UGA football updates on Mitchell, Samuel, Lynch, Murray, Rambo
ATHENS – As promised, here’s a little bit from each of the football players who were available for interviews today at UGA’s Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall.
WR MALCOLM MITCHELL:
The rising sophomore, who wowed the SEC with his big-play ability as a pass-catcher last season, not only hopes to play some defensive back next season, but said he has also raised his hand as a possible kick returner this year.
Mitchell’s not sure how much of any of it Georgia’s coaches will allow him to do. But he’s already working some with the cornerbacks during weekly voluntary workouts on the field.
“I don’t know how seriously Coach Richt is truly looking at it,” he said. “There’s probably a lot he’s still got to think about. I’ll know once spring starts.”
Mitchell said he has met with defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and secondary coach Scott Lakatos to discuss the possibilities. All parties have agreed to give him a look at cornerback during spring practice, which begins March 20. But as for the logistics, such as how much he might play on defense or offense next fall and in what situations, he has no idea how that will work.
“I honestly have no idea how it’s going to work,” Mitchell said. “I don’t even try to think about it because that’s something the coaches are going to have to figure out. Whatever they come out with, that’s what I’m going to do.”
In the meantime, Mitchell made it clear he sees himself as a receiver first.
“None of my offensive goals are going to be slowed down by a couple of reps or a lot of reps on defense,” he said. “I still have a job as a receiver; I want a job as a DB, too.”
TB RICHARD SAMUEL
Speaking of possible position changes, tailback Richard Samuel said he’s not expecting one.
The rising fifth-year senior came to the rescue at running back from linebacker before last season. Now, through recruiting and continued development, the Bulldogs suddenly have tailbacks for next season. Highly-touted freshmen Keith Marshall and T.J. Gurley join a group that includes five players with starting experience — Samuel, Isaiah Crowell, Ken Malcome, Carlton Thomas and Brandon Harton.
Since the Bulldogs return only Zander Ogletree at fullback next season — they also add freshman signee Quayvon Hicks — it has been assumed the 6-foot-2, 235-pound Samuel may get some work there. That’s news to him.
“There’s not going to be a switch or anything,” said Samuel, who then added, he “wouldn’t mind” if it did.
“I’m not too worried about staying at one position” he said. “Knowing we have a solid rotation of backs, I’ll play wherever I can get on the field.”
Samuel also said there has been no discussion of a return to inside linebacker, where he spent a redshirt season two years ago. He does, however, hope to get work this season on special teams.
“I tried to get on special teams last year but the coaches wouldn’t let me because we had short numbers on backs,” he said. “But I’m real interested in playing special teams. Freshman and sophomore years I played special teams all the time. I really like it.”
TE ARTHUR LYNCH
To this point, Arthur Lynch has been known mainly as a big, strong tight end who can block with the best of them. But with the graduation of Aron White and Orson Charles’ decision to enter the NFL draft a year early, the Dartmouth, Mass., native finds himself atop the depth chart and ready to prove himself worthy of the all-star legacy Georgia has had at tight end.
“If anything it’s added more pressure on me more than it’s been a sigh of relief,” Lynch said. “It just adds more pressure to become the upperclassman leader. The truth is, it comes down to the fact that I’m the only one who has game experience out of the three tight ends we’ll have on scholarship this fall.”
Lynch will be joined this summer by Jay Rome, who’s currently playing basketball during his redshirt freshman year, and signee Ty Smith of Colquitt County. One or all of them will have to step up to fill the pass-catching shoes of Charles, who caught 45 passes for nearly 600 yards last season.
“I always have things to prove,” said Lynch, who said he is down to 257 pounds from more than 270 early last season. “I’ve talked to Orson and Aron and they seem to have the confidence in me to continue the success we’ve had at the tight end position. I feel like it’s an opportunity for me to make a statement that I’m more than a guy that can block. Obviously that’s my forte and gotten me to where I am today. But I’ve trimmed down a lot the last six or eight months, trying to get a little slimmer, a little faster.”
QB AARON MURRAY
Aaron Murray is back for his third season as the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback. And the redshirt junior said one of the best things about this season is not having to listen to all the “hot seat” talk regarding Georgia’s head coach.
“It’s one less thing to worry about,” said Murray, who met with reporters for a half-hour Thursday afternoon. “Last year, all the talk was, ‘ifyou don’t get to the SEC championship game, you don’t win 10 games, blah, blah, blah, Coach Richt’s gonna be fired.’ I know we don’t talk about it too much. Everybody on the team felt like, ‘hey, we don’t want Coach Richt to leave; we love Coach Richt; we love the rest of the coaches.
“It was stressful, I think not only for us but the coaches. So I think this year everybody’s a little bit more relaxed and feel like, ‘let’s just go out there and play.’ I don’t think anyone’s on the hot seat or worrying about that.”
Murray passed for nearly 3,200 yards with 35 TDs and 14 interceptions last season. But he was at the center of some catostrophic turnovers in losses to South Carolina, LSU and Michigan State.
Murray said he’s working hard to “improve on my footwork,” which he believes will improve his accuracy. “I wasn’t as assurate as I need to be.”
Even if Hutson Mason ends up redshirting as planned — a determination that won’t be made until sometime into the season — Murray is confident the Bulldogs will be fine at his position even if he were to go down with injury. Georgia will be looking to redshirt freshman Christian LeMay as primary backup. It also brought in signee Faton Bauta as an early enrollee and returns veteran walkons Parker Welch and Greg Bingham.
“We have plenty of guys,” he said.
FS BACARRI RAMBO
Bacarri Rambo thought long and hard about entering the draft after last year’s All-American season, in which he led the SEC with 8 interceptions. But he said he came back because, as a unit, Georgia’s defense believes it will be one of the best in the nation next season and can lead the Bulldogs to great things.
The Bulldogs return 10 starters on defense, counting defensive end Garrison Smith, who started the last three games for the injured DeAngelo Tyson. As a result, Rambo believes Georgia will be one of the most sophisticated defenses around.
“We can get deeper in the playbook because we’ve all got another year under our belts under Coach Grantham’s scheme,” he said. “I know he’s going to have fun with us now because we all know what we’re doing.”
Of course, Georgia was already going to have to replace Paul Hornung Award winner Brandon Boykin at one cornerback and now senior starter Sanders Commings is going to be suspended the first two games at the other corner position. Then DBs Nick Marshall and Chris Sanders were dismissed for team rules violations in January.
“We lost some great young players that had a lot of talent,” Rambo said. “But we have a lot of other good players, too, and we’re all just going to have to step up. The older guys have got to keep working with the younger guys and make sure they know how they’ve got to act and how they’ve got to play.”
Of course, Rambo was suspended for Georgia’s opening game last season before going on to an all-star year. He said he reminded Commings of that after a domestic violence arrest led to his punishment.
“He’s just got to live through it,” Rambo said. “I told him, ‘that’s a minor setback for a major comeback.’ I’ve been telling him to not let that get him down, to keep working hard and focusing on what’s ahead of him.”
Meanwhile, Rambo expects Branden Smith and Damian Swann to man the corners in Georgia’s base defense. And he believes that Mitchell guy can help, too.
“He looks real impressive as a corner,” Boykin said of the star wide receiver. “I feel like he’ll understand more about receivers than we do and that’ll probably help him.”
That’s all for now. More later. . . .
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112 comments Add your comment
Time
March 2nd, 2012
12:01 am
Bama trolls everywhere. Tech trolls everywhere. The obsession you folks have with UGA is unhealthy. Really, seek help.
Biggest news here is Mitchell wants to play corner. I’d prefer him to just concentrate on being the biggest beast of a WR in all of college football. Which he has the potential to be. Maybe bring him in as a dime corner in prevent or something.
dawgforlife
March 2nd, 2012
12:04 am
leave it to a Tech fan to know what our womens volleyball team does…what can you say they can’t help it?…Buzz, tech has as much chance of beating UGA this year as I do winning the Boston Marathon and I’m not even running it…lol…10 of 11 baby…deal with it…
Thomas Brown
March 2nd, 2012
2:57 am
Aaron Murray said he’s working hard to “improve on my footwork,” which he believes will improve his accuracy. “I wasn’t as assurate as I need to be.”
___________________________________________________________
# 72 QB nationally Pass Completion Percentage
http://espn.go.com/college-football/statistics/player/_/stat/passing/sort/completionPct/count/41
Boise State : 7 carries minus 33 yards, 1 interception, 16 of 29 passing 2 TD, 6 Sacks
South Carolina : 6 carries 11 yards, 2 Fumbles, 1 interception, 19 of 29 passing 4 TD, 2 Sacks
LSU : 8 carries minus 5 yards, 1 Fumble, 2 interceptions, 16 of 40 passing 1 TD, 4 Sacks
Michigan State : 8 carries minus 13 yards, 1 Fumble, 2 interceptions, 20 of 32 passing 2 TD, 4 Sacks
Totals in 4 Losses : 29 carries minus 40 yards, 4 Fumbles, 6 interceptions, 71 of 130 Passing 9 TD, 16 Sacks
Stinger2
March 2nd, 2012
4:37 am
UGA fans continue to gloat over their dominace of GT in football. Then a few say they want to continue the series so that they are assured of a win. o.k. with me as a GT fan. The good news for us is there will be another win at some point. Since its now 10 of 11 for UGA its got to be soner than later. Until when it happens, relax GT fans, the sun will continue to rise in the east.
Thomas Brown
March 2nd, 2012
4:51 am
Obsessed with nothing but beating us, even if it is 1 out of 11 games you’ve won against our current coach, that’s fine with Georgia tek fans (both of you.)
G-Dawg
March 2nd, 2012
7:03 am
Samuels to fullback? you gotta be kidding me. A DGD…but not the place to utilize his talents…prefer moving him back to LB. Hope someone scoops him up in the 2013 draft. Lots of heart, determination, and talent.
Friday morning buffet | Get The Picture
March 2nd, 2012
7:22 am
[...] here’s a roundup of quotes from several Dawgs who were at yesterday’s talk to the [...]
G. Tanner
March 2nd, 2012
7:31 am
Richard Samuel is unselfish and a leader. He was the spark in the win over the Gators. Wherever and whenever you can get him on the field, do it.
G. Tanner
March 2nd, 2012
7:34 am
Thomas Brown, the troll, not the real one, is right. UGA would have won 12 games if not for Aaron Murray turnover meltdowns. I hope Murray can correct that. And that Thomas Brown, the troll, not the real one will go play in traffic.
Ore-Ida
March 2nd, 2012
7:36 am
Pants full o’ ‘browns!
Pants full o’ ‘browns!
Headed to da’ pokey
Wid’ yo’ pants full o’ ‘browns!
Bulldawgman46
March 2nd, 2012
7:51 am
Just call Samuel Hybrid fullback , You got a RB and FB in one use each talent where needed to mix things up .
Thomas Brown
March 2nd, 2012
7:59 am
We recruited our 1st actual real fullback in the last 6 recruiting classes just last month, one of 200 available fullbacks each of the last 6 recruiting classes. The very last move needed to be made now is to 1-move Richard Samuel IV yet again, 2-not play our true fullback, 3-try to find some position where Richard Samuel IV can get on the field such as back to linebacker for his now senior year this up-coming season. He will get plenty of carries at Tailback this season.
If the coaching staff cannot figure out what position the player is supposed to be at by the time his senior season is upon him here, then don’t come running in here whining to me that they are a criticized coaching staff who are, have been, will be, continue to be, doing a great job of coaching these highly rated recruits they sign every year.
Taylor Wooten
March 2nd, 2012
8:03 am
If UGA was smart, they would be looking for any and all ways to get the ball in the hands of Malcolm Mitchell. He is a game breaker, game changer.
ole yeller
March 2nd, 2012
8:06 am
King Richard should be healthy for 2012. Coach “R” want move King Richard no time soon because he has too many ??????? at “RB”. Remember what King Richard did to Flordia in the fourth Qt. last season in J’ville. He is big, strong and a good “RB”. He is also a team player and if these young pups can produce King Richard will go where needed.
Albert
March 2nd, 2012
8:07 am
It takes an idiot to come on here and talk trash when their team has won only one game in eleven against UGA.
ugab
March 2nd, 2012
8:08 am
Murray better hold his own next season..MR is still on the Hot Seat. There are plenty of fans that know the last 5 yrs have been a embarrassment for Ga football.. Last season came with a easy schedule. I believe the ranked teams beat MR..EX Boised,SC, MS, and LSU… ???? The bottom line is MR has plenty of RBs with no OL to block. I still can’t stand it when MR pulls a hot RB out of the game..WTH…Boykin is going to be hard to replace with his size and talent…The defense will have a weakness. I seen plenty of room for improvement on the defense last season. If the players and coaches are content that they will just be good for returning 10 players, then the players and coaches have a ruid awakening… The offseason will prove if a team is going to be good or not..The way it sounds MR is staying at home these days.. The players are not going to work hard and strive for perfection without coaches on them all the time..
zbulldawg
March 2nd, 2012
8:09 am
It’s so nice to have depht ! Samuel will play in NFL. Learning different positions will increase his chances.This defense WILL compare to the top defenses in college football history. Use TE’s more? 60 plus catches is pretty strong ! And that’s counting the drops. Maybe you need to use your eyes more & your mouth less.Go Dawgs
ugab
March 2nd, 2012
8:13 am
We will see how good of shape the players are in this month.. It just sounds like the defense thinks they everything is going to be given to them..LOL It does not matter how many players are returning.
"poor Richard, i hope he gets an offer from an NFL team"
March 2nd, 2012
8:14 am
“the kid is such a team player, and truely skilled just hasn’t had enough time at any one position…”
That is because HE CANNOT PLAY…
"We will see how good of shape the players are in this month.. "
March 2nd, 2012
8:16 am
…Who cares about this month – the only time “being in shape counts” is during the friggin’ season…
"Murray better hold his own next season.."
March 2nd, 2012
8:17 am
…Well, nobody else is going to hold “it” for him…
ugab
March 2nd, 2012
8:19 am
Samuel might need to go to fullback. I do not like trying to play 5 or more back in one game..Play the best back , who can run, block, and catch. Redshirt the other RBs to get playing time and an extra season to play.. IC is the best back for running the ball..IC needs to work on protecting Murray this off season. We will see alot of Max protect with an weak OL.. The back who can block and pick up the SEC blitzes needs to play. I do not see any rb better than IC.. Get IC some blocking and he will take it to the house. The Running game was not existant the last 4 games. SCARY
Wow, Dagny...
March 2nd, 2012
8:19 am
…you obviously have no clue as to anything in life, so you may go back to bed now…
ole yeller
March 2nd, 2012
8:19 am
i don’t understand about the “OL” being thin. Have you checked out the depth chart. The cubbard isn’t bare from where i see it. There are over (12) “OL” players competing for playing time. They maybe Game green but far from coached green. Remember they practice against the number 4 team in the nation in total “D”. Doesn’t that count for something.
ugab
March 2nd, 2012
8:25 am
Who was that player MR switched around to TE, FB, and DE.. MR knows how to waste a players career… IT DOES MATTER WHAT THE PLAYERS ARE DOING ON THE OFF SEASON. THAT IS THE TIME TO IMPROVE AND STAY IN SHAPE.. DOES ANYONE HERE THINK SABAN’S TEAM IS TAKING A FREAKN BREAK.. THIS IS WHY MR ALWAYS LOSES HIS FIRST 2 OR 3 GAMES.. THING ABOUT IT. THEY ARE NEVER PREPARED.. 1 OK, WEAK SCHEDULE SEASON AND EVERYONE THINKS MR IS THE MAN. WE WATCHED MR HAVE SOME TERRIBLE SEASON THE LAST 6 YRS.. HE SHOULD OF BEEN FIRED. MR WON WITH ANOTHER COACHES PLAYERS AND THAT IS IT
uncle kirk
March 2nd, 2012
9:09 am
Well ugab, doesn’t it say something for Richt to win with someone else’s players when they couldn’t win with them. You are so dumb you give compliments when trying to insult…
John
March 2nd, 2012
9:28 am
Also left out Boise transfer Michael Tamburo in the depth at quarterback. He sat out last year due to transfer rule and is a similar build and mobility to Murray’s. Preferred walk-on for UGA, but was on scholarship at Boise St.
dawgfan
March 2nd, 2012
9:31 am
ole yeller, we’ve got the numbers but apparently these guys aren’t being coached up to be SEC championship caliber O-linemen. You must not have watched our bowl game. Michigan State was all up in our backfield on every single running play. It was humiliating for our O-line, and those guys had a lot of experience. We just aren’t tough up front on offense in the running game. I attribute it to poor coaching and poor offensive philosopy by our offensive coordinator. Mike Bobo has no interest in a physical running game. I am convinced of it.
Thanks.
John
March 2nd, 2012
9:31 am
Did you see Mitchell in high school? He was a monster on defense! I am ecstatic about him getting reps at corner – the number 1 rated corner in America per Rivals last year. There was a time when it went without question you played both ways if you had the talent.
Go Dawgs!!
John
March 2nd, 2012
9:41 am
dawgfan, Glenn and Anderson were forced to play tackle and we had to go with tighter splits due to this fact. MSU was the one team able to capitalize on this, but we still should have handily won this game with Boykin’s incredible performance. Next year will see true tackles at the positions: Theus, Beard, Long, Ward and Gates (whose frame is much better suited than Glenn and Anderson). Glenn and Anderson will be excellent NFL guards and were awesome Dawgs to boot. We had a luxury of talented guards and took advantage of it. It cost us when we finally faced LSU and MSU. Our OT recruiting has been much better the past three years with the exception of Benedict leaving us.
dawgfan
March 2nd, 2012
9:52 am
I hope you’re right. You seem to know more than I do. I just know what I see on the field and it hasn’t been pretty. It also seems like we always have the kind of personnel problems that you speak of. We’re always mixing and matching. We’ve got tackles at guard and guards at tackle. I think there was even one instance where we were thin at center and some guy was getting reps who had never even played center before. WTH? I don’t have any specifics to back that up. Just going on memory. Anyway, we’ve got wide recievers and running backs coming out of our ears. I just don’t get excited about some 5 star whiz kid at wide reciever or running back anymore. We need a bunch of 5 star whiz kids on the O-line if we’re going to get where we want to be.
Thanks for reading.
Wow, ugab...
March 2nd, 2012
10:00 am
…you really are dumb (sometimes) – I will give you “IT DOES MATTER WHAT THE PLAYERS ARE DOING ON THE OFF SEASON. THAT IS THE TIME TO IMPROVE AND STAY IN SHAPE.. DOES ANYONE HERE THINK SABAN’S TEAM IS TAKING A FREAKN BREAK” –
However, there are 31/2 COMPLETE months between the end of spring practice and the start of the pre-season in August. THAT is the time that the players need to get in, and stay in, shape for the season. The winter conditioning drills and spring practive are for seeing who is dedicated to “getting better” (the winter drills), and then learning on the field during pring practice. Hence, “getting in shape” for the winter and spring amount to ZERO, as far as the season is concerned…
And, Saban has position coaches who coach their players “UP”, unlike UGA who seemingly just coaches their players in order to take home their $100K + paychecks while turning out mediocre players who get tired in the second half of games (see the LSU, MSU, Boise and SC games)…
PreyDawg
March 2nd, 2012
10:17 am
Samuel is the most underatted player on this team. His extremely physical runs in the second half against Florida not only won that game, but set a tone of the Auburn game as well. Samuel personifies ‘team”. When we needed him at Linebacker he went there, When we needed him to move back to Running back he moved there again.
I hate so much that he busted his ankle against Florida. If he had been able to run like he did against Florida in the early 3rd quarter against LSU…we win the SEC championship. Yes. I said it. Instead of Thomas (who is a good back in his own way. I am not knocking him) getting brought down by one big paw of the D lineman and giving us a 3rd and long. Samuel would have busted through. Then there was 15 yards of open green. That would have set a completely different tone for the second half. Seeing Samuel rock the honey badger would have got the team back like they were in the 1st quarter.
Samuel is a DGDawg!!!!
Alphare
March 2nd, 2012
10:31 am
Chip,
you should have titled like “On paper, UGA is invincible”
Ga.Tech #1
March 2nd, 2012
10:43 am
Hey dog fans. That was quite a whomping your “basketball team” took from Ky. last night.
Gator
March 2nd, 2012
10:47 am
Thomas, you do realize the stats you post sacks are counted as rushes and rushing yards for Murray.
Again your stats only emphasizing the negative, why do not post the passing yardage?For instance against south carolina he actually ran the ball 4 times for 26 yards, just one example of your skewed stats.Using South carolina as an example again he threw for 4 TD’s on a defense that only allowed 18 passing tds all year and were 2nd in nation vs the pass the whole picture thomas never paints it.
Ghost
March 2nd, 2012
11:05 am
@Ga Tech #1, Are you seriously coming on here to talk about our unranked BB team losing to the #1 team in nation? How the BB season going for tech? LOL Boston college picked up its 2nd win in 12 games vs Tech . What a DA.
Thomas Brown
March 2nd, 2012
11:31 am
19 Losses his 5 years at UGA for Jim Donnan
21 Losses his last 5 years at UGA Mark Richt
Gator
March 2nd, 2012
12:11 pm
Mark Richt 4 eastern division titles Jim Donnan 0, Mark Richt 6 top 10 finishes Jim Donnan 1.
Mark Richt 2 SEC titles Donnan 0 , Mark Richt 3 BCS bowls Jim Donnan 0. Mark Richt winning record vs every SEC team except UF and 3-4 vs LSU. Donnan had losing record vs FL, Aub, Tech and Tennessee. Last 5 years Richt is 2-3 vs Florida, Donnan 1-4. As usual like his stats Thomas never paints the whole picture . Kind of like Murray rushing stats.
Jeff
March 2nd, 2012
12:13 pm
Murray said he’s working hard to “improve on my footwork,” which he believes will improve his accuracy. “I wasn’t as assurate as I need to be.”
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME- WHEN IS THIS GUY GOING TO STEP UP AND QUIT MAKING MISTAKES THAT COST US BALLGAMES…..OR BETTER YET, WHEN IS THIS COACHING STAFF GOING TO HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE……KEEP IT UP MURRAY AND THE HOT SEAT TALK WILL RETURN- NOTHING IS IN STONE-
Kyle
March 2nd, 2012
12:14 pm
Hey Murray- did the footwork cause the fumbles???????????????????????????
Kyle
March 2nd, 2012
12:16 pm
Murray is confident the Bulldogs will be fine at his position even if he were to go down with injury.
hmmmm….he is right, it cant get any worse than a pick 6 we get with murray
Gator
March 2nd, 2012
12:25 pm
Kyle , How many wins without Murray? He has much room for improvement but is top 2 qb in the league. Not every interception is the Qbs fault , just like every sack not the fault of the line.
A person SMART enough to know......
March 2nd, 2012
12:32 pm
Gator keep thinking 35:55minuter MURRAY is the one of the top 2 QBs in the SEC. he has had the benefit of a bad schedule one year and being a freshmen the other but his good stats are against just bad teams.
uncle kirk
March 2nd, 2012
12:44 pm
Yeah but, a person smart enough to know….he was 4-7 his last year with the players Richt won with so it sounds like Richt could win with Donnan’s players…and Donnan couldn’t. Maybe Donnan got most of his wins with Goff”s players. HMMMMMM
Bama-Home of the T-bag special
March 2nd, 2012
12:45 pm
@Gator word to the wise you can’t have a logical discussion about Murray with any member of troll nation..sorry that is just the way it is.
Gator
March 2nd, 2012
1:00 pm
Smart. I didn’t realize that the qb is solely responsible for wins and losses.
Bama-Home of the T-bag special
March 2nd, 2012
1:09 pm
@Gator see what I mean??
A person SMART enough to know......
March 2nd, 2012
1:29 pm
Bama-Home of the T-bag special and that comes with an order of Monistat 7 Hash Browns.
Gator
March 2nd, 2012
1:47 pm
Smart, its obvious you’ve never played the sport in your life , did Murray, or bobo drop every pass , miss every FG or block. Football is a team sport it only takes one person out of 11 to make a mistake that would result in possible failure. But people like you never have thrown an interception, dropped a pass, much less completed or caught and pass, run for a td , thrown a block or made a tackle to realize this. Every program and team hit down periods. Guess you would fired Bear Bryant after Bama went 12-10 in 69-70? you are nothing more than a know nothing troll, Try the duke board where your team and opinion may be relevant.