November 22, 2009 · 12:20 AM

Georgia – putting the special back in special teams

It’s not just that they’re so bad. It’s that they’re so bad with Walsh, Butler, Boykin and Miller.

You really have to work at it.

I don’t see how Richt can stand pat after a game like that. But I’m not Mark Richt.

22 Comments

Filed under Georgia Football

22 responses to “Georgia – putting the special back in special teams”

  1. donkeydawg
    November 22, 2009 at 1:07 AM

    That squib kick in the 3d quarter (returned to beyond midfield by some lumbering up man) was a thing of beauty, eh? David Hale commented that Georgia should just try an onside kick every time, since that would occasionally lead to a good result.

    But you’re right–it’s hard to be this bad on special teams with a punter AND a kicker who could both go All-American, and with more speedy return options than you can count.

    More generally, it’s becoming hard to ignore how many of this team’s problems are unmistakably attributable to coaching errors–not just the obvious stuff, but the rigid adherence to schemes that aren’t working with the personnel they have, and such head-scratchers as the inability to teach your backup quarterback how to run the one of the world’s most predictable offenses over three years.

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    • DWH
      November 22, 2009 at 2:11 AM

      How can we have arguably the best punter and kicker in the nation and talent to burn at return man and be this inept at special teams??? We should just start calling this unit retard teams.

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    • Merk
      November 22, 2009 at 7:19 AM

      The punter did skrew the first down on his blocked kick by FACEMASKING a guy 10 yards behind the damn play.

      Kevin needs to slap that boy. Your fullback saves ur but on a block and u skrew the team with a retard move.

      GRATS seniors…first class since when with:

      2 losses to Kentucky, a loss to Vandy, 2? losses to Tech, 3 losses to Tenn, 3 losses to Fla…OH AND THE FIRST NON-WINNING RECORD OF RICHT’S TENURE. Yall suck and good ridence to Bryan Evans, Prince Miller, and all the other over rated seniors.

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      • Merk
        November 22, 2009 at 7:21 AM

        Oh yea…This should be on every wall in UGA.

        Kentucy: 2-32 vs SEC East non- Vandy teams….GUESS WHO THE 2 IS?

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      • Left to Right
        November 22, 2009 at 8:27 AM

        I don’t blame the players. We have a lot of talent on this team. But as the Senator says, that talent isn’t being well coached and has led us to where we are today (Granted, some of the players who are starting shouldn’t be starting. But again, that goes back to coaching.)

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        • SCDawg
          November 22, 2009 at 10:01 AM

          I’ve never seen so may disastrous KO’s in the same game. They are just awful. I sincerely hope Richt decides he’s had enough. Coaching of the KO coverage and the secondary lost this game.

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  2. stick jackson
    November 22, 2009 at 1:16 AM

    So hard to remember that Mark Richt Georgia teams actually used to be good at this. The gunner slashing in to block the punt in the first SECCG was, for me, almost as big a deal as the Hobnail Boot play. Our coaches *saw* stuff.

    Now we get gashed by UK. They start on the 40, we start on the 15 (or turn it over). That’s how you go from 20-6 to losing just like that.

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  3. Steven
    November 22, 2009 at 1:41 AM

    I did think it was ironic that they ran an add for the Special Olympics right after one of our Special teams mishaps.

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  4. dogged
    November 22, 2009 at 9:07 AM

    Part of our problem is that we had at least 5 players 3 or more yards behind Walsh when he kicked. We are standing around, jumping up and down 10 or more yards behind Walsh so that when he hits the ball, we are already behind in our coverage. Forget about that stupid breaking the huddle to get a running start kickoff coverage and line up like UK did, kick it deep, and make the opponent start around the 25 or so. We would just run to about the 30 and then wait for UK to run up to our coverage. We are wasting a very good placekicker on kickoffs due to our pitiful coverage.
    As an aside, has anyone asked why we gave a scholorship to Bogotay? Nothing against him but why the knee jerk decision to scholarship a kid based exclusively on tapes he sent. If we wanted to have someone push Walsh, couldn’t a walk on do that? I recall reading that Fabris pushed for us to sign him. While it is good for the kid that he can get an education, this decision underscores the haphazard decision making that permeates our special teams coaching. One GA coach told me in Oct of 2008 we would not scholarship a kicker since we had 2 at that time. All of a sudden, we have a scholarship to spare and we give it to a kid who we have never scouted nor even heard of – and who no other school was offering a scholarship to. Based on all we heard about him, he should be kicking off but instead, has only seen the field once. Again, no indictment of Brandon, but it is a very telling statement that we have a much needed scholarship that could be used for a field player being occupied by a third kicker. It is as if Fabris has mind control over the rest of our coaches. All this gimmicky kicking and coverage has harmed much more than it has helped. Go back to old fashioned kickoffs and teach disciplined kick coverage – work on it. It can be done because I see other teams do it on a regular basis.

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  5. rbubp
    November 22, 2009 at 9:42 AM

    Hale quoted Richt as saying that UK had the best kick return unit in the SEC. They’re actually seventh, apparently.

    This just says so many wrong things…1. Coaches don’t do their homework. 2. Coaches choose to defend another team’s perceived strength by conceding to it rather than strategizing an effective way to stop it. 3. Coaches have no confidence in the players or in their own ability. 4. Coaches supposedly prepared for this situation, but we can’t even effectively squib quick. Who does that weak pop-up to the 30 bs? If you pop it up aren’t you trying to get a ton of air under the ball?

    I have never seen anything like our kick return problems, and I hope never to again after this year. But hey, we are the team that makes the same mistakes again and again and again and then blames the players. So my hopes are not high. Not high at all. Am I high? What is this I am seeing???

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  7. Joe B.
    November 22, 2009 at 11:26 AM

    I watched every kickoff, before the squibs. We never had a guy within 20 yards of the UK returner when he received the ball.

    Branden Smith got hit on the 14 yard line. Just like all night, they had coverage guys within 10 yards of our returners every time they caught it. I guess UK just has a lot more team speed than UGA. That makes a lot of sense.

    Fabris is an asshole, and a shitty coach. He has got to go. Period.

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  8. bamadawg
    November 22, 2009 at 11:56 AM

    I’m gonna defend Butler on the facemask. I’m not sure if we don’t get that first down unless he does. Besides any time a punt gets blocked, I’m all for anybody holding so we can get a fake first down, get penalized, and have a chance to punt again. And I wouldn’t say that Butler let Chapas down seeing how Chapas was the one that started the whole mess.

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    • Mayor of Dawgtown
      November 22, 2009 at 7:12 PM

      The UK player had an angle on Chapas and would have tackled Chapas before he reached the first down marker if the punter (Butler) hadn’t done what he did. It was actually a heads up play, imo.

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  9. Texas_Dawg
    November 22, 2009 at 1:49 PM

    Not sure why Butler is included in that list.

    We have easily the best net punting average in the country.

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