Talking football with Todd Grantham: ‘We want to attack. We want to be relentless.’
ATHENS – Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham sat Thursday at the head of the long table in the large conference room in what used to be Damon Evans‘ office suite on the fourth floor of the Butts-Mehre building, talking football with a roomful of reporters:
- Grantham said junior DeAngelo Tyson will enter preseason practice as the likely starter at the nose position on Georgia’s defensive line, but that doesn’t mean Grantham sees Tyson as exclusively a nose.
“He’s the No. 1 [nose], but he’s a guy who can give us flexibility and play an end position, too,” Grantham said. “Based on how other guys come on at both nose and end, he can move.”
Grantham is looking for Kwame Geathers, a redshirt freshman, and Justin Anderson, a junior who is shifting from the offensive line, to provide options at nose.
Geathers had a good spring, and his continued development in preseason practice is “critical,” Grantham said.
Anderson missed spring practice with a shoulder injury, so Grantham has never seen him on the field. But the 6-foot-5, 330-pounder certainly has piqued Grantham’s interest.
“He’s obviously, from a size standpoint, a guy we feel like can command double teams in there,” Grantham said. “I know he’s worked hard in the offseason to try to learn the system. He’s going to be somewhat behind just because it’s one thing to learn it in a classroom, but then to go out on the field in 90-degree heat is totally different. If he can come on, that obviously gives us some depth. I’m excited about . . . seeing what he can do.”
- Building depth up front is a high priority for Grantham.
“I believe in playing a lot of guys on the defensive line because up there it’s a relentless approach to the ball each play,” he said. “They’re going to get gassed more than probably some other positions. Sometimes it’s harder, because they’re bigger guys, to get rejuvenated quickly. So rotation is important, and to rotate you’ve got to have depth.”
- Six months on the Georgia staff have reaffirmed Grantham’s view of this state as a recruiting goldmine.
“The talent in this state is everything I anticipated, and I feel like we can reach all the goals we want to reach -– well, I know we can -– if we just stay the course with what we are doing right now,” he said.
- Grantham is excited about the arrival of Jarvis Jones, the linebacker who transferred to UGA from USC. Jones will redshirt this season.
“It will be good to get him around the other players [and] get him introduced to our system,” Grantham said, “… because he’ll definitely make an impact in the future.”
- OK, I know you’ve heard these (or very similar) words from Grantham before. But I thought you might enjoy hearing them again:
“We want to be aggressive. We want to attack. We want to be relentless in our pursuit to the ball.”
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173 comments Add your comment
Brainiac(Dawg for life)
July 16th, 2010
7:52 pm
Jazzman: We all know those red panties belong to yo mama so next time we come over we wll return them……………………….(.30 – 24)
Hotel Shreveport
July 16th, 2010
9:25 pm
Enter your comments here
Ga D Rules
July 16th, 2010
10:09 pm
Georgia’s new 3-4 D will dominate the SEC east—UGA beats Florida and wins the East—mark it down! These dawgs are the real deal. florida’s run is over.
AltamahaDawg
July 16th, 2010
10:30 pm
That did indeed sound like somebody on a third grade level.
YELLOW HAMMER
July 16th, 2010
10:40 pm
i wish our coaching staff was half as talented as UGA’s.we are irrelivent in every possible way.we lost to u guys last year and will most certanly lose this year.no matter what i say it will not change the harsh truth.I am a gay and a hell of an engineer.But mostly a gay.
John Ohms
July 16th, 2010
10:43 pm
Learn how to communicate with the written word and people might find it easier to understand what you’re trying to say…you’re quite a tool ya retard
John Ohms
July 16th, 2010
10:45 pm
Have you figured it out yet? Yeah, it was aimed at you Football mind…
12-2
July 17th, 2010
12:45 am
If we could just do the same on Offense, we would have something.
I still see no reason why, even with this lousy offensive product we have put on the field the last 4 years in a row now, that this team cannot win 12 games this season with 12 unranked teams on the schedule.
Of course, it has been an off-season of distractions now hasn’t it ?
I mean we are # 1 in the Fulmer Cup Standings for the season and # 3 Fulmer Cup Standings All-Time now for UGA.
Let’s see July 17. I am predicting our next arrest / suspension to be August 17.
Glenn
July 17th, 2010
9:27 am
If the Dawgs gel and play like they can they are going to be awesome. If the gel and are lucky which teams that make it to the big one seem to always be lucky they can win it all. Go Dawgs
MadDawg
July 17th, 2010
10:40 am
I didn’t really see that in the spring game, especially on third and long Grantham always went into Martinez’s patented prevent/retreat/surrender D, so at this point we can only hope he means it…
TERRY
July 17th, 2010
11:20 am
Agree with everyone here, the defense looked MUCH improved on G-Day, going up against an experienced offense, and just mandhandled them, shut down AJ, stopeed the run, no long plays given up against the #1 D, better tacking, forced 2 turnovers. Bodes well.
Grantham's the Man
July 17th, 2010
1:33 pm
This georgia D may be the best in athens in 20 years. The attacking dawg D will wreak havoc on SEC offenses—tons of top shelf talent, great coaching. This is the year of the Dawg!
UGA can play some D ball
July 17th, 2010
2:57 pm
The UGA new D side coaches seem to have a plan and they have an attitude. In time, with more position specific recruiting and coaching, it will put UGA back where we want to be.
UGA is the ONLY SCHOOL TO lay claim to having won 8 games or more for 13 years and soon to be 14. Not Fl, not Alabama, not UT not LSU, not Ohio Sate and not Oklahoma nor Texas can say this. Tech? They lose 13 games over two years, historically, since the late 1950s and 60s. . AAAAAAAAAAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA zzzzzzzzzz
Let the nay sayers giggle, they know that they never ever attended ANY school, beyond some sad Atlanra public HS and so, they bang away on the mom’s PC, eating Cheetos and slugging down copious amounts of big urange drinks.
Let the Big Dog eat.
Go Dogs
cadawg
July 17th, 2010
8:44 pm
@maddawg: you’re right but i think it’s customary not to give too much away in the spring game, especially if you’re installing a new system. we were actually in a base 4-3 for a lot of that game. i expect CTG to keep his word as far as attacking and being aggressive.
like a lot of you, though, i’m worried about depth across the front 7 and especially up the middle. i suspect we’re going to be a little soft on the run early in the year. fortunately, our toughest opponents in the early part of the year (SC and Arkansas) don’t run the ball especially well. a couple of our freshmen are going to need to contribute up front (garrison smith, and maybe morant or stripling in passing situations). houston and washington are going to be terrors off the edge, and the secondary has a chance to be very, very good. i believe it’s going to be an exciting fall for the dawgs!
Fire Dawg
July 18th, 2010
9:06 am
It will be a challenge this year. Go Dawgs !!!!
ugaclassof2004
July 18th, 2010
11:50 am
Blah Blah Blah…. let’s see it on the field. I want to see the desire and the will to make a play. I want to see a team that can respond to being hit in the mouth and comeback. I want to see sacks. I want to see INT’s. I want to see a QB that isn’t careless with the football. I want to see competent play calling on a regular basis. And until I see these things, I will keep my expectations low.
I’m tired of this half a$$/finesse approach to football that this team has played the last few seasons. And I’m REAL tired of the hands off blase approach to coaching that Mark Richt has adopted the last few seasons. Either take an active role in this team’s success, or hit the road! I’m sick of it. UGA has one of the best revenue generating athletic departments in the nation, has one of the best college towns in the nation, and has some of the best in state recruits in the nation. There is no reason why our program can’t be just as good or better than LSU’s. It’s time to step up our game and be nationally relevant, and if Richt can’t do that for us anymore then it’s time to look in another direction.
EAZY E
July 18th, 2010
2:04 pm
Does anyone know where these former Bulldogs will be playing this year?
Zach Mettenberger
Dontavious Jackson
Dexter Moody
Montez Robinson
dawg_central
July 18th, 2010
6:57 pm
Football_mind…….guess your title doesn’t fit you at all. You said “the competition is unlike any thing Grantham has seen”….he coached in the NFL numb..nutts !! And as far as the depth chart….Tyson has played, he has seen him in the spring……how long should he wait??…. until Thanksgiving turkey is done…..anyhow…..very funny to see guys talk about what a coach should do…..funny, cause these are the same guys that have never even played two hand touch in the back yard…lol….Go Dawgs!!!!!!….oh yea, I almost forgot…..Who is your daddy Tech fans……you got it…UGA!!!!!!
Dawg Trainer
July 19th, 2010
9:10 am
UGA is the ONLY SCHOOL TO lay claim to having won 8 games or more for 13 years and soon to be 14. Not Fl, not Alabama, not UT not LSU, not Ohio Sate and not Oklahoma nor Texas can say this. Tech? They lose 13 games over two years, historically, since the late 1950s and 60s. . AAAAAAAAAAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA zzzzzzzzzz”
Since this piqued my interest, let’s look at these 13 years. In the span from 1997-2009, Tennessee is 7-6 against Georgia.
The 7 wins: 1997 (38-13), 1998 (22-3), 1999 (37-20) 2004 (19-14), 2006 (51-33) 2007 (35-14) and 2009 (45-14). The ONLY game you can consider close is the 2004 game.
The 6 losses 2000 (21-10), 2001 (26-24), 2002 (18-13), 2003 (41-14), 2005 (27-14) and 2008 (26-14). Two nailbiters, 3 comfortable wins and ONE blowout, the 2003 game.
So, winning at least 8 games yearly during this time frame is nice and all, but losing 7 games to Tennessee mostly by blowout ain’t good. I’m sure a Florida fan can post THEIR record against you in this timeframe, and THAT won’t be pretty either.
So this Vols fan hopes Coach Richt sticks around for a LONG time. We look forward to many more wins against the Dawgs!
patrckmartinsulley
July 19th, 2010
5:32 pm
1st….”football mind” is an idiot
.
2nd….GATA
patrckmartinsulley
July 19th, 2010
5:35 pm
1ST “DAWG TRAINER is an idio.
2nd…11 bowl wins in 13 of those years….. name another team that has gone 13 str8 times WINNING11 of them
Georgia's Defensive Coordinator: Todd Grantham | Saturday Down South
July 20th, 2010
3:05 am
[...] want to be aggressive. We want to attack. We want to be relentless in our pursuit to the ball.” (Atlanta Journal Constitution) Last Thursday, Coach Grantham met with some reporters to share the progress of the new defense. [...]
Dawg Trainer
July 20th, 2010
9:00 am
“1ST “DAWG TRAINER is an idio.”
Idio what exactly? Idiometric? Idiosyncrasy? Idiomuscular?
Can’t be idiot, because I’m not a Dawg fan.