Notebook: Richt not convinced secondary’s returnees ‘mature enough’ to get job done next year
By Ryan Black
For the AJC
ATHENS – Mark Richt believes there is talent returning to his team’s secondary next season. The problem is, he hasn’t seen it on the field yet.
With Sanders Commings, Bacarri Rambo, Branden Smith and Shawn Williams graduating, the only underclassman defensive back who has seen significant playing time this season is sophomore Damian Swann, who has started all 13 games.
The impending departures have left Richt feeling uncertain about the state of his secondary for 2013.
“I have no earthly idea who is going to play DB for us next year based on the maturity level of the group that we have here right now,” he said. “I don’t think they’re mature enough to be the starters and I told them, ‘You’re competing with guys that aren’t even here yet. We’re recruiting our tails off and we’re going to bring some guys in here. You guys are here and we’re going to compete and we’re going to see who really belongs back there. Don’t think just because you’re next-in-line that it’s your job, because you’ve got to earn it.’”
While Richt conceded it was unlikely that any player from last year’s recruiting class would have been able to wrest a starting job away from the secondary’s senior quartet, he said those remaining have no excuses next year. If they don’t step up their play, there are hungry freshman who haven’t stepped on campus yet who could easily assume the reins.
“There’s not guys just waiting in the wings that have a guaranteed slot, there’s not guys that played a ton of snaps,” Richt said. “Now ‘Swannie’ (Swann) is a proven player to me, but the rest of them? They haven’t proved it to me yet. I hope they do. I love them and I want them to be the very best they can be, but they’ve got to earn it.”
Josh Harvey-Clemons had no issue with Richt calling out the inexperienced defensive backs, himself included. The true freshman safety said will use it as motivation.
“This year I feel like a lot of things were going real fast because we already had guys that knew what to do and knew their role, so everything was going fast for the secondary people just coming in,” he said. “I feel like this offseason we’re going to work hard.”
The Valdosta native vowed to put in the work for one simple reason: he got too familiar with not being part of the action this season.
“I hate sitting on that sideline, so I’ve got to find a way to get on the field,” he said. “I’m going to do whatever it takes.”
But the raw returner drawing the most attention from teammates is Sheldon Dawson. Fellow freshman Jordan Jenkins said there have been countless times in practice where Dawson’s athleticism stood out.
“I remember looking back a couple of times when the ‘twos’ were in (with) Sheldon coming in and breaking up some pretty good passes and not letting guys burn him deep,” he said. “I remember him on a couple of instances this week and last week coming up and batting balls down and jumping up over guys bigger than him. He’s definitely going to be a play-maker next year.”
Sophomore receiver Malcolm Mitchell, who played the first four games this season at cornerback before moving to wide receiver for the last nine contests, vouches for Dawson.
“I just see it. I just see it in him,” Mitchell said. “He’s going to be a great player. I don’t say that often. I see good players, but I see something really different in him. You’ll see it. Just watch him.”
Other lettermen fighting for playing time next season include redshirt freshman cornerback Devin Bowman and sophomore safeties Marc Deas, Corey Moore and Connor Norman. Dawson was the only DB to sign in the 2011 class.
Commings insists there won’t be any noticeable dropoff. If it wasn’t for he and the other seniors, he said his younger teammates’ ability would have surfaced already.
“They just haven’t had a chance because they’ve had guys like us seniors in front of them,” he said. “I think all of those guys can contribute.”
Christian Robinson didn’t strike quite the same cheery note as Commings. The secondary should improve over time, the senior inside linebacker said, but not without suffering through some growing pains first.
“Somebody is going to step up. That’s what always happens,” he said. “It might not be the best product at the time, but you give it time, you give it a few games and they’re no longer rookies anymore at that position. They just need to learn a little bit more and I think they’ll be able to pick up the pace.”
Richt not convinced Twitter needed to hype program
Twitter is one of the world’s most popular social media sites. It is used by everyday people, news organizations and various other entities, including college football teams. Since taking over at Tennessee on Dec. 7, coach Butch Jones has used Twitter extensively, interacting with fans and updating followers on his day-to-day goings-on. After using his own Twitter account sparingly since starting one in 2009, Richt rejoined the social media site in May. That being said, Richt only has 203 tweets, compared to Jones, who has over 3,200.
When asked whether he would consider using Twitter more like Jones, Richt said not to count on it.
“I don’t feel like you have to Twitter to recruit or to promote your program,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I’m just saying I don’t know if it’s necessary. That’s for everybody to decide how they want to go about getting the word out. Please don’t misquote me. I think it’s fine to do, but I don’t (know) if it’s necessary for us, anyway. I don’t feel like we need to do it.”
Etc.
Georgia’s injury list was lengthy for the second straight day. Wednesday’s report included receivers Malcolm Mitchell (groin), Tavarres King (hamstring) and Rhett McGowan (wrist sprain), noseguard John Jenkins (concussion), safety Marc Deas (knee) and fullback Richard Samuel (shoulder). Defensive end Abry Jones practice in a limited capacity, confined to a running-only regiment as he continues to rehab an ankle injury. … Richt wasn’t pleased with Wednesday’s practice, noting the only positive was having another on tap for Thursday. “It wasn’t quite what we’ve been getting,” he said. “The bottom line is I thought we got real sloppy today. It was not very good, but we’ll be back out here tomorrow morning.”
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178 comments Add your comment
Bernie Matt
December 20th, 2012
5:43 pm
@ dawginlex – recruiting will not suffer without Garner, he’s not even from here. And most of the coaches in the city don’t even care for him. UGA would be much better off with McClendon, who is from the area and well liked by the high school coaches in the city. Son, if you ever have to be saved by Bobo, your a$$ is toast. I can’t believe you typed that $tupid $hit. Back to Garner, we’ve been losing key recruits to AUB with Garner. Garner, CMR and Bobo tried to convince came he was a TE.
Bernie Matt
December 20th, 2012
5:45 pm
@ dawginlex- slow down man! you just typing to be typing now. We get a couple of kids from Valdosta after striking out for years and now you want to talk about Bobo’s importance to recruiting. Sit yo a$$ down somewhere!
Jarvis Jones gives Muschamp nightmares
December 20th, 2012
5:47 pm
Commits in the secondary:
S Tray Matthews 6′, 194 (4 stars)
S Shaq Fluker 6′1, 205 (3 stars) JC
S Paris Bostick 6′1, 208 (3 stars)
S Quincy Mauger 6′0, 197 (3 stars)
S Kennar Johnson 6′2 185 (3 stars) JC
CB Reggie Wilkerson 5′11 163 (4 stars)
CB Brendan Langley 6′1, 188 (4 stars)
CB Shaq Wiggins 5′10, 166 (3 stars)
I’ve also heard another player in the class is interested in playing corner. I believe it is J.J. Green, but it could be another commit or a player who decommitted.
Jarvis Jones gives Muschamp nightmares
December 20th, 2012
5:50 pm
Bobo looks good because we’ve got so many good players on offense. I don’t think he’s “horrible”, but what I’m saying is when you can hand the ball to our three running backs or have Aaron Murray throw it, the offense should put up points and be very efficient. Murray and Gurley are the ones who execute those plays.
Jarvis Jones gives Muschamp nightmares
December 20th, 2012
5:54 pm
Johnny O’Neal, Brendan Langley and Tray Matthews are the recruits on defense that I’m most excited about. But we definitely need to land some more guys on the defensive line. I hope we get Adams.
LogicalUS
December 20th, 2012
6:15 pm
“Defense will start slow, but finish great”
Take a long, long look at the 2013 schedule….the cupcake from the past two years has caused the SEC office to placate the other teams in the SEC going forward.
Starting slow means that UGA will be out of it by September 30th, this isn’t the creampuff 2012 schedule with the tailor-made spacing and teams.
This was the year and should have been the best defense this decade for UGA.
kral
December 20th, 2012
6:16 pm
that’s funny the offensive coordinator looks good because he has good players…could that mean Saban wins championships with top recruiting classes..no he is a great coach and he could win it all with any players just like his first year..name me one coach that ever won a championship with bad players
Jarvis Jones gives Muschamp nightmares
December 20th, 2012
6:24 pm
Logical, Georgia beat Florida. Get over it. They lost. Florida choked away its chance.
SEC Headlines 12/20/2012 – Arkansas – Razorbacks News
December 20th, 2012
6:26 pm
[...] 10. Butch Jones is a prolific Tweeter, Mark Richt not so much: “I don’t feel like you have to Twitter to recruit or to promote your program.” [...]
Jarvis Jones gives Muschamp nightmares
December 20th, 2012
6:28 pm
kral, I even said I don’t think he’s horrible. I just don’t all of a sudden then he’s some great coordinator. But I’m not calling for his head either.
We need the staff (minus Garner) to stay together to show we’re a stable program. Had it not taken so long to hire Grantham, Georgia would have finished that recruiting class better than they did. And if there hadn’t been so much talk about Richt being on the hot seat, we would have landed a few more players. Luckily, he’s no longer on the hot seat and you can tell the difference with our success the past few months in recruiting.
Jarvis Jones gives Muschamp nightmares
December 20th, 2012
6:31 pm
People like Logical are probably either nerds who live at home with their moms, or bitter Tech or Florida fans who are obsessed with hate for Georgia. In case you didn’t realize, the schedules were set in our favor, but they are set years in advance. You can complain legitimately about a team’s worth if they are winning by 10 or less every week against bad teams or if they get hammered in Atlanta the way we did last season. But when you go toe-to-toe with a great team, you show you deserved to be there. The dawgs proved they were good enough to play in Atlanta by how they played in that game.
kral
December 20th, 2012
6:36 pm
I know you did not mean it as it read..but reread it and you will laugh to…fans calling for staff changes always make me a little leery..I mean it is pretty easy to blog what should be done without knowing the consequences..
WDE
December 20th, 2012
6:40 pm
Funny how the trolls always blast us for top 10 classes but not developing their talent and then turn around and say CRG can’t recruit …which is it troll boys?
kral
December 20th, 2012
6:49 pm
But I sure want to welcome the new breed of dawg fan ole moist dawg.. remember sometimes older means wiser
kral
December 20th, 2012
6:53 pm
I also tip my hat to one of UGA’s biggest fans GaT sponge bob where would he be without us..somewhere else besides a blog I guess.but thanks anyway
Moist Dawg
December 20th, 2012
8:23 pm
Sometimes older means outdated and stale too. By the way, I have never called for Richt to be fired, ever. I bet most of you like lex, joey, wde, kral, etc. can’t say the same thing.
Some of you pansies make me sick to my stomach. At least the true fans still outnumber the pansies.
maxx4955
December 20th, 2012
9:25 pm
Mark…you are making these comments because you and your staff didn’t take the time necessary to help develop the younger up and coming DAWGS.
Coach MR should blame himself and his selfish stat chasing Def Coordinator. There were obvious blowouts this season of several teams but instead of putting our younger players in the games, which would have help them get the needed experience…he kept his starters in. Man, I hate this UGA “Good Ole Boy System…What happened to player development? UGA won’t win National championships ever with that type of strategy.
FLA DAWG
December 20th, 2012
10:37 pm
Next season the O will be better but the D will be worse (if that’s possible).
Bernie Matt
December 20th, 2012
11:06 pm
Somebody please tell that idiot name dawginlex, that’s looking for a guy name Bray in Knoxville that Mr. Bray has just left the building.
Dawginlex – you should be too embarrassed to post here for some time. The day was not even over before your dumb a$$ was proven wrong. SON, never in your life post anything directec to Bernie Matt again. This is the second time i have made you look stupid here!
Bernie Matt
December 20th, 2012
11:08 pm
By the way Garner just left the building also. Good riddance to him!
Columbus
December 21st, 2012
2:10 am
On Tuesday, a longtime source was insistent that rumors about Saban leaving Alabama to return to the NFL are off-base.
“That’s not happening,” the source said, emphatically.
As I posted on Twitter, take the adamant denial for what it’s worth, particularly when another source I spoke with on Thursday claimed that Saban has already begun interviewing potential assistants he would take to the Cleveland Browns with him. The source laid out the timing of how current Browns coach Pat Shurmur will be fired after the season, one or two candidates will be interviewed (complete with the name of a minority candidate) and that Saban will be hired on Jan. 8, the day after Alabama’s BCS title game tilt vs. Notre Dame.
That bit of information advances an earlier report by Boston Globe ace NFL writer Greg Bedard about Saban wanting to return to the NFL and that Saban would work with current NFL Network analyst Michael Lombardi. Lombardi is a former personnel man with several teams, including Cleveland, Oakland and Denver.
So exactly what should anyone believe about Saban?
Sadly, everything and nothing.
Anyone who knows the 61-year-old Saban understands his anxious side. He is not a man who puts down roots. He’s a man who pulls them up and then heads for the next job. He has told his own players (as he did at Michigan State) that he was staying one day, then left for LSU the next.
Until he got to Alabama, he had not been at a place longer than five years. He’s in his sixth season with Alabama, and as much as you’d think he could coach the Crimson Tide for the remainder of his career, that’s not his style.
Saban likes challenges. He has succeeded in turning around programs, winning national titles at LSU and Alabama.
Another telling trait is that Saban likes to live in denial just as he’s about to go from one place to another. There was the move from Michigan State to LSU. When he left the Miami Dolphins for Alabama, he lied time after time about how he wouldn’t be the Crimson Tide’s next coach.
Then there was Saban’s interview with Miami radio host Dan Le Batard on Monday in which Saban talked about leaving the Dolphins. Saban, not surprisingly, downplayed the idea of leaving Alabama.
DawginLex
December 21st, 2012
9:21 am
Bray hired an agent. He wanted to stay but he is stupid. That’s why he threw beer bottles off the roof. He is a moron
I have forgotten more than you know bernie matt you ignorant moron
Tide/Dawg
December 21st, 2012
10:35 am
Having a lot of talented players coming back next year is a good thing, but talent alone, will not do it. Experience is the key, that’s where Ala. had the advantage in the SEC championship game. If Ga. can get by those first 3 games and those talented players lose that “deer in the headlights” feeling, they should be back in the big game. The high school programs those players come from determine how fast they respond. If they are accustomed to playing in high school championships they will respond quickly. Believe me, it makes a big difference. The other big thing is getting playing time as backups to starters. You bloggers that played the game know what I’m talking about, the others just repeat words. I’m no authority on this subject but I do remember.
My-Guy
December 21st, 2012
1:50 pm
Like I said before, it’s either Aaron Murray coming back next season, or a 8-5 season next year!
graphite
December 21st, 2012
4:33 pm
I say go to the Pacific N.W. and get some of those lumberjack kids to play o.l. in Ga.
Jborodawg
December 21st, 2012
7:25 pm
I hope CMR’s ‘calling out the DBs’ is just for motivation. And, hopefully a warning to work hard and stay out of trouble during the offseason. Harvey-Clemons seems to have taken it the right way.
Otismyman
December 22nd, 2012
12:44 am
UGA will win SEC as well as the BCS next year (with or without Murray) I love AM but he needs to do whats best for his future. Dawgs ROLL to a BCS Championship!!!!!!!!!
monty
December 22nd, 2012
7:51 pm
Look for the Cornhuskers to put up over 250 yards rushing. We probably win 32-28. Thanks to the offense.