Having watched Richt’s Media Days appearance, I can say he delivered this answer to the question about his concern over depth at running back as matter-of-factly as it reads:
… I think we have plenty of depth at that position right now. The question is how productive will we be, you know. But a year ago I didn’t leave the season thinking, ‘Man, we were ultraproductive at the tailback position.’ I left the season saying we fell short at the running back position. My feeling is when this season is over, I’m going to feel better about how the running backs did this year than a year ago. [Emphasis added.]
My amazement at Ealey and King for not reading the offseason tea leaves (or reading them and not taking the news seriously) grows by the day.
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UPDATE: Weiszer has more comments of a similar nature from Richt here.
Get The Picture 
Both o’dem got de Beeg Haiditis and lost dey way…
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Sounds serious. What is it?
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I think we have plenty of depth at that position right now.
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Richt’s selling bullshit 2 for a $1. Ealey and King were major disappointments but I would go so far as to say we have plenty of depth. Crowell is a complete unkonwn, Malcome in unproven, Thomas is good for a 3 yard loss and Samuel is in his 2nd position change.
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Tennessee, consider that depth is different from talent.
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They could add me to the roster also, but the team won’t get any better.
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And with you on the roster as CMR pointed out “The question is how productive will we be, you know.” We are where we are right now and we won’t know exactly where we are going until we get there. LOL
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Hogbody Spradlin
July 22, 2011 at 7:54 AM
Tennessee, consider that depth is different from talent.
———————————————————————
In light of your response, I thought this comment was worth repeating.
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That’s what she said!
/bada bing
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+1
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How can an accurate description of the circumstances be “bullshit”? We have depth. But, we also have question marks. Richt’s pretty clear about this.
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2nd that. Tennessee, please elaborate on which part (SPECIFICALLY) of Richt’s comment is bullshit?
“… I think we have plenty of depth at that position right now (true, with four running backs, five if you include Harton). The question is how productive will we be, you know (a true and fair qualifying question to the depth answer). But a year ago I didn’t leave the season thinking, ‘Man, we were ultraproductive at the tailback position.’ (absolutely true) I left the season saying we fell short at the running back position (again, absolutely true). My feeling is when this season is over, I’m going to feel better about how the running backs did this year than a year ago (speculative, yes, but it’s hard to go anywhere but up from where we were at RB last season between suspensions and production).”
So, all of what he said is, as Charles points out, pretty clear. Is mudslinging at Richt going to the to M.O. all season or are we going to rally behind the team like fans ought to?
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+ ! ..
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We’re going to have fans all year long waiting for the other shoe to drop, dropping negative turds in the punch bowl every time we win a game. “Oh, well, we SHOULD beat them, we’ll probably still lose to Florida…”
I can hear it already.
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I Agree.
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That we have plenty of depth. Compared to other SEC schools we don’t have a ton of depth at RB at least not SEC caliber depth
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You were a bit harsh with CMR with the bs call out. Still a h/t for showing up and posting a response. You should get a do over. In truth we don’t know what we have …. but we are looking on the bright side. Or trying too.
Go Dawgs!
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Let’s just put aside the fact that he said we have plenty of “depth,” which means bodies and not necessarily “SEC caliber depth,” and he clears that up IN THE VERY NEXT SENTENCE with “let’s see how productive (said depth) will be.” Let’s chalk that up to semantics and consider…
-We have two backs with SEC experience who averaged 4.25ypc in 2010 and 4.5 ypc in 2009.
-We also have two backs who you’ve never seen in SEC action. 3 of the top ten in rushing in the SEC last year were first year starters, TWO of them true freshmen.
– I’m looking at other SEC East schools with all this RB depth and frankly I don’t see all this depth you speak of. USC has Lattimore. UF has Demps and Rainey (nice I power backs). Tennessee has Poole.
All this is to say I am just getting sick and tired of our “fans” who try to put down our coach at every corner and I feel the need to stand up for him. He may or may not be a great coach, but he’s our coach. Show some freakin respect and stop saying he’s full of shit behind the comfort of a computer screen.
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I really doubt that Crowell is a complete unknown. Everyone in the country knows about him. he completed against the best competition on numerous occasions. It isnt like we recruited coco-B-ware from parts unknown to be RB for the team and he can only speak through his translator.
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Two questions regarding Koko B. Ware: Does he have any eligibility left? Can he be here for the start of fall practice?
Did you hear that parts unknown was actually Sheboygan, WI? Why don’t we go after in-state talent, first?
/troll
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You are right – Crowell is not a total unknown commodity as an athlete. How he will react to the pressures of being in the spotlight at Georgia are somewhat unkown at this point.
The other unknown, which I think a lot of people are overlooking right now, is how he will hold up physically in the SEC. The guy struggled to stay healthy at the high school level.
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That is certainly my concern, Crowell’s injury history… I know very little of Crowell except that the recruiting rankings speak very well of him, but we all know that doesn’t make a top SEC back by itself. I am not basing my expectations this year on the RB situation… If someone breaks out, then great, all the better… My belief is in A Murray and his leadership abilities along w/ his X’s & O’s acumen to get any hungry tailback in the right spots to be successful and even more so with a hungry/talented RB.
I recall the quote from coach Bobo about AM this time last year (I’m paraphrasing here), ” This kid, more so than any other QB I can recall knows all the answers and all the reads on the chalkboard, its just whether it translates on the field.”
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I think Ealey got the message and couldn’t handle it. King on the other hand tried to get it together, but it was too late.
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This, exactly…
Ealey was just a screw up who was going to continue to screw up, no matter what.
With Caleb, you had to know that this was coming back in the spring when it came out that he needed something like 21 credit hours between then and summer to gain eligibility. I think he did try to turn it around, but the academic hole he had dug for himself was just too deep.
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21 credit hours over a spring and summer semester are not an atypical haul for a NORMAL student. But if we’re talking about a real nimrod, I could see it being difficult.
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I think they could pull that off at Auburn.
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Independant study sociology classes, anyone? War Damn Academics!
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Not to be disagreeable, but a full load is 15 semester hours. So you’re talking about doing a full load in the spring and then throwing on what… two, three classes in the summer? Your normal college student does that with regularity. I had friends who were pulling 18 hour semesters, or even 21.
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Wait. Just re-read your comment and spotted the “a” that was hiding in front of the word “typical”. I’m a moron. I’ll show myself out.
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Apparently he only completed 24 credit hours in 3 years, so 21 in 6 months is damn near impossible.
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Wow. And my folks got pissed when I had two semesters of only 12 hours one year…
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I think Ealey will enjoy his role as the big fish in a smaller pond.
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I think that’s what he thought he was in Athens. Delusion is a helluva drug.
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+1
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Regarding the update link, Murray’s quote about the “Dream Team” sounds promising.
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straight talk from richt on the running back situation–nothing more, nothing less.
i’m surprised no one is talking much about ben jones’s rather pointed (for a joke, i thought) question to richt about whether or not he would trust the ol this year. i found that revealing: do the ol players feel that the coaches never gave them a chance last year, because my clear recollection is that run blocking pretty much sucked from the first drive of the season to the last (and pass blocking was only marginally better aided by murray’s escapability).
i worry about the fragile psychology of this team, but maybe that’s just my fragile state of mind about uga football in this era.
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No. That’s a huge concern I have, too. It’s also why I entertain the heretical thought that the Boise State game is more important than the South Carolina game.
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Perhaps Coach T’s military/boot camp style of conditioning is just what the doctor ordered to create some cohesion and mental toughness within that group. I’ve heard the punishment meted out by CVD for the hog theft and following que really created some cohesion within that 1980 team.
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Sometimes when they’re about to get lit up, they think there are two Coach T’s
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then we’re heretics together because i agree with you. in practical terms, everyone knows sc matters more for the season’s accomplishments. but i have profound doubts about this team’s ability to pick itself up in six days for sc should it drop an embarrassing game to boise playing in funny-looking unis at “home” (and no disrespect for what bsu has accomplished, but any kind of loss to them will be embarrassing).
if we drop that game, i worry about a snowballing effect. i think we absolutely must start 2-0 to have this thing go the way we want. if that happens, i think the psychology starts to turn the other way and we could have a special season. but i remain pessimistic. . . .
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same. aside from flash in the pan run against some mediocre but brand name squads in 2007 — something of a mirage, as fun as it was — Richt’s teams have been stagnant for several years. i think it’s hard to overstate the amount of program confidence that is hanging in the balance for those two games.
i’ve slowly but surely become pessimistic on Richt’s chances and that won’t change until proven otherwise.
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“flash in the pan run against some mediocre but brand name squads in 2007”
WTF does that even mean? We finished the year ranked #2 in the nation. You do realize we beat #16 Bama on the road, #9 Florida in Jax, #19 Auburn at home (that was three ranked teams in four weeks BTW), #25 Kentucky at home, and #10 Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl, right?
So we stubbed our toe twice. So did national champion LSU that very same year.
But, I mean, whatever fits your agenda I Guess.
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It makes his argument sound better to diminish Richt’s achievements. Frankly, I have to admire his restraint when he didn’t throw off on the ’02 and ’05 seasons.
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My agenda is Mark Richt full steam ahead. May he keep his job for a long time. My outlook, on the other hand, is more grim: I’m not sure he has what it takes to make up for a few seasons of stagnation in a highly competitive conference. Is that really so controversial?
My point about 2007 was/is: Those teams we beat, which you dutifully listed, had nice rankings. Yes. But they all had major flaws and I believe our 2007 was more talented than all of them. Yes – almost all college teams have their flaws, but I don’t consider any of those 2007 victories situations where Richt really corched our team up to beat a clearly superior, more talented squad. The last time I can remember that happening was Auburn in 2006. But that version of history is debatable – fine.
There are other coaches around that seem to actually leverage “coaching” to make wins out of losses. Just saying, our coach hasn’t been able to do that in a while. In fact, we’ve done the opposite, losing to teams that have far less talent.
I have been against and remain against a coaching change at this point. (Risky, expensive, Richt is a decent guy, etc.) I really want to see Richt turn it around. Will he? I dunno. But I have to turn back the clock quite a ways to find my confidence.
If you can be righteously indignant about that point and my reflection that maybe 2007 wasn’t quite as stunning a run as it felt like at the time, then, well, there’s always daytime television I guess.
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How can you discount wins just because we were the more talented team? Isn’t the point to be more talented? I am frustrated with the last few seasons as much as you are, but I wanted to point out the absurdity of you calling the 2007 season a “flash in the pan.”
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I hear ya. I think reasonable minds can differ on our 2007 run.
Talent is a goal but it’s not the end goal. Winning is. I think talent + coaching + luck and other stuff is what gets you to the end goal. Winning over teams that we’re :”not supposed to beat” is sort of what I’m getting at. We were damn close to having a couple of games like that last year, but we fell just short. We’re not far off, but we’ve been a “find a way to lose team” rather than a “find a way to win” team for a while now.
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It ain’t heretical and “good on you”, Senator. I’m upbeat from the fans on today’s blog. Just like the team, we need to be cohesive as well.
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“we need to be cohesive as well.”
That doesn’t mean we have to sign another pledge of allegiance, does it?
My kicking leg’s already tired from the Americans for Taxual Healing Pledge
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2011/07/new-tax-pledge-involving-grover.html
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who’s gonna be the water girl?
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It won’t be Bobo
“Norquist is the Zelig of Republican catastrophe. His method is always the same. He enforces rigid ultimatums that make governance, or even thinking, impossible.”
But NPR’s Diane Rehm and spasmodic dysphonia have a conversation with Grover, not about Schwetty balls but about his Pledge of Allegiance to Grover Norquist, so maybe it could be her
“What amazes me about the Diane Rheme show is that it doesn’t seem to matter how goofy your ideas are if you are a right wing ideologue, there is always a place for you at the table. On the other hand, if you are someone who has figured out the con job that is being run on the American people you may be considered a little too “controversial”.
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-07-14/conversation-grover-norquist
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Get ready for another one. Her name is Blank Enbeker. Showed up today.
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You better not mess with her. Not only is she a badass,
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/07/lynne-blankenbeker-union-shoot-new-hampshire
she’s still hunting for Osama because she doesn’t think Obama had him terminated with extreme prejudice
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/09/osama-bin-laden-death-skeptics-lynne-blankenbeker_n_859371.html
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Speaking of reading tea leaves I thought Richt’s response about Crowell is somewhat telling. You don’t hear any sound bites from players, coaches, or rumors that he’s focused or earned anyone’s respect so far. From what I’ve heard and seen myself the work ethic has not appeared yet. I’m not writing him off, it’s just that he seems to be the type of guy that Richt and the program has taken heat over. I hope I’m wrong.
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In his defense, they haven’t really started practice yet either. WRs can get together and run routes with Murray all day, but Crowell can’t be expected to call up the Dline and practice running through tackles when he hasn’t even practiced in pads for the team yet.
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I agree with you about that Senator. The Boise State game may be the biggest game of the year, IMO.
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I have been of this same mindset from the get go, Senator. The Boise game is a statement game for this young team. It is either a change of direction from the last few seasons or it is a continuation of finding ways to lose. Its not that this game will define the entire season, but more so that it is a game that this team can either carry like a torch throughout the season and light the way through the rough spots that naturally occur during the season or it can be that seed of doubt that creeps in anytime an excuse is needed. Yes, the S.C. game is crucial too, but it is the first SEC game for both teams and even if we lose, we know SC is a team to be respected (defending east champs) and if we get to work, get a few SEC victories under our belt then we may be able to watch SC fall back to us throughout SEC play.
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Few years back, Suzanne Yoculan called out some freshman – VERY pointedly in the press. I worried that it was a bit too harsh, etc. Turned out she read her team perfectly, as they went on to the next 4 of their five NCs in a row. That particular group needed – and got – a wake up call.
Some teams don’t need it. Gary Williams’s UMD basketball team had lost 4 or five games in a row in late Jan/Feb, but after Juan Dixon asked him to cool it a bit, they went on to 2 straight Final 4s and an NC. That group was a self motivating class.
Each team and each player are motivated a bit differently. I think CMR is reading and now treating this team correctly again. It has not been that way since Stafford was a Frosh. To much calling out guys who aren’t motivated that way and coddling guys like Ealey who weren’t motivated by love and second chances! He’s reading this group right.
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+1
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Good word.
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That was an unusual question from Ben Jones, even if joking. Then again, CMR said “CSS didn’t do a good job, he did a GREAT job”. Perhaps CMR is getting tired of revisiting issues of last season, together with questions about the mounting issues of the upcoming season. Sometimes no response says more than any answer.
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Perhaps Richt’s comments re the RB play last year was also intended as motivation for their coach.
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Yeah. It’s clearly all his fault.
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“. . . also intended . . . “
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In other news, guys seem pretty high on Malcolm Mitchell. Can’t wait to see what that kid can do.
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From comments, you would think we may not have as big a vacuum from AJ’s absence as we thought. Hope he’s able to make a diff.
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If Malcolm in the middle is as good as Malcolm going deep…
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I see what they mean about long strider. That kid’s got some speed. Lets hope he does the same against the big boys.
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I think the rumors on Crowell are overblown. I think he’s a quiet kid and I think there are a lot of people out there that want to hate on him. He reminds me of Robert Edwards personality wise.
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What grade would give you the running game for last year ? Now do you see coach’s point ? I did.
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Agree. I read a quote from Murray saying the team leaders challenged him and he responded. I put more stock In that than anything I will read on a message board.
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Meant for sugardaddy.
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This post is littered with incoherent bullshit. Senator, hit the reset button.
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You and TD should hang out.
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Whadda you want? Coherent bullshit?
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As someone who works with 18-22 year olds every day, I’m totally unsurprised.
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