Tailback update: Ealey wants to regain trust ‘I’m pretty sure I lost’
(Updated 10 a.m. Thursday)
ATHENS — With Caleb King suspended for two games and Carlton Thomas still bothered by a hamstring injury, Georgia suddenly is in a precarious position at tailback.
Washaun Ealey, whose playing time has been limited the past two games because of his problem with fumbles, will start Saturday against Vanderbilt. “He’s going to be the guy this week,” offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said.
Ealey sees this as his chance to make amends for critical fumbles against South Carolina and Mississippi State.
“I’m pretty sure I lost the trust of most guys on the team,” Ealey said after practice Wednesday. “Hopefully I can go out there and gain their trust back this week.
“I know my team really needs me this game,” he added.
Georgia’s tailback situation behind Ealey remains in flux.
Thomas, who missed last week’s game, practiced on a limited basis Wednesday. Freshman Ken Malcome, whom the coaches are considering playing for the first time, missed part of Tuesday’s practice with a shoulder stinger but returned Wednesday. Whether Malcome sheds his redshirt and plays Saturday could hinge on how Thomas does the next couple of days, coach Mark Richt said Wednesday night.
Asked earlier this week if Malcome has shown enough in practice to prove he’s ready to play, Bobo said: “We ain’t got nobody else. … We got one running back,” meaning Ealey.
Fullbacks Fred Munzenmaier and Zander Ogletree also have gotten work at tailback in practice this week, Richt said.
“We’re going to have to figure out a way,” Bobo said. “Guys are going to have to pick up the slack, and Washaun is going to have to be ready to go.”
King’s suspension is the latest hurdle for a tailback contingent that has had trouble getting on track this season.
“It’s been interesting, to say the least,” McClendon said.
Among suspensions (first Ealey’s, now King’s) and injuries (first King’s ankle, now Thomas’ hamstring) and crucial fumbles (two by Ealey, one by King), Georgia has not been able to get into any kind of rhythm at tailback in the first half of the season.
Ealey has started three games, King two (both of the wins) and Thomas one. Ealey has a team-leading 246 rushing yards, followed by King with 228. Ealey’s longest run of the season is 18 yards. As a team, Georgia is 10th in the SEC in rushing, averaging 136.8 yards per game.
McClendon said King was beginning to separate himself as the No. 1 tailback — before his early Monday arrest for failing to appear at a court date in connection with a speeding ticket. That arrest resulted in a two-game suspension from Richt.
Now, Ealey “has to go out there and do a good job,” McClendon said. “Not so much fill the void, but he has to go out there and fill the job, no matter what.”
Third-down inefficiency
Georgia’s defense is last in the SEC when it comes to stopping opponents on third down, allowing a first down 43.4 percent of the time.
“Third-and-long, especially, has been our Achilles heel,” Richt said. “We’ve had a bunch of teams in third-and-long, and we’ve had a bunch of teams get a first down. It’s just so frustrating.
“A lot of it has been QB runs. You feel like you have the right call, you have everybody covered and you are right there to get [the quarterback], and he breaks free. He either runs across the line of scrimmage like the Colorado quarterback [Tyler Hansen] did at least two or three times in the first drive of the game, or breaks free and throws a touchdown pass like the quarterback [Matt Simms] did for Tennessee last week.”
Richt said the Georgia defense has been much better against “third-and-medium” plays than against third-and-long.
“We just have got to continue to get our guys in position to make the plays,” Richt said, “and get them to make it.”
Last word
Asked who is happiest to have A.J. Green back in the lineup — the other receivers, the tight ends, the quarterback, the running backs — Bobo quickly answered: “Me.”
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415 comments Add your comment
Fred
October 13th, 2010
9:01 pm
Hey haters, ease up on trashing the players. Ealey is a good running back who has had some bad luck this year. He needs improvement, not a blog trashing in cyberspace.
The idea of moving Samuel back to RB sounds good except for they are probably going to redshirt him this year at LB.
Bill
October 13th, 2010
9:10 pm
Things are so bad at UGA, that even the dog got a 6 game suspension.
Anybody remember Mettenberger
October 13th, 2010
9:23 pm
While we are running around like a chicken with our heads cut off he is working toward winning a championship ring and having fun doing it. http://www.eldoradotimes.com/sports/x710521590/Butler-offense-firing-on-all-cylinders-in-Indy-win Yea sure it’s Jr College but he’s not sitting on the bench but he’s getting tons of experiance and attention. Just though you guys mite like to read up on whats happening with him.
Buffoons Galore
October 13th, 2010
9:39 pm
More injuries and more excuses. Any of you getting tired of this crap ?????
dagnabit
October 13th, 2010
10:49 pm
I’m a little late getting into this conversation but is anyone worried about Vandy?
Delbert D.
October 13th, 2010
10:53 pm
“Fullbacks Fred Munzenmaier and Zander Ogletree also have gotten some work in practice at tailback this week.” From the UGA Fotball Notebook.
Delbert D.
October 13th, 2010
10:57 pm
dagnabit – I don’t think Vandy has been discussed on this blog.
Mayo
October 13th, 2010
11:05 pm
Heck play Malcome! He couldn’t be much worse than the mediocre backs the Dawgs have had thus far in ‘10. Can a frosh RB take on the job at UGA? Well….
col fot
October 13th, 2010
11:21 pm
Why does “techie” tucker slight UGA every chance he gets, is it jealousy or just sick journalism. If i was affliliated with the university i would kick his sick @ss off the campus. It’s an every day thing with this jackleg! Rant on “techie” tucker, it just makes the millions of Georgia fans more adoring to the University of Georgia and all of the teams!!!!!!!!
Delbert D.
October 13th, 2010
11:22 pm
Mayo – But that requires a decision. Gosh that’s tough.
Delbert D.
October 13th, 2010
11:27 pm
The keyword there is “fans”, not alumni. Even at current graduation numbers, it would take over 140 years to create 1 million alumni.
aarh
October 14th, 2010
12:34 am
Geno- They ‘ve been playing young RBs like Ealy & king before this season. They were running great by teh end of hte yr. last yr. It’s not always necessary ot play a FR. THe teams that do so do ti bc that’s their best option. UGA was thought to be loaded at teh RB & OL positions heading into this season. It hasn’t exactly worked out that way so far, but there wasn’t any reason earlier in the yr. to expect tah group of players to perform so poorly that it would be needed to play a FR. That’s why they haven’t played him yet. They were loaded at hte position earlier in the yr., & they didn’t appear to need help until now. Part of the problem has been the line, & also injuries & supsoesion problems with the RBs.
smart dawg
October 14th, 2010
1:03 am
aarh…
are you lysdexic?
BoWeevil
October 14th, 2010
5:53 am
Bobo, if getting AJ Green back meant so damn much to you son, then why did you LOSE to hapless Colorado WITH him ?
BoWeevil
October 14th, 2010
5:55 am
aarh,
Every single post I made all Spring, all Summer and all during Fall Practice was that we did
NOT
have great returning TANDEM at RB
and did
NOT
have a great returning OL
In fact, I told you the OFFENSE would struggle.
aarh, this is B.S. you said at 12:34 am “UGA was thought to be loaded at teh RB & OL positions heading into this season.”
BoWeevil
October 14th, 2010
6:11 am
Georgia Bulldogs
DEFENSE
is twice as good as our
OFFENSE
# 67 NCAA Total Offense
# 64 NCAA Scoring Offense
# 82 NCAA Aaron Murray sacked
DEFENSE
# 28 NCAA Total Defense
# 38 NCAA Scoring Defense
# 44 NCAA in Sacking our Opponents’ QB
» UT’s Bruce Pearl is the “elephant in the room” John Clay’s Sidelines
October 14th, 2010
6:37 am
[...] Caleb King suspension causes tailback problems at Georgia, reports Tim Tucker of the AJC. [...]
BoWeevil
October 14th, 2010
6:41 am
Let’s look at the four (4) losses.
Offense has the ball ready to tie the score at South Carolina and Washaun Ealey fumbles the football at the goal line again. Offense scored 6 points total. Awesomely pitiful.
Offense the next week fell way short in the 4th quarter having again only scored 10 points. Eventually, this cost us that win too. Inept offense.
Offense the following week against Missy State once again for good measure had 6 points in the 4th quarter of the game, total. Nice. Just nice Bobo. A garbage TD made the final Missy State 24, Bobo’s offense 12.
Then, 2 weeks ago against hapless beyond all measure Colorado, again the offense is driving for the game-winning field goal, have achieved that field position already and then we have our great and wondrous RB Caleb King fumble the football not wanting to be hit straight on so he turned sideways and we lost again.
For the season, that is 2 losses against teams with no hope of making the Top 25 Missy State and Colorado to run the total to now 10 teams Coach Richt has lost to who were not in the Top 25 Final AP Polls.
South Carolina and Arkansas are both 2 more Top 25 Final AP Poll teams whom Coach Richt has lost to with this pitiful offense to run his record to 17-21 vs Top 25 Final AP Poll teams.
Let’s hope neither South Carolina nor Arkansas end up in the Top 10 Final AP Poll because already at 3-8 vs Top 10 Final AP Poll teams Coach Richt can ill afford for that to be 3-9 or 3-10.
Basically for 10 years of the CMR Era, we have had a horrible offense.
It is out of date.
It is reliant upon mostly passing.
It is chalk full of turnovers.
It is incompetent, clumsy useless, hopeless, bungling and either unskilled or uncoached or BOTH.
BoWeevil
October 14th, 2010
6:52 am
NCAA PROBATION
NCAA strips UGA of wins over vols and Lafayette.
http://www.redandblack.com/2010/10/13/tailback-king-could-face-ncaa-violation/
When did Caleb King meet her, she who THUG Caleb said would publish on Internet nude pics ?
AltamahaDawg
October 14th, 2010
7:20 am
You sort of forgot about saying a few “other” things all summer, didn’t you?
Jake
October 14th, 2010
7:30 am
You would hope that the coaches and players will eventually put together a team. Anyone with eyesight can see Richt has been complacent. I don’t feel he is capable of cleaning up his own mess. Richt has had too long a tenure at UGA and became lax and too comfortable after being given a new contract. There are alot of things that need to change and the most pressing is a new direction.
College Football Expert
October 14th, 2010
7:39 am
NCAA stripping UGA of wins? What wins do they have? Do wins against junior league teams count? I’m pretty sure they haven’t beat a team with a pulse this year.
Munson's Toupee
October 14th, 2010
7:44 am
What Would Damon Do?
jeffrey d
October 14th, 2010
7:47 am
I’m excited about the new UGA, but I just thought of something – how to they keep him from going on the field? My dog is well trained, but if she’s around grass for 3 hours, there’s no way she’s not going to pee or poop a little. But I’ve NEVER seen an Uga go
WALLACE BUTZ
October 14th, 2010
8:52 am
Coach Rich said: ” Our defense is better against 3rd and medium than
it its against 3rd and long”.
The man is brilliant. This proves he is worth the 2 million we are paying him per year.
isn’t it sad that we are paying our professors so little when we
are paying for these type comments ?
seabass
October 14th, 2010
9:07 am
Ealey is the best back we have, granted he stops the fumbling. Much better field awareness than Caleb. Malcomb is just down hill runner.
PMC
October 14th, 2010
9:32 am
Samuel is a better linebacker. It’s not fair to switch him back and forth like that anyway. They are just going to have to do better recruiting RB’s.
It should be fairly easy to recruit some good ones given that if they can block in addition to thier primary role…there’s not going to be much competition to keep them out of the starting role.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
October 14th, 2010
9:48 am
Slack about sums it up. UGA should cruise by Vandy this week, but will hit a wall against Florida and Auburn, who are improving by the day.
The win over UT was weak, and there is nothing to get excited about in Athens. Knowledgeable UGA fans know this season is scrubbed, then it is back to the drawing board.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
October 14th, 2010
9:50 am
Anyone who attempts to see improvement is wrong, because UGA will be lucky to hit .500. When UGA gets throttled by Auburn and Florida, everyone will be back on this site calling for CMR to step down.
Well, no chance, since you idiots gave him a long term agreement wiht a huge buyout. Wait a minute, I think Randy Shannon is on the phone and needs to talk with Mark. I will get back with you.
lovethemdawgs
October 14th, 2010
10:12 am
Didn’t say Lattimore was from Georgia, just said we recruited him and so did Carolina and he chose to carolina, maybe he wanted to stay close to home, and yes a lot more of our kids are going out of state to other schools.
Vance Duuley
October 14th, 2010
10:31 am
I can’t believe that Richt has the audacity to play Ealey with an NCAA investigation coming up over the money he received from another student.
Richt is really desperate to gamble away his only two wins this year.
Bilbo Baggins
October 14th, 2010
10:34 am
I’ve never understood how anyone – even an alumnus – could support and take pride in UGA’s football team. When you look at their history for the past forty years, how can anyone ignore Jan Kemp and the “remedial studies” scam, the Jim Harrick fiasco, the DUIs in the athletic office, the DUIs and other arrests of players, the #1 party school tag (i.e., the most drunk students), the suspensions and outright dismissals, the Fulmer Cup, and on and on?
As disgraceful and humiliating as it is, I don’t see many alums and fans demanding an end to this sordid activity. It sets UGA apart as the kind of school most people abhor, and it’s become an embarrassment to the whole state of Georgia.
Will it never end? Apparently not while Mark Richt is at UGA. Richt is perhaps the biggest hypocrite in the United States. But even with all the cheating and lawlessness that he ignores, he still can’t win the SEC.
So you’re paying him to be BCS champions, but he can’t even win his SEC division. So why do you pay him millions of dollars a year?
Just asking.
All Saints
October 14th, 2010
10:44 am
Attention, everyone, especially dawgtards. We will now observe a moment of silence in memory of Saint Jan Kemp, who exposed the shameful practices at UGA that were initiated and carried out by slimeball Vince Dooley. Dooley’s image as a coach and a nice guy were forever shattered during the trial, not to mention the one million dollars that dawgtards had to pay Saint Jan. These practices of recruiting morons and coddling them for four years, them tossing them out like garbage, are still going on, but at least the world knows what’s happening in Athens now.
And now, the moment of silence…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Thank you, you may resume your normal activities now.
Dogs Smell
October 14th, 2010
10:47 am
Dawggie , the greatest stretch of the year would be 2 wins in a row ! You Homers need to get serious. You already have 4 losses ! At a minimum you end with 6 losses. Greatest Stretch is a stretch !
jack bull
October 14th, 2010
10:49 am
brandon boykin for RB…..looks a lot like reggie bush….
Dazed and Confused
October 14th, 2010
10:59 am
Hey dude, arrests are ok. Fumbles will get you suspended.
Bow Wow
October 14th, 2010
11:00 am
We only coddle our gangstas for two years, then they go to the Baltimore Ravens.
Kel
October 14th, 2010
11:05 am
“Hate on haters!!! We are going nowhere! GO DAWGS!!!!!”
That’s for sure, not going anywhere all right. No SEC Championship Game and for the 31st straight year no National Title.
dawgfacedboy
October 14th, 2010
11:10 am
Pretty sure?? No, you definitely lost it. Fans don’t trust you either. You were lucky your fuble went out of bound last Saturday. You want to win it back then how bout hanging on to the football while cranking out about 120 yards and 2 TDs!!
Keep the shirt on Malcome.
Flea Flicker
October 14th, 2010
11:12 am
Can Herschel Walker come back for his senior year?
macrotech
October 14th, 2010
11:22 am
Truly, glad they didn’t kick King off the team…I’d imagine CMR has Ealey running drills with EVERYONE slapping, pulling and punching at the football in his arms! If Ealey fumbles the ball this Saturday he’s going to be a head-case! Hate to see that happen to anyone…even if it IS a Bulldawg. Good luck!
Herschel Wlaker, the red panty stalker
October 14th, 2010
11:34 am
Don’t drag me into this mess.
Herschel Walker, the red panty stalker
October 14th, 2010
11:37 am
I got plenty of problems of my own, like spelling my name.
Tosh.No
October 14th, 2010
11:40 am
Good god, started to look through some of the comments and its like all one guy acting like different people. You need a life bro. Seriously.
Dem Dawg
October 14th, 2010
11:40 am
Hey,my daughter went through a seat belt check today and found out that an old speeding ticket had not been accounted for at the state and that her license was supsended. Low and behold, they didn’t arrest her, just told her to take care of it immediately. Could it be because she’s 30 years old, pretty, and white? Don’t tell me there’s no double standard in law enforcement.
harold
October 14th, 2010
11:51 am
GEORGIA IS JUST AN AVERAGE FOOTBALL TEAM NOW. DOOLEY AND TENNESSEE IS WORSE!
Tosh.No
October 14th, 2010
11:51 am
And this is why people come on tech blogs and run their mouths, cause your fans are some of the most classless morons there are. Engineered a woman over there to get yourselves laid yet?
gbal
October 14th, 2010
12:10 pm
This quoted from CMR interview.
“They just do a very good job on their staff of getting these guys lined up and getting these guys fundamentally ready to play football,” Richt said. “They don’t necessarily try to trick you, but they are very, very sound in what they do. They play fast and they play physical and they really play great fundamental football on both sides of the ball. You could tell they’ve created a lot of really good habits in the way they play.”
Well this would seem to be a good plan that UGA should consider. We make things to complicated… Have to “spoon feed” our troups a little bit of the system at a time until they are comfortable and earn a little play time…
Simplify…. get good at that simple plan… line up the best talent )freshmen or seniors) and attitudes and smash someone in the mouth. What I am seeing us running is nothing very complicated… base plays and my god, these kids have been playing FB for years.. Shouldnt be that complicated.
Sojourner
October 14th, 2010
12:13 pm
I just turned the computer on today. How many UGAy arrests have I missed?
Dogs Smell
October 14th, 2010
12:34 pm
Say what you will about Tennessee gbal but I bet they get better before your dogs !