Once upon a time, Mark Richt could joke about Georgia’s special teams’ troubles:
After Georgia struggled on kickoffs yet again, Richt joked that he might have to scour Europe in hopes of finding a kicker with a strong enough leg to help Georgia win some field-position battles.
“We might have to go to Poland or something to find a guy who can kick it out of the end zone,” Richt said. “We’ll give him two scholarships.”
The humor seems to be gone these days, though.
“I’ve been kind of putting my list together,” Richt said. “Certainly we’ve got to get some better answers in our special teams. It doesn’t necessarily mean changing any coaches on what they do or all that kind of thing, but I’m going to make that a point of emphasis for myself and for our staff and give them carte blanche to take trips or we may be bringing people in to really solidify what we’re doing and be certain that we’re doing the right things schematically and technically.”
…
“I’m going to have a bigger push to use the best personnel regardless of if he’s a starter or not or receiver or running back,” Richt said. “I don’t care what he is. We’ve got to get the best guys.”
You’ve come a long way from Logan Gray, baby.
Get The Picture 
When I read things like this, it seems as if things are really coming together for next year.
Hope you had a great Christmas, Senator.
LikeLike
Happy New Year Senator! From Buffet above…you know Vince regarding the long snapper…also the Logan Grey comment..a good one..as Opie dawg once said”fear the raised hand”.
Matdawg
LikeLike
A light has certainly turned on over there…at least from outside the arena.
LikeLike
Georgia vs. the SEC West the last five years: Amateurs vs. professionals.
Amazing how we are so willing to surrender advantages on and off the field.
LikeLike
This looks like Richt is gonna work to eliminate the special teams freebies. He will still not oversign, but I believe Richt is done with complacency.
LikeLike
There is no free lunch, Chad. If CMR won’t oversign then whatever additional schollies are directed to the ST problem comes out of somewhere else.
LikeLike
I do not believe we will see any special teams schollys, per se. What I hope we will see are a mix of ones, twos and threes stepping up and wanting to be on the coverage and receiving teams as an opportunity to influence the game and be a playmaker. I hope, and believe, this is what Richt will look to instill.
My point about the over signing was that Richt will never be on board with that practice. It is an advantage certain schools will always exploit against us until they implement multi year schollys.
LikeLike
Agreed.
LikeLike
The “feel good” stories about offering walk-on’s scholarships ultimately translated into those guys playing on special teams and really hurting us against quality competition. I don’t want to take away from those guys contributions in practice on the scout teams, but they are way overmatched when playing against SEC teams who are either playing starters on special teams or 2nd/3rd teamers who would start for many teams. It seems to be common sense…shouldn’t take the Honey Badger running through us like he’s playing against a grade school team to figure it out. 10 straight years of top 10 recruiting classes and walk-on’s or other otherwise insignificant players are our front line special teamers? Maybe a lot of these high school stars we sign think they are too good for special teams and won’t put out the effort required there.
LikeLike
Agree 100%. I understand Richt unloaded some dead weight after the 2011 signing day, but they need to work towards a full complement of scholarship players. You will never anticipate all potential roster moves,but this team needs less walk-ons with schollys.
LikeLike
McGarity calling for improvement as he should be…
LikeLike
I have a friend on this staff, and he mentioned shortly after McGarity was highered that the accountability for success was going to skyrocket. McGarity has an open door policy and will go to great lengths to give every head coach what they request foe success, but that it comes with the expectation that you will win. If you get what you want, there should be no excuses for not succeeding.
Richt would address ST regardless, but there is a sense of urgency and leaving no stone unturned that has roots in the expectations of McGarity.
LikeLike
We have way too many playmakers on both sides of the ball to be anything less than awesome on Special Teams. Period. Granted you can’t explain why Walsh suddenly stopped hitting field goals but there’s really no excuse for the crappy performances on both sides of the ball for kick offs and punts. Do I know the solution? No, but then again I’m not one of the guys being paid big dollars to coach at one of the most resource rich programs in the country.
LikeLike
The “Eyes” have it then. There WILL be a super special special team(s). Does everyone forget about A.J. wanting to gun on special teams and all the angst caused among the fans? Looks like we buried that angst with the 2-3 deep linebackers that we have available and willing. Good. The guys on first string prefer things rough. Some tonage to increase the impact and knock a guy backwards when they meet. Probably gonna get Gilliard and Herrera waving their hands wildly to volunteer on kickoffs, extra point/field goal attempts, punts, etc . They are tough Dawgs who like to play in the dirt. Would imagine that some of this agressive behavior could be worked off. Safeties and burners step up! Your turn on a playing field where we could admire your speed put to the most good for the team. Anything with fleet speed and a hardon should be shouting “Me next!” when speed and hittin are combined for one big-ass play. I think we got’um and this bunch of DGD may breed the Dingos of the future. Wouldn’t be surprised at all.
LikeLike
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, when we start losing starters on special teams plays I believe many of the play the best athletes crowd will be saying “yea play the best athletes but only a Bobo would be stupid enough to let them get hurt”. Also everyone saying put in the linebackers needs to tell me who is going to run down the sprinter when he breaks contain because it will NOT be a linebacker I don’t give a fat rat’s a** how fast you think Ogletree is he can’t catch a Demps et al. I suggest that the first remark made by CMR as a joke is more correct than humorous , Get a 260lb drunk Irish soccer player who can kick off through the uprights and tell our punter to put plenty of air under their kicks and we’ll be happy with a 40 yard net (ie no returns) Now if the rest of my life were this simple.
LikeLike
In all fairmess, though, how many people in the SEC can catch Demps?
LikeLike
““We might have to go to Poland or something to find a guy who can kick it out of the end zone,” Richt said. “We’ll give him two scholarships.”
Dobre!
LikeLike
File this under “renewed sense of urgency.” That’s been one of the most encouraging signs coming from Richt of late.
LikeLike
We hope to come a long way from Logan Gray, baby.
LikeLike