I’m trying to remember the last time Mark Richt spoke this bluntly (well, for Richt, anyway) about one of his starters:
Methinks somebody is getting a wee bit impatient with the pace of defensive improvement this season. And me wonders what’s being said behind closed doors.
Get The Picture 
CMR is too polite and modest. Not bad qualities, of course. I’m not. I’ll say it. He sucks.
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I don’t think he sucks. He struggled early last year but came on really strong later in the year. I think he’s just suffering from having to be the leader in the secondary (and to be clear, I’m not giving that as an excuse). Last year he was played around four seniors with Williams, Rambo, Commings, and Smith. They all knew their assignments, knew the defense, and Swann was the youngster who got to learn and could look to them for help. This year, he doesn’t have that luxury, and it’s showing.
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Methinks Richt is setting to question how much of the defensive’s problems under Willie were a lack of talent. Grantham doesn’t have that excuse. He’s looking more like a poor man’s defensive Charlie Weis every day.
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Yeah, I don’t recall that, either. And I bet he is impatient. He’s got someone who may be his best QB to date (and possible in program history); stud RBs who are dropping like flies; and what appears to be a depleted receiving corps. The defense was supposed to improve as the season progressed, and at almost the halfway point we’re waiting for the light to come on for them for four quarters.
They’ve only needed to be serviceable to this point. Now they need to be more than competent, forcing a few more punts and getting some forced takeaways (not fumbles out of the end zone) in the short field, and let the offense get back out there to try to score some points or at least flip the field.
I’d be impatient if I were him, too.
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Sawnn has been the single biggest disappointment of the year. Without question. He’s done almost nothing all year.
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Jenkins.
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Jenkins gets held with no-calls on it a ridiculous amount. He is at least applying pressure, even if he isn’t the sack machine we were hoping he’d be.
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His sacks have funneled to other players. Just like Jarvis’ funneled to him.
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Exactly.
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In fairness, Swann has done some good things, too. In the UT game he saw the RB coming out uncovered on the wheel route, peeled off his man and covered the RB, breaking up the pass.
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Yeah, I was damn proud of Swann for that play.
And then just seconds later, DefensiveStompGate happened.
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Coach Van Gorder there is a Mark Richt on line one for you.
*BVG laughs an evil laugh and strokes his moustache.*
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BVG and his pornstache need to stay with the Jets right where he belongs.
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That ain’t all you two are strokin’ . Use a tissue and empty that waste basket. K?
I.”In 2005 VanGorder was hired as the Jacksonville Jaguars linebackers coach, and he only served one year with the Jaguars before being hired as the head coach for the Georgia Southern Eagles on December 9, 2005.[9] VanGorder resigned after the worst season in the school’s history and left for the Atlanta Falcons where he was the linebackers coach.”
II. “Van Gorder joined Falcons coach Bobby Petrino’s staff as the linebacker’s coach in 2007. After Petrino left, he accepted the defensive coordinator’s position at South Carolina.”
III.”This is a tremendous opportunity for me and my family at this point in my career, both professionally and personally, to become the defensive coordinator at Auburn,” said VanGorder, who served as the defensive coordinator at Georgia from 2001 to 2004. “I’m looking forward to working at a school with the success and tradition of Auburn, and for a coach like Gene Chizik, who has led the program to a national championship.”
…and to think that Falcon fans were clamoring for CTG. Who knew?
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I. He did a good enough job at Jacksonville for Mike Smith to want him as a DC in Atlanta.
II. When he took the USCe job he told Spurrier that if Smith called him for the Atlanta DC job he wouldn’t stay. Spurrier thought enough of him to take the chance.
III. He probably assumed that Auburn wouldn’t fire the Chiz so soon and if he could rebuild the Auburn it would make up for the fact that while the DC in Atlanta he was given zero talent to work with.
…….and to think when BVG was at UGA our defense was always tough, nasty, and never confused. Who remembers?
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Weak sauce…SOD did a good enough job as AD and HC at small time U but UT hired him. Yep
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BVG = best DC UGA has had in 25 years. Don’t give a ship what he did with other programs. Got results at UGA and that’s really all that matters. You got somebody better? Let’s hear it.
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Van Gorder made great adjustments during the game. The best I remember, opposing teams scored very few points after halftime.
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CTG’s job is in serious jeopardy and rightly so. I don’t hold with those who think Richt is too nice to fire him, Richt fired Willie and Willie and him were lifelong friends. Richt’s turned the corner, he’ll fire CTG unless there is a great deal of improvement between now and the end of the year. He knows its not fair to the players, the offensive coaches, or the fans to persistently squander offensive production the way we have since 05 with horrible defense.
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Welllll….he was sorta forced to fire Willie Football AIDS Martinez. However, I don’t think he has any attachment to Grantham and I hope CMR learned a lesson from the 2010 season.
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Nobody in the dawgosphere complained longer or louder than I did about Martinez but unless you are saying you have some sort of knowledge that the AD or Adams actually stepped in and fired Willie, I think it’s fair to say Richt did fire the guy even if he did it out of self preservation. Seems a pretty minor point to quibble over in any event.
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Well I don’t have a picture of OJ slitting any throats but I’m still 100% sure he did it.
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What facts do you base your opinion that someone over Richt made the call to fire Willie and not Richt?
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It’s not like his backup is any better. Swain played terribly against LSU.
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Too true, Gary!
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I was gonna recommend he change his last name to Swain and see if anyone noticed, but you beat me to the punch Ben.
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ha ha
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Took me more than a second to get that one.
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At least Danielson gigged himself for that during Saturday’s broadcast. Gotta give him credit for that.
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Better late than never, I say.
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Been struggling since the Alabama game, if you ask me.
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Yep, ever since the bomb to Cooper.
For the few Swann defenders, go look at the 4th and one play. Swann, for some reason, decided to cover his guy 40 yards down the field…despite that it was a 4th and one play. He was just running along with the receiver a la Langley.
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Understandable. Richt has a great opportunity with this offense but the defense isn’t helping at all. If we can just hold teams to mid 20’s in scoring the rest of the way we have a great chance at the BCS. But you can’tcount on the offense to score 35+ every game.
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Swann’s just young and needs some more experience. He just hasn’t jelled yet. He just has to put his hand in the dirt, fight off the block and make a football play. We only have to make one more play and get off the field on 5th down. We get our signals in plenty fast so our players can get lined up while the play is starting. We just have to play fast. Get lined up correctly. Play fast. Make a football play. Knock them off the ball. Get comfortable. We shout Boo to their running backs so they’ll fumble into the end zone.
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OK, what happened to Sheldon Dawson? They liked him in limited duty as a freshman last year. They spoke him up all spring and summer, and in fall camp until about a week or two before the season opener. Now he can’t even see the field, in spite of the guys in front of him routinely playing like crap? I don’t get it.
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Truth. If Dawson’s in the doghouse, Devin Bowman started and played (with mediocrity) last year against Mizzou. Mediocrity, at present, is an upgrade.
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Bowman played his first game this year against TN on special teams.
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Agreed. I wonder the same thing myself. I think Grantham has a bit of a hard time changing his mind or admitting he made a mistake. He talks about the best players being on the field, but could Dawson truly be that much worse?
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Read CMR’s comments about defense in Georgia’ website. Same from senior Garrison Smith [DE] about the play of frosh tailbacks Douglas and Green. Used the words I did, hard-nosed, ready, focused. Watched the replay of the runs both had on that last drive. Watch how Green goes up the gut and breaks it out. But I really like Douglas after the reception down the sidelined. Had pursuit but a DB in front, notice how he took his body and run into the DB so he does not get pushed or cut, plus he maitains speed and pickups almost 6-8 yards after contact. Coach Nike Hyder used to talk alot about RB’s getting hit alot as a season progresses. Tough. Defense. Missouri, starting 6 seniors and 4 juniors. Take a look at Gators roster and Bama’s roster. Overlay them with Dawgs. What should jump out is how young the Dawgs are. Don’t see that many frosh or first year players except in Bullpups and Baby jackets game years back. Gators and Tide, Muschamp and Smart…all tutored under Saban. Now did Grantham coach with Saban. Remind me if he did. CMR seems up on this young D. Have some learning issues as do all young teams, but this group is getting a real test with Boyd, Shaw, Mettenburg, and now Franklin. Good ahead, get down on them and their coaches, but I would reflect a littlle more.
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Thanks, man….some folks needed that.
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CTG needs to go coach with the Falcons please. I have never seen a D that looks like they don’t know where to line up every single play. Just watching it looks worse and worse every game. And Swan, Swain, and company are raising their hands acting like they dont know what is going on. Sheldon Dawson has been no where to be found, and what about shaq fluker couldnt we stick out there just to hit somebody?
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Hell we had serious problems lining up on defense in the damn Capital One Bowl against Nebraska with all those seniors/juniors/future NFL draft picks we had.
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I can excuse most of the mistakes the young defense has made thus far and look for improvement but it really pisses me off when they have no idea where to be an instant before the ball is snapped. At least give them a chance to succeed. And you are right, it happened all last year so this has NOTHING to do with the current players, or their age/experience. Leaves only one other possibility…..
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shawn williams needs to come back and give a pep talk to these guys…
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Actually, my first thought was that in the absence of Williams, Richt was assuming this role unto himself. Hope it motivates Swann.
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Yeah. Seems to me the D is sorely missing the leadership provided by Jarvis and Williams. Maybe someone will step up, even if he is an underclassman.
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“Hope it motivates Swann.” Really WF…you think Swann is not motivated, really.?
“CTG needs to go coach with the Falcons please.”
You guys are a tough crowd, you’d think we were 1-4…instead of 4-1 and ranked 7th in the country. Which, I suspect, although I am not sure, the defense had something, just some little thing now and them to do with?
Read Will Trane’s stuff above…Defense improves as experience increases, and that, as the old folks say, is a settled fact.
I have noticed little improvements every game…I have noticed Damian Swann, for instance making plays that seem pretty good to me, and yes he gets beat, but the best get beat once in a while…the best.
And while this kid and his confreres on the defense are running their asses off trying to do their jobs, we, experts all, are saying they are not even motivated.
At the risk of sounding like a shrill shill for the program, some of you guys need to focus on the improvement instead of the mistakes, let the coaches coach, let the players play…we holler, not bitch and moan like we are Tech fans.
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Saying that I hope it motivates Swann doesn’t mean I’m “saying they are not even motivated.” I imagine that Richt’s comments will add *further* motivation to whatever Swann currently possesses. Surely, that can’t be a bad thing.
And as for the D, I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I don’t give them a lot of credit for our 4-1 start, but I agree that there are encouraging signs of progress on many fronts. It’s the areas that presently show no improvement that concern me most, though.
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If we are being honest, we are 4-1 inspire of our defense, not because of it. There is a difference between malcontent bitching and genuine concern Scorp. CTG is a top paid DC and North Texas played with better fundamentals. Scheme issues and youth I get. Poor tackling and constant blow assignments fall on the coach.
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“we are 4-1 inspire of our defense” (I know, inspite) Miss the South Carolina or LSU game, did you? Was that not our defense on the field at the end of the LSU game…you know, when Mett got hurried and went 0-3 and out?
I understand your point, but I thought the point of playing the game was to win the game. Yeah we might lose a battle here and there, but we won the war.
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No huddle offense…speed offense…offensive player shuffling in…QBs like a Murray, Franklin, Shaw, Boyd, Johnny football, Mettenburg all looking to the sideline for a signal…signaling to their side of the ball while the OC and staff are looking down on the field how the D is set…position and personnel…now you are on the other side…what do you do?
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Hell you look to the sideline too, to see how you DC and staff want to position you re what they see from the booth. Match ups are huge. Clock is running, you are a true freshman [Matthews, Floyd, Langley, Wiggins, and etc]. Get the picture. Well like I said before,in their first game at Neyland Stadium who had more yards Green or Walker?
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I’m not a coach and I don’t claim to know much. It seems to me that Grantham has tried to implement a very complex scheme where he tries to hide coverages and blitzes by having guys rotate quickly. I personally don’t think that is necessary, but that’s what he seems to do and it confuses everyone including the defense.
Grantham lost me last year when the defense underperformed my expectations. We should have been so much better with the talent on hand. Several people have pointed out the North Texas defense, go get that guy.
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“Tries to hide coverages and blitzes”? You must be seeing a different game than I, I can think f over a half dozen times out safeties or corners have telegraphed the blitz more than 4-5 seconds in advance of the snap. I would prefer them being a step late than 8 yards ahead of schedule and tipping the entire scheme….we have played three above average QBs this season with another on deck.
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Yep, and they’ve gotten burned by it, too. Mauger in particular has been guilty of it.
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The defense now has the exact same problem as under Willie Martinez. It is not lack of talent or a lack of “fundamentals”. It is a scheme with too many keys and checks. That is why they can’t get lined up. That is even when they are lined up they are slow to get to the ball. The players are thinking too much. Simplify the scheme and let the players play instinctually since they have repped the simpler scheme in practice a significant number of times. As they master the simpler schemes, add more schems are more complex schemes. If you watch Division II or III football, you will see teams that only run 10 offensive plays to perfection and teams with 5 base coverages winning national championships.
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