While I understand where Paul is coming from with this comment…
Spurrier may have a lot of flaws, but he knows how to get his best player the ball. Compare that to Mark Richt who waited til Boykin’s fourth season to even try getting him the ball on offense, and we STILL haven’t seen Branden Smith on offense again despite being the biggest homerun threat on the UGA sideline.
… I’m not sure he’s leading with the best examples there.
Me, when I look at Lattimore’s career to date, I’m reminded about Richt wasting Knowshon Moreno’s freshman year. Even if you don’t think it would have had a huge impact on the 2006 season had he taken the field, given the quarterback situation, how much of a difference do you think an experienced Moreno would have made in the offensive game plan in early 2007 (South Carolina game, hint, hint)?
That’s not the case this year, Boykin and Smith notwithstanding. Richt pretty much telegraphed Crowell’s future on signing day and the freshman became the starter in week three. Malcolm Mitchell leads the team in receptions.
So I’m willing to give a little credit where credit is due here. It’s just that, like so many other things that have marked Georgia’s recent decline, it never should have gotten to this point in the first place.
Get The Picture 
Hmm, wonder how much McGarity’s presence has made in Richt’s new prescience?
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Honestly, I think Richt did this all on his own. The times make the man.
I wonder how quickly A.J. would have seen the field if he’d have signed in, say, 2003.
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“it never should have gotten to this point in the first place.”
and that’s the only part that really matters.
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And they all said “AMEN”
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Hindsight is always 20-20.
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And an extended period of excellence is always going to be followed by a decline, whether slow or precipitous. The tough thing about the slow decline is recognizing it as such, rather than just a hiccup. I hope (and believe) Richt has recognized it in time.
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Weren’t they initially protecting Branden’s foot by limiting him to just defense and punt return? At least that was the initial reason given.
And at this point, I think they are using Boykin in the spots they had planned on using Smith. I don’t remember Boykin’s recruitment and whether they thought he might come in on offense (similar to Mitchell’s where he was a DB but coming in they knew he was gonna get in some offense). If that’s the case, I don’t hold them much accountable for waiting on Boykin.
By Paul’s logic, every play should call either Crowell or Branden Smith’s number. And while we always said “throw it to AJ”, that just isnt going to be the reality during the game. The defense is gonna take away things and the ball’s gonna have to be spread around and players like Michael Bennett are gonna get a catch. We can’t scream, that shoulda been a reverse to Smith!
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Boykin was DB / QB in highschool, if my memory serves. But we have discovered a talent for carrying the ball in the open field.
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Boy, I wonder how we figured that out, seeing as he never touched the ball until this yea…wait, oh yeah, scratch that.
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Someone saw something and played him as a return man.
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Actually the coaches have been quoted as saying they have different packages for Smith and Boykin. Still, Smith has not played offense thus far due to health.
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Well, that should be pretty easy to call either Crowell’s or Smith’s number since they are the SAME!!
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For whatever it is worth, I like Boykin on offense much more than B. Smith. Also, with respect to talent utilization, Spurrier has made a mess of his QB management over the years and I am pretty sure Marcus Lattimore is headed toward the fate of Earl Campbell. Of course, the response from many will be — who cares about his long term career as long as he produces in college. If you want to make that argument, fine make it with yourself – you win.
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I still read GSB whenever they post something new, but, to be honest, the level of analysis over there is starting to remind me of that guy with the goatee who is always yelling at the coaches for something during the game. If you go to the games, you know who I’m talking about. If you don’t think that guy sits in your section, then you are that guy. On a side note, Richt needs to learn that now is not the time to admit mistakes to the press.
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Agreed about GSB. And are too quick to forget the stable of RB’s we had when knowshon was a true freshman. Brown, Lumpkin, and Ware were all supposed to be pretty good. Yeah, in retrospect, maybe giving Knowshon experience in 2006 would have helped him be better quicker in 2007, but it wouldn’t have prevented Stafford from overthrowing him by ten yards on that wide open wheel route in the loss to SC that year. I still see that play in my nightmares.
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They guy who should have been redshirted was Stafford. THAT guy should have had a year to learn the system and work on his mechanics, but our coaching staff had so much depth at QB after such a great job recruiting!
Joe Tereshinski III should never have seen the playing field even as a backup QB, much less having no one to stay ahead of him on the depth chart other than the QB we stole away from Duke and a true freshman.
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Agree completely.
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The analysis overlooks the glaringly obvious: getting Boykin and Smith on the field for offense puts your defense at risk. Just when have we have quality depth in the secondary. Both of these players not only play defense, they are key cogs on Special Teams, how many plays have we actually missed usewd them? To be effective, you have to have them on the field for a series of plays, you are only going to surprise the opponents once by slipping them in. I am already concerned that we may be over utilizing Boykin, there is only so much gas in one guy’s tank.
Just because you want something doesn’t mean you can have it. Seems like everyone is stretching for a way to take shots at CMR, it isn’t hard when you are a football coach. After all, Satan has only won one SEC title since taking over at Bama…and they haver built a damn statue of him!
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I don’t think Paul’s talking about giving them a bunch of touches on offense, just more than zero in Smith’s case. And to the extent that you deploy Smith on offense, don’t you take some of the burden off of Boykin?
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I think BS was also nursing an injury which could have impacted his “additional” playing time.
AHD, I agree about Rainey, he was also the difference in the UGA game last year…a game he should have watched in street clothes after his “time to die” fiasco. Still, Rainey isn’t a direct comparison to me. Hopefully his tank runs dry before the end of October.
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“there is only so much gas in one guy’s tank. ” Did you watch the Fla-UT game? Rainey was everywhere. He was the difference in that game.
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Did you watch Lattimore against Navy? I have never seen the guy winded. After 4-5 hard consecutive carries 5-10 yards up the middle draggin LBs and he was just looking around unconcerned like he was searching for the reference section at the library.
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I think he would look much more uncomfortable in the library.
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Isn’t Branden Smith injured? Didn’t CMR specifically say that’s the reason why he hasn’t seen touches on offense? Am I missing something here?
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He was early on, but I think the last comment I saw from the coaches is that he’s recovered.
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I suppose the only point left to make is that it seemed hardly necessary to throw Smith in against the likes of Coastal. I know one could make the point that the whole reason for playing Coastal (other than insuring a PPV game with mediocre attendance) is to scrimmage, so, well, whatever.
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Exactly. We’ve only played three games. I agree with the above post that I prefer Boykin on offense over Smith anyways. I just worry that he’s eventually going to run out of gas. Seriously, though, when was the last time we had a player that dynamic?
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Well, it’s great that Boykin is getting a lot of time on offense right now, and that it’s working well. The second he gets hurt on an offensive snap and leaves the secondary weakened, though, I’ll be pissed.
However, the impact of losing him on defense OR the fact that he may have needed to focus on defense to learn his primary position aren’t the biggest reasons he probably didn’t see time on offense in his first three years. Simply put, it really wasn’t needed. We had running backs, plural, instead of running back, singular. We also had enough people to catch the ball. We had Branden Smith for when we wanted to get cute. And, as I’ve said before, the offense wasn’t the problem. The DEFENSE was why we lost so many games. We scored enough points in most games to win them. We let in WAY too many points. Perhaps he was where he was needed back then, and is where he is needed now as well?
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Not picking on a great athlete, but I saw Boykins’ run in the Dome, but then his missed INT through his hands and wiff of a tackle on the fake punt vs USc.
I’d feel better if his game-changing abilities occur on defense the rest of the season.
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I can’t beat him up too much on that whiff tackle. That guy was a load and he was in 4th gear and had 100 pound weight advantage.
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Is there a chart of the dropped interceptions the past two years. Think that is a sizeable number.
If you look at the SEC stats and cfb stats this squad is ok on offense. They have the guys to score points. They have come around to an offense that is productive. It will be an offense that should transition with sets and plays. I’m always amazed at the fixation of player utilization ideas from fans. Like has been said Boykins run from the “shotgun” set was good. The set is more important than the player. It was the demarcation of Bobo switching from the coed formation to a more aggressive, production offense. They have the players for the shotgun. Like a blogger posted yesterday with formations about the pistol. Crowell is the key and there are a lot of sets they will run him from. They have the QB to get the scores and plays done. They just need to not turn the ball over and not take negative plays. Boykin and Smith are on the right side of the ball … defense and special teams. If you do not think Boykin has been properly used, well, I’d look at those cfb states on individual players.
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