I’m gonna miss those futile up the middle runs on third-and-fifteen.
Carlton Thomas is suspended for at least the first game of the season.
The rising junior from Frostproof, Fla., violated team rules back in the spring, three persons familiar with the situation confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. As per Georgia Athletic Association student-athlete policy, Thomas has to sit out 10 percent of scheduled games this season.
Get The Picture 
Shit… well, there goes half of Bobo’s playbook out the window….
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I’ve always been of the opinion that Bobo’s misuse of Thomas was amongst his most serious flaws. People complain about his offense all the time, but overall he’s gotten better each year. However, his miscasting of Carlton into a 3rd down bruiser roll has never made any sense to me, and remains the most mystifying of play-calls.
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You’re right, of course.
But Thomas was an evaluation/recruiting mistake from the get-go. We should never have recruited him because he doesn’t fit our system. That too leads back to Bobo, as the OC.
Even with the loss of Ealey and King (both worth taking a chance on), without two evaluation mistakes at TB by the coaching staff (the other being Samuel who should have been offered as a LB) we’d have two upperclassmen RB’s right now. In fact, there’s been several other mistakes at the same position under Bobo.
I’ve said it before. A SEC program that doesn’t oversign can’t afford evaluation mistakes.
~~~
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No offense, but if you think there’s a program in the country that doesn’t make evaluation mistakes, you’re kidding yourself.
Florida’s made some, doesn’t oversign and still managed to win a few championships.
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That’s right, and if I recall, we have the same record as UF over the past ten years. Just the right losses/breaks and they win 2 MNCs with one loss each season and we don’t.
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This is true, but surely everyone knows that these jitterbug guys don’t fit our offense at this point. And I’m not sure CT has the skill set to really be considered one of those ultra fast “just get him the ball in space” type of backs. Carlton probably should be in CUSA, just to be honest about it.
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No offense yourself, but I think my context is pretty clear. I’ve never said we couldn’t afford one now and then. For example, the current RB situation. Had we signed an SEC RB instead of Thomas, he might be picking up the slack right now, even though we made another evaluative mistake with Samuel.
But I’ll say this: If you want to win SEC championships without oversigning, they (evaluation mistakes) better be few and far between. The bar in the SEC has been raised in recent years, in case you haven’t noticed. Because not every player is going to work out.
You may be confusing evaluation mistakes with players who just don’t work out. That’s a different thing altogether. Such players don’t work out for different reasons … Ealey and King are examples, and we have our share of those, as most every team does.
Evaluation mistakes, on the other hand, never had a chance in the first place. They either don’t fit the system, fall just short in talent for the position you target them for, or they just aren’t PLAYERS. Whatever the reason, they are never going to help you.
Evaluation mistakes have been a significant part of Georgia’s decline of the last 5 years, especially on defense. Now that that’s fixed, we have to tighten up the offensive side, which has been mediocre at best with OL, RB’s, and WR’s.
~~~
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If I may say so, I’d like to say something that is rarely ever pointed out. The most important position, whether on-the-field or in terms of recruiting, we all have come to take for granted under Richt. That’s QB, of course.
As long as Richt is in Athens, we’re going to have elite QB’s, and they are going to be well-coached. I remember all too well the days when we didn’t have elite QB’s. Not only that, but we had years where we wondered if the best QB we had would be adequate and give us a chance to win.
Under Richt, everything has fluctuated but that. And if you could pick one area to be stable in, it would have to be QB. I know there was a bump or two along the way, with Cox and the first half of 2006. But there IS something that has consistently been right. And it has prevented any number of disasters over the past decade.
~~~
Everything
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JT3 & Joe Cox were pretty elite… no doubt.
/sarcasm. But I do agree with your overall point.
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I don’t want to beat a dead horse but Joe Cox was a good QB. The reason for the 8-5 season was no running game for the first half of the season (which goes back to the OL problems) and a bad D all year. Without Joe Cox UGA loses to Arky, USCe and Arizona State that year in addition to the games we did lose. A 5-7 season.
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You seem to forget that Joe Cox was highly regarded coming out of school, and had followed Chris Leak at the important Independence, NC school. Had he gotten more support, and not gotten only one year, I think we might have seen alot more out of the Ginger Ninja.
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Auburn buys the right guys.
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You know, if my job was depending on the performance of a football team this fall, this is exactly the kind of BS that I could do without.
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And we haven’t even started pre-season practice. Any injuries and things could get ugly.
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Was Carlton Thomas seriously in the running for playing time? We haven’t established that the guy isn’t an SEC caliber back yet? Save me the “we just need to get him into space” argument. I’m not seeing it.
The Samuel move made me worry more about what Boo Malcome was bringing to the table more than anything else.
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I humbly refer you to 2009 and 2010. Yes, he was seriously in the running for playing time, the coaches do think that he can have some sort of an impact on the running game, they don’t think that he has to get out in space to do it, and they were goign to keep shooting him out of a cannon directly into a wall just like the hamsters in that Overstock.com Super Bowl commercial until he was broken in half and until we were 0-2.
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“he was seriously in the running for playing time, the coaches do think that he can have some sort of an impact on the running game..”
the most damning indictment of our fearless leader.
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Didn’t we lose our running game coordinator to Texas?
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dont we have a wee walkon who did pretty well in the spring? Surely we wont have to junk the Wild Elf formation just because Carlton Thomas has to sit out.
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I confess to ignorance. I thought Harton (5’6″-walkon) was mentioned several times by Richt for runs and in the Spring Game. He’s listed as WR on the roster so I’m not as certain as I was.
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Our RBs are dropping faster than Obama’s approval rating.
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Our RB’s are dropping faster than Chinese drywall imports under the Hoot-Smalley Tailback Act
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Amen, don’t support her. You get so defensive, I’m guessing union, right? You are a true angry, white man.
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I am an angry, white man. Much like many Republicans who dislike Obama. But all politics aside, why even make the comparison? And what did you expect to happen?
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Ray, dammit! How’d you know I was white? Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 119 papermill work put the fried food and collards on me and my family when I was a kid. And furthermore, I’m not defensive, I’m offensive. White and offensive. Somewhat like Bible Spice and the Hoot-Smalley chick except they’re much hotter
http://instaputz.blogspot.com/2011/07/still-catering-to-21-percenters.html
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While the “facts” from elitist liberal books might say that the Smoot-hawley tariff was passed by a republican congress and president in 1930, I don’t trust “facts”. I trust my gut and my gut says that FDR signed the hoot-smalley tariff Just prior to the great depression. And then he was re-elected 3 times because of the liberal bias in tv news. You may say that “facts” say that there weren’t tvs then but my grand dad told me he saw Paul revere warning the British on CBS news and that happened you know around the same time.
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Yeah, Hoover was an idiot, he started a trade war during a recession and a credit crisis.
Of course FDR took office in `1933 gutted the tariff and the depression continued for 8 more years.
Wonder why that was? I’m sure it was Hoover’s fault.
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Interesting. So how quickly do you think an economy should be able to turn around completely during a world-wide depression?
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The Big one WWII finally ended the depression and politicians have been starting them for economic reasons ever after.
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Great idea! Let’s start WWIII and end the recession that way!
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I approve heartily of your rebuttal here, Mayor. I also, Senator, would very humbly point out that there ARE intelligent people who think FDR botched the Depression and made it worse. But, yeah, saying that a freaking war, destructive by its very nature, somehow solves a depression is utter madness. Of course, the kinds of economists who usually advocate that sort of theory are generally Keynesians, which is…roughly the policy philosopy FDR used during the Great Depression (allowing for some anachronism there, since Keynes’ opus wasn only published in 1936….)
Real history and “facts” = too complicated to score easy points like this.
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If FDR were truly a Keynesian, his 1937 budget would never have seen the light of day.
And to suggest that war is an economic policy which Keynesian economists advocate really does a disservice to JMK’s theories.
Not to mention that many people conveniently forget the other side of his coin: in good times, he advocated that governments should reduce their spending.
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It would really be amazing to be able to avoid politics here. I love football, Georgia Football, and this is my favorite place to come read about things pertaining to that. If I want political schlock, there are more places than I care to count that can fulfill that need. Can we cut the crap from both sides of the aisle, please?
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Yes ma’am.
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More quickly than ours did in the 1930’s, and each side had it’s moments. Idiot brain Republican protectionist tariffs pushed things over the edge, and a populist trust puppy president kept it there because he wouldn’t stop stirring the pot.
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Yes, this.
It should also be pointed out that Hoover was a “superstar” politician who was actually sought after by both parties in the late 1920’s (an odd thing to imagine today, admittedly). In the progressive era of “bureaucratic engineering,” he was thought to be one of the best all around.
And, hey, at least everyone is now admiting in their partisan fervor to blame the depression on one party of the other that Hoover was NOT a “laissez-faire” president who sat by and refused to take corrective action when the market crashed in 1929. The pro-FDR crowd has pushed that as canon for…well, about 80 years. Hoover believed in manipulating the economy out of the depression, and FDR believed the same thing.
But, for my part, I apologize for being up all night and thus losing site of my manners. What really matters here is, Go Dawgs!
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These types of mistakes would not happen if Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was quoted more often.
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“Bueller?….Bueller?”
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10000+
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Defense….paging the dawg defense. Please report to the 2011 season immediately to pick-up your package of responsibility (shutouts, scoring, etc.)
On the bright side, Aaron Murray should be on pace now to set some collegiate passing records!
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Well, there’s always 2012. Should have some talent returning for next year.
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It’s almost like the rest of our RBs have been actively looking for ways not to have to take the field since Crowell signed.
I wait with bated breath to find the reason Ken Malcome can’t take the field on Sept. 5 — both arms broken in a wakeboarding accident? Arrested for trafficking in exotic birds? Snap decision to join the priesthood?
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…Driving Mudcat’s car.
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I heard Boo just got a scooter.
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…Driving Derrick’s scooter a Lott
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Was it a F’ing Scooter?
Wow! The Chinese have themselves one popular model.
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Pingback: What Is Going On At The AJC??? « The Grit Tree
Beer me tailbacks.
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Wait a minute. WAIT A MINUTE. He’s suspended for 10% of the games, but they didn’t say which 10%. Can’t we pull a Spurrier or Corch move and choose more wisely?
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Has a team ever lost their first 3 starting backs?…
Crowell must have put some fear into those boys back during his visit before signing. That or maybe Richt just looked at em all and said, “You suck, so I’m bringing in a new guy.”
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Big deal. Honey Badger doesn’t give a shit.
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Dr. Marcus Bachmann doesn’t give a shit about Honey Badger’s narrator
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Please don’t use Marcus and Honey in the same sentence.
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Boy, the defense better be lights out this fall.
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Agreed. Money quote from Bluto in 3, 2, 1…
“But Caleb King was never going to be the one to lead this year’s team to glory. That’s been on Todd Grantham’s shoulders all along.”
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Make up your minds will ya!
Yesterday, you couldn’t have cared less about Carlton Thomas, yet today we can’t win without him.
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You know, I thought I would find Georgia’s Play-by-Play last year and look at this meme y’all have created. So CNNSI has only the major opponents, so no idaho state or SW L. And I thought I would see lots of runs up the middle for Mr. Thomas, after all you guys make it seem it happened every killed drive. Well for last year, I saw it two times, once on 3rd and 4, 0 yards and once on 3rd and 8, zero yards, and one of those was listed as right not middle so.
When did all of these 3rd and longs happen, because it did not happen last year. In fact, I see a lot of +10 runs by Thomas up the middle. Those were on 1st and 2nd down, which can not be the case, since Bobo only throws long on first downs.
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It’s not a meme, it’s a joke.
Here are Thomas’ situational stats from last season. He carried the ball three times on third down and gained a total of four yards.
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I guess I did not realize it was a joke. But looking at his over all, he had a lot of +10 rushes, which seems weird thinking back about it.
I tell you what I did see a lot of on 3rd down, Murray Sacked.
And also weird last names, Heavens from Miss State recovers fumble, Major from Colorado recovers Fumble, Hurt from Florida recovers fumble. Got to be unusual to see so many normal word last names recovering fumble, game killers all.
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Joke or not, If the line does its job a 3 or 4 yard gain should be inevitable.
“See that hole, you could run through it”.
The line let Bobo down; not the back or the play calling.
I Still believe CMR would have gone for it in the bowl game, instead of the FG, if he had any confidence in the OL or even the Defense.
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I can’t be the only person that has the “meh” reaction about this, right? I mean, I don’t want to be lumped into the Original Cynical’s group of those that have completely given up on Richt, but considering everything that’s happened the last four years, isn’t stuff like this just par for the course? I guess what I’m saying is, it serves me no purpose to get all bent out of shape over things happening this offseason that are no different than the past few offseasons.
I suppose I’m just in the “wait and see” camp that will either see this team in the 4th quarter in the GA Dome performing the same way it has in the past and just reconfirming what we already know or we will see a team in that 4th quarter that clearly has taken on the changes in S&C, utilization of personnel, lack of predicable playcalling, defending the wheel route, etc.. Then, and only then, will I have more hope and optimism than my current state of just being resigned to the “we are who we are” camp.
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You aren’t the only one to react with “meh” to this. I’m right there with you. I would like to know what he did to merit the suspension because odds are it was something that most other teams would overlook and not punish a kid for.
Still, losing CT for one game (BSU, I’m assuming) is not important. He’s too small to block effectively and if a defender gets a pinky on him then he goes down. He doesn’t hang on to the ball well either (2 fumbles at G-Day this year if I remember correctly).
It’s being talked about more because there is so little to talk about right now and people are excited because the season is getting close.
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Thomas will never be a 3rd down or even up the middle RB like Moreno or most of the RBs under Bobo. However he could be very effective in a Harvin type roll if they can get him in space.
If Bobo can not figure out he averages 1 yard on 3rd down I doubt he can figure Thomas could catch a pass forcing a defender to cover him in space rather than Thomas having to block whe he is clearly undersized for the roll.
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It seems that this breaking news was a little old. He broke a rule in the spring and the media just now finds out cause we announce it. So this could be the results of our spring cleaning that everyone has been raving about. If we truly need Carlton to beat BSU and SCU then we are doomed from the start.
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That, or the AJC sports section is just going back through their emails and voicemails from the last 20 months wondering what else they’ve missed.
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+100
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“If we truly need Carlton to beat BSU and SCU then we are doomed from the start.”
Exactly. If he was going to be key in us being competitive against BSU then I would rather watch LSU-Oregon that night because our game would be a blowout win for BSU before haltime rolled around.
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I have no idea if the Samuel move makes sense but I’d prefer him running the ball between tackles than Carlton. And, the other guys are young so who knows, a maturer Samuel could be a decent back.
I bet he lays out a few Boise linebackers.
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it’s gonna be ok guys… Seen at Sanford Stadium today.
From B. Walsh’s twitter…
http://c0013869.cdn1.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/x2_73e3fee
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Is that a full on double rainbow all the way??? What does this mean???
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Well the Elf package isn’t dead yet…we still have the walk on RB who is a jitterbug and IMO much faster and quicker than Thomas.
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I am just curious if we have ever had a true freshman RB with as much pressure on him before he even suits up for game one? Anyone?
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Bryan McLendon doesn’t really seem to be doing too good of a job looking after his guys, does he? Should he be held responsible at all…? Just wondering.
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