Grantham: Dogs will go to 3-4 defense; he’ll coach linebackers
A few notes from new UGA defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s just-completed conference call with the media:
– Georgia’s base defense will switch from a 4-3 to a 3-4 — three linemen and four linebackers, rather than vice versa.
“We’ll be a 3-4 structure,” Grantham said, “which basically means in your base defense you have two outside ‘backers, three D linemen, two inside ‘backers. . . . We are more of an aggressive style 3-4. We’re going to attack blockers up front, and we’re going to rush the passer. Our outside ‘backers are going to be what we call edge-setters. They’re going to be aggressive; they’re going to be coming; they’re going to be solid [against] the run but we’re going to develop those guys as pass rushers. The inside ‘backers … they’re going to be downhill guys to the ball.
“But in saying that, we’re still going to be multiple. We’re always going to. . . have the ability to match personnel. . . . The other thing is, when you coach in pro football, you take the players you have and you find a way to make it work. So I really believe the best way to go about it is, you rank your players 1 through 50 and you find a way to get your top players on the field. ”
– Although he has coached defensive line for most of his career, he said he’ll work with the linebackers at Georgia. He thinks that’s the best role for a coordinator.
“As coordinator, you’re tied in to not only the front but the secondary,” he said, “so I will be working with the linebackers and that way you can be with both the front and the back relative to whatever drills you are doing.”
– He doesn’t know the only holdover on Georgia’s defensive staff, line coach Rodney Garner. “I have heard good things about him, and I expect to be meeting him here shortly.”
Two openings remain on the defensive staff, and Mark Richt has said the new coordinator will have much input into filling them. Grantham said no decisions have been made. He said his hiring came together quickly and that he and Richt would discuss other positions over the weekend and next week.
– He will remain with the Cowboys as long as they are alive in the NFL playoffs. “I’ve always been a believer that you finish what you start,” he said.
– He and Richt didn’t know one another when Georgia’s search for a DC began. Richt said he got to know Grantham as the process unfolded. “I really feel like we hit the jackpot,” Richt said.
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244 comments Add your comment
Gadawgfan
January 15th, 2010
8:32 pm
The 3-4 is really tough for opposing teams, but you have to have the right personnel. I’ve played against it In college and because it’s a two gap defense your 3 dline guys have to be BIG guys and outside backers have to be big physical guys who can pass drop. I hated the short passing game against it because there aren’t big windows to throw it. I like the new DC and his aggressive style and think the defense will have success next year but will be great in another year or two with the right type of backers that they will bring in. I think this is a great hire and am excited about uga’s future! Good job richt
Big Sack Dawg
January 15th, 2010
8:33 pm
Carry your yellow arse to Ramblin On ,little LOUIE! The Dawg nation is on the rise BABY!
DILLIGAF
January 15th, 2010
8:37 pm
It sounds like Garner will hopefully remain as line coach.
I can’t wait to see a defense that plays with plays with intensity and discipline again. It will be interesting to see who fills the remaining spots on the staff.
Everyday is a good day to be a GA Bulldog but today is a great day indeed! I am glad the search is over because I know this ordeal has been very stressful for CMR, especially all of the negative press.
New QB, new defense, I’m ready for football now!! It’s’ guranteed to be another interesting season.
GATA!!
UGA85′
Louie
January 15th, 2010
8:43 pm
CPJ made the best hire, hands down. GT will now have all problems solved , no question. The little doggies are running around with their fat chests stuck out because SOMEONE took the job NOBODY wanted.
L M F A OOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Satilla Dawg
January 15th, 2010
8:52 pm
Welcome to Bulldawg Nation, Coach Grantham!
Looking forward to the fall and some good, old smashmouth Georgia D E F E N S E again!
Good hire, CMR!
Go Dawgs!
Louie
January 15th, 2010
8:52 pm
STILL L M F A OFFFFFFFFFF
Gary in Gainesville, FL
January 15th, 2010
9:07 pm
Great hire! We have a good a great NFL coordinator running out defense. Second problem is special teams and conditioning. Finally the biggest thing MR has fix is the turnovers and penalties. Fix the turnovers and penalties and the dogs could win the SEC next year!
GATOR GRANDE HANGING
January 15th, 2010
9:09 pm
Good hire Richt.How many years till you clowns can compete?
guyanadawg
January 15th, 2010
9:09 pm
play ball! (oh, wait wrong sport). anyway, SWEET – glad to finally have our man! one good thing about the 3-4 is the dawgs are always strong at LB, now we can get more on the field at one time. i look forward to us being known as a shut-down D. O should prosper without so much pressure to score 30 plus.
Josh
January 15th, 2010
9:11 pm
Louie, wow you are either misinformed or ignorant…..
Josh
January 15th, 2010
9:12 pm
By the way, T.J. Stripling has the perfect build to play OLB in this defense. Look for him to contribute as a freshman.
Louie
January 15th, 2010
9:13 pm
CPJ has it all in place. Piece missing to the puzzle now in place. Mutts got their man albet 6th choice.
Oh well, someone to fill a BIG void.
DILLIGAF
January 15th, 2010
9:13 pm
With all of this talk about defensive coordinators and coaching staff postions being filled, has anyone heard anything relating to Willie Martinez? I heard a week ago that he was being linked with an opening on the Gator’s staff. Any truth to that?
Louie
January 15th, 2010
9:16 pm
josh, a third grader questioning a GT student. You gotta be kidding me. Go get one of granddaddy’s PBR’S son.
Louie
January 15th, 2010
9:18 pm
Al Groh will prove to be valuable asset to Jacket program.
Mutts will lag big time ,as always under cmr regime.
Georgia Tech
January 15th, 2010
9:22 pm
We at Georgia Tech have not won a major bowl game since the 1950s!!!!
We know 1 out of 9 is a FLUKE!!!
Thanks to UGA for exposing how overrated we were in both football and basketball.
30-24!
73-66!
Can we come visit the Governor’s Cup in Athens sometime? We’d just like to see what it looks like because it is almost always in Athens!!! We are proud that our Jackets are the second best college football and basketball team in the state of Georgia.
PS. Did you all notice that our GT Jackets have now lost 5 straight bowl games?
GAyTech
January 15th, 2010
9:24 pm
There is a good reason that Georgia Tech is located close to midtown and Piedmont Park!!!! You catch my drift, fellas! I’ll catch you later in a stall at the park.
Louie
January 15th, 2010
9:26 pm
I hate it that UGA owns us!!!! Dang you guys for whipping our butts on our own field inside our very small Bobby Dodd Stadium and then you had to beat out super talented basketball team with your bunch of walk-ons. I guess that means Georgia Tech SUX!!!! I suck too!
DAWGER2
January 15th, 2010
9:27 pm
The word on the street is that georgia has contacted Donald Chumly former UGA player and curent Savannah Christian head football coach about coaching defensive ends.
Jeckyll Island
January 15th, 2010
9:30 pm
30-24!!!!
30-24!!!!
30-24!!!!
30-24!!!!
UGA is state champions on football, GA Tech is NOT!
8 out of 9!!!!!
8 out of 9!!!!!
8 out of 9!!!!!
8 out of 9!!!!!
Mark Richt is undefeated in Tech’s little high school sized stadium!
73-66!!!!
73-66!!!!
73-66!!!!
73-66!!!!
UGA is state champs in basketball too! Guess who is second best? GT
LMAO
Bo
January 15th, 2010
9:31 pm
Sounds good to me, I’m in…Grantham sounds like a hard a$$. You gotta love that. Hopefully he’s the kind of guy that won’t tolerate arm tackles and mental mistakes. Go Dawgs.
flagboy?
January 15th, 2010
9:32 pm
moving to the 3-4 will be a big challange in one off season. . .a massive change in responsibility and thinking on your feet on the defensive side of the ball. Defensive will have to be more disciplined than the past few seasons.
Should be exciting.
The Real SugarHillDawg
January 15th, 2010
9:32 pm
It doesn’t matter who you Tech LOSERS hire! Even Al Groh can’t make chicken salad from chicken sh*t! I can’t believe Tech won the ACC and had a defense that bad. If Iowa had had a decent offense, that game woulda gotten UGLY!Suck it NERDS! We have bigger fish to fry than you POSERS!
Reality
January 15th, 2010
9:32 pm
Why is whining, crying and making up excuses an annual thing at Georgia Tech?
A. Because the University of Georgia Bulldogs have made an annual event at kicking GA Tech’s butts in football.
Boss
January 15th, 2010
9:34 pm
You whiny GT termites need to stay on your own vents where you can discuss why your Jackettes can’t win a big game outside that pathetic second tier conference called the ACC.
NC DAWG
January 15th, 2010
9:39 pm
Now hire Travis Jones and Charlton Warren: http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/warren_charlton00.html
GTDog
January 15th, 2010
9:41 pm
Enter your comments here
RED DOG 77
January 15th, 2010
9:43 pm
Lets see here, mabe the most promiseing red shirt ,as was voted on by the coaches for the defense………Yep you guessed it 6ft 6in 330lb Mr. Kwamee Gathers at the nose? Sounds like a fit to me…..GO DOGS !!!! GATA
BamaKnowItAll
January 15th, 2010
9:46 pm
Guess if you can’t beat the Tide, hell you might as well copy their style. Bama is one of a few teams in college football running the 3-4 Defense. They say it’s a copycat league so maybe CMR will instill some discipline also……Roll Tide!
GTDog
January 15th, 2010
9:46 pm
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Josh and you other guys chill! Louie (really…Louie? Louie?) isn’t really a Tech student. Read his posts. That guy never made it out of high school. He(she?) is either VERY young, VERY drunk or VERY….ahhh, I’m trying to be politically correct here…help me out, what’s the term I’m looking for???
Michael
January 15th, 2010
9:48 pm
Glad to see the dogs finally hire a DC! Dont know to much about this Grantham fella, but i do like the way his 3-4 defense sounds! Any ideas if that Deon Rogers kid from Florida would be a good fit in this system?
Bride of Chucky Knapp
January 15th, 2010
9:49 pm
You tell em, Boss! Don’t they have some bridges to build or something with all that “stimulus” money?
Bride of Chucky Knapp
January 15th, 2010
9:51 pm
2, to, too, two, tew: it’s all the same to you people, isn’t it?!
dawg nation
January 15th, 2010
9:52 pm
Glad to have coach Grantham!! Bring some dicipline to that side of the ball guys and lets get some fast hard hittting linebackers in here and run this mother!!!!
GTDog
January 15th, 2010
9:53 pm
The bottom line here is that BOTH UGA and GT made nice hires for their respective DCs. I’d say GT made the safer short term move while the Dogs went with a riskier choice that has great potential.
But…let’s all be glad that Cutcliffe said no to UT. He’s is a hell of a coach. Gonna be hard rooting against DD though. But worst of all…I really, REALLY wanted to have another shot or two at Kiffin!
Willie B Martinez
January 15th, 2010
9:54 pm
{{{{{{{{{ Bud Foster }}}}}}}}}}
{{{{{{{{{ John Chavis }}}}}}}}}}
{{{{{{{{{ Kirby Smart }}}}}}}}}}
Grantham, you were the 4th choice. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!
Big L
January 15th, 2010
9:54 pm
Grantham’s ground assault. How does that sound? Or how bout The G Unit.
NC DAWG
January 15th, 2010
9:56 pm
Travis Jones and Charlton Warren…….Make it happen Grantham and Rich http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/warren_charlton00.html
GTDog
January 15th, 2010
9:57 pm
Willie, you’re hilarious! Keep looking down that list…keep looking…Yep, there he is:
84. Al Groh
RED DOG 77
January 15th, 2010
9:57 pm
Flagboy ? 9:32pm 1/15…..With all due respect my brother….From one who has played a fair bit of football myself…..You will hear that a 3-4 defense is a challenge…..But in reality it is much easier……..Why ? you ask….. Because a 3-4 is basically an attack defense….and that is what all real defensive players want to do ! Or in other words it is fun ripping someones head off…….thus anything that fun will be much easier to learn and understand….Cant wait….Been a long time coming…..GO DOGS…..GATA .!!!!
Cowboy
January 15th, 2010
9:59 pm
The best way to handle these interlopers from the high school team in Atlanta,as well as any other fan from another school is to just overlook them. how bad it must be that you spend your time on another teams blogs.
munson
January 15th, 2010
9:59 pm
footballscoop.com is saying UGA has just hired UCONN db for same spot. Does any one know if this is accurate?
munson
January 15th, 2010
10:00 pm
db coach that is.
Kevin
January 15th, 2010
10:03 pm
Louie are you mad that there’s no beautiful girls at your school? I was downtown in Athens Wednesday and Thursday, and I almost feel like we have to many beautiful girls. And they love their UGA boys… trust me
Dawgtime
January 15th, 2010
10:06 pm
Justin Houston is going to be a beast in the 34 front. UGA will be having players better prepared for the NFL will NFL type alignments. How many times do you hear, can he adjust from DE to OLB? You will know with UGA.
NC DAWG
January 15th, 2010
10:06 pm
Munson:
Post the link please………..about the uconn bd coach…
I would rather see http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/warren_charlton00.html
NC DAWG
January 15th, 2010
10:07 pm
db
RED DOG 77
January 15th, 2010
10:09 pm
Big L Sounds pretty good to me ol boy…….THE G UNIT….or we could name it after you….mabe…THE Big G Unit …YEH….I like that better ..THE Big G Unit.
jimmy
January 15th, 2010
10:09 pm
if anyone took time to read what coach phillips had to say about our dc they should be very pleased i hope derek dooley doesn’t find a rb named walker
munson
January 15th, 2010
10:10 pm
NC DAWG,
hope this helps
http://www.footballscoop.com/?cat=24