Accolades follow Jarvis Jones’ performance against Missouri
After weeks of chatter about the four suspended defensive players who would not be on the field for Georgia’s SEC opener at Missouri, the topic of conversation in the game’s aftermath turned to one who did play, linebacker Jarvis Jones.
Georgia coach Mark Richt called Jones “maybe the best defensive player in America.” The Walter Camp Football Foundation named him the national defensive player of the week. UPDATE: Jones was also named SEC defensive player of the week on Monday. Even Braves third baseman Chipper Jones chimed in, posting to his 145,000-plus Twitter followers: “Jarvis Jones is a monster! Shocker! He is a Jones!”
“I think it was a special game,” Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said Sunday of Jones’ performance. “… He is a special guy that works extremely hard in his preparation. He’s really instinctive. He does a lot of things for us.”
Jones was a force throughout Saturday’s victory over Missouri and punctuated his performance with two huge plays near the end: an interception and a forced fumble that gave Georgia’s offense the ball at Missouri’s 1- and 5-yard lines, respectively, in the fourth quarter. Those plays led to 14 points within less than three minutes, stretching a tenuous 27-20 Georgia lead to the comfortable final margin of 41-20.
For the night, Jones had eight tackles, one sack, one forced fumble, one interception and one pass breakup – all of that with a strained groin muscle that Richt said hobbled him at practice last week and bothered him throughout the game.
“Really, I think the way [Jones] finished the game is the way we finished as a team,” Grantham said. “We emphasized finishing in the fourth quarter, taking charge of that quarter and winning it. And really that’s what we did there.”
Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo noted the difference from last season’s SEC opener, when Georgia led South Carolina 35-31 in the fourth quarter in Athens but lost 45-42.
“We didn’t finish in the fourth quarter [against South Carolina],” Bobo said. “But [Saturday] night we did finish on the road in a very hostile environment.”
Grantham and Bobo filled in for Richt on Georgia’s weekly media teleconference Sunday evening. Richt was tending to some family business, UGA said.
Not surprisingly, both Grantham and Bobo expressed a desire to have cornerback/wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell on their side of the ball.
“I promise you, I’m going to go in there politicking hard for him offensively,” Bobo said. “… He’s going to get back on offense some this week.”
Georgia (2-0, 1-0 SEC), which remained No. 7 in the media and coaches’ polls, plays a non-conference game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Sanford Stadium against Florida Atlantic (1-1, 0-1 Sun Belt Conference). Florida Atlantic is coming off a 31-17 loss at Middle Tennessee.
Also:
Sunday’s UGA notebook: Offense or defense or both for Malcolm Mitchell?
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129 comments Add your comment
Avery Bundren
September 10th, 2012
11:11 am
Why would you inject Chipper Jones’s remarks into this discusion? The narcissistic jerk is irrelevant as far as football goes.
Say What???
September 10th, 2012
11:18 am
Please understand my argument. I am not taking anything away from Gurley’s performance. I was simply pointing out that dawgfan was making it sound like Gurley was running over Mizzuo everytime he got the ball and Bobo ignored this. That was not the case. Up until the 4th quarter he did not show anything different than what Bobo was getting out of Marshal. If Gurley had pulled off the 44 yard run early in the 4th quarter and then Bobo negelected to give him the majority of the carriers, I would agree. But that is not what happened. Gurley is a great running back that will do great things for the Dawgs.
Say What???
September 10th, 2012
11:19 am
Sorry… Early in the 1st quarter..
JJ for Heisman
September 10th, 2012
11:21 am
facebook.com/JarvisJonesForHeisman
Truthiness
September 10th, 2012
11:26 am
I think Bobo has it exactly right about the ability of this team to finish. If there’s one thing that could take the Dawgs to the next level, it’s getting the most out of its starters and the little bit extra from the bench when the game’s on the line late. That one thing alone will make this team vastly different from its predecessors.
DirtyDawg
September 10th, 2012
11:32 am
Man I got to say that all this Bobo-hatin is wearing pretty thin. Give the other team a little credit for playing well enough often enough to make a contest out of it, OK? Didn’t you read Gruden’s take on Georgia’s offense? Or did you think he was just being nice? I mean if every play against every opponent went as its drawn up on paper everybody would score every time…now how damned ridiculous is that? We’ve got three pretty-damn good tailbacks and we need to use em. Relying on one is a sure way to end a season for him…who do you think he is, Herschel?
I do have one question, where’s the Scott-Wesley kid? Is he hurt? Cause if not I sure would like to see his speed and, reported, running ability after the catch on display.
Georgia-Vanderbilt game time set | UGA sports blog
September 10th, 2012
11:48 am
[...] Accolades follow Jones’ performance against Missouri [...]
UGA'74
September 10th, 2012
12:01 pm
RollTide1, I really,really hope we do get a shot at Bama. I want to be the one that knocks that smile off your face. You sir, are why people from coast to coast HATE that backwoods school of yours.
Munson
September 10th, 2012
12:04 pm
He’s so good he even has his own “SACMAN JONES” shirt!
http://sportscrack.com/tees_sacmanjones.html
GB's Hamburgers
September 10th, 2012
12:09 pm
Missouri played very hard. They stopped our running game and pressured Murray. It was an even match until our great athletes stepped up with individual plays to win the game. Mitchell caught a guy heading for a TD from behind, a fake punt was stopped (finally) and Jarvis Jones wreaked havoc in the final 8 minutes. Best of all, Murray had a big game IN a big game.
SEC Fact Finder
September 10th, 2012
12:16 pm
I was fortunate enough to work the UGA/ Missouri game Saturday evening. The atmosphere was electric, and the crowd noise was definitely one of the loudest I have attended.
From my sideline view where I was, it was obvious that Missour is not physically ready to play in the SEC, not from talent at skill positions, but upfront on both sides of the ball. They need to get bigger and stronger to play 4 quarters in the SEC. Missour has a ton of talent but they are not deep enough to be able to play the physical brand of football played in the SEC. I have no doubt they will compete with everyone, but with their OL/DL depth it will hurt them.
The second thing I noticed was UGA OL at times looked confused on blocking assignments and forcing Murray to make throws he rushed into areas where good defensive teams would make plays that would go against UGA. Murray did a good job of picking his hot routes and making throws. The other thing that was apparent was the middle of the field was open most of the night against UGA,, Franklin made most of his plays behind the linebackers, as Missouri ran a ton of sideline WO routes allowing the Middle to be open. UGA will need other players to step it up besides Jarvis Jones in other games if a good team can block him( big if). I did not see a great deal of substitutions going on either side of the ball on defense which was surprised me especially for UGA.
Big Win for UGA. Good crowds and Great Fans from both schools.
Good luck to your teams and Go SEC!
John
September 10th, 2012
12:17 pm
I am pretty sure Chipper is a Gator fan. He has been on Gameday saying so and grew up in Central Florida.
badlands dawg
September 10th, 2012
12:17 pm
Mr Jarvis you are the man on D….Mr Bennett you are the man on O….then we got a QB that cant,n get the job done in the qts 1 and 2 ….and last we got the idiot that stands over a player and does his idiot stands mr mitchall he pick up 7 yards..YOU IDIOT …………watch Mr Jarvis Jones have some class mr mitchall dont,n become a idiot on game day…..
Dog in Nam
September 10th, 2012
12:32 pm
Gurley and Marshall are both very talented; but, anyone who hasn’t seen already that Gurley is the more effective, stronger and more mature looking runner of the twoto this point(which is saying a lot), is promoting some ulterior agenda or something. Marshall has been far easier to disrupt with arm tackling. I think they both will be great runners, but Gurley is quite a bit better at this point. Also, the media or maybe the coaches, have maybe unintentionally overbuilt the expectations of fans for Tavarres King. I think he is a very good receiver and pretty fast, but he occasionally drops the ball and sometimes doesn’t attack or sky to get it, and most people not named A J Green can not do that on a consistent basis. He is a reasonably fast, reliable receiver, but not a game breaker, and I think it’s unfair to have such lofty, big play expectations from him. He is not a burner, and I think some of the overthrows to him are from a QB, Murray, who got too used to AJ being able to catch up to anything he threw. Rantavious probably has more speed related big play potential. But, our receivers, as a group, are outstanding, and many of them have big play potential…..just seems to me that too many people expect too much from Tavarres. He has done and will continue to do many great things, but is not “the speed burner, go to guy” for every situation…..we have one of those, currently playing DB…..I predict Mitchell will start to see a lot of 2 way time very soon….also, Bennett is suffering a bit of sophomoritis….but he is still dependable and they definitely need to and will keep him in the mix. I really like the coaches, and they know it. We have many very special players on this team and i am very excited about all of them….Gurley is already one of the best, Marshall will be in time and is already very good…..I see the Bama and LSU people continuing to put us down…..well, we earned the bad rep, let’s face it….the only thing to do is shut em up on the field….I think the wiser among our competition are already shut up and watching, trying to gage just how good we might be….the smart ones know talent and they can see that we have plenty as well as far more depth now, everywhere but the oline….hopefully we can work around that until those guys jell a bit more, which they will do in time…Do we have enough time for the oline to catch up? With Jarvis and that D we got and the extensive arsenal of weapons we have on the O, I think so! Go Dogs
Coachurly
September 10th, 2012
12:52 pm
I’m not that excited about Georgia beating an unranked team like they’re supposed to. Jones did have an LT-like performance with his sheer domination though. I’m sure the Trrojans are sorry they let him transfer.
FIRE FREDI
September 10th, 2012
1:01 pm
Did anyone notice Malcolm Mitchell’s lack of experience in celebration on defense? He celebrated like he won the lottery after three Missouri 1st down plays.
Bitter dawgs fan
September 10th, 2012
1:40 pm
hahahahahah——Use a KNIFE—FOSTER to scrap that U/A TATTOE off your arm.
————-Nice pick looser———–hahahahahahah
—DAWGS dont need you so dont plan a vist to UGA anytime soon
——death penality for the BARNERS and your stuck for life with that—U/A
——————————TOO—————-BLAHAHAHAHAHAH
@Goldenrod
September 10th, 2012
2:17 pm
Mizzou’s biggest mistake was to wear yellow, which made us think we were playing Tech. So, at least for the moment, we RUN this conference! LOL
LoyalDog
September 10th, 2012
2:29 pm
SEC Fact Finder You have a very good analysis of the game, especially the quarterback play. I was at the gams as well and the fans were great Mizzou and Georgia Fans alike
@eidsonb
September 10th, 2012
3:02 pm
I just wonder how many of the MILLIONS of its hits the AJC gets from UGAG fans who can find Athens, Ga on a map…much less Sanford Stadium…even if you gave them tickets on the 50 yard line…
@eidsonb
September 10th, 2012
3:04 pm
Gotta go…Pizza is here
Charles
September 10th, 2012
3:20 pm
Jones’ stats were updated by the league after the game – AJC stats not up-to-date. 9 tackles and 2 sacks (he was credited for another sack on the grounding call after the fact).
Larry
September 10th, 2012
3:35 pm
I wish Chipper was a DAWG, but by the way he dresses in jorts and cutoff t-shirts in public I think he’ll always be a Gator.
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September 10th, 2012
10:36 pm
[...] Sept. 22 home date against Vanderbilt got picked up by ESPN2 for a 7:45 p.m. broadcast, Jones was named Walter Camp national and SEC defensive player of the week. And don’t forget “Russ” gets his official sworn in as Uga IX on [...]
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September 11th, 2012
6:37 pm
[...] Accolades pour in for Jarvis Jones following Missouri performance [...]
gwh
September 12th, 2012
12:27 pm
what a great game, more important was the teams transition from last years no finish team to strong gotta have football against the mighty mo. games like this teach opponents lessons and lets the dogs know there is room for them in the drivers seat…….i can say for sure that saban’s ears are raised and he has one eye on this team from the eastern division..he is a model coach all may learn from, a no b/s coach who has a winning plan…..sic’em mcr for the dogs.
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September 14th, 2012
3:54 pm
[...] Accolades pour in for Jarvis Jones following Missouri performance [...]
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September 15th, 2012
9:32 am
[...] Accolades pour in for Jarvis Jones following Missouri performance [...]
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September 15th, 2012
11:53 am
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