Linebackers: Promising group despite virtual makeover since last season
Seventh in a series breaking down Georgia’s 2011 team by position . . .
Georgia is counting on junior Christian Robinson's leadership and play-making abilities at linebacker this fall. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
THE LINEBACKERS
- Projected starters: SAM Jarvis Jones (So., 6-3, 241), MIKE Christian Robinson (Jr., 6-2, 226), MO Alec Ogletree (So. 6-3, 236), WILL Cornelius Washington (So., 6-4, 260)
- Returning starters: Robinson started 11 games at the “Mo” inside linebacker last season and Washington started eight at the “Will” outside position. Alec Ogletree was moved to the Mo in the spring after starting five games at strong safety as a true freshman last season. Robinson moved to Mike.
- Others to watch: This is the much-anticipated debut season of Jarvis Jones, who had to sit out this past year after transferring to Georgia from Southern Cal. Jones (6-3, 241) is slated to start at “Sam,” or strongside outside linebacker, but first he has to clear some recently-raised eligibility issues. . . . Former starting tailback Richard Samuel will be playing his first season on defense for the Bulldogs. He redshirted his junior season last year while making the initial transition. He is currently second-team at “Mo” but could play outside linebacker if called upon. . . . Reuben Faloughi, Michael Gilliard and Chase Vasser will be counted on as backups.
Moving Alec Ogletree (9) from strong safety to inside linebacker was bold and potentially bountiful. (AP photo)
- Key losses: Georgia lost a massive amount of production from this unit. Gone are leading tackler Akeem Dent (126 tackles); pass-rushing specialist Justin Houston (10 sacks); No. 4 tackler Marcus Dowtin, who transferred out; and No. 7 tackler Darryl Gamble, who graduated. That’s 259 tackles, 14 sacks and 52 games played just from last season. The Bulldogs also lost linebackers coach Warren Belin to the NFL.
- Newcomers: Georgia signed five linebackers in February to shore up depth, including five-star prospect Ray Drew (6-5, 250) of Thomasville, who will be expected to contribute immediately. The Bulldogs also inked Sterling Bailey (6-5, 260) of Gainesville, Amarlo Herrera (6-1, 224) of College Park, Kent Turene (6-3, 225) of Lauderdale Lakes, Fla., and Ramik Wilson (6-2, 218) of Tampa.
- Key developments: As alluded to earlier, the eligibility issues facing Jones threaten to dog Georgia up until the season opener like those facing A.J. Green did last year. A police investigation into alleged corruption within the ranks of the Columbus parks and recreation department revealed that some of Jones’ flights to Los Angeles his first season at USC were paid for by the department’s director from state funds. Even though Jones was at Southern Cal, the NCAA could require Jones to sit out games at UGA. Georgia has launched its own investigation and will fight to get the situation resolved well before the season opener, unlike last year’s fiasco with Green, who ended up sitting the first four games.
- Key question: This is year two of Georgia’s switch to a 3-4 defense under defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. But due to all the reshuffling, three of the four projected starters will be playing new positions. How quickly and how well will the group adapt to new assignments and new inside linebackers coach Kirk Olivadotti?
- Outlook: Uncertain but promising. If there were no issues facing Jones, it would be tempting to say this is an across-the-board improvement. But the drop from Jones to Vasser would be steep and moving Samuel back outside could be complicated. Meanwhile, moving Ogletree to Mo from strong safety was a bold move and, even though Grantham says he’s “100 percent certain” it was the right thing to do, it’s an uncertain how he’ll perform in games.
- Your turn: What’s your view of Georgia’s linebacker corps?
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262 comments Add your comment
Bernie Matt
July 11th, 2011
1:43 pm
Hey Dawgin Lex – maybe Richt is the one you should make those NAACP comments about. He just paseed on a white LB who’s fast than his black WR commit. I mean really, aren’t there white LB’s in the NFL. And you can probably guess my race, but hey I want the best players regardless of Color.
tide roll
July 11th, 2011
1:45 pm
Ans. to question 1. Because there are none, including your next great hope: Theus.
SEC Fan
July 11th, 2011
1:45 pm
Lowcountry, your USCe comment is noted and not entirely disagreed upon. The Ole Miss comparison may be a bit hard to swallow but look at the similarities. Both Ole Miss and UGA had losing seasons in 2010 along with Vandy so to eliminate yourselves from the comparisons you need to prove yourselves on the field and quit choking/underachieving. Unlike Vandy and Ole Miss UGA has the talent needed to play winning football. So what’s the problem? Could it be the coaching staff?
Nate the Great
July 11th, 2011
1:45 pm
@tide roll: Dereck Dooley?
Lowcountry Bulldawg
July 11th, 2011
1:47 pm
Right the problem with Boise is 9 months to get ready for this singular game. Then another what 6 weeks for another big game? This is the reason I believe any 1 lose team from a power conference should always go ahead of a undefeated Boise team. Easy to get up for 1-2 games a year. Go do it week in week out and see how you fair.
DawginLex
July 11th, 2011
1:51 pm
tide roll
1.) Because there are none?
Did you actually write that?
Oh my God you really are a racist. Look in the NFL Rev Sharpton, there are plenty of white OL.
I hope you weren’t serious.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
July 11th, 2011
1:52 pm
One year cannot compare the programs. Coaching at times appears underwhelming, but how many BCS games has UGA appeared in compared to Vandy and Ole Miss? How many bowl appearances has Vandy had since 1981? Ole Miss has not been the same since Billy Brewer was coach!
UGA this decade has proved itself to be a franchise program for College Football. One year, if you wanna say two fine, but this entire decade CMR has stamped this Program as legitimate. I am not one that says we did so well 8 years ago that it is a forgone conclusion that we will again, but I like our history of bouncing back over a Vandy or a Ole Miss.
truedawg
July 11th, 2011
1:54 pm
CHIP,
What about Bailey? I have seen this kid many times and he is a nice kid, humble but very tallented and hard working think we’ll see him any this year? Also have to agree with some who said Samuel is better at LB. He’s just not in a RB mind set, He wants to hit someone, not make them miss. With the speed UGA has at LB will we be seeing alot more of Blitz. You’d think with the sub parr play last year in our secondary that we should try and make the QB make some bad throws. I still gte nightmares about the ARK game last drive. I also hate to sound like some say UGA fans sound, but “Can you imagine how good this Defense will be next year?” Go DAWGS!!!
DawginLex
July 11th, 2011
1:56 pm
lowcountry
Richt raised the bar. Some of these idiots are like Florida fans, they have selective and short memories. None of the idiots talk about 2002, 2003,2004,2005 or 2007 where we were top 10 nationally and either won the SEC or came dam close. Florida fans think football was invented in 1990. Bama fans forget about 1995-2007 where they sucked and hired and fired coaches and vacated wins.
Richt has to win now or the next coach will get his chance in 2012
tide roll
July 11th, 2011
1:56 pm
Ok. I’ll give you this one. Ben Jones. Just kidding. He’s a cut blocking tub of lard who starts only to keep you Georgia fans satisfied. And stop pretending you don’t know what I mean.
Nate the Great
July 11th, 2011
1:56 pm
I don’t buy the Boise only has one game to get up for excuse. We have the same amount of time to prepare for them as they do for us. Bag the whole “finish the drill” motto and implement the “no excuses” motto. We can ruin their season in week one, but we still have USC to play the next week. Despite what most people say about us having more on the line, they have a lot more to lose. Most people expect them to win and us to fire our coach by the end of October.
Any SEC fan would lose to Boise St and win the SEC, but what would that say about the SEC?
Lowcountry Bulldawg
July 11th, 2011
1:56 pm
Look for Chips response to Bailey he has answered it TWICE.
DawginLex
July 11th, 2011
1:58 pm
tide roll
you want to discuss why only white QB’s win super Bowls?
Cuts both ways you know.
DawginLex
July 11th, 2011
2:01 pm
tide roll
I truly feel sorry for you. Must be a sad sheltered existence you live.
Either that or you are just plain stupid.
Either way it is really sad and pathetic.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
July 11th, 2011
2:01 pm
Nate,
They only get up for this game for a month into the entire season! Boise has a open date after the game then travel to Toldeo, host Tulsa, host Nevada, at Fresno St, at Colorado St , host Air Force, at UNLV before finally playing TCU on get this….. November 5th. So yes the assessment they get up for 1 game is more than accurate.
corey
July 11th, 2011
2:02 pm
Chip whats the word on Devin Bowman?
Lowcountry Bulldawg
July 11th, 2011
2:03 pm
UGA is implenting game plans for both Boise St and prepping for South Carolina. Tide Roll is very funny. I give him that. I think he is a former OL player who rode the bench for 4 years at UGA in a past life and is utterly bitter as a man.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
July 11th, 2011
2:05 pm
Th word is he prefers vowels over consonants.
truedawg
July 11th, 2011
2:05 pm
no sir, I don’t see Bailey mentioned. I wondered if her will move to end with his size, or outside or inside.
We know the state of football in Athens. We know where its been, and that it cna get better, or worse. Seen the same thing in other SEC programs. CMR will get it right, or move along. If he leaves though with the tallent in Athens now, if Richt isn’t there next year the new coach will be playing for a NC. only two real weakness on the team, OL and Secondary. With one more year recuiting and experience, that will improve. GO DAWGS!!!
how2fish
July 11th, 2011
2:11 pm
tide roll you do know that Coach Bobo married before he ever went to work for CMR and UGA don’t you there troll boy?
DawginLex
July 11th, 2011
2:13 pm
how2fish
don’t try to list facts
He doesn’t care.
how2fish
July 11th, 2011
2:16 pm
DawginLex yeah I know but bringing a coaches family into a blog debate is in my mind akin to fans throwing rocks and making death threat to Coach Bill Curry and his family…wait a minute those were Bama fans too…
Lowcountry Bulldawg
July 11th, 2011
2:17 pm
Man we need like buttons for these posts because I would have clicked it on that post how2.
Bernie Matt
July 11th, 2011
2:17 pm
Some people here are very sensitive and read racial posts were there aren’t any. I mean if I were criticizing UGA rb’s over the last 4 years, then if someone wanted, they could say , I’m just criticizing black players, but if I criticize UGA full backs over that same span some of you might say, i’m just criticizing white players. Bottom line is if they aren’t getting it done, regardless of what color they are, then they aren’t getting it done.
truedawg
July 11th, 2011
2:18 pm
Tide roll,
You always start off talking football and most times you make sense, then you just start bashing. You come here to talk football, or talk trash? We have problems at UGA. but Bama has problems too, honnestly don’t you think Bama really underachived last year?
GO DAWGS!!!
truedawg
July 11th, 2011
2:20 pm
true that Bernie! black or white or an asian with some size is welcome on our line. we need all the help we can get at any position!
Beast from the East
July 11th, 2011
2:22 pm
GatorSports has Aaron Murry as the #9 ranked player in the SEC.
http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20110711/ARTICLES/110719971?tc=cr
RxDawg
July 11th, 2011
2:24 pm
“Rivals report today shows UGA as the only football program in the country that has had a top 10 recruiting class in each of the last 10 years. So like it or not, there is a problem with the coaching.”
So coaching is the only possiblity? There is no way that some of those recruits were overrated? There is no way that we could of lost 18 major players due to injury one season? There is no way we could of just had some really bad luck?
AdMan
July 11th, 2011
2:25 pm
tide roll..Mike Price wants to know what time your picking him up tonight…he says to tell you if you get there early you can get a seat next to the stage….Bama girl goes on at 8:00pm and she’s bringing her dog that she painted up to look like an alligator…the dog came from a litter that Sabans wife’s dog had and was given to her by Saban’s second cousin…..Shula and Dubose will hold seats if you can’t get there on time…..tide roll you have got to be the biggest loser ever ….a real moma’s boy if there ever was one…..more like a candya$$ know-it-all with absolutely no friends.
Bernie Matt
July 11th, 2011
2:28 pm
RxDawg – you should go into politics. You handled my post perfectly for someone wanting to mislead everyone else. TRY PUTTING THE ENTIRE POST INTO QUOTATION! You know the part about every other program having to recruit under the same so call ranking pretense. Bottom line if the rankings are wrong, you still have to blame your coaches for not being able to evaluate talent.
Bernie Matt
July 11th, 2011
2:31 pm
RxDawg- As for your crying about bad luck and players getting hurt – that why they hand out 85 schollies a year.
Beast from the East
July 11th, 2011
2:34 pm
murfdawg,
The last I heard we are down to about 70-71 scholarship players. I’m sure there are some walk-ons that are licking their chops at the prospect of getting a scholly. We’re gonna have some depth problems this year on both lines. Look to be okay as far as depth everyhwere else, but still a very young team overall.
Bernie Matt
July 11th, 2011
2:40 pm
78 schollies right now. And coaches can’t control situations like C. King, but I sure as heck would not have called Washaun into my office for that meeting, not knowing if Caleb had done what he needed to do. Sometimes coaches have to know how to manage people, even if they are more work to mange than others. That’s why they get paid those millions!
WDE
July 11th, 2011
2:42 pm
@Bernie Matt question how many times did UGA end up in the top 10 in those years? How many SEC championships? You make it sound like in the 10 years you quoted we have not had any success, who’s the politician?
RedandBlackDAWG
July 11th, 2011
2:43 pm
The Cam Newton question seems to me to be, would UGA have changed their whole offensive scheme for 1 player. I think the same might be true for Alabama. He went to Florida originally because, he fit into their scheme. He was to be the heir apparent to T. Tebow. Had he kept his nose clean, who knows what he might have meant for the gators. He fit into Auburns scheme since they had a new head coach for the most part, and he had not really put his signature on the offense as of yet. He wanted to win so they built a scheme for Cam Newton. It worked, end of story.
as for all of these comments from this Tide roll guy. You folks do realize if you do not give him an audience and ignore him, he will simply go away. Starve a fire and it goes away. You are feeding him and allowing him to get you to respond. He is free to spout anything he wants on here as it is Chip’s column, and he can decide what falls in the region of poor taste. Just ignore him folks. A person who talks to himself usually gets the hint.
Now, I believe if our big uglies jam up the O line for the opponent, our linebackers have the size and speed to make this a really decent front seven for UGA. If you can’t run up the middle, you have to go to the outside right? If our LB’s use their size and speed, and tackle well, we control the run. If you clog up the middle and push that line back or at least force them to double team you, the QB, has a lot less times to read his progressions because he never knows what LB is going to get a clean shot at him. I have watched Garcia for three years and he is a decent QB as long as he is not pressured. Pressure him and he throws picks and makes unwise decisions. Almost any QB who is not especially mobile, doesn’t like to be hounded and will make poor decisions if you turn up the heat. There are not that many Cam Newtons out there. He thought run first and pass second most of the time and was good enough to pull it off.
Bernie Matt
July 11th, 2011
2:46 pm
WDE – In the words of the great Ricky Bobby – If you aint first, you last! See you are indicative of the mindset that is far too prevalent for a program in a State that produces as much talent as Georgia. NOBODY CARES WHO AUBURN BEAT FOR THE TITLE last year! They only care that Auburn won it!
AltamahaDawg
July 11th, 2011
2:46 pm
Rivals aught to check thier own website , which had UGA ranked as #15 year before last.
WDE
July 11th, 2011
2:49 pm
@Bernie Matt that’s the biggest load of bs on planet Earth…you mean your a fan and you can never enjoy your team’s success unless you win the MNC ?? That makes you a narcissist not a football fan!
Bernie Matt
July 11th, 2011
2:51 pm
@WDE – No son, that makes me a winner! Sorry your dad didn’t teach you that.
Beast from the East
July 11th, 2011
2:54 pm
WDE,
I’m with ya. By that logic, I would have only enjoyed watching the Gators in 96, 06 and 08. Can’t win ‘em all, but I still enjoy watching ‘em…….except last year. Man, that was PAINFUL!
Bernie Matt
July 11th, 2011
2:55 pm
@WDE – know what’s funny! I f you are at any level of Management in what ever line of work your in. I guarantee you don’t settle for under performing employees, who look at you and say, “well, I tried”. If you do your company is doomed!
Bernie Matt
July 11th, 2011
2:58 pm
Problem with us though, is that we keep shelling out good money for those season tickets, for an employee who keeps looking at us and telling us he tried.
WDE
July 11th, 2011
3:02 pm
@Bernie Matt what that makes you is a bandwagon fan and frankly Auburn will be better off without you after they fail to repeat next year. And on what scale does not winning the MNC equate to under performing? Where on any coaches list of responsibility’s does it state he has to win the MNC? Think that was in Chiz’s contract, think the Visor or Saban have that written in their contracts ?
Nate the Great
July 11th, 2011
3:03 pm
Guys cut out the bad luck comments on past UGA seasons. Luck is the residue of design and we have had really bad design these past three years. Period. “Bad luck” is a losers mentality. We have a bad game plan comprised with bad conditioning, that’s where the “bad luck” is coming from.
I hope these guys throw out the notion of luck and win with hard work and proper game preparations.
Bernie Matt
July 11th, 2011
3:05 pm
@WDE – unfortunately son, you are still missing the point. But it’s a lesson you should have been taught by someone else at a much earlier age. So…..
WDE
July 11th, 2011
3:08 pm
@Nate the Great agree with most of that preparation or lack there of cures most bad luck, however injuries are not bad luck they are injuries and the 08 squad was decimated by them. 09 and last year not so much luck as bad execution.
WDE
July 11th, 2011
3:13 pm
@Bernie Matt my father told me to always do what was right and remember my families name and honor at all costs. I was taught that might does not make right, and the end does not always make the means justified. Your word is your bond and “There is only one thing that endures, and that is character “…that is what I was taught.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
July 11th, 2011
3:14 pm
WDE,
Stop arguing the the guy who quoted Ricky Bobby.
1SG
July 11th, 2011
3:15 pm
How will Crowell and B. Smith play on offense with the same number? I thought they could share the same number as long as B.Smith played on defense only.
WDE
July 11th, 2011
3:17 pm
@Lowcountry Bulldawg point well taken. LOL