Attitude and defense are better, Dogs say
ATHENS – Thursday night’s post-practice interviews brought upbeat assessments of two key components of the Georgia football team: its attitude and its defense.
- Without naming any past offenders, inside linebacker Christian Robinson made it clear he likes the attitude of this team better than last year’s.
Christian Robinson is a projected starter at inside linebacker. (AJC photo/Curtis Compton)
“I think the guys that are here and that are playing right now and that coach [Todd] Grantham has trust in are those guys that stayed positive and kept working,” Robinson said. “Our whole thing is just being intense and doing what you’re supposed to, and I think the guys we have out there at this point are those guys who will make those plays and do what they’re told.
“I mean [if you have] a cancerous attitude, if you don’t have the right attitude, if you’re a ‘me’ guy –- we can’t have that. . . . I think the guys we have right now are the guys that are going to do it right, and you don’t have to worry about having off-the-field issues, things like that. The guys that are here, that are going to stay here, that are doing the right thing — we don’t have to worry about. And if they do [wrong], they know the consequences.”
Robinson suggested an issue with “people talking down” in the locker room last year.
“It’s a general attitude,” he said. “I think that at this point the guys we have are going to talk positive. There are going to be days you’re tired, you don’t want to be out there, it’s hot and the coaches are on you, and I think everybody is mature enough in this group that when you go out there it’s time to work and [coaches] are going to push you and you just got to deal with it.
“I think the guys we have here . . . know how to contribute to the team where it’s not all about themselves. I think we have guys that care about each other.”
- Meanwhile, coach Mark Richt made it clear he is encouraged by what he has seen from the defense in the first three sessions of spring practice. The unit spent last year adjusting to Grantham’s 3-4 scheme.
“You can already see the kids are getting better at … the technique of their job, of their position,” Richt said. “You’ve always got to learn what to do first, and then you’ve got to learn how to do it well. Last year there was a whole lot of time spent on just knowing what to do, and now that they have a better idea of what to do, they’re learning how to do it better. So techniques are improving. I think that’s the biggest thing I see defensively.
“And they are playing faster. They are playing with a little more certainty as to what they’re doing, so they’re able to turn it loose a little bit better.”
Reflecting on last season, “I don’t know if we ever turned it loose as a [defensive] group,” Richt said. “There were probably certain moments in time when it looked like we were getting it, but as an entire group, I don’t know if we ever played as fast as we hope we will this year. I think we’ll do better this year in that regard.”
– Tim Tucker, AJC
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375 comments Add your comment
Kevdawg
March 25th, 2011
12:58 pm
Losing tends to breed discontent.
AltamahaDawg
March 25th, 2011
1:05 pm
I also doubt that we see contracts with several years left on them, get extentions piled on to the the end, running them out 6,7,8 yrs anymore. The market is just changing too fast now.
Depending on how this season goes, I predict we see the talks start and an announcement coming just before Richt starts the 2012 season, extending it 3 yr, basically convering the next 5. I don;t care if he wins a NC, I don’t think we need to have any agreement with anyone beyond 5 yrs.
Had McGarity done anything this year, everybody knows it would not have been done as a “jesture”, (one I think that would have zero effect one way or the other) the not a valid contract negotiation. And mean’t nothing.
Weez
March 25th, 2011
1:08 pm
Smart Richt keeping Bobo around as his fall guy in case the season goes bad again. Then Richt can blame Bobo and buy another year. The old Bobby Bowden shuffle.
AltamahaDawg
March 25th, 2011
1:09 pm
A part of me actually thinks the jesture would even be the wrong signal. I know darn well, a ton of fans wouldn’t have liked it.
One thing I am certain of. McGarity and Richt talked about this way more than we have, in detail and scope beyond what we even thought to ponder.
WIN WITH RICHT
March 25th, 2011
1:11 pm
Bobo is a great recruiter in South Georgia. Also, you need to remember that he had a freshman QB backed up by a frshman QB last year.
AltamahaDawg
March 25th, 2011
1:12 pm
Well, and the fact that he is the offensive coordinator.
Weez
March 25th, 2011
1:15 pm
Richt outsmarted McGarity on that one by being allowed to keep Bobo another year. Now Richt has a scapegoat, and Richt’s shown he will turn on a friend to keep his job (bye Willie). I think Georgia goes 7-5, Richt fires Bobo, then buys another year.
Weez
March 25th, 2011
1:16 pm
I hope we win the SEC, but I think 7-5, given the last couple of years, is about Richt’s average.
WIN WITH RICHT
March 25th, 2011
1:19 pm
Weez
Richt and the Dawgs will have a great year. Be prepared to eat crow.
WIN WITH RICHT
March 25th, 2011
1:21 pm
Weez
Richt has been at UGA for 10 years and has won 96 games. That makes his average wins per season 9.6 and not 7.
tc
March 25th, 2011
1:21 pm
I agree Weez and it makes me sick! Slick CMR will come of with a new scheme next year after going a lousy 7 -5. All these CMR die hards will claim progress and yes he will get another year after that. Meanwhile our program will still be underperforming. The guy is a lousy coach plain and simple. I am still waiting for 1 bulldog fan to make a case that not going for it on 1st and a foot at the one yard line was a good call. I say it over and over again, if he continues to coach the way he has over the last few years (and there is no indication that he won’t) we have the same problems and poor record. It is not players it is coaching!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Weez
March 25th, 2011
1:23 pm
Mark has averaged 6.5 wins per season since 2008.
tc
March 25th, 2011
1:24 pm
WIN WITH RICHT: It is really simple you are satified being at best 3rd best team in the east. I am not. That is the difference!
Weez
March 25th, 2011
1:24 pm
I’d love to eat crow. I hope we win the SEC. But considering the way Richt’s been outcoached against winning teams, 2-9 last 2 years, I don’t see it. But I’d love to be wrong.
Weez
March 25th, 2011
1:27 pm
Going winless last year against the ranked teams, that starts to hurt your confidence in the coaches.
ClinchCountyDawg
March 25th, 2011
1:27 pm
Richt is the best coach in UGA history and that includes Vince Dooley. In his first nine years, he averaged 10 wins a year, won 2 SEC titles, and finished ranked in the Top Ten 6 times. Now people want to throw him under the bus for one bad season. Just remember before Richt, UGA had not won an SEC title in nearly 20 years.
tc
March 25th, 2011
1:29 pm
I believe that CMR has about 20 people(one of them is WIN WITH RICHT) on his pay roll who do nothing but come on these blogs and do nothing but support him. How can anyone that would one day like to beat Fla twice in a row continue to be such a strong supporter of CMR? I don’t get it.
Weez
March 25th, 2011
1:29 pm
Losing to Colorado last year was nuts.
Weez
March 25th, 2011
1:31 pm
Richt’s averaged 1 win a season last 2 years against ranked teams.
ClinchCountyDawg
March 25th, 2011
1:31 pm
Weez
The great Saban lost to Lousiana-Monroe in his first year at Bama. Sh@# happens.
tc
March 25th, 2011
1:32 pm
Clinch, your afraid of making a change! Is that it. Whe just arn’t as good as Fla, Aub, and SC, we need to be satisfied with being pretty good and leave it at that. Right!
Weez
March 25th, 2011
1:32 pm
I don’t want Richt fired. I just want him to get back to beating ranked teams again. I don’t think Richt knows where the wheels fell off.
Weez
March 25th, 2011
1:33 pm
Richt’s gameplanning has been ineffective against winnign teams.
ClinchCountyDawg
March 25th, 2011
1:33 pm
Weez
I remember Saban lost to Lousiana-Monroe.
tc
March 25th, 2011
1:34 pm
If Bobo is a great recruiter why is he the OC?
dawg from a distance
March 25th, 2011
1:35 pm
We all know that AJ is just short for me. He was in it for himself ONLY. He was cancerous to the team last year when he should have been a leader.
Go DAWGS! Dream team to Dream season
tc
March 25th, 2011
1:35 pm
whatever!
ClinchCountyDawg
March 25th, 2011
1:36 pm
Weez
His game planning seemed pretty good in 2002 when UGA won 13 games and their first SEC title in 20 years.
tc
March 25th, 2011
1:37 pm
Great point Clinch, that was 9 years ago! can you explain what has happened since.
ClinchCountyDawg
March 25th, 2011
1:41 pm
Look what happened at Tennessee when they ran off Fulmer. A lot of coaching changes seem great but don’t work out. Look at Notre Dame. We have a proven winner and great recruiter as coach. He will turn it around.
ClinchCountyDawg
March 25th, 2011
1:42 pm
Richt has a winning record against every team in the SEC except UF. He must be doing something right.
david
March 25th, 2011
1:51 pm
tc-
you clearly have no concept about how football works, a staff works, or anything related to football for that matter. You are what we call the “lunatic fringe.”
Come to the big boy table with a point please, otherwise you’re just wasting time.
Count em up and see how ........
March 25th, 2011
1:54 pm
I suspect that if UGA could count up the number of BLOWN third down D coverages in 09 AND 2010, that we could see how they led directly to 12 defeats. In other words, our losses are DIRECTLY due to break downs on D for the most part. I will give AU their due in 10, because they were on a misssion by the UGA game. We had our chance with them too but Scam & Co were too much.
Yes, Ealey’s fumbles vs KY in 09 and in 10 vs MSU and SC and Arkansas, etc. ALSO led to defeats. That Caleb King Colorado fumble did not help either. It seems to me that if we learn from these two areas, we ought to be able to cut that w/l ratio considerably.
Go Dogs.
gdawginkalamazoo
March 25th, 2011
1:54 pm
Clinch, I was thinking the same thing about UT. They had a fantastic run under Fulmer for the better part of the 90’s and earlier part of this decade. A couple of bad seasons turned into a coupel of cimical seasons. OF course I do believe that McGarity will prove to be a better AD than Hamilton ever was so decisions will be carefully made.
Choke Grantham
March 25th, 2011
1:58 pm
I wish I had another crack at Chaz Henry.
Spokesman for the SEC East
March 25th, 2011
2:00 pm
Everyone needs to listen to ClinchCountyDawg and please McGarrity give CMR a lifetime contract.
ClinchCountyDawg
March 25th, 2011
2:01 pm
spokesman
Amen Brother!!!!
Spokesman for the SEC East
March 25th, 2011
2:02 pm
Dude every other team in the SEC feels the same; keep Richt forever!
7576DAWG
March 25th, 2011
2:06 pm
tc
I’m just curious but how old are you and how long have you been following Georgia football? Your comments seem to come from limited knowledge of out history. Living through those years are a lot different than reading about what happened and then making an intelligent comment or conclusion about our football program as to how good it is under Richt.
ClinchCountyDawg
March 25th, 2011
2:06 pm
Spokesman
He has a winning record against every SEC team except UF. Also, he can recruit as well as any coach in the SEC.
Endzone Dance
March 25th, 2011
2:12 pm
Richt’s got a new endzone taunting dance he wants his players to try out this year if they score against florida! It’s got some good moves, some jives and some hustle. It could be good.
ClinchCountyDawg
March 25th, 2011
2:16 pm
Endzone Dance
I heard Richt got that from Hines Ward on Dancing With the Stars. Can’t Wait!!!
Mark, Mark-TheHairLipDog
March 25th, 2011
2:20 pm
Hines 57—-another stupe dog along with the rest of you “finish the drill” boys.
tc
March 25th, 2011
2:21 pm
I graduated in the 80s. I watched us go from tail back U to an acc pass happy team that has not been able to consistantly run the football in ten years. What I mean by that is: Yes we have had many many capable running backs, but the team has never been coached to have a consistant running attack, where we just line up run over our opponent the whole game. We have had streches where we have run the ball well, then Bobo can’t stand it anymore so he has to decide to have a freshmen QB throw it deep. and we screw up our drive. It takes a solid runing game to win the sec CMR does not know how to create one. He would rather blame is players, saying things like “none of the running backs are stepping up” We’ll they stepped up in high school. What happened to them when they came to UGA?
WIN WITH RICHT
March 25th, 2011
2:22 pm
gdawginkalamazoo
D. Dooley could be a good coach. But, he had a losing record in the WAC and wasn’t UT’s first choice went Kiffin jumped ship.
74 Dawg
March 25th, 2011
2:23 pm
Chill dawgies. Kramer was quoting a line from the movie Animal House. He’s a comedian, remember?
34
March 25th, 2011
2:24 pm
georgia defense hopefully will be better this year. Odds are it should be becuase it is the system second year. Ga has the athletes to get it done on defense. I just hate that Richt may be set up to fail. One, ga finished under 500 for the 1st time under Richt. I want and fans want ga to play for the SEC and national games. Ga may be big time better but not play for in those types of games. Will it be enough for the fans? I hope the dawgs will be playing in the Dome at the end of the year and start it off right at the beginning of the year. By the way, yes ga needs a stud Nose, but they are not a true two gap 34 defense like New England, steelers, and Alabama. They can get away with a smaller nose because of one gap responsibilty and slanting by the front.
gdawginkalamazoo
March 25th, 2011
2:24 pm
Count em’ up…. you are correct. I can’t remember how many times our D really stuck to the other team for three downs, backing them up for long 3rd downs to see them give up the big play. Then again I can’t count how many times our D put in a hard fought 3 and out only to go to the bench to rest and before they can sit down they are back out on the field. One of those things I hope they can balance out with the running game this year.
WIN WITH RICHT
March 25th, 2011
2:27 pm
tc
I don’t think we should regress to the Dooley days. Dooley was a solid coach who got lucky and signed the greatest college football player of all time in 1980. But, his passing attack was weak like Tech under Johnson. From 1970 to 2000. UGA only one 1 SEC title wihout Herschel and never finished ranked in the Top Ten in back to back years.
tc
March 25th, 2011
2:29 pm
I will say something positive, I like our defense and I am willing to give TG a good chance this year. I think our defense will be improved. The poor offensive play calling and overall game decisions will remain the same which will be poor and put additional pressure on our defense. One other beauty about running the ball that CMR doesn’t get is that it contriols the clock and keeps your own defense well rested and off the field.