Kirby gets asked about his defense’s potential and expresses concern in his response.
This is where the rubber meets the road for me. An upgrade in recruiting is great, but if the plan is to elevate the program above Richt’s level, the comfort level attitude that plagued Georgia football before, particularly during the Martinez years, has to be completely eradicated.
You’d like to think Kirby’s background at Alabama gives him the framework to accomplish that, and I’m certainly hopeful in that regard. But it’s still got to get beyond the talking stage for that to payoff.
Get The Picture 
‘There will be blood.’
Vince Dooley, bringing up spring practice, in the locker room after the 1974 Tangerine Bowl.
Is that what you have in mind?
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Good answer by Kirby. Also appreciated the lack of snark that’s too often in his answers.
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I feel the same. I liked Kirby’s answer.
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I’m disappointed…Aight?
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“But it’s still got to get beyond the talking stage for that to payoff.”
Yes, I certainly hope the players are getting this message. It sounds as though the issue is current…not a thing of the past. So, are the players just not listening, or the message has not been sent….yet.
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I know it’s water under the bridge, but still….can’t help wondering, what in the HELL took place in our guys’ minds last September during the week between North Carolina and Nichols State. Reminds me of a similar sea change in 2006, which actually started off pretty good the first three games. These included planting a shoutout on Spurrier’s Chickens in Columbia followed by another bigger one vs UAB in Athens. Then – we crap the bed against a truly awful Colorado team a week later and there it goes till our guys played Auburn almost 2 months later.
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That 06 season makes me angry about Willie’s D coaching all over again. They were somehow undefeated going into the UT game, and were even up 24-10 at one point as I recall, then Cutcliffe realized Willie was going to have his DBs give the WRs a 10 yd cushion no matter what and it was off to hang half a hundred. Close loss to UF was probably a high point of a middle stretch that saw them nearly lose to Miss St and lose to both Vandy and Kentucky in the same season.
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I am certainly hoping that he elevates the program above Richt’s level. If the powers that be are not interested in accomplishing that, then they should not have wasted their time and the donor’s money by canning Richt in the first place.
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Taking the focus off the offense and putting it on the defense, interesting.
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Frankly, I’m glad he is trying to get the Country Club Entitlement out of our Football Program.
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I know what you mean, PTC, and I would add that Richt was loyal to a fault. He was trusting, loyal and stubborn. Saban is one of those, not the others. Lets hope Kirby follows his mentors example.
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He sounds very unimpressed by a bunch of returning starters that only went 8-5 last year.
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i.e. the defense wasn’t the achilles heel, but it sure wasn’t good enough to carry the team very far.
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Good. I know it’s just the talking stage…but acknowledging the problem is the first step, right?
In seasons past, Georgia has certainly demonstrated that “returning” starter doesn’t necessarily mean “better” starter. Right now, I suspect it’s all about developing and promoting motivation on an individual level (in the absence of enough depth to make competition the motivator–unlike, say, at Alabama).
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The most impressive aspect of what Saban built is that they always stay hungry. There is no complacency. There is no resting on laurels. Before he did it I would have said it was impossible in college football these days. Everywhere it seems that you have a team that gets hungry, plays at a high level for a year or two and then tapers off because they think they’ve arrived or they turn their focus away from TEAM and onto ME. That never happens down there. I hate the SOB and there are many things I don’t like about how he built that beast down there, but that’s one of the few things that I have to give props for.
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Exactly, Derek. When leading us 33-0 at halftime, the big talk in the ‘Bama dressing room wasn’t about how much better they were than we were in the first half, but Saban’s exhortations were for his troops to consider that UGA would be right back in it and they were to play at a higher level. He was close to being correct.
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It’s one thing to be wired that way. It’s another to get the response from the team. That’s what’s so impressive for me. Most of the coaches who have won big on the last 30+ years have been “players coaches.” Keep it loose. Keep them happy. Massage their egos. SOS and Meyer and Jimmy Johnson are hyper-competitive too but they never thought they could drive guys like Saban does. I’m sure they figured they’d burn out or revolt or stop coming to school there.
At alabama you’re a cog in the machine at it will run fine without your ass….on the bench of course, not on someone else’s roster. Unless you suck and then go wherever.
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machines need cogs to work and most machines dont work that great if you remove a cog.
I think you are thinking of grist through the mill. Bama being the mill and the players the grist. The mill doesnt care about the grist, it simply mills.
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Sorry was that a poor metaphor or an analogy? A bad simile? I’ll be damned if I know. I ain’t that educated. You can only be expected to learn so much after 22.5 years of schooling.
If I had to do it all over again, I’d have been an English major. That shit seems to come up like every day! I rarely get to use that Political Science degree.
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You use it every day on the blog here. Just ask some of the people(pro and con to you)on here.
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1) its not every day because the senator doesn’t post-political stuff everyday. 2) what you learn in political science at college has, at most, a tangential application to my posts. What I remember of it was that it was mainly modern history with a focus on the electoral process and the personalities involved. I did and do have an interest though. I’m sure that much is clear at least on some days.
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It took a long time for it to really really set in too. Because the 2010 team, good as it was, slipped up a bit. But after that one? Hasn’t happened
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Agreed Derek, the guy is totally off the charts for being a jerk, but he keeps them hungry. Pretty amazing and in the totally right environment at Bama.
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That’s the big question ain’t it? How much is Saban and how much is Bama? I think the Bama mentality about football is a bigger contributor than people acknowledge.
I think there is a reason that he took longer to get LSU to the top and there’s a reason that he had a harder time maintaining LSU at that level.
Were trying to replicate it in Athens but I think it’s more than just a coach. We’ll see I guess.
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I thought that Pruitt was our D-Coach under Richt. Didn’t he come from a Natl Champ team to us and then left to play in the last NC played? He was in charge of our D, wasn’t he? What elevation above that level and with less player expertise does Smart expect and how in hell will he get it except in giving lip service on tv ?
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Well, if you look at rushing yds allowed, he already elevated us past what the D was doing under Pruitt. (Though Pruitt didn’t help his numbers by allowing 600+ rushing yds to mediocre UF teams over two games.)
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All coaches’ pre-season talking points are pretty much the same…only results make them different.
Saban knows how to get results. I think he’s built a mystique at Alabama that overwhelms kids with the feeling that the program is so much bigger than the individual that they dare not disturb the process with thoughts of self. Still amazed that Georgia was able to wrest Smith from the cult.
And, yes..we all want to see UGA with the same aura. We may someday approach it, but I don’t think it’s going to be possible to match it..even for Alabama…once the bloom falls off of that rose, that’s going to be the end of the process forever…everywhere. (Coarch is presently trying to disprove this theory at TOSU).
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Above post by Uglydawg…screwed up typing my info.
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And imagine being the coach to follow Saban and all that process. That dude is going to be hated, no matter what.
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I am going to use the assumption Big Trent will be back this fall when I say, this defense had better be stout in 2017, really stout.. This is a very talented, experienced, and deep group available to Tucker. I don’t see an offense on the schedule that should be successful against it, meaning it should be dominant enough to allow even another sub-par Chaney offense to win 10 games. And that isn’t saying we should be sub-par on offense, just that I am not convinced he has the talent to get the best out of the offensive stars he has to work with. I am not buying the “gee whiz, I don’t know how good we will be” act, we may not be great but we should roll over that schedule and coast into Atlanta with the team we have taking the field this fall.
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WRT returning starters, am I missing something here? Lots of talk about 10 returning D starters due to Mo Smith using up his eligibility, but what about the spot left vacant by Trent Thompson?
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This is the attitude I want to see. New season. New hunger. Like those above said, the magic of Saban is that he somehow always keeps his teams hungry and focused. Georgia has been pretty much the opposite. If Kirby brings in super elite talent and keeps guys focused, we’re going to do great things.
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