More and more, it’s looking like John Theus.

The coaches may not want to say it outright, but it’s hardly surprising that John Theus is making steady progress towards grabbing a starting spot on the offensive line.

The big thing about that isn’t so much that the true freshman is living up to the recruiting hype – “Head coach Mark Richt did nothing to dampen expectations, comparing Theus to A.J. Green and Matthew Stafford in terms of immediate impact.” – but that he’s not flopping.  The offensive line’s outlook is better with a true six man rotation.  And if Theus continues to improve, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him move to left tackle during the season, allowing the coaches to move Gates to a position inside.  Fingers crossed.

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Belichick to Saban to Grantham: the “star position”

I brought up Chris Brown’s piece on what he calls hybrid defenders the other day and mentioned that it brought Josh Harvey-Clemons to mind.  With that in mind, watch this Nick Saban clip that Chris posted.  (Start at the 5:30 mark.)

And then take a look at what Grantham has to say about Harvey-Clemons.

Georgia has a so-called “star” position on defense, which is essentially a nickel-back that can double as an outside linebacker. The Bulldogs use it in a number of base sets, whether in the 3-4 or 4-2-5. Grantham described it as an “underneath zone player.”

When Harvey-Clemons sees the field early on this season, that’s where he’s most likely to be playing. Grantham explained that Harvey-Clemons is at safety because most of the “verbiage and concepts” he will need for the star position come with the defensive backs.

“Whereas if he were in my meeting (at outside linebacker) he would hear it for 25-30 percent of the time,” Grantham said. “The things he’s gonna do, whether he’s playing the star position, the safety position or another position, he’s gonna hear more often in that meeting. And it’s always easier to learn things from top down.”

Maybe there are a few good reasons to start giving Grantham the benefit of the doubt about what he’s doing here.  First of all, you’ve got to like the lineage behind that line of reasoning, no?  Second, there’s a method to the madness, as opposed to sticking a kid in the secondary because he’s not a physical fit for the position to which we thought he was recruited.  Third, it’s worked before.

Grantham compared it to Alec Ogletree, who was at safety his first year.

“But truthfully in my mind there was gonna be a point in time even then we were eventually gonna move him. And by him playing (safety) his first year, when he moved, he knew where the pieces around him fit,” Grantham said. “So it made his learning curve less. So I think by playing Josh where he is now, it gives him a better feel for the whole body of work. When he gets to his position, he kind of knows where everyone fits.”

Sunday morning buffet

This, that and the other:

• One of college football’s life lessons:  “Squeeze your butt cheeks.”
• One of Phil Steele’s power rankings:  Plus/Minus ratings.  Georgia is third in the SEC and eighth nationally.
• As a ‘Hoo, I appreciate Virginia Tech embracing its inner gobble.
• Good to see there’s as much happy talk coming out of Missouri’s fall practice as there is out of Georgia’s.
• Merritt Hall, who was invited to walk-on at Georgia Southern and Jacksonville State, is Georgia’s #1 fullback right now.  He’s also got a scholarship.
• John Lilly says Georgia doesn’t need a dedicated special teams coach.  (Interestingly, no team in the SEC has one.)
• A bulldog blogger predicts an undefeated Georgia will win the SEC.
• Oh, Lord.