I missed this little note from Weiszer yesterday, but it’s interesting:
It’s not just the big guys. Pruitt mentioned senior cornerback Damian Swann as one of those guys who needs to get in better shape.
Ain’t nobody escaping the man’s public disapproval.
Well, except for the S&C coach: “Fatigue makes a coward out of everybody. We’ve got to get in shape as a football team. We’re nowhere where we need to be. We’ve got to improve on that. Coach T (strength coach Joe Tereshinski) will do that this summer.” (Cue the doubters.)
Get The Picture 
Looks like someone is holding the ex video coordinator accountable. Sadly, it takes someone from outside the program to do this.
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I didn’t read it as taking Coach T to task, as much as he is going to probably be the only one allowed contact with them during summer workouts. It will be up to him and the players to put the work in to lose the weight and trim down.
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Our last DC wanted our line as big as possible. So Coach T focused on size and strength. You’re saying he should have ignored that and tried to produce leaner, more indefatigable lineman in anticipation of our next DC being Pruitt? You’re a hard man to please.
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is “indefatigable” really a word?
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Some things I am not sure I buy into. A few years ago, folks made it a point to show how Georgia fatigued near the end of games. It appeared to just about everyone that the Dawgs were not in the game shape that some of their opponents were.
Not sure I have seen that over the past couple of years…at least not across the board. Lets look at 2012. In the second half of games Georgia outscored Mizzou 32-10; Vandy 21-0; UT 21-14; Flordia 10-7; Auburn 10-0; Ole Miss 17-0; Tech 14-7 and Nebraska 22-7. Even Bama and Georgia were basically even at 22-21.
This past year, Georgia won the LSU, South Carolina and Tennessee games at the end of the game. For South Carolina we held the ball the last 8 minutes and rammed it down their throat. We did the same to Florida. We trailed Auburn by 20 points in the 4th quarter and dominated them in the 4th. We trailed Tech by 20 points and won the game in the second half and overtime. Even in that ugly Nebraska game we were a dropped pass from overcoming a 2 touchdown deficit.
I get that Pruitt wants to get us smaller and I like that. I also realize that scoring is not the only measure here, although it certainly was used often enough when we made our last change in S&C. You can look at the team now and 4 years ago and see the difference. Not so sure this is as much about strength and conditioning as it is to a different type of football player. I like it and I love Pruitt’s attitude about not being satisfied..it is refreshing. I just don’t buy that our S&C has not improved dramatically from that 6-7 season.
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NIce post, Bob.
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I agree. I don’t get the Coach T bashing. To my non-arenafied eyes, he seems to have improved things. If Pruitt wants the defense to get smaller, then that’s fine. He’s the DC. It’s his system. He gets to make that call. But don’t bash Coach T for them being the size they are now. For all I know, he was just doing what he was told by the previous staff.
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+1
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Good post. I think Pruitt also may of gotten spooked by his gassed line during the national championship game. How many HUNH did they face in the ACC?
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I think the “Fire Bobo” camp has just transitioned targets. Now, instead of the “Bobo haz a crayon” meme, we get the “former video coordinator” meme. As you pointed out, it sure looks like the former video coordinator has the kids in better shape than the S&C hall of famer that preceded him.
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Yep. I’m sure there is always room for improvement, but anyone who is still criticizing our conditioning just because Joe T. is in charge of it is coming dangerously close to grousing for the sake of grousing.
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“grousing for the sake of grousing” – It’s the Georgia Way!
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I agree with you for the most part, however, our amazing quarterback and potent offense won in track meets last season in the second halves of games. LSU, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vandy, Missouri, we couldn’t stop anyone late in those games. Those offenses basically had their way with our defense. Thankfully, Murray and the offense were able to keep us in games and win a few of them. But there are plenty of signs that our defense sucked late in games last year and conditioning could easily be a part of it.
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Well, to be fair, our defense didn’t stop many teams in the first half either. So I’m not sure that conditioning was the problem on defense.
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Someone has been paying attention to the play instead of the excuses. Right on, Russ.
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Have to say, we couldn’t stop the pass under any circumstances, at any time of the game; we could stop the run only once in a while, also during any point in the game. Maybe we got worse late; it was kind of hard to tell.
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ouch.
sad but true
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David K,
I agree the defense sucked. But I don’t think that we can say well Coach T does a great job conditioning the offense but fails at conditioning the defenders. As others have said, our defense sucked in the first quarter and third quarter and every quarter. Not sure that conditioning had much to do with it.
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After reading that I am going for a jog…maybe.
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a brisk walk to Krispy Kreme will have to do.
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Overweight? I thought that college athletes went to bed hungry???
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How is the guy that makes gladiator mash up hype videos going to get our guys to lose weight?
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I think Pruitt’s point is that in defending todays offenses, everyone has to be in the kind of shape that allows you to play fast, no huddle D for 8-10 plays without losing technique and effort. There is no time to substitue 350 guys in and out, get them lined up, and ready to go. Our DBs can’t be looking to the sideline and waiving their arms as the ball is snapped. This will require everyone to be in shape and know their assignments. KISS. I do not see it as a criticism of Coach T. He justs wants us to be leaner and in shape to play the kinds of teams we are going to play. I like quick, mobile linemen for the D. Looking forward to seeing how we do. Just think what our record could be if we could reduce our scoring D to 20 points per game.
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The elephant in…….:How do we enforce it? has been the question for the last 3 summers. Pruitt’s statement about leadership and more Seniors strapping on responsibility had to be aimed at this problem. Everything he directs is focused on getting the team conscience to the level of Team Club; a loyal group to draw strength from and encourage membership to, especially during the no-contact summer.
The level of Pruitt’s appeal to the players certainly must reverberate with us fans since we all want to see the growth of Dawg Hearts. And all of that can happen by working together this summer. Pruitt’s bellicose coaching manner and player criticism can easily be pegged as psychologically influencing the rise of an “Us against the World” Defense and facilitate that goal attainment. Maybe Pruitt’s IQ level could be a scosh above most D coaches if this all bears fruit.
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personally, i don’t care if Pruitt is as dumb as a sack of hammers, as long as he can herd this defense into a true resurrection of an old school, in your face, GATA, Erk Russell-“if we score we might win, if they don’t score they won’t win”, Bulldawg Junkyard Defense.
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Poor ole Joe T. Make them bigger, no make them smaller. Now they are going to be free to feed them constantly. We better make them able to run a fast 10K. I watched the G-Day game again for the 3rd time. The tackling was greatly improved. I actually saw our D wrap runners up. If we are going to do a lot of man coverage we have a lot of work to do. I think CJP was surprised that the refs were calling all of the pass interference penalties. He will have to get used to “Playing while Georgia” in the SEC.
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Maybe Coach T has cued up some inspirational video for the summer workouts…
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IMHO, some things are being taken out of context here, and issues created that don’t exist.
First, Pruitt is not criticizing players. He’s just being upfront and honest about where his defense is and what the plan is. That’s refreshing. He didn’t say anything at all out of line in his interview the other day, nor has he done anything that a good coach shouldn’t do.
Second, he is not criticizing Joe T.. Far from it. What he said indicates his confidence that Joe T. will take care of it .. the opposite of attacking him or slighting him in any way. If you listen and read between the lines a little, you’ll see the idea that the old staff wanted something different out of the offseason than what he wants. And that is great news, for a number of reasons.
The summer workouts are voluntary. Joe T. & Staff cannot work with players who aren’t there. If Jordan Jenkins wants to play video games instead of work, he isn’t going to be in the condition he should be going into the season. That was the case last year, and just one example. There have been dozens of others.
Without going into detail, suffice to say that while our S&C has been better, overall, the last two years, it isn’t that close to where it should be. And it is not Joe T’s fault. First, players have to want to work, or be otherwise motivated. Second, Nutrition plays an almost equal role, far more than most understand.
If the ingrained player culture isn’t what it should be, and it hasn’t been for many years now (even though it’s been progressively better the last several years), both S&C and Nutrition are going to suffer.
Pruitt is trying to address that longstanding problem. He won’t get any shots from me for trying. He has let his defense know that the summer is important, and whoever works is going to have a leg up going into the first game. So we’ll “see who wants to work”.
He also let us know, and I’m glad because that’s some of the best defensive news I’ve heard in 8 years. Maybe the best coaching news. What we’ve lacked on defense, and to some extent the whole team, is a standard. And we’re finally, after 9 years, getting it.
Instead of throwing darts, it’s occasion to rejoice.
Pruitt is simply showing us what good coaching is. Perhaps it’s been so long since we’ve seen it, some of us have forgotten.
~~~
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Posting the right link, but it’s the video before this one on the YouTube playlist, for anyone who wants to see it.
Senator, please delete the previous two posts, and the video out of the first one, if you can. Geez.
~~~
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