Georgia Bulldogs sharply focused on 2012 football season
Sorry for the delay in getting some of this out to you guys. Hope you saw my STORY and BLOG from the Pigskin Preview on Tuesday at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in Macon. If not, you can read them HERE and HERE. Meanwhile, here’s more of what was said from the UGA contingent at the Pigskin Preview down in Macon yesterday:
JUNIOR QUARTERBACK AARON MURRAY
On walkon FB Merritt Hall, who is listed as starter heading into summer camp . . .
“He’s a crazy dude, that’s for sure. He reminds me of somebody like Ben Jones in that he’s just a crazy football player that’s dirty and ready to put his head in the pile and just knock people around. That’s the kind of fullback that you want, somebody that’s not afraid of contact, who’s just going to fill that hole and get it open. Whatever linebacker shows up first, he’s taking their head off. I’m excited about it him. I know we have some other guys, Zander [Ogletree] and the guy who just got here who’s a freshman [Quayvon Hicks]. Hicks is a really good looking fullback, too. So that’s going to be a good competition.”
On college football playoff . . .
“I think it’ll be fun. I know I probably won’t be around to be a part of it, but I think it will be fun for players and fans and teams, too. Maybe a team that had one loss against a pretty good team that might think their national championship chances are down the drain, now they’d be able to play in the playoffs and have that second chance to compete for a championship. So I think it would be a lot of fun and the fans would enjoy it more games and more big-time games between big-time teams.”
On concussions . . .
[Knocks on wood window frame] “I have yet to have a concussion in my career. One time in high school I felt a little woozy after a play, but I don’t know that it was a concussion. Nowadays they consider any dizziness a concussion so it might have been a small one. But to my knowledge I haven’t had one. . . . Any kind of head injury is a pretty big deal and you don’t want to mess around with that. But our doctors to great job. If anybody has any kind of symptoms of any kind of thing like that, they hold them out and make sure they’re completely ready to go before they put them back in for contact.
On whether coaching staff has advised him to run less . . .
“They never told me to stop running. They told me to be more cautious and be a smarter run, I guess, as far as getting out of bounds or getting down and saving my body. I don’t know what my problem. I just really enjoy contact. I grew up playing defense, so I think I just missed all the hitting. I definitely think it’s something I need to work on this offseason. Maybe get out to the baseball field and work with some of the baseball players how to slide properly.”
On whether he thinks Malcolm Mitchell will play any wide receiver this season . . .
“I hope so. This summer I know Malcolm will be out there. He’s already been out there working with us. He’s always out there, whether he’s playing DB or receiver. . . He just goes back-and-forth. I know he’ll be ready no matter what. He still knows the plays still and will run all the routes in the offseason. He knows the yardage and the cuts. He’ll be ready, offense or defense.”
SENIOR SS SHAWN WILLIAMS
On if he likes the preseason top 10 national ranking . . .
“I try not to pay attention to it because everybody expects you to win each and every game anyway. The only way you can take care of that is to take it one game at a time because we know nobody is going to take us lightly. We’ve got to go out and win one game at a time and take it one week at a time and quarter by quarter.”
If he thinks Mitchell can play both ways . . .
“I feel like he can do it. He can come in and play wherever we need him. There’s going to be a lot of guys moved around, so he’s got to be able to play wherever for the betterment of the team.”
On playoffs and changes in college football . . .
“You can’t pay too much attention to that stuff because football is always going to be football. You can’t be worried about what happens if you lose a game or anything like that, so you just have to go out to win and worry about that when the time comes. . . . I just hope Georgia’s in the mix if it ever comes around.”
GEORGIA COACH MARK RICHT
On ball security issues with Aaron Murray . . .
“We talked about it on the way down here. I asked him, ‘what are the three biggest drive killers in football?’ Of course the first thing he said was turnovers. I said right. Shawn helped him out and said penalties and I said right. Then the third one he said ‘knowing what to do’ and we call that missed assignments. If you don’t turn it over and you don’t have many penalties or missed assignments, you’re going to move the ball and you’re going to score. If you have any combination of those three, you’re going to punt or turn it over and make life miserable for everybody. Players can control all three of those for the most part. That’s Murray’s job to make sure we’re not turning the ball over and we’re not in the situation where we don’t know what to do or get penalties. We talk about it. In his defense, he had a couple of tipped balls and some things he couldn’t totally control. But he knows. He knows his job is crucial in regard to respecting and protecting the football. I think we all learned from our experiences.”
On potential of Shawn Williams . . .
“I think [All-American] is a very realistic goal for him. Why? Because he’s about 6-1 or 6-2, 220 pounds and can run like a deer. He’s physical, he’s got good ball skills, he knows the system and he wants to be good. He has become quite a leader for us.”
On possibility of one day playing Georgia State . . .
“That’s certainly a possibility. I wouldn’t count that out. Lately it’s kind of been unwritten rule that we play Georgia Southern every four years, though I don’t think there’s any contract that holds us to that. I mean, I don’t even know how far out we’ve scheduled, quite frankly, on the out-of-conference games. I know we’ve got to wait to see how many conference games we play and all that. But I think that would be a possibility.”
On getting ready for season . . .
“You always just have to pray that guys stay healthy throughout camp. It’s a contact sport, it’s a physical game and guys do get banged up. Hopefully there will be nothing serious.”
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115 comments Add your comment
Joey
June 15th, 2012
8:37 am
Coach Richt: “I think we all learned from our experiences.”
********************************************************
Maybe Murray would retain all that learning a little better if you sat his butt on the bench for a quarter or so the next time he throws a pick-6 or fumbles for a TD return.
I like Aaron Murray, but for every big play he makes for us in the biggest of games, he makes another for the opponent.
AltamahaDawg
June 15th, 2012
9:50 am
Not sure standing in the corner with a dunce cap, is exactly the right method of teaching college QB better skills.
Now as far as that letting the fans feel like they punished him for thier grief, that would do it.
AltamahaDawg
June 15th, 2012
10:05 am
So down by a TD to SC, you (as the coach) would have pulled Murray and sat him for a quarter. (ignoring that he drove them down, to tie it up right after that. )
Or pulled him for a quarter early in that LSU second half.
How well do you know Aaron Murray? Workd with him for 3 years? Know what motivates him, see how heactually does learns?
ugab
June 15th, 2012
10:18 am
Great to hear that Uga has a fullback that wants to knock someone out. It has been a while since the dawgs has had a great FB.. Wow.. Sounds like this guy likes to hit.
Joey
June 15th, 2012
10:35 am
So many questions . . .
Knowing Murray’s history in big games, hell yes I sit him, down by a TD to SC. He is in fact, why we are down a TD. If we have no competent back-up QB, of course not, but we have a competent back-up QB, Hutson Mason – whom even the head coach said about last season, “we’ve gotta find a way to get him in games.” I’ve noticed that Mason, when he does get in games, completes passes with accuracy, and does’t fumble.
Ditto for the LSU game.
Don’t know Murray at all.
Have not worked with Murray for 3 years (though have seen every play he has played for UGA on tv, and a bunch of video of his high school career), if that counts.
I don’t know what motivates him – I would assume competing and winning?
I don’t know how he actually does learn, though most players, including one Matthew Stafford got noticeably better being benched, after turnovers, in ‘06.
I shouldn’t answer that other drivel (dunce cap, in the corner, etc), but it was really cute, almost funny if it weren’t for the fact that Aaron Murray has been the QB in a lot of games that we lost, a good many when he has made turnovers that lead directly to points (and wins) for the opponent. I have also read his words that he was “amped up” vs UF in ‘10 when he threw the 4 Ints. I also know a guy, Steve Spurrier, who coached lots of QBs to collegiate greatness, who didn’t mind a bit sitting them on the bench if he thought that would help his team win a game.
Greg
June 15th, 2012
10:46 am
Grantham is a beast and his players have taken on his personality. Defense will be what takes UGA to the SEC Title game.
AltamahaDawg
June 15th, 2012
11:11 am
My guess, standing on the sideline having to make that call……you would not have. Or at least..it’s easy to say that when you aren’t. But I don’t doubt that you believe you would.
What little I know about Murray is that he is the harder on himself than anybody, and spends HOURS and hours in the film room trying to figure out what went wrong. I just don’t believe that throwing the game by putting in an almost certain less better option just to sit him, would improve his game. HIM better, or a better option, seem to be the only choices to me..
Joey
June 15th, 2012
12:02 pm
AD, I’ve competed at sports my whole life, solo and team, and I can tell you, if you get amped up, or nervous as hell, it don’t matter how hard you try or how much film you study, if you can’t control your emotions at critical times, depending on the sport, you will hit the ball into the net, squeeze the ball so tight, it comes up 10 yds short, hit the 4-iron thin into the lake, miss both free throws, miss the plate at 3-2, bases loaded, etc, etc. If an athlete can’t treat “big deals” as if they aren’t big deals, he (or she) is gonna have a hard time performing under pressure on the big stage – (See Tony Romo / playoffs).
I have no clue if Aaron Murray struggles with this, but if I had to guess, I would guess that he does – to some degree. He (like Romo) is a good front-runner (see Auburn). But in BIG, tight games, he hasn’t performed to his normal standard. And if he is afflicted with it, a lesser talented, but competent replacement might be “a better option.”
Therefore, yes, I would have made the change.
AltamahaDawg
June 15th, 2012
12:39 pm
And I do not remember a single episode of Matthew Stafford getting benched in 2006 because of a turnover. (to teach him a lesson or otherwise). I know he did swap out forJoe Cox in the Ark. Game as a direct result of not moving the team at all for several quarters. Apples and Oranges , IMO. However, I DO recall him being left in the game after MANY TOs that year and the next. I would argue that’s how he got better.
AltamahaDawg
June 15th, 2012
12:44 pm
You are arguing with me that he makes mistakes, or even specualtion as to why he might. And even if you ignore that many other mistake by other players (some on the very plays that he got blamed for) and state that his mistakes ended up costing the game, None of that changes the fact that he was still the best chance to win that particular game at the time.
AltamahaDawg
June 15th, 2012
12:50 pm
But who knows, maybe Mason would have been better in that situation. I have no evidence he wouldnt. Maybe we can have a starter, but just as the game tightens up, against our toughest oponents, we can put in the back up QB to take it home. I’ve never seen that sort of a situation ever work, but who knows. I’ll have to defer to the professionals on this one, however.
Bulldawgman49
June 15th, 2012
2:03 pm
Well We have a guy that at FB looks like a front runner as a walk-on !! Merrit Hall We have to start by giving the guy a nickname , Start now :
AltamahaDawg
June 15th, 2012
3:33 pm
To me, fumbling the ball is not the same type of a mental mistake as missing both free thrown, or pitching the ball over the green. That’s just simply sloppy ball handling, nothing to do with being “amped”. Now overthrowing a wide open WR by 10 yrs would be. Sort of like Stafford used to do.
BTW, Didn’t Stafford have a TO in the Carilina game his sophomore year, that contributed greatly to losing that game. Might have thrown a pick against TN too. I know his fumble and then (defacto) pick-6 agaisnt UF, and the pick 6 against tech, turned those games in 08. Would you have pulled him then, too? Isnt that the exact same situation as Murray? And if benching Stafford for such made a noticiable difference(which I can’t remember actually happening) , it didn’t seem to matter in the end.
GTMark
June 15th, 2012
3:56 pm
I’m a Tech fan but I have to say if your team doesn’t at least play in S.E.C. Championship game it would be a major surprise.
AltamahaDawg
June 16th, 2012
3:04 pm
Steve Spurrier hardly seems like the model way to run your QBs, evidenced by the fact that I can’t think of anybody following his lead. Moreover, what does it matter what he does. Thats HIM. It works for him, (if that can still be said) not somebody else. He does not coach at UGA.
My recollection of his swapping of Qbs was that he had a few years that one did not beat the other out for the job to his satisfaction. He would go with a guy, perhaps because of the opponents, or how the week went, .then become frustrated during the game if the offense wasn’t being run the way he wanted it. I don’t recall him ever benching a QB because of a turnover.
NOW, if Murray was struggling to move the ball, or having trouble throwing it, or lack of energy, something like that…abosolutely. Put in Hudson. (because just now, I think he might not be a huge step down) and see if he can spark something. But not as punishment (which call it what you will, that is what you are suggesting) for fumbling while being sacked. Definetely his fault, but taking him out FOR that doesn’t do anybody any good. I’ve never seen any other coach do that either..