do well this year.
clyde
June 22nd, 2011
1:04 pm
Football 14-15 weeks away????? First game Sept 3, thats barely 10 weeks and subtract 3 for fall camp!! Get a grip
Bitter big #34
June 22nd, 2011
1:04 pm
tollit paper tide —-goes wash my jock————looser
———————————————————————————-just saying!!!!!hahahahaha
Reality
June 22nd, 2011
1:05 pm
The fact of the matter is Buck Belue is a moron. The guy is dumber then a stump and the next time he says anything remotely insightful or intelligent will be the first time. You could have a better conversation by talking to a flock of pigeons. The only reason he even has a job in radio is because he was in a position to be the ultimate care taker or game manager of a national championship team. His directives back then were ‘Just give it to Herschel and don’t F up the game by doing something stupid. Think you can handle that gump?’
tide roll
June 22nd, 2011
1:06 pm
Lattimore arrives at S. Carolina as a true freshman, and tests out in the top 5 in strength and conditoning. Same with Michael Dyer at Auburn. “Ralph” Crowell shows up puking! It’s a character thing as much as conditioning. Do it DAWGS!!
ugaclassof2004
June 22nd, 2011
1:09 pm
@ Joey and Altamaha Dawg
I mentioned above that I think players who are inconsistent their first couple of years tend to stay inconsistent throughout the rest of their careers. I think the same is true of coordinators. Now even good coordinators can have rough years. DC Charlie Strong had a tough time at Florida in 2007 when he was breaking in a bunch of sophmores, and his defense took it on the chin that year. But in 2008 and 2009, his defenses were beast.
The same could be said for Mark Richt( who for the record was an excellent OC ) when he was calling the plays in 2003.His O-Line was made up of a bunch of underclassmen and he had no clear no 1# RB. The defense had to bail the offense out a bunch that year, but a lot of those guys who took their lumps on offense that year, helped UGA win a lot of games in 2004 and 2005, games where they hung over 40 points on the opposition.
But in regards to Bobo, I feel about him like I feel about Mike Mularky, the OC with the Falcons. I think he is average play caller, who after 5 years on the job, really hasn’t gotten better. He’ll have games where he’ll call a good game, and then others where be is painfully conservative. Now I won’t hold Joe Cox against him, because Cox was an average QB who needed a good supporting cast around him to help bail him out. But when you have Knowshon, Stafford, Mohammed, and AJ Green all on the same offense: you should averaging 30 points a game! That offense should have been putting up HISTORIC numbers. So I think Bobo did a lousy job with that group. Now with that being said, I think he’s done a pretty decent job with Aaron Murray. I think Murray is a smart kid too, like David Greene, to where you can filter the offense through him. The question then becomes, is Bobo willing to turn the offense over to Murray and let him call his own plays. With Stafford he was kind of reluctant to do that, but with Murray he might be willing to. Murray’s development will be key this season.
dawg fanncv
June 22nd, 2011
1:10 pm
one good thing after this year no more coach rickt or no more wana be running back he was a joke we need to ship out bobo too hes a joke
Barkin'Dog
June 22nd, 2011
1:13 pm
Fear thou not, for I am with thee.
Isaiah 41:10
UGABugKiller
June 22nd, 2011
1:15 pm
Oh no, Bucky Sunshine is at it again.
Anyone giving BuckBelue or his soap-opera loving partner the time of day is a fool.
One guy is a complete phony, he’s such a homer, and the other guy turned company the stooge any time he spoke to a member of the (dis)Spirit, even taking on their “Blame the Fans” company line regarding the Thrashers.
680theFan USED to be the tops for sports talk radio.
Now they suck just like their competition.
1st in 10
June 22nd, 2011
1:15 pm
I have the Dawgs going all the way…National Champs this year
Bitter big #34
June 22nd, 2011
1:15 pm
king rules ——- ga rules———–deal with it ——— TROLLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep it Simple
June 22nd, 2011
1:18 pm
Belue would be selling insurance and used cars in Valdosta if it wasn’t for Scott … doens’t have the radio voice, sorta whines like DawginLex
Dr Stu Green ...
June 22nd, 2011
1:18 pm
Here is the Dental Man’s opine:
Questions on the OL (both starting OTs gone), and the loss of the best 2 WRs will make the running game tough to be established b/c teams will not have to worry about AJ & CD thus cheating more to stopping the run.
However, if the passing game is NOT an issue then the rushing attack will be fine. But CK being the savior? I don’t think so though. He’s going to have to share too many carries with the others, especially Mr. World, IC. My guess is that it will be RB by committee in 2011.
Tough 1st two games to be trying to figure out the pass/rush attack though.
george
June 22nd, 2011
1:19 pm
Uh…show me the money!
SOUTHGADAWG88
June 22nd, 2011
1:19 pm
Boy the Stafford Moreno Green thing will never go away…for the record THEY only played together 1 year 08.Secondly Moreno and Stafford only played together 2 years.What is there to complain about in 07?The team finished as strong as any UGA team ever.08?The only game the O didn’t perform was the Fla game…they scored 31 against Bama and 42 against Tech.Stafford was the only one of the 3 that played in 06 so again I ask……where is all this under achievement?
guy
June 22nd, 2011
1:21 pm
The question that may come up are King’s grades at the end of the summer. Wouldn’t that be a mess?
Truth
June 22nd, 2011
1:21 pm
After 30 straight years of mediocrity, UGA fans still think they are one or two solved problems (coach and/or RB/QB) away from being relevant. Can you say “Denial”?
Dr Stu Green ...
June 22nd, 2011
1:23 pm
You got that right KEEP IT SIMPLE ….
The guy throws a football about 45 FEET in 1980, and THIRTY-ONE years later is still living large as some “celebrity”! He is HORRIBLE on the radio! Especially when his radio partner is not there & BB is solo.
UGA1999
June 22nd, 2011
1:26 pm
Young or not Crowell will be the back this year. He will share time with Ealey and King, if he is as good as he is promised to be he will get plenty of playing time this year. Richt must use all of his weapons in his arsenal.
Joey
June 22nd, 2011
1:27 pm
ugaclassof 2004 – Bobo was a fine QB, and I think a good QB coach. I just think he got a promotion that he couldn’t handle. I wish he was still the QB coach, though I hope he proves me wrong this year.
DawginLex
June 22nd, 2011
1:30 pm
Keep it simple
The only whining I am reading comes from your blog posts.
I want to talk UGA football, not get into a urinating contest with an idiot who calls the football players at Georgia “inbreds”.
FWIW, never been a fan of Buck on the radio or his blogs. Gets a pass because he was a DGD.
Do_Tell
June 22nd, 2011
1:33 pm
King will quit in the middle of the season to go pro.
SOUTHGADAWG88
June 22nd, 2011
1:34 pm
In the two years Stafford and Moreno played together UGA went 21-4.The O avg 32.6pts a game in 07….31.4 pts a game in 08.They avg 28.9 in 09 and they avg 32.2 pts a game last year.Yeah it really looks like Bobo sucked as an OC.
whoknows
June 22nd, 2011
1:34 pm
CK is not the bruising back capable of toting the rock 20+ times/game. He needs holes to slip thru then juke first tackler to get into the open. He does not run over folks like lattimore. GA will need another back to spell him else he’s prone to injuries. Doubt he wants to be the lead dawg just not in him. Look for malcome to get some playing time in place of King. Crowell will get his shots but will not be the go to guy at this time. Look for RB by committee. Think CK likes it that way otherwise he has a record of losing confidence and in Richts doghouse. Hope he does well in his last year w/GA. He didn’t quit like Ealey did.
RiffRaff
June 22nd, 2011
1:34 pm
UGA1999 – Ealey is no longer on the team.
chazzo
June 22nd, 2011
1:35 pm
I just don’t know. King had good cred coming in, and Knowshon always said that King could do it. Crowell may not know the system, and all that high school tape may be against easy teams (certainly easier to break tackles in high school). One thing the tapes do show, though, is that the kid has good size and he is fast. I am really interested to see what Malcome does. Then there are a multitude of little fast guys, some of them two-way players. Then there is a mobile QB. Seems like a lot can happen positive on the ground. King gets 1000? That’d be nice. I’ll take 2,500 anyway the dawgs can deliver it.
SOUTHGADAWG88
June 22nd, 2011
1:38 pm
I know it’s a shock to most folks that UGA avg more pts per game last season than in 08 and was only a clip below the 07 team.You want to know how we lost 7 games?Look at the other side of the ball…you will probably find your answers there.
chazzo
June 22nd, 2011
1:38 pm
PS Am I the only fan that thinks Crowell puking during workouts is a positive sign. Maybe it means the workouts are hard rather than the players being soft. It certainly would indicate that he is probably working harder than he ever has in his life.
Herschel Talker
June 22nd, 2011
1:39 pm
DawginLex:
So using your logic, we can never fire Richt because we’ll always have to deal with the stress of incoming recruits leaving. And similarly no school could ever fire their coach. Brilliant logic. You idiot.
You’re also an idiot for giving Buck Belue a pass, but I’m not surprised by that since you’re obviously a fool. Buck is a moron and is an embarrassment to our alma mater.
HT
Ca dawg
June 22nd, 2011
1:39 pm
Um, I hope Crowell isn’t sharing anything with ealey…
chazzo
June 22nd, 2011
1:40 pm
@SGD88 – Excellent and poignant post.
SOUTHGADAWG88
June 22nd, 2011
1:41 pm
I remember LSU and Aub playing 6-3 ball games a couple of years ago.If you offense is not getting it done that is NOT an excuse for your Defense not to step it up.
whoknows
June 22nd, 2011
1:42 pm
southgadawg88. right on! you win w/defense and GA did not play well in that area last season. Yes, the O did give up the ball in several critical situations but the D didn’t hold the opposition from scoring.
Phildo
June 22nd, 2011
1:43 pm
What a headline. LMAO.
UGA1999
June 22nd, 2011
1:44 pm
Forgot Ealey is gone…..my bad.