Fixing the Dawgs’ ‘scary’ special teams
If Blair Walsh was rushing his kicks, why didn't anyone on the coaching staff notice it? (Associated Press)
Along with the lack of experienced depth in the secondary and the rebuilding project on the offensive line, the aspect of Mark Richt’s Bulldogs causing the most offseason apprehension among fans is special teams, where Georgia will be starting brand-new kickers and trying to turn around last year’s dismal performance.
Plus, doing all of that without the benefit of a special teams coach or coordinator, as Richt stubbornly sticks to the Bobby Bowden model of going without one.
That’s a decision that many have questioned, and the topic came up again over the weekend thanks to a report out of Minnesota, where the Vikings are betting they can fix what was wrong with placekicker Blair Walsh during his disappointing senior season at UGA.
The Vikes’ special teams coordinator, Mike Priefer, told 1500espn.com that after working with Walsh and studying film of last season, he’s figured out how the ex-Bulldog went from one of the nation’s most reliable PKs to making only 21 of 35 field goal attempts.
“He was rushing every kick,” Priefer said. “Every kick he missed, he hit them well, but he was much too fast with his get off time. I don’t know if that was what he was coached to do, maybe that’s what he wanted to do.”
That last bit sounds somewhat like an indictment of Georgia’s special teams coaching … or, more accurately, lack of special teams coaching.
Whether Priefer has nailed it remains to be seen — and there’s still the suspicion that most of Walsh’s problem last season was between his ears — but there’s no doubt Richt’s staff was clueless about how to help their placekicker get back on track, basically leaving it up to the kid to fix himself.
Hopefully, incoming freshman placekicker Marshall Morgan and punter Collin Barber won’t arrive in Athens with any hitches in their mechanics that need diagnosing, because it appears Richt’s staff wouldn’t be able to help them much.
Of course, they weren’t much better at improving any other aspect of special teams play last season, which Richt himself summed up rather generously as “mostly average to scary.”
More scary than average, as the numbers show: Georgia ranked 116th out of 120 teams last year in punt return defense and merely 88th in kickoff return defense, allowing two kickoffs to be returned for touchdowns and another long return by Florida that set up a field goal.
It's off to the races for the Honey Badger against Georgia. (Associated Press)
At least it’s good to know that John Lilly, the assistant coach who oversees Georgia’s punt coverage unit, is still haunted by his team’s performance against LSU in the SEC championship game, where Tyrann Mathieu returned one punt 62 yards for a touchdown and another punt 42 yards to set up a score as the Dawgs quickly lost control of the game in the second half.
“You think about that game every day and what happened there,” Lilly recently told the Athens Banner Herald.
Lilly recognizes that coaching is a big part of special teams play: “We’ve got to do a great job of coaching it,” he told the ABH. “We’ve got to give them a great plan and scheme that fits our personnel and then we’ve got to get the right guys on there and then motivate them. Then, at the moment of truth, we’ve got to make the plays when they’re there to be made.”
He reiterated what Richt has indicated several times, that it’s “all hands on deck,” as the head coach put it, and that starters and other high-profile players need to take the place of the many walk-ons that have populated Georgia’s coverage teams in recent years.
Said Lilly: “You’ve got to put guys in the right place and I do think from a personnel standpoint, I think you’re going to see guys across classes. You’ll see everything from a true freshman to seniors out there. You’ll see everything from a high-draft pick to a guy that might be one in two or three years but hadn’t done it yet. We’ve got to do — I’ve got to do — a great job of motivating them and getting it done. The punter’s got to do a great job of putting the ball where we want it and how we want it there, and I think we’ll be very good again.”
Richt, at least, is talking the talk about special teams … finally. As he put it a few months ago, “If we’ve got to put a bunch of starters on defense on some specials or starters at wide receiver or whatever you’ve got to do — tailback, I don’t care what position. We’ve got to get the best guys out there and understand how crucial it is.”
And he said after spring practice that Georgia most likely will have more live kicking reps in fall practice than in the past because of breaking in a new punter and placekicker. “They need to be under pressure as much as possible and it’s hard to create that pressure unless you’re doing some live situations. But we also just need to see for our own eyes can a guy make a tackle out in the open. Drills are great, but when it gets down to it, you have to have that sensation of being able to corral a guy out there when you’re covering a punt or covering a kick. You need to have your punts rushed full speed to make sure there’s no problems.”
But as David Ching of ESPN’s Dawg Nation noted, “Georgia’s unsightly return defense average doesn’t even include other disasters for the punt team. South Carolina defensive lineman Melvin Ingram rumbled 68 yards for a touchdown on a fake punt, providing points that made a huge difference in the Gamecocks’ 45-42 win. And Vanderbilt nearly pulled off a massive upset a few weeks later when the Commodores blocked a Drew Butler punt in the closing seconds, with Butler’s touchdown-saving tackle being all that preserved the Bulldogs’ 33-28 win.”
Spending more time in practice on live kicks and getting more starters out on the field for kick coverage definitely sounds like a good idea, but beyond that I’d like to see a heightened sense of awareness on the part of both the players and the coaching staff. Last year Georgia was a sucker for a fake punt (not for the first time under Richt). And against LSU you watched the Dawgs punt with a true sense of foreboding because they didn’t seem to know how to counter the Tigers’ return game.
I’d like to see some variation in how the Dawgs approach punting — for instance, on occasion using the rugby kicks that so many teams used to good advantage against us last year. They’re tough to return, and in the SEC championship game, it certainly would have made more sense to kick those, or at the very least squibbers that are hard to pick up, to try and keep the Honey Badger from breaking a long return. Instead, we kicked it right to him and depended on our obviously suspect coverage.
In order for the Dawgs to have a chance of living up to the high preseason expectations that have been placed on this team, there’s going to have to be a major turnaround on special teams. Yes, on-field execution is a key, and that’s on the players up to a point. But coaching is a big part of college football, and the approach taken with Walsh and the punting game last year certainly isn’t going to get it done.
Got something you want to discuss concerning UGA athletics or a question for the Junkyard Blawg? Send it to junkyardblawg@gmail.com.
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337 comments Add your comment
bham dawg
June 26th, 2012
5:49 pm
@kingdaddy… the funny thing is that all these trolls bashing murray would trade their qb in a second for him… like we have said before they are fearing uga this year
TJ
June 26th, 2012
5:50 pm
We have no strategic involvement in 1/3 of the game…we just seemingly throw guys out there and hope for the best and seem to go through the motions whether we’re punting/kicking early in the game or late in the game where we have to go cover well. And when was the last time we put on a punt/kick block…the 2002 season. Richt finally made a good choice at DC, he still hasn’t made the right decisions at OC and ST’s…one has a bad coach, the other has no coach.
Lip service is all well and good…let’s see if it plays out because we’ve gotten exposed and I imagine we’ll get tested in this area in Mizzou to see if we’ve actually done anything about it or not.
SoGaDAWG
June 26th, 2012
5:52 pm
Bill I to would like to see the rugby style kick used sometimes and im looking foward to having some of the better players out there also just pray they dont get injured. Oh and dont Beemer handle the special teams for VA Tech? Maybe CEO richt needs to get his hands a little dirtier !
A6
June 26th, 2012
5:53 pm
I’ll give Murray the credit when he EARNS IT by finally winning his 1st game against a real team, one that finished in the final AP POLL TOP 25. Come on man, it’s been 2 years and the guys still throwing multiple interceptions in his last 2 games?
wreckmaniac
June 26th, 2012
5:53 pm
Good grief ! You had the nations #1 kicker ( Walsh) for the last three years and there are things to be
“fixed” ? This only happens at UGA. Another of the endless examples o fUGA players picked to be the nation’s best at their position and they become mediocre. Please will somebody write a book on the underachievement at UGA. It defies belief.
EC
June 26th, 2012
5:56 pm
.Murray has won 4 games in 2 years against teams with 7 or 8 wins. That’s a positive. (The other 12 wins were against teams with 6 wins or fewer though).
The Truth Detector
June 26th, 2012
5:59 pm
Just wondering. How many straight ahead running plays did UGA/Bobo/Richt have for positive yards in 2012? I remember a ton of toss sweeps, reverses. How many plays against top 25 teams was Murray allowed to set up without adjusting his throwing lane, shuffling his feet and buying time to make a throw?
Coach Friend is a good coach, but it looks much deeper than coaching, it seems like scheme, depth, strength and playcalling.
Just an observation.
Tim Jernigan
June 26th, 2012
5:59 pm
THe dogs are awful
AltamahaDawg
June 26th, 2012
5:59 pm
actually TD rally, none of those guys do it exactly the same as each other either. AND none of those team are markedly better, over time, than the rest of the conference, OR UGA at special teams. And ALL of those teams have also had years in which they were near or at the bottom in certain aspects. So exactly what conclusion are you asking us to draw from the we don’t do exactly what some others do argument?
RedHeader
June 26th, 2012
6:00 pm
While I see how the 2 special teams mistakes contributed to the loss against LSU, I am much more worried about Murray’s 3 turnovers in that game. The pattern unfortunately continues in nearly every big games in Murray’s 2 year forgettable UGA career. I think we had 5 special team’s mistakes in 2011, but Murray accounted for HUNDREDS of poor plays. I don’t want to miss the forest for the tree.
WellDone
June 26th, 2012
6:03 pm
On a positive note, Murray completed 4 passes out of 40 on 3rd and 10 this year. Didn’t handle pressure too good, but 4 completions, better than nothing.
Murray performed better than 10 QB’s last year in interceptions (out of 400+).
AltamahaDawg
June 26th, 2012
6:05 pm
I am still waiting on somebody to explain to me why Alabama, under the direction of Saban,has been barely average in the SEC at pecial teams on the whole. IF this is such a clear cut question of philosophy. Is saban too dumb to know the importance of special teams?
RedHeader
June 26th, 2012
6:06 pm
I just don’t see the point in wasting time on the 5 poor special teams plays, when A Murray had 5 awful plays in the LSU game alone.
kingdaddy
June 26th, 2012
6:07 pm
I can still see melvin Ingram taking it 69 yds for a td on a fake punt, lol. Yeah, that was Murray’s fault too! 42-45!!!
It’s a team sport and I smell trolls…
RedHeader
June 26th, 2012
6:08 pm
And for those of you harping on special teams for the South Carolina loss, forget it. It resulted in 10 points on the mjissed field goal and fake punt for td.
If you’ll remember, Murray threw an interception in the red zone (one of his 7 on the year), that was returned for a td, and then near th end of the game, fumbled the ball in the red zone for another td. So 14 points were on Murray in that game too.
Another example of UGA under CMR
June 26th, 2012
6:15 pm
In the early years of Richt’s era, we were a fairly complete football team. We have not been a complete football team in many years and the special teams area is a prime example. Losing the SC game can be directly placed on lousy cooverages and lousy tackling of Ingram rambling down the UGA sideline.
Until this is corrected under Mark Richt, UGA will continue to be a team full of quality stars and a few good coaches but ending up usually around 9-3. It is what it is.
Until the President of UGA takes the necessary steps to pursue the SEC on a regualr basis, UGA will always be 8-3 or 9-3 team with the Outback Bowl on the horizon.
UGA class of 71 & 73
kingdaddy
June 26th, 2012
6:16 pm
A couple of these new blog names bashing Murray may be concerned fans, but I doubt it. They have nothing good to say about the program. Don’t think many of them are UGA FANS…
kingdaddy
June 26th, 2012
6:21 pm
What was the offensive linemans name that Clowney jumped over to cause a fumble? Was that on the goal-line??? Were any passes in and out of a UGA WRs hands intercepted???
kingdaddy
June 26th, 2012
6:24 pm
Redhead
Worry about your qb, and let UGA fans worry about theirs troll. A. MURRAY has 10x the guts you cheapshot drivebys do…
Double Zero Eight
June 26th, 2012
6:26 pm
Looks like Walsh had very little confidence in
his O-Line if the Vikings are correct in their
assessment of him.
Murray is a good quarterback. He can be
a great QB in he SEC if he decreases his
turnovers at critical times.
kingdaddy
June 26th, 2012
6:30 pm
Some of you posters haven’t said one good thing about the kid, only trashtalk. If you are a Dawg, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Win as a team, lose as a team…
Vampirehunt
June 26th, 2012
6:38 pm
I guess Bill King is “not a real fan” since he wrote the truth about an area UGA needs to fix to have a better season.
I guess, according to a few posters here. true fans only fawn over their QB, poting about how perfect he is.
We know who you are Gator fans. Trying to create complacency. Hoping Murray never improves because he feels his game is perfect.
Not this time.
Jimmy Crack
June 26th, 2012
7:07 pm
I am going to start out with ZERO expectations of our ST and work my way up. Last year was some of the worst punt and kickoff coverage I’ve ever seen played at UGA.
kingdaddy
June 26th, 2012
7:09 pm
V-troll
Bill K. says plenty of good to go with the obvious area’s of concern just as any “REAL FAN” does. Trolls on the other hand only bash, condem, belittle and make fun of the program and it’s “real fans”, kinda like you. GOOGLE: CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISISM…You sound more like a techie or chic-hen…
kingdaddy
June 26th, 2012
7:13 pm
J.C.
You’re right and it only got worse as the year got into the Nitty Gritty. Having Starters on S.T. can only help but we still might need a full time st coach…
Chris
June 26th, 2012
7:14 pm
This entire article just proves what a terible coach Richt is, and Georgia would be better off had we had a losing record last year and Richt was fired.
How can the rest of the rational world see what is wrong with Georgia’s special teams, yet Richt is oblivious to these facts? Just like he was oblivious to how bad Willie Martinez was for so long, and he is STILL oblivious to how bad Bobo is.
It is so sad how obvious Georgia’s coaching problem is, yet no one is doing anything about it.
kingdaddy
June 26th, 2012
7:42 pm
Chris,
I think when we got trampled on in the second-half of the SEC-CG, CMR saw UGA couldn’t move forward without some changes. He saw that we couldn’t compete with LSU OR BAMA with what we were doing as a team. Changes need to be made. After Michigan St and during his contract talks, I think he probably got intense critisism from all directions. It isn’t business as usual this year, there have been changes made and you will start to see the difference in the Missiouri game. He’s just not tipping his hand yet. I don’t expect him to breakout a whole lot until the S.C. game. Then it’s game on. When we beat Missiouri I would think that every practice up until S.C. will be with an eye on what the Game-Clucks are showing us. Little stevie will have a few wrinkles for the Dawgs too. It will be a real blood-letting. The Dawgs will be different this year, you can count on it…
LogicalUS
June 26th, 2012
8:17 pm
“It isn’t business as usual this year, there have been changes made”
Good lord, it is nearly July already? Geez, where did the year go, but it certainly must be July because here come the silly…..things are definitely changed THIS SEASON in Athens.
We heard the same nonsense last summer and then the unprepared Dawgs when out and got embarrassed by Boisy for the ill disciplined, ill-coached and unfootball “athletes” everyone has come to expect out of UGA. To watch the well-coached Boisy football players cut and dice up the “greatest” DC in football history, Grantham, was something to watch.
It is supreme silliness to project some miracle of new focus on this bunch when the entire defensive back end is going to miss the first half of the season. Here is a prediction after SC handles UGA by 10 in Columbia….All the beaners will be lamenting that “it would not have happened if it wasn’t for the “missed” playing time because of the suspension”.
Right now….UGA is looking at a 4-2 start with a strong possibility of 4-3 vs UT and their passing game because of the loss of secondary players.
By that time UGA fans will be sporting their LSU\Arkansas regalia again hoping that the SEC West can beat SC again so UGA can back into another beatdown in the SECCG.
Fools Gold
June 26th, 2012
8:19 pm
Dawgs will lose to South Cackalacky again this year….. Bank on it!
The Truth Detector
June 26th, 2012
8:23 pm
AltamahaDawg
June 26th, 2012
6:05 pm
I am still waiting on somebody to explain to me why Alabama, under the direction of Saban,has been barely average in the SEC at pecial teams on the whole. IF this is such a clear cut question of philosophy. Is saban too dumb to know the importance of special teams?
Saban does one thing that really matters. He puts starters on special teams and does not allow mistakes to be made. A team may return a kick or punt but you can mark it down his guys will not make the same mistakes twice. He also demands that penalties are not part of the equation in putting an opponent in scoring position. No one thinks Saban’s special teams at LSU or Alabama are great but they do what he expects of them and limits the opponents opportunities to score or they put his teams in positive situations and do not make dumb mistakes.
wreckmaniac
June 26th, 2012
8:27 pm
Well, its about time for the annual jokefest known as SEC Media Days in Birmingham. Last year during that hotair festival, Murray was selected as the #1 QB in the conference. So it has to be that he will get that honor again this year, right ?
lost
June 26th, 2012
8:39 pm
And how many games did Bobby lose to special teams??? Its clear his plan was wrong!
kingdaddy
June 26th, 2012
8:45 pm
Why do you fools embarrass yourselves on the Junkyard blog? Couldn’t find the “NERD BLOG”??? They say history repeats itself, so when has S.C.ever beaten UGA 3 times in a row??? Maybe if you go back to the ACC, you might win something. Even G.T. HAS WON 5 SEC TITLES, CHIC-HENS HAVE ZERO!!! All the Clucks have is talk, talk, talk, lol. Less than Zero…
uncledaddy
June 26th, 2012
8:48 pm
You want to fix the ’scary’ special teams? Try fixing the ’scary’ fans first. They reproduce, you know.
http://media.peopleofwalmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/875.jpg
Brainiac(Dawg for life/Richt fan for life)
June 26th, 2012
8:57 pm
@ ACE:
Don’t forget the fake punt in the South Carolina game. That was on our ST.
Were there other scores off of fake stuff???
SSIgator
June 26th, 2012
9:07 pm
Chris -
Obviously you are either new or very young entry in the Mark “I can win games – just not the big games” Richt game. The only way you lose the clear vision that you seem to have is by ingesting large amounts of Kool- Aid or by chanting, he is such a nice guy, he is such a nice guy, he is . . .
kingdaddy
June 26th, 2012
9:17 pm
Brain…
UGADawg83
June 26th, 2012
9:21 pm
Great cesspool of negativity you have stirred up Bill. This blog makes so many positive contributions to the UGA football program. (Sarcasm intended)
DawgNow
June 26th, 2012
9:28 pm
mark this down—with this new focus, the dawgs will have the best special teams in the conference! The dog running game is #1 with all their star RBs and with a great D, this dog team may not lose a game! Ga blows out usc and fla and beats lsu for the title!!!
Murray!!!
June 26th, 2012
9:31 pm
murray—best QB in the SEC!!!! With a decent running game, the dog O will light up the scoreboard.
Coach Mark Richt
June 26th, 2012
9:33 pm
How many times do I have to tell you, WE DON’T NEED NO STINKING SPECIAL TEAMS COACH!!!!
Ole Yeller Dawg
June 26th, 2012
10:01 pm
Enter your comments here
Ole Yeller Dawg
June 26th, 2012
10:01 pm
Enter your comments here
bitter vince dooly
June 26th, 2012
10:13 pm
the legend himself is right down the street and coach richt will not even ask coach dooly for help
Coach dooly was a master at special teams
Lakedawg
June 26th, 2012
10:17 pm
@Kingdaddy–Big guy it’s useless arguing with some of the dipsticks, you have far more patience than me. Kepp up the effort anyway. DGD
HHY
June 26th, 2012
10:24 pm
Gentlemen, UGA is about to get it’s behind stomped on special teams in 2012. Why? No pressure tested experience at punter or kicker to start. Then, you consider that Tenn went out and got an 8 year NFL special teams coordinator, Bankins at Vanderbilt is a special teams guru–ate our lunch alst year with a blocked punt, return for td, and a fake punt. Spurrier got the Special teams coach of the year, Florida has a special teams coach thst bruned us for a 67 & 99 yard kick off return, Paul Johnson hired a full time special teams coach this off season, Auburn has a terrific Special teams coach with impressive results, if you get to the Sec Championship, Alabama has a special teams coach, and LSU has a full time Special teams coach with NFL experience who burned us for 119 yards on punt returns alone. 8 teams that are going to eat our lunch on Special Teams.
HHY
June 26th, 2012
10:39 pm
It’s not too late to call up Memphis and hire an ex College Football Special Teams Coach of the Year: james shibest
Tman
June 26th, 2012
10:40 pm
Those wanting Grantham for head coach are insane! Grantham is a powder keg waiting to explode
As a Tech fan i would love to see Mark Richt leave and Hothead Grantham take over. He would be a publicity nightmare
kingdaddy
June 26th, 2012
10:44 pm
Lakedawg
I think you and the rest of the DGDs take turns “marking” our territory, lol. The trolls just want to start it up, but most of them don’t have a leg to stand on. I like the different opinions, but the chest thumpers need help. Good Luck bro, I’m going to take care of some business…
GTJim
June 26th, 2012
10:58 pm
Hey UGA fans, your special teams were spectacular, and your QB is perfect, don’t change a thing.