This is one of those little details that makes you blink for a second:
Since Kedric Golston in 2002, Georgia had not started a true freshman on defense under Richt until this year’s opener when Matthews, outside linebacker Leonard Floyd and cornerback Brendan Langley played in the loss at Clemson.
In for a penny, I guess.
Get The Picture 
I know that its a lot to ask but does anybody reflect on the fact that a few years ago the offense was young and or had no depth or quality at certain positions and everyone jumped on Bobo? Now that he has a senior qb and some studs at the skilled positions he all of a sudden knows how to call plays, right? Now the defense is young and/or just has some bad players they have to play at certain positions and all of a sudden Grantham forgot everything he ever knew about football, right? This is still the guy Saban called to be DC for the dolphins before Muschamp. He just has some serious personnel issues. It’ll be ok.
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Maybe they get pissed off after this season and play their hairs on fire like Grantham’s second year.
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It’s a good point, Derek, but I think it’s different. Every team has fans that complain about play calls, and it’s just a stupid thing to complain about. They are all designed to work (I guess defense is the same.) But, the best play-callers make stupid calls. If you didn’t think Bobo knew what he was doing, you just didn’t know much about football.
We were flinging it around like crazy when Murray was a freshmen because we had to and we still managed to score a lot of points. And we beat a lot of teams in 2011. But, we certainly have gotten better as the talent level has risen.
My biggest critique of Grantham IS the youth. He came in 2010. Why didn’t we recruit better to have more depth and experience? I know, I know. Nick Marshall. So, why did we recruit turds? And why didn’t you follow that up with recruiting more studs?
Bobo signed Caleb, then Ealey, then Boo, then Crowell… a year later we signed Gurley and Marshall. You keep stock-piling and eventually you find you one. Funny how we always seem to have a QB (as compared to other programs). That’s because Richt and Bobo almost always sign one.
But, unlike the youth on offense from a few years ago, we just don’t seem to be getting better. Aaron was streaky as a freshman and sophomore, but he had his moments, as did a young Ealey and Crowell. This defense hasn’t had many moments.
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The offense never performed this horribly. Its worst year was 2006 (77th in yards and 52nd in points), after which Richt turned the play calling over to Bobo. 2009 was the worst year under Bobo (more or less the same national rankings as 2006). The defense is 105th in points allowed so far.
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start four true freshman on offense and see what that looks like.
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They started two true freshmen last year (and used a third true freshman heavily), and that turned out pretty well.
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The problem is that CTG didn’t look like a genius last year with a stockpile of experienced future NFL talent.
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Exactly. Plus, it’s not as the freshman are the only ones exhibiting poor fundamentals and defensive skills on this year’s team.
Especially disconcerting is that our youthful defense looks as bad, if not worse, now than it did at the beginning of the year. We’re half-way through the season–a time when accrued game experience should result in improvement.
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This
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Sounds about right. And many other true freshmen have started on the defensive side since the first game.
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Freshman who have started on defense (by my count):
Reggie Carter
Leonard Floyd
Brendan Langley
Tray Matthews
Quincy Mauger
Shaq Wiggins
Also first-full-year defenders who have started:
Chris Mayes (from JUCO)
Corey Moore (from offense)
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When did Corey Moore play offense? I thought he was recruited ad a safety and has always played there. He just hasn’t deserved playing time and is only playing this year due to injuries.
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I think I got him confused with another receiver. Must be old age kicking in…
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Moore did start on offense in one game. http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/corey_moore_742380.html
But he’s been a safety the whole time he’s been in the program.
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So are we now turning the gun barrel towards Richt for poor recruiting and allowing this to happen? I am good either way, just let me where to point and shoot.
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SEC Signees 2009-2012
Arkansas 33+25+33+24=115
Alabama 30+28+26+26=110
Ole Miss 37+26+28+19=110
Kentucky 28+27+27+28=110
South Carolina 28+24+32+25=109
Auburn 29+32+26+22=109
Mississippi State 27+25+23+28=103
LSU 25+26+24+24=99
Tennessee 24+25+27+22=98
Vanderbilt 17+25+22+22=86
Florida 17+27+19+23=86
Georgia 21+20+26+19=86
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/scorecard/_/class/2012/id/8
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Now count how many of those 86 we have given the boot or transferred due to play time: .
Mett, Crowell, Ealey, Marshall off the top of my head
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Subtract the amount of talent leaving early for the NFL and the amount leaving or not playing due to aggressive dismissal and suspension policies. It is easy to see how the lack of signees has hurt Georgia more than Vanderbilt or Florida.
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Well, you said it, brother
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Those numbers are deceiving for Georgia (and most likely the others as well to some degree) as UGA signed around 33 in this last class but about 13 of them counted towards the 2012 Class as they enrolled early.
I still get your point and it doesn’t change the fact that those teams at the top of the list have an advantage with their signing techniques.
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The ceiling for a Grantham defense is going to be about 30th in the nation when we are stock full of talent like last season. The floor is going to be an epic disaster like this season where we are about 110th nationally. So let’s hope we stack our defense with NFL draft picks at every position with tons of playing experience so that we can reach mediocrity and let Bobo work his magic on offense.
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For all you pointing out the freshman playing as an excuse for the defensive performance, can you please explain the poor play of the defense last season? It seems like we under-perform no matter what the makeup is of the defense.
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Having Freshman start in any position is a detrement, unless you’re AJ Green, but there’s more to the defensive issues that youth. There is a gap in coaching as evidenced by the fact that Alabama, and other schools that place a strong emphasis on defense, do not appear to have.
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Alabama and other schools oversign. We do not. Therefore, we do not have the depth that they have because of that. They do not start several freshmen on defense because they do not have to.
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Ummm we’ve definitely had freshman start on defense since 2002. Alec ogletree started a couple games in 2010 as did rennin curran in 2007. Heck Jordan Jenkins started some games last year as a true freshman.
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And many of you thought that this year’s defense would be better. That always blew my mind. I have no idea how anyone could have rationally come to that conclusion with the youth that we have. Makes no sense.
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Didn’t Jordan Jenkins start last year?
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That stat quoted in story is incorrect. It should have said Kedric Golston in the 2002 season opener. They’ve started a good number of true freshman in games that weren’t the opener since 2002.
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