may very well be Malcolm Mitchell’s hamstrings. Think I’m kidding? You shouldn’t – Mark Richt had a meeting about ’em.
… The concern for Georgia at this point is making sure Mitchell’s conditioning will be good enough to play a lot. Richt said they met with the strength staff and nutritionist on Monday morning on things they should do to increase Mitchell’s stamina, as well as guard against hamstring injuries. Mitchell couldn’t play in the spring game because of a hamstring injury, a malady that also knocked him out of five games last year.
“So now you just don’t want to overload him, is the big thing, because if you do you don’t get him on either side of the ball,” Richt said. “But he absolutely has got to focus and concentrate on being the best defensive back he can be, and keep his skills up as a receiver. Again, as the season rolls on, I got a feeling with the temperature change and with the guys coming back, I think he’ll be more freed up to make more plays offensively. But in the beginning he’s gotta be ready to play DB.”
By “play a lot”, they’re talking about offense, defense and special teams. (“Oh yeah. We’re gonna give him a chance to be the kick or the punt returner,” Richt said.) That’s a helluva lot to ask from what have been so far some fairly fragile body parts.
Reading between the lines there, I wouldn’t expect to see much at all of Mitchell on offense against Buffalo and maybe a little more against Missouri. After that, it’ll be play it by ear. Sure hope his hammies are up to the challenge.
Get The Picture 
With the new kickoff rules making kick returning less important I see no need to jeopardize Mitchell if he’s going to play both ways.
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Agreed. Especially when we haven’t blocked for a KR in 2-3 years.
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Reading between(er) the lines I don’t think we have seen the last of suspensions in the defensive backfield either (pure conjecture on my part, btw). Richt needs MM ready and 100% for those first couple of weeks.
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Hell, I’d only let him play 1 defensive series against Buffalo, maybe field the 1st punt and a few routes on Offense, then sideline him for until Mizzou.
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Just feed him what Donnan fed Champ. Pickle juice?
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We must have Mitchell for the Mizzou game. He needs to play against Buffalo on defense just to get some experience at DB “inside the arena.” I sit next to a Valdosta guy who said that he should play corner when Mitchell was still in high school.
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I imagine that one of the first orders of business is cutting out the candy as half of his nutrition program. He may be running out of nervous energy and taking a big downer when trying to condition. Getting the hammy right will be for Mitchell’s and the team’s career goals (keep healthy and uninjured). The guy’s a great athlete, but in these games coming up he has to be the best conditioned man on the team and drop some of the kid habits. Seems strange, but I’ll bet we will hear some reports this summer of how hard it is for him to stop the empty calories.
Agree with Bubs on the suspensions and with TD on the kickoff philosophy. He can do those other activities after the Mizzou game, after all, that’s the central reason for his two-way deployment.
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Sure LOCK-DOWN corner: ’nuff said.
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2 words – HOT YOGA
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Paging Marlon Brown – it’s now or never son
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Tavares King looks like he hasn’t stopped since the MSU game. He looks great and we have enough receivers playing good ball that we won’t miss Mitchell when he isn’t in there. Besides, he will be back as WR more than he will play D next year.
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We need a “Yoga” instructor in the coaching staff. The spent the money for a Speed coach, why not someone who specializes in advanced muscle stretching. Yoga is friggin awesome for the body.
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Especially for the hamstrings. There are so many poses that focus solely on that body part. I’ve been taking yoga for about 7 months now and it has completely changed my body. A lot of NFL players do it regularly and I can totally see how it would help them. Um I will gladly move back to Athens and teach yoga to the football team…
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You’re all scaring me; brushing over the Buffalo game like it’s a given. Every year now some team gets beaten by a nobody. Do you really think they’re going to be that easy? I honestly don’t know, but I don’t want to overlook them (ha!, as if what any of us thinks matters on the field). Won’t they be big and strong on the O line? ..by the way, my real first name is Larry.
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I say throw it to Rome and Lynch 100 times. Those two monsters will have opposing coaches pulling their hair out (except for Franklin, who doesn’t have hair), and at least one opposing coach tossing his visor.
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More protein post-workout! Less candy!
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