New Dogs will find fan buzz can be awfully fickle
The heat got to big John Jenkins at the first practice. (Brant Sanderlin, / AJC)
It’s been amazing to watch the fluctuations in the fan buzz for the two most anticipated members of Georgia’s Dream Team.
For much of the early summer we had the nervous nellies prematurely declaring Isaiah Crowell a “bust” on the basis of rumors he wasn’t giving his all in summer workouts.
But since camp started and the coaches and veteran players have been talking about how hard he practices, how quick he is and how he’s doing a good job of picking up the playbook, the buzz-o-meter has flipped and the excitement is building again.
The opposite seems to be the case with big John Jenkins, who had some heat-related issues the first practice and currently is running second on the depth chart to Kwame Geathers, with coach Rodney Garner saying that Jenkins is “a very talented big man, just very inconsistent. … He’s going to have to improve his fundamentals to play at this level.”
Suddenly you’ve got fans questioning whether Jenkins is really going to be another “Mount” Cody.
Here’s an idea: How about we wait and see what they actually do on the field in a real game before declaring either player a legend-in-the-making or a bust?
They’re both new to the lineup and no doubt will be eased in, sharing time with the more experienced players. That’s why Richard Samuel was moved back to tailback, which so far seems to be working out to the coaches’ satisfaction. And Geathers appears to have picked up where he left off in the spring, so it’s only right that Garner is letting Jenkins know he’s going to have to earn his playing time.
It’s way too early to be passing judgment on either Crowell or Jenkins.
Meanwhile, I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to seeing more of the good old toss sweep this season with big Bruce Figgins (6-foot-4, 274 pounds) leading the way at fullback. Put 240-pound Samuel behind him and, like Figgins said, “I think people will be a little intimidated by it. That’s 500 pounds moving right there. And Richard’s not slow at all. I have to speed up just to get going ahead of him because he’ll run up your back if you don’t. I think we’ll be able to move some people out of the way.”
Here’s hoping Mike Bobo uses that weapon wisely.
Got a question for the Junkyard Blawg? Send it to junkyardblawg@gmail.com.
Find me on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
247 comments Add your comment
Still@theBAR
August 10th, 2011
9:14 am
DILex
I know you want UGA to beat Boise, but do you really believe they Will beat Boise? They have as good a shot as anybody, but UGA has a lot and I mean a lot of questions after last season. I like how you really support the dawgs. I just wonder if UGA is as good in reality as some think.
Columbus Dawg
August 10th, 2011
10:14 am
I’ll answer that question for you, yes the Dawgs will beat Boise just like 2005 when no one thought they would.
Now on to some real questions, will Saban let the players who got clothing for autographs play in all the games with his fingers crossed and risk forfeiting them, or will he have them sit out until word comes from NCAA. I say the coverup continues, they all play all of the games, and then forfeit once after it all comes out that Alabama was lying about all of it to begin with.
VarsityBlue
August 10th, 2011
10:16 am
Obviosuly, if sticking a 300 lb 6′ 6′ guy in at fullback worked, every team would just be sticking an offensive lineman in to play fullback. But teams rarely do. Why? Big guys are slow, can’t catch, and can’t run fast. I remain more than doubtful that Figgins will do anything positive at 300 lb 6′ 6”, he’ll likley be a big liability back there dropping passes and slowing down the backs. Murray isn’t exactly the tallest QB, so trying to throw over a 6′ 6” 300 lb guy when Murray’s 5′ 10”, 190 lbs?? Doesn’t look good to me, at all. And Figgin’s fellow FB is Ogletree, a small guy who can’t block or catch. This is one of the dumbest moves of all-time.
VarsityBlue
August 10th, 2011
10:18 am
Get a clue Kool aid drinkers, Moore is 38-2 record as a starter, Boise has only lost 1 game against ranked teams in the last severals YEARS and Mark Richt is 2-9 against ranked teams, 0-5 last season was Richt. Boise is picked to win in every projection out.
Dalton Dawg
August 10th, 2011
10:24 am
Disbelief in Acworth. Get a life
DawginLex
August 10th, 2011
11:04 am
still@thebar
I believe that the opener is going to be a great close game.
Anyone from either side predicting a blowout is dead wrong IMO
I see a 4-5 point spread.
Moore is fantastic but Pettus and Young were great WR’s-both drafted.
This will be unlike any atmosphere they have seen. I try to realistic in my predictions. I predicted that we would hang with Auburn for awhile and auburn would wear us down which they did.
I say we win because of our defense and our kicking game
OldFan
August 10th, 2011
11:06 am
I’ve heard a rumor, and I sure hope it’s only a rumor, that the other team gets to put players on the field, too. I live in Alabama and get the daily news and sports writers for UA and Auburn everyday. Their articles say the same things the AJC says about UGA: big, talented, fast, motivated players; NC trophy ready; renewed commitment; great recruits making a mark; NC-proven coaches who got it all figured out (and they don’t seem real worried about the Dawgs). I can imagine what’s being said in Columbia. Everybody’s fishing in the same gene pool at this level of college football. It’s a blast to read how our players are bringing on a new attitude and discipline and believe they can be part of something special. For me, the big questions still remain: will that be enough to overcome last year’s poor preparation, misguided game-day strategy, and lack of innovation. UGA’s players are good enough to beat Boise State and SC—but are the coaches?
PMC
August 10th, 2011
11:26 am
Too much reading of blogs and message boards Bill. When there is no news people make up news to stay connected.
When there is a slump everyone wants to find a reason for it and a solution.
In the absense of games nonsense prevails.
schmeckdawg
August 10th, 2011
11:41 am
Watkinsville Hound
August 9th, 2011
11:07 am
Bill, any word on when Season Tickets will be shipped?
I will be a first time season ticket holder this year, and have seen in the past you report when they are shipped out.
Just being a bit giddy and overly excited!!
Thanks!!
I got mine Monday the 8th!
schmeckdawg
August 10th, 2011
11:51 am
VarsityBlue
August 10th, 2011
10:18 am
Get a clue Kool aid drinkers, Moore is 38-2 record as a starter, Boise has only lost 1 game against ranked teams in the last severals YEARS and Mark Richt is 2-9 against ranked teams, 0-5 last season was Richt. Boise is picked to win in every projection out.
———————————————————————————————————————————
You play the game on the field not in the papers or magazines so I really don’t give a damn what the projections are saying!!!!!!
Still@theBAR
August 10th, 2011
12:15 pm
schmeckdawg
You play the game on the field not in the papers or magazines so I really don’t give a damn what the projections are saying!!!!!!
Yes, I am sure after beating Hawaii and being preseason ranked #1 you were believing the magazines and projections.
wiseoldawg
August 10th, 2011
12:43 pm
Varsity Blue get your facts straight. Murray is 6′1″ 210 lbs. Moore is listed at 6′ 190
CrackDaddy
August 10th, 2011
1:03 pm
My Buzz, did Donnan and his football cronies make out on the Ponzi scheme in the end (I know Beamer said he got his money back (and more), while the “little people” got bilked out of their money?
What is your level of respect now for Beamer, Tuberville, Gillespies, Switzer, etc., after demonstrating their greed in jumping on board a get-rich Ponzi scheme? Would you want Beamer making decisions involving your kid given some insight into his real character? You know he, like Donnan, used UNC earlier to get more money from their then respective employeers (UGa and VaTech). I don’t trust Beamer.
VarsityBlue
August 10th, 2011
1:10 pm
If you’ve ever seen Murray stand beside Mason or Lemay, you know he’s not 6′ 1”. Last time I checked, Boise’s coach doesn’t put a 6′6” 300 lb Fullback in front of the passing at Fullback for Moore. Further, don’t ever breathe Murray & Moore in the same breath. Moore is 38-2 as a starter, Murray has yet to beat a winning team. Commence your Kool aid drinking.
Ceasar
August 10th, 2011
1:17 pm
The TRUTH….Murray is 5-10 1/2
Still@theBAR
August 10th, 2011
1:31 pm
Ceasar that seems to be closer to the truth than 6-1. You know the only time to trust the #s is when the players go to the NFL Combines. Before that I think most of the players times, height, and weight are pretty suspect.
VarsityBlue
August 10th, 2011
1:35 pm
Uh Oh, Kool Aid drinkers in trouble.
Murray’s scrimmage stats today:
o Td’s against 2nd strong defense
Mason:
1 Td against 1st string defense
Samuel had a fumble, returned for a 65 yard Td.
UGA RB’s still fumbling machines.
Anyone surprised?
VarsityBlue
August 10th, 2011
1:39 pm
Looks like Murray still can’t figure out how to score td’s, even against the #2 defense.
0 Td’s against 2nd team defense.
Embarrasing.
Uh-Oh, kool aid drinkers, whatcha gonna do now?
Richt`s Hammer
August 10th, 2011
1:41 pm
after Boise State puts 60 on us everything will calm down.
DawginLex
August 10th, 2011
2:28 pm
UGA 21
BSU 17
Pat
August 10th, 2011
3:00 pm
Who Will Win The Boise/Ga Game?
Offense:
Boise averaged 32 against ranked teams in 2010
Georgia averaged 15 against ranked teams in 2010
+17 Advanatage: Boise
Defense:
Georgia averaged 26 against ranked teams in 2010
Boise averaged 32 against ranked teams in 2010
+6 Advantage Georgia
Prediction:
+11 Boise State due to superior Offensive execution against ranked teams
Lovliest villager
August 10th, 2011
3:01 pm
Q: What’s the difference between a drunken, unruly flash mob and the crowd at a UGA home game?
A: There’s a difference?
WDE
August 10th, 2011
3:30 pm
@VarsityBlue I can tell what we are going to do..wait till Sept 3rd and then pound a comparably smaller DL with a OL that weights over 300lbs a man . Blocking for a 220+ RB behind a 260+lb FB…boom boom boom all day long..K Moore can’t beat us if he ain’t on the field. Oh and Pat darling girl how many of those “ranked” teams were in the SEC?
WDE
August 10th, 2011
3:33 pm
@Lovliest villager this from a fan of a bunch that turned fire hose on middle aged men and women who’s biggest crime was watching UGA kick that Barner butt….classy as always that’s the Barner way.
wiseoldawg
August 10th, 2011
4:22 pm
Tell you what VB, let’s compare the two at the end of the game. I”ll be satisfied with that
Marxist Utopian Paradise
August 10th, 2011
4:30 pm
Lovely. The UGA journalism school already cranks out a depressingly large number of left-wing jerkoffs, now it’s getting Cynthia Tucker, one of Obama’s biggest suck-ups.
Just lovely, ain’t it.
Good Dawg
August 10th, 2011
4:31 pm
Darn, just read Cynthia Tucker coming to teach at UGA’s Grady school of journalism!! HELP
Why oh why, Lord please help us…….Get her out of there now!!!!
Before she brainwashes our journalism students with liberal bias racial crap.
One of the top Journalism schools in the country (Peabody Awards) is now being downgraded with her presence. More proof of higher institutions of learning being primarily taught by radical, left wing
liberals there to destroy minds of future leaders of America!
Good Dawg
August 10th, 2011
4:35 pm
Who’s next at UGA’s journalism school?…..Terrance Moore and his “it’s all about race” crap.
Good Dawg
August 10th, 2011
4:37 pm
If Bush had a (D) by his name on the election ballot instead of an (R), Tucker would have called him the best president of all time.
It’s all about the party and race to Cynthia Tucker.
War Dang Dawg
August 10th, 2011
4:51 pm
Quit blaming Bobo, if we have a coaching problem it starts at the top. Even if you accept the argument that Bobo’s playcalling is the problem (I don’t), isn’t it the head coach’s job to properly evaluate the coaches under him and put the right men in the right places?
And if I recall correctly, Richt wasn’t exactly lighting it up as a playcaller when he turned the offense over to Bobo. I think the stated reason was that he needed to spend more time in the “CEO” role and manage the whole program. Richt obviously thinks Bobo is a better option than himself, which should tell you something.
Aubie-won-knobi
August 10th, 2011
5:29 pm
@WDE: I was at THAT game in the 80’s when Auburn turned on the water hose to the Georgia fans who behaved like rabid DAWGS that they were. The fact you CONVENIENTLY forgot to post was that after the win, the entire Georgia student section jumped the fence, raced to the center of the field and began destroying and pulling up our turf. They acted like animals, they got treated like animals. End of story.
Still@theBAR
August 10th, 2011
5:33 pm
Aubie-won-knobi
You didn’t expect to get the truth and facts from a Dawg did you?
Cynthia Tucker Teaching at UGA is a perfect fit. She will try to get all those white women to to buy into her race baiting liberal views.
Aubie-won-knobi
August 10th, 2011
5:34 pm
Really WDE? What are you? Like 25? Were you even BORN? It most definitely was NOT middle aged men and women unless they found the fountain of youth. I was there. It was all Georgia students. And it was NOT “they did nothing more than beat Auburn”. Hmmm…seems like someone’s taught you a bad, misinformed history lesson. Poor leg humpers. You can’t change history books. Okay?
Aubie-won-knobi
August 10th, 2011
5:38 pm
Still@theBAR:
It’s still entertaining to seem then hem and haw over their own lack of credibility.
Good Dawg
August 10th, 2011
5:39 pm
Aubie, shut up and go home to your poisoned trees.
Still@theBAR
August 10th, 2011
5:46 pm
Good Dawg
Go to Sanford and bury another dead Uga.
ugab
August 10th, 2011
6:51 pm
Garner needs to go!!! He has been holding this DL back for a long time. I know he is a good recruiter. So, put him as a recruiter and not a coach. Garner is not in the “Georgia Way” of things. He needs to go.
moleman
August 10th, 2011
7:24 pm
check this out…
Troll Power Ratings
August 10th, 2011
10:22 pm
Nice to see the bitter, angry, frustrated, jealous TROLLS talking to one another about the Dawgs. Thanks so much for caring – troll onward.
ugab, you sure?
August 10th, 2011
10:23 pm
ugab, don’t forget Garner predates Richt. Donnan hired him, which means he coached Stroud, Seymour, Grant, Johnson, Sullivan, Golston, all of which spend time in the NFL and all had or are still having big impacts in the NFL, except for Sullivan, who despite being a first rounder, was a total bust in the NFL due to laziness. Garner can coach. I don’t know what other issues he may/may not have, but give him his due as a DL coach.
Columbus
August 11th, 2011
1:41 am
Best written article in awhile. Good job. Here’s to Bobo using the sweep, the screen and passes to all our backs out of the backfield and give them some room to operate! Figgins and Crowell can catch! Get them some OPEN field Brother Bobo!
Old Dog
August 11th, 2011
6:28 am
I have been seeing a lot of articles about how good the Dawgs will be this season. I will believe it when I see it. I am still smarting from the last three seasons (which coincided with my daughter’s final three years at UGA). I reserve my opinion until I see some REAL results (actual WINS).
RedandBlackDAWG
August 11th, 2011
7:03 am
I don’t know if it is all fan fickleness when you consider that few sports journalist on AJC, with the exception of maybe one, do not let their personal opinions and feelings intefere with their objectivity when they report on the DAWGS. That is the main reason that a lot of these negative bloggers feel they can insult and type anything they want without impunity on these blogs. They are written in such a way as to invite these type of comments, to increase web hits for the AJC. The web hits are correlated to people supposedly reading the advertisements on the web site, but I don’t bother with advertisements much. That is the main reason I quit subscribing to the AJC paper version. A 20 page front section with 15 pages of advertisements. I wuld rather just pay for the internet and read a lot of different sources about a particular subject. A lof of other publications are more subjective about UGA than the AJC is anyway. More in depth reporting most of the time, unless UGA encounters a problem and then the AJC is on it, like white on rice. It is what it is though, you just learn to live with it.
Tereza
August 11th, 2011
8:02 am
Boise State 222, UGA 0 >>>> The beatdown of the year.
After the game, a UGA player who reads, writes, and speaks at a 4th grade level will be interviewed on TV, and millions of viewers will wonder why Mark Richt recruits these dummies and why UGA admits them.
It makes you long for the days when ethical UGA coaches like Wallace Butts and Harry Mehre recruited literate athletes who actually earned serious college degrees.
If you doubt this, go back and read Caleb King’s farewell tweet. The guy couldn’t even write a coherent sentence. This simpleton should have been sweeping floors somewhere, not enrolled in college.
Mark Richt and the University of Georgia are a disgrace to this state.
Oh, I forgot… red panties!
Just saying
August 11th, 2011
8:05 am
Will some one please look inside the glass house in which “disbelief in ackworth” lives. He throws stones at the great, proud program at UGA. Want to bet that he is a “Tech nerd?” What is he doing on a Bulldawg blog? He didn’t include Jim Donnan’s current leagl and financial problems at the door of blame as Georgia’s history and responsibility. It must be Disbelief lives in the past so much he cannot stay current. What a jerk! That’s what disbelief does to a mind….It clouds judgement. He is not asking…But, I’m just saying!
RedandBlackDAWG
August 11th, 2011
8:39 am
Tereza,
Below is an accurate description of you. Go away moron. But before you do, want to put a real bet on the score of the Boise-UGA game you made above?
If you don’t know what the term means, “troll” refers to an online personality that uses his/her anonymity to “bait” users or turn valid discussions into full-blown arguments.
Don’t take the bait, UGA supporters.
GO DAWGS
Maurine Marabella
August 13th, 2011
3:50 pm
Thanks for this post! Keep up the hard work