Last man standing

Sure, we’re worried about how the Dawgs’ depleted secondary is going to hold up against Missouri in the conference opener, but it’s not like Mizzou fans don’t have concerns of their own about the starting quarterback and top running back.

In the end, the game could come down to which team has the best quality depth.  The worst case scenario may turn out to be that Georgia’s defense brings a knife to a knife fight.

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Jarvis Jones has a lot on his mind.

This is what goes through the head of Georgia’s star OLB before every play:

So he started dissecting plays like a skilled surgeon and decided to break his game down into steps. They came during the 17 or so seconds that it took for an offense to line up and get set to the two-to-three seconds it took for a play to take place.

Here’s a quick look at what went through Jones on any given play:

Pre-snap:

Look at the formation and the personnel — he should know what each player can and can’t do and what plays can be run.

Line up and find tendencies of linemen — he should determine whether linemen (especially the left tackle) are in a pass set or a run set. He should know how long it takes them to get out of their stances and where most of their weight is planted.

Remember the snap count — this is crucial to providing the most disruptive pressure possible.

Snap:

Get off the ball and remember technique — quick moves are essential and making sure he has a move to give a tackle and one to combat his retaliation will make or break his progress.

Quarterback movements — is it a five-step or seven-step drop? Is it play-action? Or is it a run?

Whoa.  As he puts it, “That’s a whole lot in a little bit of time.”

He expects to be better and stronger next year.  A little more help taking some of the attention off wouldn’t hurt either.

… Building off of last season will be hard, Jones said, and he expects to receive much more attention from opposing offenses. He noticed in the last two games of the season when LSU and Michigan State game planned his side more than other teams had.

Hopefully, Jones’ work ethic and Grantham’s ability to adjust will address that.

Musical palate cleanser, six degrees of Jeff Schultz edition

In honor of Schultz’ name dropping today, here’s Dream Syndicate’s kickass cover of the old blues chestnut “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” (Dylan’s version is the first I ever heard of this song).

That sucker rocks.

The times, they are a-changin’.

You may have heard that Georgia has its second commitment from a member of the 2014 class, St. Pius DB Nick Glass.  I mention this only because I think it reinforces an impression I have that Richt has shaken up his philosophy about recruiting.

Glass is a high-profile recruit.  Tell me if you ever expected to see something like this with that kind of kid:

Glass has the potential to be just as good as Geno Smith, the AJC Super 11 cornerback from St. Pius who signed with Alabama. Glass visited Alabama last week and said the Crimson Tide “was close” to offering.  [Emphasis added.]

That’s right – Georgia pulled the trigger on an offer faster than Nick Saban.  I don’t know about you, but I find that rather astounding.

Who knew, Will Muschamp? Who knew?

Mr. Conventional Wisdom tries to explain why Will Muschamp’s first season in Gainesville didn’t go swimmingly.

He inherited a team built to run the spread offense under Urban Meyer, who won two BCS titles (2006, 2008) in five seasons. But when he got the job, Muschamp made it clear Florida would move to a more power-based offense, a la Alabama. He didn’t have the personnel to do it.

… When all the smoke had cleared, Muschamp’s first Florida team was 7-6 and five of those losses had come against No. 1 Alabama (12-1, national champions), No. 2 LSU (13-1), No. 9 South Carolina (11-2), No. 19 Georgia (10-4, SEC East champs), and No. 23 Florida State (9-4).

I know Barnhart is just being Barnhart, friend to all, with this, but are we really supposed to be surprised by any of it?  It’s not like it was that hard to see what was coming, was it?  I mean, I’m just your typical blogging doofus, but even I was able to take note of the dark clouds on the horizon before the 2011 season got underway.

The somewhat scary part of this, if you’re a Gator fan, is that Muschamp sounds like he was surprised a little:  “But I still felt we’d be OK as long as [quarterback] John Brantley didn’t get hurt…”

Take that for what it’s worth.  And along those lines, wait to see if this year’s delusional program is in Knoxville.

You can’t shoot me soon enough.

I don’t think I want to live in a world where Roger Ailes takes on ESPN by finding his own version of the insufferable Keith Olbermann.

How easy is it to build a better bowl experience?

For all the crap that was tossed yesterday in the general direction of Jim Delany’s novel approach to rejiggering the BCS, it’s worth noting that another part of what’s being considered for the next version of the D-1 football postseason is getting a lot of favorable attention.  Here’s Paul Myerberg’s take:

In essence, B.C.S. officials would consider the creation of a 10-, 12- or 20-team postseason event. The goal would be to create top-tier bowl games from the teams not included among the four-team playoff “with the aim of providing the most evenly matched and attractive games that make geographic sense for the participants.”

The games would be chosen by committee, not by conference affiliation. Under this proposal, instead of taking the top team in the Mountain West and the sixth team out of the Pac-12, the Las Vegas Bowl might feature two teams ranked among the top 10 teams in the country. Instead of being beholden to the Big 12 and the SEC, the Cotton Bowl might always be in line for a bowl game pitting the top two seeds not included in the four-team playoff.

My, doesn’t that sound great.  What red-blooded American football fan wouldn’t be in favor of “evenly matched and attractive games”?

A couple of things:  first, nobody can guarantee that what a selection committee puts together is going to work.  Those people can’t predict the future.  (If they could, wouldn’t every 8 vs. 9 game in the basketball tourney be a barn burner?)  All they can do is provide pairings that everyone looks at in advance approvingly.  Fine, but the results are going to be just as random as what we get from the bowls now.

But there’s a bigger issue here, I think.  Who’s going to pay for this?  The bowls pick their participants with an eye towards putting asses in the seats.  What happens when, say, the Sugar Bowl is told it will be hosting two evenly matched teams which aren’t great draws?  And what happens when ESPN is given the same news?

For that matter, using one of Myerberg’s examples, what’s Mike Slive’s reaction to seeing an SEC school get bumped from the Cotton Bowl?

I’m not sure I’d get too excited about this proposal yet.

Mailbag wisdom

Seth Emerson had a couple of items in yesterday’s Mailbag that addressed topics previously raised by commenters here, so I thought I’d point ’em out.

First, about Marc Deas’ recent decision to leave the program for greener pastures:

We can all clearly see the depth evaporate in the UGA secondary, and it’s a punch to the gut to see talented players make bad decisions off the field.  A year ago, I understand why some players (e.g. Jakar Hamilton) would wish to transfer to get more playing time elsewhere.  Maybe I’m missing something, but why would Marc Deas transfer?  With the suspensions and transfers, wouldn’t Deas be guaranteed great playing time?  Is this more the case of Marc not fitting into the system?
– Rob Wright

Deas actually wasn’t guaranteed anything. That was obvious when you heard the coaches mention Connor Norman, a former walk-on, before they got to Deas…

The old expression “if you haven’t got anything good to say about somebody, don’t say anything at all” comes to mind.  Maybe some of us don’t want to recognize that in this case – although it’s worth noting that there wasn’t a single comment about Deas here at GTP until news of his departure went public – but Deas apparently did.

And on a topic that has gotten a lot more chatter than Deas, the size of Georgia’s next signing class, Emerson had this to say:

By my count Georgia is at 73 scholarships, counting incoming freshmen, for the 2012 season. There are 13 seniors. Jarvis Jones and Alec Ogletree will be candidates to leave early for the draft. For the sake of argument, and accuracy, I’ll keep it there and not factor in your estimate of further attrition. So that’s 60 scholarships committed to for the 2013 season. The NCAA limit is 85. Georgia can sign at least 25, and if it wanted to could sign 31 because of back-counting, after only signing 19 last year.  [Emphasis added.]

So there you have it.  I hope Emerson or somebody in the media will ask Richt after next Signing Day if Georgia signs something close to 30 kids with heavy back counting whether that was part of a deliberate strategy he pursued in putting the 2012 class together.

By the way, the funniest thing from his Mailbag yesterday was his response to a question asking him to compare Georgia’s fan base with others:  “I think I’ve said before that Georgia fans are a little harder on their teams and coaches than other teams I’ve covered; or at least South Carolina fans, some of whom had a conspiratorial tone: the media was to blame, the police, the NCAA, the SEC, etc.”