Looks like I got my question about who’s responsible for the in-game defensive line rotation answered:
Grantham said the defensive staff talks about a plan for playing guys during the week before a game. That could be that a player gets 30 snaps a game, or another will be in on first and second downs and yet another will go in on third down.
The actual substitutions are made on gamedays by the defensive line coach.
“We have a plan but he executes that plan. That’s one of his job descriptions,” Grantham said. “To me, that’s a game within the game. You’ve got to mix and match. … If you micromanage, you’re hurting your team, you hurt your unit in more than just that area. When I did it [most recently as line coach with the Dallas Cowboys], that was a part of the game and you’ve got to manage.”
In other words, the responsibility is shared in that a plan is formulated that the position coach is supposed to follow. So if Geathers and Jenkins seem to have gotten worn down in the second half last year, you can’t lay all that on Garner, unless you think he was insubordinate and refused to follow the staff plan.
And judging from this comment from Grantham…
“You’ve also got to have guys that you trust, too, so it’s two-fold. You’re not going to put a guy in the game that you don’t feel is ready. You’ve got to say how many available guys do you have? I control that. That’s me. I do that. Then the coach is going to do what we decide as a staff. My philosophy is you play a lot of guys, but you’ve got to have guys you feel you can depend upon to do that.”
… that seems unlikely.
Which makes the big question about this year’s defensive line pretty obvious. How many guys on the d-line does Grantham trust?
Get The Picture 
Or could it be that Garner’s input in the defensive planning meeting skewed the rotation? Garner’s doghouse seemed to be full quite a bit which may have lead him to convince the rest of the staff certain players didn’t need to be in the rotation.
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+1 Grantham is the CO-Ordinator of the defense he is not the guy who trains all the positions. Rodney was at one time a great recruiter but he was a so so D-line coach. He did less with the talent he had than any of our coaches. Why do we have All-Pro’s that were not even all SEC while at UGA. Rodney was into being their friend or their nemesis but he wasn’t the guy who coached them up. Wilson may not be a great coach but I’d say he has instilled the fear of God into them. They had better play with their hair on fire or somebody else will. Jenkins didn’t get to 370 without somebody noticing.
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[“Or could it be that Garner’s input in the defensive planning meeting skewed the rotation?”]
That’s what I think, Tennessee. And have for a long time. There were years when we had players, but they either didn’t play, or didn’t play enough. And we’d let our starters wear down, while a player(s) who was just as good rode the bench.
Most of that was under Martinez, so that could have had something to do with it.
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“How many guys on the d-line does Grantham trust?” and just as important imho Who is responsible for getting them ready (trustworthy)? One of the knocks on Garner was his recruited NFL talent played off their talent level while at Georgia. Nose tackle that ballooned to 375 while in college and drops to 320 when he turns pro is disconcerting. I’m sure it wasn’t all gained from those Thanksgiving dinners.
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Agree. Allowing a player to let himself go like that is not acceptable. Garner might not have had all the responsibility for that – the nutrition staff, Richt, and some others played a part – but the major impact was Garner’s.
[“How many guys on the d-line does Grantham trust?”]
IDK, but Wilson trusts 7 right now. That could be 8, or 6, by the time we play, nobody knows yet. My guess is however many Wilson trusts, that’s how many Grantham will trust.
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Methinks there was not much coaching up when Garner was here. If we did not have more than 3 DL last year we could trust at the end of the year maybe it was due to poor DL coaching during the year.
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It’s all on Todd. We all could see how gassed the line was last year I don’t believe others could not step up for a few plays. Would have been worth a try in seccg.
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Every Georgia fan wants it to fall on Garner because that excuses the abortion of a year ago and give us hope. In reality, the defensive staff from the top down didn’t trust anyone outside of those who are now departed and Garrison. We just need to hope the players behind Geathers and Jenkins have grown up a lot since last December.
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Regardless of where you lay the blame for poor play from the DL in the past, this season should be very enlightening. Not to say we didn’t good quality play at times, especially from individuals, but it has been many years since we had a rock solid front. The answer may be a different rotation system, better talent, better technique, or better motivation/evaluation, but we are throwing away the advantage of having offensive talent and production by not getting off the field. Like everyone else, I don’t know just what we have but am glad to see a change after years of not getting it done up front on defense. Fingers crossed.
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