Defensive backs: Will three new starters and new coach spell new results?
(Ninth in a summer series looking at Georgia’s football team by position.)
TODAY: DEFENSIVE BACKS
- Returning starter: CB Brandon Boykin.
- Starters lost: S Reshad Jones (drafted in fifth round by Miami Dolphins); S Bryan Evans (signed as undrafted free agent with Cincinnati Bengals but was cut last week); CB Prince Miller (signed as undrafted free agent with Baltimore Ravens).
- Cornerback depth chart: Boykin, a junior, is the clear starter at one corner, and Vance Cuff, a senior, is No. 1 at the other after a strong spring. However, the competition between Cuff and ultra-promising sophomore Branden Smith will continue in preseason practice. Look for Boykin, Cuff and Smith on the field in nickel situations. Redshirt sophomore Sanders Commings and redshirt freshman Jordan Love also are in the cornerback mix.
- Safety depth chart: Redshirt sophomore Bacarri Rambo is the clear starter at free safety, and junior Nick Williams emerged from spring ball No. 1 at strong safety. Williams will have to stave off continued competition in preseason practice, with prized recruit Alec Ogletree joining JUCO transfer Jakar “The Hit Man” Hamilton, sophomore Shawn Williams and injury-plagued senior Quintin Banks in the mix.
- Key fact: Georgia allowed 25 touchdown passes (the most in the SEC) and intercepted only 10 passes (the second fewest in the SEC) last season. Four of the 10 interceptions were by Jones, who left early for the NFL.
- Key question: Will a fresh start in the secondary –- three new starters, new coach (Scott Lakatos), new approach — produce better results after back-to-back shaky seasons?
- Recent developments: The arrival of Ogletree and Hamilton in the 2010 signing class adds some serious talent. Ogletree, from Newnan, was rated the No. 3 safety prospect in the nation by Rivals.com and the No. 3 outside-linebacker prospect by Scout.com. He’s working at safety this summer but might play OLB down the road. Hamilton, who came to Athens by way of Georgia Military College, was ranked the nation’s No. 4 safety prospect (and second best junior-college player) by Rivals.
- Outlook: Up in the air. There’s a lot of talent — albeit largely unproven at the collegiate level other than Boykin — and players are genuinely excited about Lakatos’ vision of an aggressive, physical secondary that stresses press coverage and interceptions. As Cuff said during the spring: “Coach Lakatos, he wants the ball.”
- Your turn: What say you about the secondary?
If you missed ‘em, take a glance at other positions:
OFFENSE
DEFENSE
NEXT WEEK: Special teams.
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277 comments Add your comment
Neutral observor
June 27th, 2010
2:07 pm
Samuel got 6.7 yds a carry in 2008? How many times did he rush the ball? To have a 6.7 yard average he probably rushed very few times or in garbage time to run his stats up.
Florida didn’t stuff the Georgia running game in 2009? If that were true then how did UGA only score 10 pts in a 49-10 blowout?
SECFan
June 27th, 2010
2:14 pm
Not gonna beat Florida with a young secondary and new coaches. Maybe not even UT since they beat you as bad as the Gators did last year. UGA/USCeast winner takes third in the east and a trip to Atlanta for the Peach.
Tom
June 27th, 2010
2:44 pm
To win the SEC:
CMR needs to lead the SEC in scoring margin, that’s it. That’s all he has to worry about.
To beat Florida:
Use a 3 pronged attack.
1- Get a 100 yard rusher–dominating RB with attitude sets the tone (track record: 100% sccuess rate vs. Florida for CMR)
2- Win TE Battle –UGA’s TE must outgun Florida’s TE (track record: 89% success rate vs. Florida for CMR)
3- Win 1st Quarter to set the tone (track record: 89% success rate vs. Florida for CMR)
GatorLand
June 27th, 2010
2:50 pm
It doesn’t matter how many new DBs UGA puts out there. Brantley and the 5 star crop of UF receivers will light up UGA’s D like a Christmas tree in 2010—mark it down!
uga bill
June 27th, 2010
3:22 pm
We will beat Tenn this year,I can’t say the same for Fla.The gators will score often,but they will be scored on a lot too.
Moss
June 27th, 2010
3:54 pm
Phil Steele Magazine has UGA scoring 37 a game, giving up 22 a game, Florida scoring 34 a game, giving up 19 a game. Brantley won’t be lighting up people like UGA will be–Florida not in UGA’s league offensively this time. But UGA’s defense will give up a field goal more than Florida a game–UGA’s defense not as strong as Florida yet.
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2010
3:56 pm
UF has a 5 star crop of WRs?
Moss
June 27th, 2010
3:58 pm
Steele has UGA’s WR’s #2 in nation, Florida’s ranked #29. Niether Florida or UGA’s QB units are in Steele’s top 25, just no real experience for either team at QB.
Moss
June 27th, 2010
4:02 pm
Arkansas’ QB & WR’s will give UGA fits, Ark Steele’s #1 ranked QB & WR unit in nation, going up against an inexperienced secondary at UGA.
chazzo
June 27th, 2010
6:00 pm
Samuel was a very fast back who broke for a few big yardage runs. Given his speed, it is understandable why they would want to make a TB out of him. Cons were he couldn’t pass protect, and he couldn’t hold on to the football. He played LB in high school. He is a great athlete. How are you going to exploit his gifts? It is kind of a shame. He is so terribly young. It would have been nice to be able to redshirt him for his first two years; however, they were short running backs due to injury in 2009. Richt and co. try to pull the best team together every year. Back to back seasons of injuries and departures didn’t leave a lot to pull.
Guesswho?
June 27th, 2010
6:13 pm
If JAWJA has perfect offense, perfect passing, perfect running, and blocking. Perfect defense, hard hitting, and tackling. Great special team play. Great pass protection. Great feild goal kicker. Great play calling. They should win some games. BUT THAT AN’T GONNA HAPPEN. So live with it fans!
Lame
June 27th, 2010
6:20 pm
Huddle up: Hut—hut…Here’s the plan. Run the ball. Period. Defense don’t need to show up, don’t need any dad-gum special teams, don’t keer bout any passing. Have a good ground game. That’s it folks. I liek to simplifie things for ya’ll. Ain’t I smart?
Pink Panthers
June 27th, 2010
6:30 pm
Well, as I examine the evidence, I see there’s much going on here. Let me see……Georgia needs to survive the early tests against Arkansas and South Carolina. Not an easy task.
First, I’d suspect Georgia to send blitzers from every angle, catching the opposing QB’s off-guard. One or two mistakes a game is all it takes.
Second, Georgia’s 3-4, like Alabama, will double down on a receiver on 3rd down passing situations, so the QB will have to read the coverage correct or the ball will be intercepted.
Third, the early teams will have little video to prepare for Georgia’s defense, so this is an advantage for Georgia.
Fourth, if Georgia survives the first 3 games, the defense will have the time to be MORE than ready for Florida in late October.
Jimmy C
June 27th, 2010
6:43 pm
Here’s an article about how embarrassed Spurrier was the last time he faced Scott Lakatos secondary, he apologized. Garcia was baffled all day. Receivers were so rattled with some of the hits by Lakatos’ secondary they got alligator arms and starting dropping passes. Lakatos was the seoncday coach for UConn, tough year, Lakatos’ CB was stabbed. But the team was resilient and so was Lakatos secondary. Amazing game plan by Lakatos to overpower Spurrier with much less talent and experience. Georgia’s in good hands with Lakatos.
http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=82468
Jimmy C
June 27th, 2010
6:49 pm
Spurrier still talking about loss against UConn in Bowl game 4 months later, Lakatos’ secondry beat him so bad he couldn’t stop thinking about it:
http://southcarolina.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1079716
Jimmy C
June 27th, 2010
6:55 pm
Deion Sanders called Lakatos halfway through a season because he was so impressed by his corners. Deion ended up mentoring Butler, one of Lakatos DB’s. Deion Sanders is a HARD dude to impress. Nice article about how Lakatos goes about his business and how his DB’s play:
http://views.washingtonpost.com/theleague/predraft/2009/03/darius-butler-ready-for-prime-time.html
What do you call a team without a QB?
June 27th, 2010
7:46 pm
There is no substitute for experience.
New QB and a bunch of new db’s.
I smell trouble.
SECFan
June 27th, 2010
8:41 pm
uga bill:
Why will you beat Tennessee this year guaranteed? They beat you real bad last year. Both u and UT have new QBs. I think they return more starters on a defense that was pretty good last year? I wouldn’t be so sure. The Gators will win the East but if you think you will beat UT easy this year, you may be sadly surprised.
Lame
June 27th, 2010
10:22 pm
Gators are obviously a much better team without Tebow & Strong & the 9 NFL players they lost. The inexperience at QB and new defensive coach won’t hurt the Gators at all-they’ll be a much stronger team and blow away every team on the schedule. Strong, Tebow, and the 9 NFL players were all over-rated. Brantley will throw for 4000 yards and 36 touchdowns. Also, who cares if Florida’s got the 16th toughest schedule in the NCAA this year, and had the 39th last season, doesn’t matter, Florida will dominate.
Urban Meyer
June 28th, 2010
4:06 am
Georgia football fans definition of optimism. “We were average at that position last year and therefore it’s going to be a position of strength this year, hillarious.”
chazzo
June 28th, 2010
7:55 am
There are no gimmees in the SEC. That is the plain, simple truth. UF fans will tell you all about Miss. State. It is an any given Saturday kind of conference. The idea of giving one’s absolute best week in and week out, the idea of doing an assignment correctly each play because to do less would be an insult to one’s character, the very notion that making one’s self better is an obligation that must be accepted daily: I am not sure I see a lot of this kind of character anywhere in college football. Tebow (and I just don’t really like him so much) exhibited that and led others to do the same. Which guys from UGA will rise to the occasion and lead with that kind of quality? Which Coaches? To me, these are the tantamount questions. Not returning starters, stats from seasons past, or award watch lists…
SEC realist
June 28th, 2010
12:20 pm
Florida wins the SEC east easily again, with another big win over UGa. But, bama’s loaded and will beat UF in the SEC title game again, maybe worse than last year. However, due to depth issues, bama will lose in the BCS title game.
Urban Meyer
June 28th, 2010
1:05 pm
Chazzo, acknowledging the lofty platitudes and truisms you point out, yes no game in the SEC is a gimme but Georgia hasn’t been in national title picture since Bear Bryant & Bo Schembechler were roaming the sidelines. I appreciate your spirit, keeping fighting for your Dawgs.
AltamahaDawg
June 28th, 2010
1:21 pm
How do you define “in the national title picture”?
Dawg Trainer
June 28th, 2010
1:52 pm
It’s Monday. You pack of curs have exactly 91 hours to get Neyland South inspection ready. As always, line up properly leashed and at heel. If my second home passes inspection, I’ll let you call it Sanford again until we arrive later this year. I’ll even throw you a couple of Scooby Snacks! If not…well…PETA will be very upset with the Dawg Trainer!
uga bill
June 28th, 2010
9:56 pm
SECfan,
Guarantee is your word, not mine. I simply believe that UGA will field a better team than TENN. It is only my opinion. I think will will be strong on offense & special teams. Hope the defense will have some wheels by the Tenn game. Yes, I will be disappointed if we lose.
Also, Monte Kiffin & Erric Berry are gone.
GoldenDawg
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
I saw what Lakatos has done with his players at UCONN and how prepared he had them. I wouldn’t be surprised if UGA leads the SEC in take aways this year.