Notes and quotes on position change, injuries (updated), QB race
(Updated 11:30 a.m.)
Justin Anderson seems intrigued and excited about his move from offensive line to defensive line, where he’ll probably play the nose position in Georgia’s new 3-4 defense.
Anderson said he first heard rumblings about a possible move in January but didn’t believe it would happen until coach Mark Richt called him into his office early last week.
“What was explained to me was that I was needed more on the defensive line than the offensive line,” Anderson said. “Because the offensive line has some depth with Tanner [Strickland] and Trint [Sturdivant] coming back [from injuries] and on the defensive line we lost Kade [Weston] and Jeff [Owens and Geno Atkins]. So we need to fill some bodies on defense. So I was like, ‘Of course. Change can’t hurt.’”
Anderson won’t be able to practice at his new position until summer, because he’s sidelined this spring after January surgery on his right shoulder. In the meantime, he plans to “learn as much as I can” from attending D-line meetings and studying the playbook, and he plans to drop 13 or 14 pounds to play the new position at about 320.
Anderson played on both the offensive and defensive lines at Irwin County High School. He said he was recruited mostly as an offensive lineman, although he noted that Georgia Tech wanted him as a defensive lineman.
“I feel like I got better as an offensive lineman [at Georgia], but injuries set me back,” Anderson said. “I just haven’t had a good career yet. I’m thankful I have two more years left to do what I can do.”
————————————-
Here’s an update on backup offensive lineman A.J. Harmon’s injury in Saturday’s scrimmage: He has a high ankle sprain, UGA said this morning, and will be sidelined for the remainder of spring practice.
On an earlier blog, someone asked about tailback Dontavious Jackson’s performance in the scrimmage. Jackson did not participate because of an ankle sprain.
Others who didn’t scrimmage because of injuries: OLB Justin Houston (shoulder), WR Marlon Brown (shoulder), WR Israel Troupe (hamstring) and TE Bruce Figgins (hamstring). None of those injuries are believed to be severe.
Full report on Saturday’s scrimmage is here.
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Here’s tight end Aron White’s take from late last week on the quarterbacks:
“I think they’re all doing really great. [Zach] Mettenberger has come out there and continued to perform. Logan Gray is probably in the best shape he’s ever been in; I think he looks like a specimen. Aaron [Murray] has been doing very well also; he’s a guy who’s a tremendous worker and puts in a lot of time outside practice. . . . It’s just so hard to tell at this point. . . . Whoever the coaches put in there, I feel like is going to get the job done, because all of them are very capable.”
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No football practice today. Georgia practices Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday this week. Saturday will be the second scrimmage of the spring in Sanford Stadium.
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283 comments Add your comment
Real McCoy
March 29th, 2010
4:54 pm
who’s alabama’s qb this year .is it a new one?
Real McCoy
March 29th, 2010
5:00 pm
never mind ,just found out its that kid from texas thats never lost a game in high school or at alabama that he started….Mcelroy
TheItalianDawg
March 29th, 2010
5:03 pm
of course its Perno, I meant it that way to see how many of you really care!! only few!
Stinger, you are a typical tech moron, take away Tech engineering school and your tech is equivalent to community college in the worse neighborhood!!! after all I rejected Tech for Georgia.hehe Go Dawgs!!!!
HanDAWG
March 29th, 2010
5:18 pm
More Spring Scrimmage talk at http://www.bighairyblawg.com
Einsteindawg
March 29th, 2010
5:22 pm
We do seem to have a lot of players with injuries that just drag on and on. While they don’t contribute, they do take up athletic scholarships. Wouldn’t it be prudent to identify the cronic injury-prone and give them a medical scholarship in order for them to get their degree,while freeing up athletic scholarships for those who can play and contribute. There are cost savings involved, too. As a loooooong time season ticket holder and contributor to the GEEF/Hartman Fund, this just makes good sense. Anyway, just my opinion. Go Dawgs!
MVP
March 29th, 2010
5:45 pm
CHOKE!! THE OFFICAL DRINK OF THE GEORGIA BULLDAWGS!
CDAWG
March 29th, 2010
5:46 pm
I saw a blog concerning the yeller bees and they only had 47 posts with a few from dawg fans. This one has over 200. Our readership is over 80% higher than theirs. It must be hard to be so insignificant.
how2fish
March 29th, 2010
6:16 pm
MVP puck you and the horse you rode in on…I hate you nancy boys or girls that take shots without any chance of you chicken choking team getting any heat..a pox on you !
Trojan Player
March 29th, 2010
6:21 pm
Yep…a bonafied 2nd tier SEC football team. We have fallen to the lower ranks.
Dawg 3/20
March 29th, 2010
6:24 pm
Yep, they were drinking plenty of CHOKE in 2007 during the South Carolina Game and they overdosed on the stuff back in 2005 when the Dawgs lost to a big underdog Gator team, their offense went 0-13 on 4th down conversions and that loss kept them from the Title Game. CHOKE, a Bulldawg original.
Bama Jammer
March 29th, 2010
6:28 pm
That was 2002 you are talking about Dawg 3/20, you did beat them in 2005 though. I know it’s hard to keep up with all the wins in Jacksonville.
Evaluating Talent...
March 29th, 2010
6:28 pm
I hope CMR can really evaluate talent and last year was just a fluke…I hope the QB race is earned and not appointed like last year…will it be Met, Murray, or Gray that earns it…I’d hate to see any of these QB’s loose out on the job because CMR pulls another experiment…he’s the guy who picked CWM as his DO and Bobo (a QB coach) as his OC, then Cox as his QB and didn’t realize, or didn’t care, until the heat was on, and only then did he become more involved with the offense and then had to fire CWM and some other staff…he has the pieces of the puzzle before him, now let’s see if he can put it together…
DawginLex
March 29th, 2010
6:33 pm
Wrong bama jammer,
2005 was the year shockley got hurt and we had to play Joe T at qb. Lost 14-10. Gaytors got spanked at the chicken coop the next week and we went on to win the SEC title.
DawginLex
March 29th, 2010
6:36 pm
Evaluating talent,
HE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO PLAY JOE COX LAST YEAR!
Gray-Will never be QB at UGA
Mett-Not ready last year as true freshman
Murray-Hurt and not ready. Would have been a wasted year to play him a couple of games.
No Joe Cox in 2009=losses to Arkansas, South Carolina, ASU and Auburn.
Didn’t like 8-5? Try 4-8 and no bowl on for size……
ddoogg33
March 29th, 2010
7:04 pm
if the 2 young qbs r not way better than logan we r n real trouble logan cant even return punts descent
YELLOW HAMMER
March 29th, 2010
7:21 pm
georgia should be ok this year, but i keep telling you guys dont expect a whole lot from this first year 3-4 defense, they will make a boat load of mistakes and ya’ll better hope CMR has recruited some smart (no pun intended) players or it may get ugly quick.
stinger
March 29th, 2010
7:34 pm
THE HELL WITH GEORGIA
4WhatIt'sWorth
March 29th, 2010
8:29 pm
YELLOW HAMMER,
Does that mean the Yellow Jackets should not expect too much in their swith to the 3-4. Also, GT lost many weapons on offense while the Dawgs return all of their offensive weapons. My bet is the return of #77 and #89 will vastly improve the run game which will take the pressure off of the QB.
As for GT, they will be OK in the weak ACC, but they will struggle out of conference.
SEC fan
March 29th, 2010
8:44 pm
4Whatit’sworth,
The run game will take pressure off of a 1st year redshirt freshman qb? Not so fast my friend. What if opposing defenses stick 8 or 9 in the box and effectively shut down the run which then forces the qb to beat you?
Alaska Dawg
March 29th, 2010
8:45 pm
Stinger, we do not need a QB to do much with our running game. Surely you remember the beating that the geek squad took from Ealey and King last November. The boys are primed for a repeat this year.
SEC fan
March 29th, 2010
8:49 pm
I was going back looking at the blogs. Who is this blue max dude? He aint very smart or knowledgeable about sec football and especially about pay. He said Saban would leave Bammer at the first offer of more money. What? Saban took a million dollar pay cut to step down from the Dolphins to the Bama job. And his name was never mentioned by anyone as a candidate when the ND and USC jobs came open earlier this year. Anyone notice that? When those jobs came open Satan’s name was noticeably absent from the list of candidates of both schools. If its all about the money and the biggest name in college football in ND and a wealthy private school like USC can’t come up with the money to hire Satan than who can? Some of you guys are so profound in your ignorance of college football that you just need to shut up.
athdog
March 29th, 2010
9:00 pm
So, is Jo-Jo going to the ‘pen or to AAA?
Evaluating Talent...
March 29th, 2010
9:02 pm
DawginLex …don’t get so excited…last year was a throw-away year after the Ginga Assassin showed his flaws…Gray should have played against some of the weaker teams regardless and then you know whether Gray would be at another position, or he would have an edge at QB…I agree that there is no way that Met could have played last year, but I have serious doubts that he has advanced that much that he is ready to go out of the gates this year…Murray was healed up by the UT game, but I agree that he shouldn’t have started that game, but he should have played against Vandy, then had a bye week, then played some major time against the Gators, and then stated the rest of the year…this could have been 6 sure games, and the bowl game for experience…at least you would know what you have, or don’t have in Murray…BTW, I know Murray and his family and he was able to go…so now you have the coaches scratching their heads watching controlled scrimmages where everyone looks pretty good…this just may be another throw away season…put a couple of “L’s” on the board and it’s wait until next year once again…
Three Decade Dawg
March 29th, 2010
9:04 pm
Good God I just realized it has been 30 years since our last title and we have seen our SEC rivals win several in the meantime.
athdog
March 29th, 2010
9:04 pm
It’s March and some of our ‘die hard’ Dog fans are throwing in the towel on the season, or in one case, lamenting ‘another boring 9-4 or 10-3 year.’ Sometimes I am embarrassed at the stupidity and lack of commitment of our fan base. Go jump on another bandwagon, you idiots.
Phat Phil
March 29th, 2010
9:13 pm
Another year…..another azz-whooping by the Tennessee Vols! Get used to it Bullpups….your azzes belong to Derek Dooley now!!
J Dog
March 29th, 2010
9:13 pm
Buck Belue said on his radio show said his sources told him that Zach made great strides in the scrimage, looked better than anyone had expected. He’s lost weight and is more mobil and made very good decisions, threw the ball very well.
We struggled with Stafford as a true freshman, but Zach & Aaron have been around a year and know the playbook. Don’t worry Stinger, if our defense can improve we’ll win plenty of games.
I hope Saban will stay in the SEC, even if it means Bama dominates again. But it’s been his tendency to move around. Maybe it’s the challenge or turning a program around. Who knows.
Michigan will probablly be looking for a coach next year. Nice tradition, easy to get players and they haven’t won a NT in a long time.
A new challenge for Saban???
J Dog
March 29th, 2010
9:16 pm
Phat Phil, try to have a little class, if that’s possible.
Good luck to Tennessee in all games but 1.
Judge Dred
March 29th, 2010
9:36 pm
J Dog, what are you doing on here this late in the blog? By this point, it’s normally just the haters, idiots, pessimists. and smart-a$$es. I’m shocked, a blog that’s informative. Wow!
Stinger
March 29th, 2010
10:22 pm
It is hilarious that some of you don’t realize the jerks from UGA are always running their mouths on the Tech Blogs. Why do you think we come over here? Check the Tech blogs out for yourselves. You will understand why we are over here if you do. I still think 7 wins is a stretch for you, but given the weak schedule, you may win 8, but Tech will not be one of them. Count on it. PJ is the new sheriff in town and he will teach you a lesson this year.
Stinger
March 29th, 2010
10:25 pm
JDawg
Stinger
March 29th, 2010
10:26 pm
JDog,
that’s a big if, if your defense can improve that much. Don’t count on it. Saban isn’t going anywhere and neither is Paul Johnson.
Seriously, Stinger?
March 29th, 2010
11:42 pm
I can’t believe you Techies call out all the UGA Fans for being delusional. Even mentioning Saban and PJ in the same breath is asinine. Especially with all the crap you give Richt. PJ couldn’t hold Richt’s jockstrap. He got lucky between the hedges because Willie didn’t teach our kids how to tackle in the third quarter. UGA dominated the rest of that game. PJ can’t win a bowl game and you think he’s in the same ballpark as Saban or half of the other SEC coaches? Stick to calculus. Don’t spend so much time fretting over football. UGA is to Tech what the Gators are to UGA. Get used to it.
patrick
March 30th, 2010
2:21 am
ala rolled over UGA??? the loss was by 11 points and UGA is 4-1 against them over last 5 games get a clue
how2fish
March 30th, 2010
8:01 am
Stinger why would I check out the Bug Blogs ?? If I want to fight with a Bug I can do that all day here…I’m just saying and be honest you come here to have an audience …there is no one over there…
clemkudtlhopr
March 30th, 2010
9:05 am
Enough talk of the QB’s. Let’s talk linebackers. Defense is what gets me excited! Good tackling, fast hard hitting linebackers, that is an adrenaline shot for me. 3 and outs, and turnovers. Our offense is going to be good enough with or without a QB. The defense will win games for us. that is the way I like it. All you pretty boy’s whinning on this blog about spelling, GT and QB’s can go look in the mirror. I am big fat ugly and bald, my teeth are yellow and crooked.
The General
March 30th, 2010
9:16 am
We won’t get a NC until Mike Bobo is gone greater disipline is in place.
david
March 30th, 2010
9:22 am
As a passionate Bulldog fan, it hurts me to say, but this upcoming season will probably not be the best Georgia has ever had. Let’s take our lumps and ride Mason for the next 4 years.
Julio Jones
March 30th, 2010
9:50 am
I can’t carry A J Green’s jock.
Chuck
March 30th, 2010
9:51 am
Mason? Are you kidding me? Put down the bong, son. High school numbers don’t mean squat, Hal Mumme.
Why UGA will finish in top 3 in 2010
March 30th, 2010
10:00 am
Coach Richt has always had a big year after a bad year, then you understand why fans using some common sense know that 2010 will be a huge year for Richt and UGA.
2001 4 loss season
2002 Finished No. 3 in Nation
2006 4 Loss seasons
2007 Finished No. 2 in Nation
2009 5 Loss seasons
2010 Will finish either No. 1, 2 or 3 in the National Polls
termigator
March 30th, 2010
10:04 am
See you are up early this morning Patrick. Hurry take your meds so they kick in before 1100.
Paul
March 30th, 2010
10:13 am
I agree, Alabama is rebuilding with losing 8 defensive starters (didn’t look sharp against Texas against Freshman QB–almost got beat), and Florida is in a free fall (Coach in meltdown, 13 starters gone, 5 coaches quit, etc.), and most importantly, it’s undeniable that Mark Richt has ALWAYS responded to a season of adversity with a Championship season–always. I don’t know how many coaches could have gone 8-5 in the SEC, after starting 4-4, with a -16 turnover margin. Georgia is really lucky to have Mark Richt.
upstart hart
March 30th, 2010
10:20 am
Yep, that’s the facts if you look at Georgia’s history under Coach Richt. 2010 will be a Championship run year for Georgia, no doubt. The schedule is easy, our offense is the best in the SEC, and our defense and special teams will both improve with the new coaches, and with Florida’s offense, and Alabama’s defense both gone, there’s just no excuse. Georgia should finish 14-0, but you never know. Georgia does have a few tough games like Florida, Auburn & Ga Tech, but as luck would have it, none come until the ninth game of the year. The teams should be all systems go by the 9th game.
termigator
March 30th, 2010
10:21 am
Paul, Bama and UF are not rebuilding; they are reloading. If you read any of the national pubs, you will see both are picked to win their divisions. UGA is the team in free fall. They have gone 4-4 in 2 of the last 4 seasons in the SEC; have lost to Vandy and Kentucky at home, so the other teams are also really lucky to have Richt at UGA. Our dilemma is to have him win just enough to not get fired.
hammer time
March 30th, 2010
10:24 am
You dog fans are the only reason I read your blog; you are funnier than Leno and Letterman combined. UGA lost the same amount of starters on D as Florida and your D sucked last year. What a joke.
All time hater
March 30th, 2010
10:32 am
Paul or Patrick, whoever you are; 5 coaches did not quit. 1 from last years staff was promoted to a HC, 2 went with him for promotions, 1 went to LSU for a promotion and 1 went to the pro’s as a DC. How many of CMR’s assistants been offered jobs? CMR is just like his daddy Bowden, on his last leg.
big dogs eat
March 30th, 2010
10:34 am
UGA sure better go undefeated in 2010. If you look at the games, you see why:
South Carolina- terrible running game, worst in the SEC
Arkansas- No defense, our offense should put up 50 on these guys, Cox had his best day against them last year
Tenn- 6-6 this year. They really are in horrible shape offensively. Dooley’s not a winner.
Florida- offense in really bad shape–lost QB, lost #1 rusher, lost #1 receiver, running backs have fumble issues, no experience at QB, TE, WR, OR RB, offense trending downward (scoring down 8 a game compared to 2008)
Auburn–no defense
Georgia Tech- no defense, no balance in offense–all run game
david
March 30th, 2010
10:37 am
Chuck
High School numbers don’t mean squat? Obvious they mean something – otherwise Mason would not have been recruited to play at Georgia.
upstart hart
March 30th, 2010
10:41 am
Saban is known for having rebuilding years. He’s either up or down. Went 7-6 at Alabama. Saban will likely head to Michigan in 2011, so if you know his history, this is likely his last year at Alabama.
Meyer is either hot or cold. At Florida, Meyer has a rebuilding year, pretty much every other year. His SEC record in 5 seasons includes 2 already at at least 3 losses. No way Meyer wins a National Championship in 2010. But in 2011, he’ll compete for it again, if he’s still there. If Meyer coaches in 2010, it will be his last year. He’s a quitter.