…. NOT.
Seriously, am I the only one who thinks that this is possibly the worst coverage of the Senior Bowl week ever? I have not seen a single thing mentioned OTHER than how Tim Tebow is doing. Which is pretty ironic, considering that he’s probably one of the players that will make the LEAST impact of any player at the Senior Bowl.
I think most NFL fans are far more concerned with how more significant players are doing, and really care very little about Tebow. And yet we continue to be bombarded with Tebow coverage, 24/7. When will it stop? Will this continue into his 3rd season as a backup in the NFL? Will we be hearing weekly tirades from whatever crew is working MNF that Tebow “deserves a chance?”
I’m beginning to think that this will be a never-ending nightmare.
All I can say is “THANK GOD” that the NFL network is carrying the actual game. Those guys are not dedicated to kissing the Chosen One’s ass throughout coverage of any sporting event.
It seems like every time I hear a rumor about how Georgia’s strength and conditioning is lagging behind, it’s either coming from Bama fans or someone using Alabama fans as a reference for how S&C should be run.
If that’s true, then can someone explain to me why Terrance Cody showed up at the Senior Bowl, weighing in at a super-flabby 374 lbs? And that isn’t good.
Mount Fatty...err...Cody
“It hurts,” NFL network draft analyst Mike Mayock said of Cody’s weigh-in. “And it a wasn’t clean 370.”
This is a recurring theme with Alabama linemen, it seems. Remember that last year, Andre Smith showed up sporting his fat-ass costume at the NFL Combine (and he only weighed 332), and was so unprepared that he left the combine early. At the Alabama Pro-day, he had dropped some weight but was still considered overweight, and slow. He might have been the 1st OT taken off the board (as high as 1st or 2nd overall) had he shown up looking fit, and he was expected to drop much further than he actually did (6th to the Cincinnati Bengals).
I can’t imagine that Cody, at a robust 374 and looking like THAT, is going to impress many scouts.
Next time an Alabama fan tries to tell you how their S&C program is way better than ours, remind them of Mount Cody’s enormous breasts and silver-dollar-nips.
Hot, freshly brewed links for your perusal as you warm up to the idea of getting to work this morning.
If you missed the action at Stegeman on Saturday, this is a pretty good highlight reel of what you missed.
David Hale offers his always-insightful post-game thoughts. Someone should tell him though, that I spent the entire month of November swimming in a vat of bourbon (it was a bad month for UGA football) and even I wouldn’t have told him that UGA would be leading UT by 25 at one point during the game on Saturday.
It wasn’t just a good week for men’s basketball; UGA swept the Vols in 4 sports last week, as Bernie is happy to recap in vivid color.
Color Jeff Schultz impressed with Mark Fox and UGA in year 1 of the new regime.
Georgia fans can breathe easy for now, Calhoun WR Da’Rick Rogers is still committed to UGA after a visit to Knoxville… but keep an eye on him.
Todd Grantham has been a busy man this past week, and he’s already making good impressions.
In case you haven’t seen it already (and the counter indicates that 14,000 of you already have), you have to see this vid of Mark Richt displaying his multi-sport skills.
My friend (who I shall herein refer to as “Chad the filthy Cajun”) sent me this link to a video of Saints fans partying in the parking lot of a New Orleans Academy sports store after the big win over the Vikes in the big easy, supposedly to buy NFC championship shirts. It is my belief that they were actually looting the store.
That’s all I’ve got for now.
David Hale has a great article on Jakar Hamilton and how quickly he’s gotten to work since transferring to UGA from Georgia Military College this Spring. Sounds like Hamilton is really physically talented and driven to excel (he has already earned the nickname “Hitman”), which is promising enough, but the following quote gave me the warm and fuzzies.
Every day in the weight room, Hamilton and Rambo discuss who the best safety duo in the SEC might be. The conversation continues long after they leave the gym.
Right now, it’s a question that’s up for debate. By the end of the 2010 season, however, Hamilton said he doesn’t want there to be any doubters. He said it will be the duo at Georgia — Rambo and the “Hit Man.”
Between Grantham talking like a badass and our safeties talking about being the best in the SEC, I really, really, really like the attitude our defense is taking on this Spring. And “Rambo and the Hitman” is possibly the coolest name ever conceived for a safety duo. Wait, not possibly…. certainly.
And man did they look good doing it. The Dawgs ended up winning by 15, but led by as much as 21 and held the lead the entire game, never letting Tennessee getting closer than ~10 points. UGA shot 56.3% on FG’s, were 3-5 on 3 pointers and outplayed UT on the glass, 35-24.
Before you think “Tennessee just didn’t show up,” consider the following quotes:
“I thought we played hard. This wasn’t that we weren’t handling success. We didn’t get beat because we came in here overconfident and didn’t respect the opponent. We got beat by a better team today. It was clear.” – Bruce Pearl
“We got smashed, we got beat horribly on the rebounds. …It was just the fact that it felt like they wanted it more.” – Kenny Hall
“You know you’re going to lose a game on the road in the SEC. There won’t be a lot of people who win [in Athens]. I’m certain of that.” – Bruce Pearl
I’m beginning to be more certain of that, also. With every game, Mark Fox looks more and more like an outstanding hire. And the fans! The fans showed up! We need that, people. We need you there for home games. On a night like tonight, the crowd factors in to the momentum as much as anything else, and our crowd was rocking the whole night. I heard someone compare it to games back in the Harrick days. Tonight gave you a glimpse of what UGA basketball can be.
Georgia next faces off against Florida at the O’Connell center on Wednesday night.
Well I went down to stegeman to see the dogs take on the vols, only to find out that my usual routine of buying tickets at the window wouldn’t work, because the game was sold out.
On the positive side, it’s good to see the fans getting out for this game, but I am a bit bummed that I’m now watching this game from a bar downtown. Oh well, I’ll just have to order a pitcher or three. Shucks.
It has been reported that Connecticut secondary coach Scott Lakatos interviewed with UGA on Saturday. Todd Grantham and Mark Richt are still working to fill out the defensive staff, and Lakatos looks to be one potential assistant they’re looking at.
Quick bio on him if you’re interested -
Basically he’s a legit yankee. He’s spent his coaching career in the Northeast (beginning in 1988), serving as a secondary coach for the majority of the time, but he’s also coached linebackers, special teams and served as a defensive coordinator twice (New Haven and Maine). His stops include Western Connecticut, Boston University, Syracuse, New Haven, Maine, Rutgers and Connecticut. The pass D at UConn since he has been there has been pretty good. From 2003-2008, UConn has ranked 35th, 20th, 4th, 28th, 14th and 7th in pass defense. In 2009, it ranked 85th in pass D, but the Huskies did lose 4 starters on defense to the NFL, and that program isn’t exactly stocked with talent waiting in the wings. Lakatos can be credited with coaching up Darius Butler from a 2-star rated recruit to the 41st overall selection in the 09′ NFL Draft (Patriots).
Maybe he could help bring in some more of that Knowshon Moreno yankee-talent. I just have one condition for his acceptance to our great Southern institution, if it turns out CTG and CMR want to bring him here. He must renounce the New York Yankees, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman and…. Pepsi.
UPDATE: It’s official, Lakatos has been hired.
That’s what it should read anyway. MSU survives at home against UGA, 72-69, and it would have been different had MSU’s big shot blocker Vernado been called multiple times for mauling our players. Apparently being the 3rd all-time leading shot blocker earns you a free pass.
Seriously steamed over here right now.
This is going to be a very exciting Spring for Georgia fans, because with the change to a base 3-4 defensive scheme, comes a lot of changes in personnel. One of, if not the most important, components of the 3-4 is the nose tackle. He’s got to be big enough that he won’t get taken out of the play both two interior O-linemen, but athletic enough to cover both of the A-gaps. As coach Grantham noted, he doesn’t have to be over 300 lbs, as they’re doing it in Dallas with a 295 pound NT, but as you can see from watching Alabama’s D play, a big nose tackle certainly helps. So who have we got on the roster that fills the need?
Kwame Geathers is certainly big enough. At 6′6″ and 326 lbs (if he hasn’t dropped weight), he’s the biggest guy on our roster. But remember that he was also poorly conditioned and out of shape when he stepped on campus last Fall. No telling if he’s improved enough to where you want him playing the key defensive position. For my money, I’m thinking DeAngelo Tyson may end up being the guy.
Defensive ends in the 3-4 scheme are usually bigger than they are in a 4-3, because they have to take on more blockers more directly, and are really more defensive tackle than your typical edge-rushing d-end. Demarcus Dobbs and Justin Houston could really thrive at this position, because it suits their big size and physical power-rushing game. We might see some of the smaller D-ends moved to outside linebacker, which is where many smallish defensive ends move to when they go to a 3-4 defense in the NFL. And in looking at the roster, that’s probably going to be a necessity anyway, as our number of players at D-line and linebacker reflect the numbers you’d expect to see on a 4-3 defensive team, not a 3-4.
As you might have guessed already, your linebacker corps is going to look a lot different next season too. You can expect guys like Akeem Dent and Marcus Dowtin to stay at middle linebacker, but they’ll likely be joined by some of the guys that were previously playing on the outside (like Darryl Gamble). The reason being is that in a 3-4, your outside backers can’t just be speed pursuit guys. Because there are only 3 D-linemen in front of them, they’re going to have to fight off blocks, which is why (as I noted before) you see a lot of DE’s moving to OLB in the NFL. And because there are 4 linebackers, they can spread out along the line further, so speed on the outside isn’t as vital as it is in a 4-3 defense where there are only 3 linebackers to cover runs to the outside. Your inside linebackers are going to be either in coverage or running downhill toward the ball. The changes don’t bode well for the smaller linebackers like Chase Vasser, or Nick Williams for that matter. Coach Grantham did mention that they might keep the nickel package though, so that might be Williams’ niche.
The secondary will remain the same, as the positions are no different from 4-3, but the defensive backs can expect to get more opportunities to blitz. One of the virtues of the 3-4 is that having 4 linebackers allows the defense to disguise coverage better and blitz from the corner or safety positions more than you would see in a 4-3. I’m betting Boykin and Rambo will be looking forward to that.
Anyway, just some things to ponder. Personally, I can’t wait for the G-day game. And how many times have we ever gone to the G-day game intrigued by what the DEFENSE would look like?
The departures at Terrorist Tech (Dwyer, Morgan, Burnett, Thomas) got me looking to see how they were doing recruiting this year. Their whopping 13 commits (only 4 of them rated better than 3 stars by rivals) rank them 43rd in the recruiting rankings. Now, just to put that in perspective, that’s 7th in the ACC, behind even N.C. State and Maryland.
And they just WON the ACC.
Now, I’ll give you that the recruit ranking system is imperfect, to say the least, but I think it’s fair to say that this just proves what we’ve known since Tech hired CPJ. Great football players don’t want to play in an triple-option-flexbone-whatever-the-hell-you-want-to-call-it-service-academy-offense, or get robbed and/or stabbed while going to the library.
