Inside linebackers: Sorting out the ‘Mike’ and the ‘Mo’
(Seventh in a summertime series looking at Georgia’s football team by position.)
TODAY: INSIDE LINEBACKERS
- Returning starter: Akeem Dent started the final four games last season after being sidelined for five games earlier in the season with a pulled hamstring. He started 10 games in 2008 and five in 2007. He had a career-high 11 tackles in last season’s win at Georgia Tech.
- Others to watch: There are two inside-linebacker positions — the “Mike” and the “Mo” positions — in Georgia’s new 3-4 defense, and all of the inside linebackers worked at both spots during spring practice. On the latest depth chart, Dent, a senior, is No. 1 at “Mike” and Christian Robinson, a redshirt sophomore who appeared in 12 games (no starts) last season, No. 1 at “Mo.” Sophomore Mike Gilliard and junior Marcus Dowtin are listed as the No. 2’s behind Dent and Robinson, respectively. Dowtin finished last season with a career-high nine tackles in the Independence Bowl victory over Texas A&M. His competition with Robinson for the starting job at “Mo” will be interesting to watch in preseason.
- Key fact: Other than Dent, the only current ILB with starting experience is Dowtin, who started four games last season — two early and two late. (And what, you might ask, about Darryl Gamble, who started 17 games the past two seasons? After working most of the spring at inside linebacker, he was shifted to outside linebacker, and the current plan is for him to remain there. We’ll get to the OLB’s tomorrow.)
- Key question: How quickly and how well will the players adapt to the new defensive scheme and the teachings of new ILB coach Warren Belin, who had a good reputation for developing linebackers at Vanderbilt?
- Recent developments: After starting the spring at outside linebacker, former tailback Richard Samuel was quickly moved to inside linebacker, where he currently is listed as a third-teamer (as is senior Akeem Hebron). There’s a possibility of Samuel, a junior, being redshirted, but that depends on how he progresses in preseason practice.
- Outlook: Uncertain and uneasy.
- Your turn: What say you about the inside linebackers?
————
Links to previous entries in this series:
Tomorrow: Outside linebackers.
———-
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215 comments Add your comment
DawginLex
June 22nd, 2010
1:15 pm
We need to stop this POAD.
We both hate Obama so we do have one thing in common………………
gdawginkalamazoo
June 22nd, 2010
1:16 pm
POAD aka POS, FYI I check the air in the tires on both my house and car each month. Just in case I have to run from those damn revenuers.
POAD
June 22nd, 2010
1:16 pm
Notice the misspelling but the point is made.
indianman
June 22nd, 2010
1:17 pm
if you don.t like the dogs then keep your mouth shut
POAD
June 22nd, 2010
1:17 pm
That SOB is trying to kill my business and my friends and sisters kids futures.
DawginLex
June 22nd, 2010
1:18 pm
Mine too.
Of course we can all rest comfortably knowing he is monitoring everything and is on top of everything from the golf course………..
RJM
June 22nd, 2010
1:18 pm
Thanks GT DOG. I didn’t know that GT had a blog.site.
POAD
June 22nd, 2010
1:18 pm
Gdawginkala can you send me a coded message to get to your still? I want som of what YOU R COOKIN in the woods.
RJM
June 22nd, 2010
1:19 pm
Thanks GT Dog. I didn’t know GT had a blog site.
DawginLex
June 22nd, 2010
1:19 pm
gotta go back to work POAD
The fries are burning
reebok
June 22nd, 2010
1:20 pm
Tech fan here. Not talking smack. I think you guys will lose 2 or 3 early as your defense and new QB figure out what’s going on…I expect the Dogs will be playing very well by the time my Jackets come to Athens. See you in November.
POAD
June 22nd, 2010
1:21 pm
HAHAHAHAH just like all REPs and Dems. They are all screwing us. Ga has no real good canidate running for Gov. what the HELL are we going to do?
AltamahaDawg
June 22nd, 2010
1:22 pm
AH, I see. You are a football player or coach, so you need to be in here to sharpen your battle plan for when you have to take the field against the enemy? For a while there we were afraid that you were just some creepy little fellow who liked to troll our blog with nothing in particular to add to the conversation except the same ol’ worn out cliche’.
I am confused
June 22nd, 2010
1:24 pm
What on earth is a POAD? The person cannot write, nor can it spell or articulate its positions. I read its comments and frankly, I am confused with his/her illiteracy. Bizarra that person is.
I know tons of UGA grads, young and old ( my era ) and they rarely attend UGA games anymore for one reason other. They still stop what they are doing in football season and view their TV games. Sanford Stadium is still packed with 89,000 of our best friends.
They may financially support UGA or otherwise ………….. but still, they are huge UGA fans and have been for generations. This fact is a key …………generational UGA support. I tailgate with old UGA pals, their wives ( both new and old ) and their kids and my kids and grandkids. In my era, I tailgated with my family and friends. THIS is what makes up a fan base ……… be it Alabama, Ole Miss or UT or Auburn or LSU, or UGA.
My brother is a HUGE LSU fan, although is a FSU grad, ( we can’t all be UGA dogs. ) and over the years, I have partied with his LSU pals, like at the last SEC Champ game tween LSU and UGA and we had one blast …………..UGA also got blasted that game. LSU went on and won the NC.
UGA is spelled TRADITION baby!!! Win or lose ………NCs? NCs to grads are not really important. Fun to talk about it ……… beyond that ……….it does not pay the bills. See? NCs? really are not that important, unless you love the NBA and NFL ………. then that explains it all.
Goooooooooooooooooo Dogs.
POAD
June 22nd, 2010
1:24 pm
ALT I am just trolling to find a UGA dumb Blonde alone at the bar waiting for a Ruffie and a goodtime.
SEC Observor
June 22nd, 2010
1:27 pm
gdawginkalamazoo
June 22nd, 2010
1:07 pm
Observer, where do you get your info that he wasn’t going ot hire him? Especially since he already brought him in during the off seasons to coach defensive schemes.
Gdawg,
I can’t disprove something that never happened to begin with. That’s a silly point. Secondly, every coach brings in various coaches from other programs throughout the offseason for clinics and camps, lectures and motivational speeches, etc. Or were you not aware of that? Saban also brought in Bill Bellichick last year. Does that mean that he is going to hire Bill Bellichick? How silly does that sound?
POAD
June 22nd, 2010
1:36 pm
I AM CONFUSED: “UGA games anymore for one reason other” WTF is that? POT meet Kettle. HAHAHAHAHA. That should be stop “DURING” football season. Their games? Who? The UGA grads games or the UGA Football Bulldog’s games. Boy you really put me in my place with your great prose and puncatation. HAHAHAHAHA. Your a UGA Housing Major, right? I bet you failed Harrick’s PE final exam. HAHAHAHAH. You have KIDS? I don’t like baby goats myself but if you do that is OK. I like to call human offspring CHILDREN. KIDS is a bad slang term. What is TWEEN? Isn’t that a Preteen child? PAY the bills ain’t football. Football money pays for football. REAL COLLEGE MONEY is in Grants, Fellowships, and Reasearch MONEY. REMEMBER college is about EDUCATION not sports.
gdawginkalamazoo
June 22nd, 2010
1:39 pm
POAD, okay there the Obama thing that we agree upon.
SEC, I know you can’t but you seemed to put a lot of speculation in your post there. Why was Saban lucky if he since he didn’t have to hire Grantham? Of course these coaches get around to both learn and teach. So Grantham was Richt’s fourth or fifth choice? I thought the only offer he made was to Kirby (which BTW wasn’t a bad offer to make) What were the terms that he offered to the supposed other three? Richt never said anything about who he was making offers to. What insight did you have about what he was doing? Media specualtion? That’s reliable. Work with the facts and nobody can second guess you.
N.GA.DAWG
June 22nd, 2010
1:40 pm
Based on our schedule 9 or 10 wins is not reaching to far. I’m worried more bout qb and dl than lb.
BurningRedBleedingBlack
June 22nd, 2010
1:51 pm
Well the good news is we have alot of talent to coach, The even better news is we have a NFL coach teaching the talent. Will we be amazing the first year no…will we be much improved than last year…yes. I really feel Grantham knows how to maximize the talent we have. The linebackers seem to be a strong point on our defense. I really feel the Defensive line will be the question mark. I think we’ll see a huge turn around from a pass coverage. I don’t think we’ll win the SEC i do think we’ll go to a great Bowl game. Stay healthy boys we are waiting for kickoff GO DAWGS!!!
PowerDawg
June 22nd, 2010
1:56 pm
Hey Nerd-
You’re right. We do live on history.
And our history is that we DOMINATE OUR IN-STATE “RIVAL”.
Our past 10-year history? 9 wins out of 10 vs your pathetic little group of dirt-dobbers.
You will be LUCKY to win 6 games this year and you better pray you get them before you come to Athens.
On second thought, you better start preparing for 2011 now since there won’t be any BOWL practices this year!
Hedgepruner
June 22nd, 2010
2:01 pm
uga will once again have high expectations only to fall short because of their lack of real coaching (no discipline) , Richt is a great guy but lacks the discipline and harshness of a get in your face coach like GT has in Paul (Gobblenek) Johnson or whatever the jealous uga fans refer to him , most of them deep down would love to have a coach that doesnt mind standing up to these gifted athletes & getting in the face and putting the fear of G#d in them but until he does uga will allow the inmates to run the asylum and we saw what eventually happened at FSU under Bowden that did the same thing to the FSU program….
Hedgepruner
June 22nd, 2010
2:03 pm
all my uga buddies agree with this, they cant stand to see the bros dancing & rapping on the sidelines like a bunch of gangsters…uga is sinking fast , what next “will they come out” in pinstripe jersies ?
gdawginkalamazoo
June 22nd, 2010
2:13 pm
Hedgeprunner, I will agree with the dancing on the sidelines thing. I hate that with a passion. Win by 50 then dance, no problem with that. But during the game no way up by 50 or not, no way no how.
POAD
June 22nd, 2010
2:14 pm
PowerDawg: Beating TECH 9 out of 10 year has done what for the Dawgs? UF, Bama, and LSU are still looking down at you. All your 5 stars are that Disney song. When I Wish Upon a Star I wonder(on gameday) where your are. Lickiing UGA VII or in jail. Can’t I get a UGA white chick or some bail? I am just stuck in Athens Hell. I am taking easy classes, bowling and swimming with the coach. Don’t worry grandmom my Character is above reproach.
Gary
June 22nd, 2010
2:23 pm
What happened to Samual. I thought he was going to be a star and now he is 3rd string on D?
Evansdawg
June 22nd, 2010
2:24 pm
As many times as Tech loses to the Dawgs, their fans here look REALLY stupid with all of their comments. They are more obsessed with the Dawgs than their own team. It shows their envy, and gives us Dawg fans something to laugh at. They give rings for beating us! How hysterical is that????
Lowcountry Bulldawg
June 22nd, 2010
2:27 pm
These blogs devolve into, lets see who can be the biggest smartass on here. Logic jumps out the window and the keyboards becoming raging weapons of individuals on bloviations.
gdawginkalamazoo
June 22nd, 2010
2:40 pm
Gary, don’t worry about Samuel he will be all sec before you know it. The dude is a beast. He needs to learn the D system is all. And he is a smart kid too so it shouldn’t take him long.
AltamahaDawg
June 22nd, 2010
2:57 pm
What an absolute absurd excuse for an insult to say that Grantham was such a bottle of the barrel choice. Starting at the top of the names and work down to the #4 thats somehow fishing around the bottom dwellers, huh? So basically the insult is that Richt can’t even get the very top DC in the country to quit thier very high profile job and make a lateral move. Wow. What an utter failure he mush be. So now, lets compare that to Meyer, or even Saban for that matter. Did they publically go after the top names in the business when they were looking for a DC? If they didnt even start anywhere close to the TOP and still had to work down the list, How in the hell is that not lower in the barrel. Hell Meyer hired an unknown and still had to go to plan B. Grantham is a lot higher profile that Kirby Samrt was a couple of years ago.
Not saying those guys didnt hire well, but by the standard some of our rivals put on Granthams search, UF ended up with a dead guy.
FWIW, I would argue that Richt’s approach should be considered the model for looking for a DC. Get a feel for what kind of money its going to take, while getting the input from the experts in the business, till you find your guy.
Big Dawg
June 22nd, 2010
3:01 pm
Hebron hasn’t been able to get out of the dog house so to speak. He actually is the most gifted linebacker on the team. Georgia will be much improved on defense this year and the defensive backs are the big question mark at this point. As for offense that starts at the QB position and I hope and pray that our coaching staff will concentrate on the run and not put too much pressure on Mr. Murray to try and win games on his own. Anyway it should be interesting
Go Dawgs
gdawginkalamazoo
June 22nd, 2010
3:10 pm
Well said Altadawg!
Classy Jacket - Its a Cardigan
June 22nd, 2010
3:18 pm
GA Tech is so good. GA Tech is better than UGA because our QB is faster and we have gold on our uniforms. Bling Bling Bit**es. We also have the best coach, your coach is not as good. I remember this one year in my lifetime that Tech beat UGA without cheating by way of fake pass interference or a fumble past the goal line.
I graduated from Tech and will be your boss one day because the school is better too. But right now, i am engineering the most efficient manual dialer B2B Telemarketing.
How2fish
June 22nd, 2010
3:23 pm
POAD I have 4 die hard Bug fans that send money and attend games at Bugville field every chance they get and NOT ONE of them went to school at Bugville U all are college grads and I would defy you to find more loyal Bugs on campus or in the whole damn country…if they can remain Bugs after all they have had to take off me the last 9 years you just have to be a fan.I mean really what are you going to do tell them they can’t be Bugs because they never attended class there…hell how would you field a football team if the players had to go to actual classes on campus..let alone fill up the Joke By Coke..oh that’s right you can’t do that can you?
Truedawg
June 22nd, 2010
3:48 pm
WE RUN THIS STATE!!!!
Dawghater
June 22nd, 2010
4:36 pm
How 2 Fish – you may want to do some “actual research and reading” before you show your ingorance. Now go get your BUD or PBR, bark and show your class because you never attended a class! Your can’t take recreational PE degrees at Tech.
Delbert D.
June 22nd, 2010
4:38 pm
With Georgia and Georgia Tech both putting in the 3-4 this year, I wonder if we’re going to see OLBs and ILBs running into each other for the first few games.
shane#1
June 22nd, 2010
4:47 pm
CTG explained the difference in the one gap and two gap defenses a few months ago. Any individual with an IQ of 200 or more should have been able to understand him perfectly. That leaves me and everybody else on this blog out, except for maybe Atlanta Gator and Alt. It seems that the object of the 3-4 is to confuse the opposing QB and make him uncomfortable. If so, just have CTG explain his defense to the QB in the pregame warmups. If that doesn’t confuse the crap out of him I don’t know what will! I just hope Garcia will be more confused in Columbia than the UGA D.
POAD
June 22nd, 2010
4:52 pm
How2fish? With a Rod, Reel, Line, Hook, and Bait. How hard is it to answer that question. That is as easy to answer as HOW to GET a UGA GIRL. Just add Alcohol and well just add alcohol and that is it.
POAD
June 22nd, 2010
4:59 pm
YES, you run this state. Sonny and Roy are great examples of how UGA runs this state. Education is at an ALL Time HIGH under the great UGA grads/fans.
Jona
June 22nd, 2010
5:31 pm
POAD
How do you get a GT GIRL?
Don’t know. nobody wants em.
Greensboro, Georgia
June 22nd, 2010
5:47 pm
————————————–
……Nesbitt for Heisman……
————————————–
Bulldog59
June 22nd, 2010
5:50 pm
Leave POAD alone, he didn’t have much of a home life, although if you meet his parents, you’ll agree they are a couple of nice guys. And he aspires to be just like them. It is admirable that he wants to be like his folks………
Bulldog59
June 22nd, 2010
6:01 pm
Altamaha, along the lines of CTG being 4th choice….in a rare comment about the hiring process, CMR stated there weren’t 4 offers and there was a lot going on behind the scenes that he could not comment on.
Foster was probably told, we are looking for someone of his caliber and success in the $650K range, so that could be considered an offer I guess. And he’d have been a darn good hire.
I don’t think it ever got past a preliminary discussion with Chavis. The time to have gotten him was last year.
Kirby, I don’t know that we’ll ever know the whole story on that one. If we were so high on him, why wasn’t he first on the list….OR was this all loosely in the works from day 1 (through his long time friendship with Bobo), and the other “offers” were a smoke screen until after the BCSCG, and then Kirby reneges on the deal? Who really knows.
Point is, we’ll never know how it all went down, who was offered, who wasn’t. More importantly, we landed a fine DC, who given a little time, will make drastic improvements in our D.
AltamahaDawg
June 22nd, 2010
6:09 pm
NO, that would be what would you use while you fish. How to fish is a technique or skill.l, not an object. It requires some action. Also you could fish without the use of any of those items, and none of those items have the ability to fish (verb).
Your reference on the second part is equaly as flawed and very much for the same reason. Alcohol does not “get” a girl, it still requires some action to be taken. Now you know. You are welcome.
POAD
June 22nd, 2010
6:44 pm
Well, I just spent 12 hours trolling the UGA BLOGS. You see I am a successful business man who drives a LEXUS SUV. I can tell anyone how to get stuff from point A to point B. I make fun of people who drive tow trucks because I am a fancy TOW TRUCK businessman. “An Interstate Hauling Contract”. I will say anything to get a rise out of someone, because no one will talk to me in real life. Come see me next time you are at “Bobby Dodd Stadium @ Grant Field” Gate 8 Sec 224 Row 5 seat 39. REMEMBER FREE HOTDOGS AND COKE!!!. AND I forgot, on the same day I talked about how UGA fans never went to UGA all the while explaining that I did not graduate from tech. If you want to prove you are a moron, just read my post.
POAD
June 22nd, 2010
6:52 pm
Did I mention that successful businessmen spend 12 hours trolling a BLOG!!!!!!!
harold
June 22nd, 2010
7:11 pm
HEY GEORGIA I HATE TO WAKE YOU UP FROM THAT DREAM YOU ARE BEING TOLD TO HAVE. JUST THE FACTS HERE:
FACT: GEORGIA IS AVERAGE COMPARED TO ALABAMA AND FLORIDA!
FACT:GEORGIA WAS 4-4 IN THE SEC LAST YEAR!
FACT:GEORGIA IS 20-12 THE LAST 4 YEARS IN THE SEC!
FACT:GEORGIA WENT TO THE INDEPENDENCE BOWL LAST YEAR!
FACT:GEORGIA WAS JUST 8-4 LAST YEAR AND LOST TO TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY!
FACT:GEORGIA HAS NOT BEEN TO THE SEC TITLE GAME IN 5 YEARS!
FACT:GEORGIA HAS NOT WON A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN 30 YEARS!
FACT:WHILE RICHT TELLS WOULD BE RECRUITS TO DREAM–BAMA & FLORIDA DO!
FACT:THE STATE HAS 12 OUT OF THEIR TOP 16 PLAYERS LOOKING AT OTHER OPTIONS—–LIKE CHOOSING A COOLEGE DOING IT—NIT DREAMING ABOUT IT!
FACT:FOUR WOULD-BE DEFENSIVE COORDINATORS “REJECTED” THE OFFER FROM RICHT!
FACT:GEORGIA’S OWN KIRBY SMART “REJECTED” RICHT’S OFFER AND CHOSE TO STAY AT A CHAMPIONSHIP PROGRAM–WHICH ALABAMA& FLORIDA HAVE!
FACT:YOU THINK IT MAY BE TIME TO WAKE-UP—SMELL THE COFFEE–AND GET OVER THIS DREAM THINGY?
FACT: IT MAY BE TIME FOR RICHT TO GO!
harold
June 22nd, 2010
7:21 pm
PLEASE, SOMEONE RESPOND TO ME. I AM LONELY!!! I AM NOT AVERAGE!!!
harold
June 22nd, 2010
7:30 pm
THE HAROLD ABOVE CAN’T HANDLE THE FACTS! READ THE REAL HAROLD. IT IS THE NO SPIN ZONE!