Richt: O-line recruiting not an issue, happy with ‘guys we got’

Juggling a bunch of things at the moment so haven’t had much time to craft a comprehensive report for you. But in the meantime here’s is a raw transcription (please forgive typos) of some of the main points Mark Richt and his assistants made while briefing UGA fans in Heritage Hall a little while ago. About to have a session with richt and recruiting coordinator Rodney Garner so I’ll have more information coming soon. . . .

Richt on how many Georgia might sign . . .

“I don’t know for certain because the day’s not over yet. I know I’, thrilled about the ones we’ve already signed on the dotted line. The biggest issue we thought we had was at the tackle position and I feel like we did a tremendous job there.”

Offensive line coach Will Friend on his newbies . . .

“We’re real excited about the guys we’ve got signed. Mark Beard is already on campus and we’re real excited about him. We thought we did a good job with guys that are athletic who will start out at tackle but could be guards.

“John Theus, we’re excited about what he brings to us. He has athletic ability, he’s smart, tough, all those things. And Greg Pyke also.”

Friend on how many O-line offers that still have out there . .

“We have a few out. Not that many.”

Richt on recruiting rankings . . .

“I think recruiting rankings are way overrated. The bottom line with some of these services is it’s a points system and you’ve got to maybe 27 guys to have enough points to get ranked high. Some other services will look at it objectively by each individual and understand sometimes you can sign 18 and sometimes than you can sign 25. . . . I don’t get too caught up in that.

“The reason I’m telling you is we’ve got some really quality football players that are goijg to help us win. We’ve got some guys I thknk that are going to be able to make an impact right away. That’s the best news.”

Running backs Bryan McClendon on Keith Marshall and Todd Gurley:

“Keith is a great player. Not only him but Todd, too. We’re very pleased with them. Not only are they great players but they’re great people. They’ll come in and be great teammates and be instantly great people in the community. They’ll also bring depth and competition to the position and I think we need both of those.

“Keith has been working very hard and already picked up a bunch of weight. So we’re exited about seeing what he can do this spring.”

McClendon on fullback Quayvon Hicks of Pierce County . . .

“Quayvon is definitely a guy we need. A fullback is so important to do what we do on offense. He’s a guy that can go out there and get it done, to be honest with you. It’s not a very presrtigious position, but it’s very important nonetheless. We definitely think, after having him in camp and seeing him on film, that he’s everything plus more of what we were looking for at that position. With Bruce Figgins leaving and what we’ve had at that position in the past, with Brannan Southerland and Shaun Chapas and J.T. Wall, I dedfinitely think he can come in and be one of those type of players for us.”

Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham (met with big ovation) on signing so many DE/OLB types . . .

“Defensively it’s about making plays. When you look at players, you can play players at multiple positions. The thing that we’re looking at is always signing the best athletes, and then we’re going to put them in the spots that best fit them as well as us. So we’re just going to recruit guys that can make plays. That’s the way we’ve done it the last two years and we’ll continue to do it that way.”

Richt on depth problems on offensive line . . .

“Let me tell you something, offensive line is a huge priority. But the thing is, if you’re going to try to sign the best you’ve got to recruit the best. There are times when you hit it on the head and there’s times when you don’t win the battle. We’re going against a lot of great programs. But I guarantee you, the guys that we’ve got are highly sought-after and guys we think can really help us.

“You can sign a bunch of linemen just to say you signed a bunch of linemen. But when we bring somebody in we believe he can compete and play.

“We’ve had some issues over the year unfortunately that were highly rated that had some injury issues. For whatever reason it happened and you can’t control it.”

Richt on redshirted offensive linemen . . .

“Zach DeBell and Xzavier Ward got redshiorted last year. Those are potential tackles for us.

“Xzavier Ward, people tend to forget about guys like that. Ward has probably put on 40 pounds and he’s been getting healthy. He looks good, big, tall, kid who’s very athletic. . . . Before you know it he’ll be competing for us.”