Todd Grantham begs to differ with you, Boom.

To what should be nobody’s surprise, Georgia’s defensive coordinator was asked last night at the UGA Days event in Buckhead what he thought about Will Muschamp’s promise to make Georgia’s winning streak over Florida short-lived.  Grantham’s response was, I thought, fairly muted and expected, but about one area he felt strongly enough to offer a rebuttal.

Muschamp cited the Gators’ turnover issues in last year’s 17-9 Georgia victory and characterized them as self-inflicted.

“Obviously, when you turn the ball over six times, you’re not going to win many games,” Muschamp said. “We fought through a lot of adversity we created for ourselves in the game. It just didn’t work out.”

Grantham took exception to that. He clearly feels the Bulldogs should be given some credit for coming up with the football.

“We actually created six turnovers and we were plus-3 for the game,” Grantham said. “In this league, when you turn the ball over you’re going to have a hard time winning. The last two years we’ve had 62 (takeaways), which is second only to LSU. If we’re plus-1 since I’ve been here we’re right around 92 percent win. It’s a critical point, we emphasize it and we work it every day. It’s a part of the game. You have to protect the football.”

A little professional pride’s showing there.  And Grantham does have a point.  While some part of turnover margin can be chalked up to random luck, such as fumble recoveries – hi, Mayor! – it’s been clear from the get-go that Grantham’s emphasis on putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks hasn’t been mere lip-service.  And that Georgia defense Florida saw played hard, physical football.  That +3 was earned, Boom.

(As an aside, if you need proof of what tends to make AJ-C coverage so obnoxious these days, this piece is a good example.  There’s nothing wrong at all with what Towers wrote, but check out the header and the photo used with his article.  Clearly somebody wanted to give the impression that there was something angry and controversial in what Grantham had to say.  And just as clearly, there wasn’t.  So let me just say to you, nameless editor, you’re an ass.)

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Todd Grantham wants to stop all that running.

Some of you may be surprised to hear that Todd Grantham took time out from his busy career plotting to answer a few questions from Chris Low about his day job.  The good thing is that he seems to have a handle on what needs to get better this season.

What the Bulldogs didn’t do as well was stop the run, and it cost them against Alabama in the 32-28 SEC championship game loss. The Crimson Tide rolled up 350 rushing yards and manhandled the Bulldogs in the second half.

The takeway from that game for Grantham was pretty simple.

Georgia needs to play more players up front and tackle better from the inside linebacker positions.

“We did some good things in that game,” Grantham said. “We blocked a field goal and ran it back for a touchdown. We were really good on third down, and got a turnover in the red zone. The thing we didn’t do was stop the run in the second half.

“We’ve got to play more players up front and keep them fresh, and from the inside linebacker position, we’ve got to learn to tackle backs like (Eddie Lacy). Those are two things we’ve got to do better.”

He’s got plenty of options, even if many of them are young.

One thing Grantham’s right about is that Georgia’s 2012 rushing defense stats are skewed (although I don’t know where he got the 3.3 ypc in conference play from, unless he wasn’t counting the SECCG).  Check out this page at Marty’s blog.  And this one.  No wonder Grantham knows he needs more bodies.

Can we move on now?

Todd Grantham issues statement through #UGA saying he has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Saints defensive coordinator job.—
Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) February 08, 2013

At least we can get back to bitching about whether the defense will underperform again this season.  Good times.

The Apocalypse begins.

Fresh off the disappointment of signing the worst 10th ranked class in the history of college football, Georgia fans are now rocked by the possibility that a coordinator has career ambitions.

Unleash the hounds.

UGA A.D. Greg McGarity has confirmed that Todd Grantham is interviewing with the New Orleans Saints today. Grantham notified him Wed. night.—
Seth Emerson (@SethEmerson) February 07, 2013

Tell me, those of you who have regularly knocked the staff because no other programs have been interested in Richt’s assistant coaches, does this raise their standing in your eyes?

Seriously, the man’s got a contract that lets him leave for a coordinator job in the NFL without paying a buyout and we’re supposed to be surprised when he’s interested in entertaining a suitor?

The only thing that should matter to us is whether Grantham or Richt lied to recruits.  In the absence of that, more power to the man.

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UPDATE:  Groo makes the case that Grantham is preparing his 2014 job prospects.

So, what do y’all wanna talk about today?

This whole Grantham-to-the-NFL thing… what if it’s not a marketing strategy for recruits, but a shiny toy meant to distract the media from focusing on the disappointment of several of Georgia’s top recruiting targets heading for places other than Athens?

If the AJ-C is any example, it seems to be working.

Regardless of what Grantham eventually decides to do, it has already affected Georgia’s recruiting. Chamblee defensive end Davin Bellamy, who Grantham had a major hand in flipping from a Florida State commitment, has expressed concerns to AJC Recruiting reporter Michael Carvell that Grantham might bolt for the NFL. But Bellamy said Grantham insists he will be around to coach him. Bellamy is due to make his decision Wednesday at 11 a.m. and it was speculated to be Georgia over Oregon and Tennessee. But his family seeking answers from UGA Tuesday night.

“This was our biggest fear,” a family member told the AJC. “We’re going to call Georgia and try to get more information.

…

Grantham is scheduled to meet with the media Wednesday at 2 p.m. – along with head coach Mark Richt and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo – to discuss the newest crop of recruits. I suppose we could get some answers from Grantham then.

If he shows.

Should make for a fun presser.

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UPDATE:  I wonder how close Grantham will come to telling the AJ-C to kiss his ass today.

“Coach Grantham talked to Davin and assured him that he had nothing to worry about and that he was staying at Georgia and he would be Davin’s position coach,” Mrs. Bellamy said. “He’s been recruiting him now for several months and he has his word that he will be there when Davin starts at Georgia in the fall. I was glad to hear that.”

Grantham breasts his cards.

Even the guy he just picked to coach his defensive line has no clue what his plans are.

Grantham’s badge of honor?

Seth Emerson provides an interesting twist on the dawg that isn’t barking re:  the Eagles’ defensive coordinator job.

… It still bears noting that Georgia has not released anything from Grantham saying that he’s staying at UGA, because in the past that’s what they’ve done. In fact, it’s what happened last year, when the rumors weren’t as hot as this one. That’s either because Grantham isn’t out of the running for the job yet – or Grantham and the Bulldogs believe it’s good for recruiting purposes for it to look like he’s under consideration for an NFL gig.  [Emphasis added.]

Okay, it’s not exactly the equivalent of waiving around a Super Bowl ring, and it does have a certain turning-lemons-into-lemonade flavor to it but I can’t say there isn’t some element of plausibility to that explanation.

Penn Wagers, all is forgiven.

Todd Grantham, expressing his displeasure over yesterday’s Big 12 crew, maybe goes a bit overboard in channeling his inner Saban.

Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham wasn’t thrilled with how the Big 12 officials allowed the game to flow.

“I really appreciate the SEC officials, because when you start looking at the way the game was going — you talk about player safety and tempo, and it’s really a credit to how the SEC does it,” Grantham said. “There were a handful of plays that were the result of a lack of getting lined up or a lack of communication, and it allowed them to make some plays. To me, that’s not what football is all about, but at the end of the day we showed more mental and physical toughness.”

Suck up.

Todd Grantham and the “hybrid defender”

“Hybrid defender” is a term Chris Brown uses in this Grantland piece.  And no, he doesn’t mention Georgia’s defensive coordinator by name.  But there’s a certain association between the two, nevertheless.

In response, Jimmy Johnson’s edict — that speed on offense must be matched with even more speed on offense — has been adopted by defensive coaches at every level of football. Those hybrid offensive players are being met with hybrid defenders.

Fittingly, one of the present-day models of Jimmy Johnson’s philosophy is in Dallas. DeMarcus Ware, the Cowboys’ standout defensive end/linebacker hybrid, is the latest in a long line of ‘tweener ends/linebackers who are as likely to rush the passer as they are to drop into coverage…

DeMarcus Ware.  Isn’t that the guy…?  Yeah, that’s him.  Sure, there’s some name-dropping going on in recruiting with that, but it’s also what Grantham is honestly hunting for.  Brown again:

Instead of taking high school safeties and making them linebackers, coaches are taking athletes who can hit and play pass coverage, and simply letting them make plays. That means everything from blitzing the quarterback or stuffing a running back in the backfield to running step-for-step with a tight end or slot receiver. NFL coaches have begun referring to this as their “big nickel” package, which is a bit misleading because “nickel” is a term invented to describe some smaller part of a team’s overall defensive game plan. The reality is that just as NFL offenses rarely line up with two true running backs, NFL defenses rarely line up with three true linebackers. Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu were the two best safeties of the last decade or so, but their successors — in body type, athleticism, and playmaking ability — may not play safety at all. Regardless of the position at which he’s listed, he’ll likely be a linebacker in a safety’s body.

I read that and the first name that popped into my head was Josh Harvey-Clemons.

Harvey-Clemons, rated by many the top football prospect in Georgia last year, thinks he can make safety a permanent home.

“I feel like I can play safety. I really like safety,” he said on Thursday. “Especially learning from Shawn Williams and (Bacarri) Rambo, taking what they’re showing me, and what they’re teaching me, I can really do good things here at safety. But if it’s meant for me to play linebacker, I’m ready for that too.”

He hasn’t done any research on whether anyone that tall has ever played safety.

“It makes it a lot harder for quarterbacks if you’ve got a 6-5 safety back there,” he said.

The Valdosta native is also being taught the so-called “star” position.” It’s basically a nickel back who guards the flats and zones.

And when Chris writes this…

Defensive coaches are absolutely not inventing new defenses to feature these players. You see a few unique sets, like the 3-3-5 stack or TCU’s 4-2-5, but most coaches are simply introducing these hybrid players and their multifarious skills into existing schemes.

If a coach runs a 4-3 “under” — four defensive linemen, three linebackers shifted into an “under” look — he stays with the same playbook but swaps out a defensive end for an “elephant” hybrid end/linebacker or a SAM linebacker for a hybrid-safety type. With those changes, what was once staid and predictable becomes more difficult to scheme around. There’s less certainty about who’s rushing and who’s staying in coverage. These athletic hybrid defenders are allowing old defensive coordinators to maintain the basic systems they know while learning a few new tricks in the meantime.

… I’m immediately drawn back into the way Grantham emphasizes getting his eleven best players on the field at a given time over scheme.  But it’s not a simple “Jimmies and Joes” vs. “Xs and Os” dichotomy in play there.  For want of a better word, his approach is a hybrid.  He wants the personnel flexibility to combat the varied offensive sets and attacks he faces each week.

Read Chris’ piece in its entirety and let me know if it hits you the same way.

Monday morning buffet

Clearing the decks with a bunch of stuff I didn’t get to over the weekend:

• Nick Saban is already in mid-season form in his media relations.
• Todd Grantham’s response to the question that is asked about the 1:00 mark in this clip is priceless.
• Mike Huguenin likes, but doesn’t love, Georgia’s chances this year.
• Jerry Hinnen, on the other hand, thinks the Dawgs will go as far in the SEC East as their offensive line takes them.
• Matt Melton makes a good point in his SEC preview:  if Vanderbilt has a successful 2012 season, how many people are going to knock that down because of its relatively easy schedule?
• Phil Steele looks at how often underdogs win their games outright.
• He also looks at home field edges.  Georgia is ranked 12th (fifth best in the SEC).  Georgia Tech is 41st.
• College Football by the Numbers is back with a bunch of stuff on a number of topics:  how much a kicker is worth (Georgia at minus-4.6 points last season is no surprise, but ‘Bama at minus-5.1 is; also, check out Missouri’s number); what a running back is worth; and average starting field position (Georgia last season was a surprising tenth, and tops in the SEC).
• The Mario Mathis/Ole Miss story sounds like it’s more complicated than what Michael Carvell was told.
• Good catch by Barrett Sallee about the Brandon Smith situation.