Notes: More touches ahead for Crowell, safety Williams gets look at LB
ATHENS — Freshman tailback Isaiah Crowell will get his first career start on Saturday against Coastal Carolina. Asked how many times he might like to get the ball in Crowell’s hands, Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo deadpanned, “45!”
He laughed, but Bobo was only half-kidding.
“I’d say he’s 20-25-carries-a-game guy and certain games it might be more,” Bobo said. “And then you’ve got about 15 or so for the other guy. You’d like to run it around 40 times a game, the way I see things. He might be able get 30 of them.”
The true freshman from Columbus got 18 touches in the Bulldogs’ 45-42 loss to South Carolina this past Saturday. He finished with 158 total yards – including 118 rushing – which works out to 8.8 yards per touch. He also scored two touchdowns.
Bobo feels like there’s a lot more production to be tapped. It’s a big reason the Bulldogs are giving Crowell his first career start this Saturday against Coastal Carolina.
“He’s a guy that has gotten better every week that we’ve had him on the practice field and in every opportunity he’s competed, whether it’s a scrimmage or a game,” Bobo said. “Like I said in the preseason, I think he’s going to be a very special player for us. When it happens, you don’t know. But I believe he’s going to be a special player if he continues to work and stay healthy.”
Crowell had started every game of his life since he was 6 years old before sitting behind Richard Samuel in Georgia’s first two games of the season. The 5-foot-11-215-pound athlete took Tuesday’s news in stride.
“Well, it’s not really a big deal to me,” he said of starting. “It’s just another game to go out there and help my team win.”
If Crowell is going to get more work, he’ll need to build up his stamina. Though head coach Mark Richt blamed some of it on a rib injury suffered early in the second quarter, Crowell was asking to come out of the game often against South Carolina.
“When a guy does that, you could say stay in there but you don’t know why a guy wants to come out when he’s asking to come out,” Richt said. “So he came out. I think he’ll stay in a little bit more than a couple of runs. Although there were a couple of relatively long runs, I think his endurance will build as we go, too, as he prepares and as the weather cools as the season goes on.”
Crowell said he recognizes that he needs to get into better shape and “make a better pocket” after a costly fumble against the Gamecocks. But he said he feels more confident than ever that he can make a difference for the Bulldogs.
“My performance in the game boosted my confidence, I guess,” he said. “It takes the pressure off a little bit. I feel better. My confidence is up.”
Shawn Williams works at linebacker
Safety Shawn Williams was observed working with the inside linebackers during Tuesday’s practice and could play there some on Saturday. The Bulldogs lost their starters at both inside positions – Alec Ogletree and Christian Robinson – to foot injuries the first two weeks of the season.
“We’re looking at quite a few guys in there,” defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said. “You’ve got to wait and see what happens. We’ll see, but anybody who has played the down safety can play inside.”
Williams, a 6-1, 220-pound junior from Damascus, started the first two games at strong safety. He’s third on the team with 10 tackles.
Blair Walsh: ‘That was on me’
Senior place-kicker Blair Walsh took full blame for the 33-yard field goal attempt he missed in the first half against South Carolina.
“That was my fault,” he said. “That was on me. I just came in way too close to the ball and just missed it completely. That was a one-and-only-time thing.”
The Bulldogs ended up losing by three points. But Walsh said it’s important not to dwell on that.
“Obviously it would’ve helped, but you don’t think about that,” he said. “You just move on.”
Walsh did say that, after watching game tape, he’s convinced Bacarri Rambo wasn’t offsides on the onsides kick Georgia executed late in the game.
“It didn’t look like it to me,” he said. “It was close but I think the angle the ref was at made it look worse than it was. It was too close to call, if you ask me.”
Compliance director leaving
Eric Baumgartner, Georgia’s compliance director for the past six years, is leaving to take the same post at the University of Virginia.
“He’s from Blacksburg, Va., so he gets to go back home,” said Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity, who said Baumgartner turned in his notice last weekend. “It’s an opportunity for him to go to a great institution that actually doesn’t have a compliance director right now, so he gets to build his own staff. Eric did a great job here. He came in at a really important time for our athletic association where we needed some strong enforcement.”
McGarity now has to make two compliance hires. Baumgartner’s assistant Michelle Francis recently left to join her husband at Ohio University. McGarity said he would hire a director first.
Etc. . . .
Nine true freshmen had seen action for the Bulldogs so far this season. They are: Crowell, defensive back Quintavious Harrow, linebacker Amarlo Herrera, defensive back Nick Marshall, wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell, defensive back Corey Moore, defensive back Chris Sanders, cornerback Damian Swann and linebacker Ramik Wilson. There’s a good chance that number could go up this week with outside linebacker Ray Drew, offensive tackle Watts Dantzler and center David Andrews in position to get their first playing time of the season. . . . Coastal Carolina features 19 players from the state of Georgia, including starting center Pat Williams, a 6-foot-1, 285-pound junior out of Atlanta’s Westlake High School.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
279 comments Add your comment
TampaDawg
September 14th, 2011
4:22 pm
DawginLex, great combo, can we supersize #3 and #13, and go small on the #6 please? Not for your wife, mine. Didn’t want you to get the wrong idea buddy.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
September 14th, 2011
4:22 pm
1eyedJack
I would lay off both until after the Tenn game then come back and tell me how you feel
ga gator
September 14th, 2011
4:24 pm
Richt is 0-2 against 2 top 10 teams, so let this play out. I might be wrong but Richt must come in 2nd in the East to keep his job.
TampaDawg
September 14th, 2011
4:28 pm
Pretty fair assessment their ga gator. I would even go as far as to say if he only finishes 2nd in the east, it has to be with wins over UF and GT.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
September 14th, 2011
4:32 pm
TampaDawg
Lets have some clarity about what I want
#1 How about beating FL 2 yrs in a row or every other year
#2 How about an SEC EAST Championship every 2 or 3 years
#3 How about beating top 10 teams again even if you go 8-4
#4 How about an SEC championship once every 4 or 5 yrs
#5 How about UGA fans shut their mouths during the pre-season talking trash about this is the year
#6 How about having an upset like Dooley used to do instead of losing to teams that are ranked higher than UGA
I really am not asking too much from a staff that is paid $5 million a year
Oh and notice I said nothing about a NC even though that would be nice
New kid on the blog (pun intended)
September 14th, 2011
4:58 pm
I agree with Tampa Dog – CMR is toast if we lose to the bumblebees this year – even if we win the rest of our games ( which is highly unlikely).
tony
September 14th, 2011
5:04 pm
Who want less than a national championship? I certainly don’t! Wake up deep south, the north is way ahead of you.
Anon
September 14th, 2011
5:05 pm
So by the article, they are playing South Carolina again Saturday. Maybe they’ll get it right this time.
TampaDawg
September 14th, 2011
5:07 pm
Ok Flat Tire, this is stuff we can work with.
1. Agreed, I love to beat Florida and would like to go back to the Dooley years when it was like playing GT, you assumed the win and every loss was considered an upset.
2. He has won the East outright twice and tied for it 2 other years.
3. 2006 and 2007 were great years for this example. 2007 they finished the year with 7 straight wins including 4 ranked teams, one being a Tim Tebow led UF team. 2006 they finished the season 9-4 but that included three wins at the end of the season all against ranked teams, one was AT #5 Auburn. 2005 included wins over #3 LSU, #7 UT, and #24 GT.
4. 2 SEC Titles, yes, I agree, we are due for another one already according to your every 4-5 years, but it’s not like it has never happened under this group.
5. Never going to happen here or at any other school. I mean try to tell OSU fans that losing their head coach and several players as a result of NCAA scandal will cause their season to be abysmal and you will get hit with a barrage of unrealistic stuff.
6. I too would like to see them upset a few teams again. Some of the previously mentioned wins were upsets but I would like to see it this year since several of the game on this years schedule will see us as the underdog.
Yes, a NC would be nice and no, you didn’t mention it here but in previous posts, you made it seem as NOTHING else mattered.
“Again AL 2 National Champions UGA 0 in that time span”
“After Stallings couldnt find a coach until they got Saban and won a NC”
I would LOVE to get even back to the NC hunt. But other teams won’t just roll over and die for us so it will be a battle. Again, like I have said before, firing CMR mid-season is NOT the answer. So let’s just let it play out and get past the look for a new coach until we see how everything ends. By that time, if a move is warranted, you can bet that McGarity has already been shopping around.
TampaDawg
September 14th, 2011
5:09 pm
tony
September 14th, 2011
5:04 pm
Who want less than a national championship? I certainly don’t! Wake up deep south, the north is way ahead of you.
——-
Who is the north way ahead of? The NORTH hasn’t done squat in years in the NC race but lose. Even when OSU won a title it was marred by a horrific call at the end of the game.
TampaDawg
September 14th, 2011
5:10 pm
Anon
September 14th, 2011
5:05 pm
So by the article, they are playing South Carolina again Saturday. Maybe they’ll get it right this time.
—–
Not sure how you came to that conclusion
TampaDawg
September 14th, 2011
5:15 pm
Flat Tire, I think we all (you , I, KB, DawginLex and many others) really do want the same thing. We want the Dawgs to destroy teams on a schedule on the way to a 13-0 NC season. It’s all good, we obviously just disagree with the course to go from where we are to get to there. No hard feelings
Tool Patrol
September 14th, 2011
5:16 pm
Last week DawginLex was thru with Richt and company now his tune changes to a degree. Thus the reason why you do not listen to a tool like him. Know it all without a clue. Welcome to the world of AJC blogs.
Tool Patrol
September 14th, 2011
5:17 pm
LET THE SEASON PLAY OUT SUPPORT THE TEAM!!!! Thus saving yourself some crow and looking like a TOOL!!!!!
BigTimeUGAFan
September 14th, 2011
5:26 pm
Hey folks, kinda upset today. Had to clean out the deep fryer because I got caught frying some catfish in it. They were good catfish, I caught them a couple a days ago. Found out one of our own got arrested for beating up a women. This does not help our situation folks. Can’t the dawgs just stick to beating up regular students at UGA. Anyway, got to run. Gonna go pick up some extra cash cleaning out my step father’s cesspool. Go Dawgs!
RatDawg
September 14th, 2011
5:40 pm
What a crock. Bobo and Richt are a joke. Always a day late and a dollar short. We drove into Carolina territory 3 times early in the game. Twice we failed to gain a first down on 3rd and 2 and 3rd and 3 because those crackpots called a pass play. We came away with 6 points. Field Goals are for Losers. I will always go back to Tubberville’s advise to Richt in Richt’s 1st year…”Richt will learn you have to be able to run the ball in this league”. He has not learned it yet and IMHO deserves to lose his job. Good luck Bobo running the Thomas County High offense next year!!!
BigTimeUGAFan
September 14th, 2011
5:54 pm
Tool Patrol,we’ve already eaten the crow! I hope you weren’t planning on me keeping it! I only got a 10 gallon cooler. It’s an Igloo though! Why were you cussing LexDawg? He seems to be the most reasonable blogger on here! Boy, you are really something else! Your mommas would be proud! Go Dawgs!
tony
September 14th, 2011
5:56 pm
TampaDawg
September 14th, 2011
5:09 pm
__________________________________________________
Let me rephrase my last post. “Wake up GA, the north is way ahead of you”! Fans of the braves, falcons, hawks and the BULLDOGS settle for winning records ONLY! As long as those organizations know this they will continue to serve you less than what you deserve.
Now that Mr.Richt has decided to ride his horse(Crowell) I expected the dawgs to win out.
Dirty Dawg
September 14th, 2011
6:03 pm
Hey slydog…how can I compare Mettenberger and Newton? Easy. Both broke the law. You say Cam only engaged in some ’student’ pranks, or mistakes, or whatever…frankly getting caught cheating on academic assignments (several times), stealing a laptop (the same thing that got that QB from Oregon kicked out – then Ole Miss signed him) and an array – I’m talking dozens – of un-paid and un-resolved (unless having ‘em ‘fixed’ counts) traffic-related violations in the year or two he was in Gainesville…if that’s just student-stuff then Dean William Tate tossed a bunch of guys unnecessarily. As for his having been ‘clean’ for the last year or two, we’ll see. The truth will out on his signing at AU one day and Jerry Richardson will have to decide if he wants the next Reggie Bush representing his program – I don’t care how many 400-yard games he has, Richardson’s a hard-nosed guy and I suspect he never would have drafted Newton without getting a promise from him that neither he, his Daddy, or his Uncle, or his Momma, or anybody he knows took money to play at Auburn. If he’s lied to Jerry his a$$ won’t be able to get outta Charlotte fast enough.
Tool Patrol
September 14th, 2011
6:14 pm
My momma would be proud? Is that a insult? Actually she is, apparently you must not be able to say the same about yourself if that was your go to line. Something must resonate personally with that insult.
No you two bit UGA fans who last week where fire every thing but the kitchen sink and then wanna double talk after the heart they displayed are pathetic. If this isn’t you then go ignore yourself in your momma’s basement. If it is well then go suck your thumb in your mothers basement. Tool Patrol Out…keeping all tools in check.
Tool Patrol
September 14th, 2011
6:20 pm
Richt should leave! These fans deserve another Ray Goff. This fanbase is worthless. Rocky Top will rain down on Richt and Co and the fanbase deserves to here it played about 100 times. Rodgers scored 3 touchdowns and Dawg nation goes into cardiac arrest….TOOL PATROL OUT….
angry mangy mutt
September 14th, 2011
6:25 pm
Why do so many people feel as if they need to prove they are a fan and that all that disagree with them are not? This seems to describe those fans supporting CMR. Go to Philly, NYC, or just hop across the state line over into Alabama and they likely would be understanding of the sourness of UGA fans. One of my good friends who is from Jersey is as loyal of a fan as one can be. He even adopted the Dawgs as his college team after the military moved him down south (before it is said or asked college ball is not too big up East). The main reason was UGA fans were like those he grew up with. We understood misery and absolute hate wallowing in it. We have the all or nothing approach to our fanaticism.
BigTimeUGAFan
September 14th, 2011
7:59 pm
Tool Patrol I’d have you know that I don’t even know my real dad! Plus, my mommas won’t let me visit anymore. My great mother in law helps me out when times are rough! If you’re that upset about the crow then I will go out and start shotin’ them down in the woods. I think there’s a place close to the main road where I’ll get plenty of them! I’ll get you some! They’ll be fresh! Just let me know when you need them and where to meet! You need to let me know when you need stuff! Go Dawgs!
UGA grad 90
September 14th, 2011
10:45 pm
Going Down With The Ship
To take your chance in the thick of a rush, with firing all about,
Is nothing so bad when you’ve cover to ‘and, an’ leave an’ likin’ to shout;
But to stand an’ be still to the Birken’ead drill
is a damn tough bullet to chew,
An’ they done it, the Jollies — ‘Er Majesty’s Jollies —
Mark Richt and his Loyalists too!
Their work was done when it ‘adn’t begun; they was younger nor me an’ you;
Their choice it was plain between drownin’ in ‘eaps
an’ bein’ mopped by the screw,
So they stood an’ was still to the Birken’ead drill, Mark Richt and his Loyalists too!
Question
September 14th, 2011
10:56 pm
If UGA goes 9-3 this year, what will that prove? I mean, I know 9 wins is ok, but it will basically mean that UGA lost the 3 games that really matter.
If UGA fans become ok with losing every game that the Vegas folks say they should, then get ready to finish 8-4 or 9-3 every year.
suwanee dawg
September 14th, 2011
10:58 pm
Richt should practice the #1 O versus the #1 D more. Too scared of injuries but that impacts the team. Note – Boise game.
doctor
September 15th, 2011
4:30 am
I will believe it all when I see it. Otherwise I will expect——-Georgia to throw the ball way too much in a game. Fumbles, miscues, missed field goals, etc. The three ringed circus approach to football instead of the Lombardi approach.
'94 UGA Alumni
September 15th, 2011
9:32 am
It’s about friggin time. It’s been obvious Crowell is our best RB since Day 1 and there’s no excuse for him not starting or getting more touches. Samuel needs to move back to LB and Boykin/Smith/Thomas can spilt the other 10 or so carries to give Crowell a breather when needed.
RedandBlackDAWG
September 15th, 2011
10:43 am
I think the starting of Crowell was handled very well. They let him ease into the college game, by limiting his carries in game one and gr4adually letting him loose in game 2. Sure it would be nice if he had the impact Lattimore had for Sc last year, but by the end of the year, who was hurtng and had limited playing time for them. Did SC look like a SEC division winner last year at the end? The answer is no. Lattimore started out being their only reliaible weapon and Garcia only looked half servicable because Lattimore gathered most of the attention of the opposing teams defense. As anyone could see, based on Saturdays game, you pressure Garcia and he gets happy feet and an arm, most coaches would disdain. Considering SC’s options at QB, it is sad but he is their only choice. And yes, SC did beat UGA but we have to be a little realistic here. SC’s defense forced UGA into some mistakes and beat them. The offense amounted to 17 points and even though Lattimore got his yards in, he did most of his damage later in the game when the defense wore down. We can not afford to have Crowell have that happen to him. He is going to be a terrific RB and he has shown he has all the tools to be a great one. Let’s not get him beat to death though, and let him become a great one at a proper pace.
GO DAWGS and GATA