… happy talk and drive-me-crazy talk. Here’s an example of the latter from Coach Richt yesterday:
On the new kickoff rules and whether it’s a disadvantage that other teams might have gotten a head start in spring practice…
“I don’t think it’s an advantage for the other teams or a disadvantage to us. If our kickers can knock it out of the end zone, I’m all for them knocking it out of the end zone. The bottom line is there will be days when it’s windy and sometimes it’s going to be at your back and sometimes it’s going to be in your face. When it’s in your face you probably won’t be able to knock it out of the end zone, so you better have a plan to place the ball where it needs to be placed and allow your cover team to get there. Not only place it where you want it, but give the type of hang time you need for your coverage team to get down there…”
I’ve never been in the arena, either as a coach or a weatherman, so forgive my ignorance here. But if a day is so windy that a kicker can’t knock a ball through the end zone, how much better is he going to fare against the elements with a high directional kick into the same wind conditions?
Get The Picture 
Yeah, that’s a bit of a head-scratcher. I think sometimes, these guys get asked so many questions by so many fans and reporters that they go into autopilot mode in answering them. That may not be the case,though, since I have not been in the arena, either.
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Special. Teams. “Analysts”. Bring me 15 of them.
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Agree. When our special teams are good, I think it’s more by accident than by design.
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Why so snarky Senator? The man was trying to give an answer to a relatively weak question, I am glad he didn’t spend 5-10 minutes explaining all the nuances that could be involved in how to execute kickoffs in differing conditions. There are times with certain winds that a high kick can work to your advantage if placed/played correctly. With a few centuries of experience on the coaching staff, I think they will figure out the best option for unfavorable conditions. Let’s just hope the kicker can execute, that is my concerns about this year’s STs, one of two glaring areas of concern. Neither concern revolves around the philosophy, just the talent and depth.
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You’d think that. Then again, we all lived through years of Jon Fabris enjoying the challenge of directional kicking, so I’m not so sure. Fabris is gone, but if Richt wasn’t enjoying the challenge, too, it wouldn’t have been happening.
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No doubt Fabris heard a different drummer, but not sure he should be the way we view Richt and Special Teams under him exclusively. I agree it went on too long but other than that aberration, we have been pretty decent the past 11 years. The bigger argument to me is the personnel usage, walk-ons versus scholarship players, when more talent is needed.
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Methinks our favorite legislator is still suffering from the slings and arrows of last week’s “lively discussion” of Penn State, but in his defense, he has always been pissy about kickoffs.
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I think he’s just trying to say that there needs to be a plan in place when your kicker can’t kick it out of the zone. Maybe he went a little too far in trying to simplify how you do that.
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So, if on a windy day you don’t feel like you can kick it out of the end zone, I guess the Senator’s plan is to kick it down the middle of the field and everybody run fast down your lane.
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Hey, when they pay me to come up with a plan, I’ll come up with a plan. 😉
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Well, that makes me wonder how much they are paying you to do…well, uhhh… whatever is is you do regarding UGA football. 🙂
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You mean there’s supposed to be pay involved? Never got the memo, damn it. 😉
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Now that we are talking about pay here- would it matter if your loyal readers campaigned to ask all visitors (and ourselves) to click one ad per day? It would be the least we could do to show appreciation.
Might it add up to a nice bottle of bourbon at the end of the month?
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Who am I to argue? 😉
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Done!
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HVL, you should remind us often.
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I will
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Don’t forget to tip your “servers”…even if his wheels aren’t very exciting.
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What I got out of this is that other teams have been working on kickoff coverage (a known UGA weakness) more than UGA has and CMR’s reaction is that he hopes his new freshman kicker can kick the kickoff out of the endzone most of the time to even things up in that department (shudder).
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“Hope is a dangerous thing…it can make a grown man crazy”….Stephen King, Shawshank.
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They have worked more than UGA because our kicker wasn’t in Spring practice, correct? Not much Richt could do about that. The Frosh kicker wasn’t an early enrollee was he?
I am sure it will get some attention during the next several weeks.
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Have you seen to tapes on Marshal Morgan… It will take a hurricane to keep it in play… There will not be 5 kicks this year with returns, unless he is told to keep it in play…
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I just looked on Youtube. Good Lord!!! The kid kicks it past the end line of the endzone (sometimes between the uprights, too) every time! I feel better already.
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Count me among those who think you might be overreacting to this one, Senator. I don’t envy Richt’s responsibility of having to answer countless questions of this type. A more truthful answer would have been, “why, sure, teams who had their kickers in spring practice would have an advantage in preparing for the new rules”. But I don’t expect him to say that. Furthermore, I don’t think the answer he gave was so bad. When faced with a headwind, I would hope they would have a plan in place to kick it high and cover it. “Hope”, I said.
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If Georgia had a better recent track record on the subject, I probably wouldn’t have even mentioned it.
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Yeah, I hear ya. I guess the season is getting close enough that I’m getting my blinders on…
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I never take mine off.
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I never have mine on.
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Grantham to Richt: “Just go for the onsides kick every time. I’ll handle the rest.”
GATA
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I would actually love to see this. Not necessarily from our coach, but from somebody whose back is against the wall this season. Kind of like the special teams version of the Rex “F*** it, I’m going deep!/Sometimes you gotta unleash the dragon” Grossman meme.
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I for one think that the rule change to move the kicking team up 5 yards could be HUGE for Georgia this season. It could make one of our biggest weaknesses a non-issue this year. Finally the NCAA does something that actually helps us.
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Good point, but I don’t want to catch you putting out good vibes anymore, especially since we aren’t through the summer created-angst mourning period
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Speaking of special teams. Kenneth Towns from Westover HS in Albany is a walk on at UGA. Kenneth committed to UAB last year but the coach that recruited him was fired before signing day. Then Kenneth was told that he had no scholarship. Tony Ball called him about being a walk on WR at UGA and UCF had offered him a scholly at safety. He said that he and his family prayed about it and decided on UGA. He is good friends with Justin Scott-Wesley and has been working out with him. Kenneth sees his being dumped by UAB as a blessing. He is a Dawg through and through and is looking forward to playing on special teams this fall. I made a couple of calls about this kid and I think he will be a DGD.
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