It’s never as easy as it looks.

Isaac Nauta and Terry Godwin explain what goes into being a skilled receiver in a conference full of good defenses.

Godwin’s most improved attribute, Nauta said, is knowing every responsibility he has on the field.

“That’s a big part of it,” Nauta said. “A lot of people think it’s just run around, catch the ball and run with it. But you’ve got to read defenses when you’re running routes and you’ve got to know where you’ve got to be and what you’ve got to do. And it takes more than just one season to get it. Going into year (three), I think he’s got a better grip on it mentally and that’s definitely helping him.”

Godwin didn’t dispute Nauta’s assessment as he said he has the Bulldogs’ offensive playbook – specifically his duties at receiver – committed to memory.

“I know where the holes are in the defense now, how to run certain routes, how to get off certain releases – the little things that are going to make you great,” he said.

He also expanded upon Nauta’s claim that playing receiver – especially given the caliber of athletes in the ultra-competitive SEC – isn’t nearly as easy as one might think.

“If you’re on the outside looking in, you’d think we’re just out there running a route or whatever,” Godwin said. “But it’s pretty hard, because you’re running and trying to read the defense on the fly and run a certain route or run a different route. There’s a lot of techniques and a lot of knowledge going into that route.”

I don’t doubt any of that, but I can’t help but also note that of last season’s top ten players in the SEC in receptions, four were sophomores, with two freshmen and one sophomore in the top fifteen, playing in a variety of schemes, so it’s not an impossible task, either.  (Godwin was 27th; Georgia’s leader was Isaiah McKenzie, who finished 18th.)

How much of that is on Godwin, who, for the record, I think has the best hands on the team, and how much of that is on the coaching/scheme?

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He feels our pain.

Over at CBSSports, Tom Fornelli asks the musical question,

What defines tortured?

Well, it means different things to different people in the context of sports. To come up with this list, I had a few parameters I tried to follow. The biggest thing for me was that you’re a fan of a team that has some success, but only so much to make you crave more, and it never quite comes. Like, if you’re a fan of a team that’s awful year in and year out, you become a bit numb to it over time. But if you’re a fan of a team that just can’t get over the hump, the wound stays real.

Also, I leaned toward schools who don’t have much success in the other revenue sport: college basketball. Like, if you’re a North Carolina football fan, you may be a bit tortured by the fact your program never seems to take that next step, but you also have a bunch of basketball titles to help ease the pain. So you may be tortured, but you’re not tortured enough.

Finally, it has to be a fan base that cares. It has to be passionate about football and it has to keep coming back for more.

And the winner is?

1

Bulldogs

Being a Georgia fan encompasses everything I was looking for in a tortured fan base. There was a national title, but it came 37 years ago in 1980. There’s been success on the football field since then, but not too much. There were two SEC titles in 2002 and 2005, and seven SEC East crowns, but that’s as far as it goes. Georgia is the perfect example of a team that’s never bad, but just never as good as it probably should be, and too good for fans to turn their backs. The only choice is torture, and this fanbase keeps coming back for more.

Much to Butts-Mehre’s relief and satisfaction.  Glad we could fit the bill so nicely.

I hope this gets assigned to a male judge.

Fellas, I ask you:  who among us has not been there, done that?

Texas A&M sophomore receiver Kirk Merritt has pleaded not guilty to two charges of indecent exposure from last fall.

Merritt has requested a delay of arraignment, which was originally scheduled for earlier this week at the Brazos County Courthouse.

In one count, an alleged victim accused Merritt of exposing and touching himself “while sitting in arm’s reach” of her “on or about” Oct. 24. About a day later according to a court document, another alleged victim claimed Merritt pulled down his shorts and held himself also “while sitting in arm’s reach” of her. The document describes both alleged victims as “offended or alarmed by the act of exposure.”

Both of the victims were tutors at A&M in the Bright Football Complex, two people with knowledge of the case said. Merritt’s attorney Rick Davis responded to the Chronicle on Friday afternoon citing a “bad case of jock itch” as Merritt’s defense.

“Kirk Merritt has been charged with Indecent Exposure under Section 21.08 of the Texas Penal Code because of two incidents during tutoring sessions that happened on two consecutive days,” Davis wrote. “While Kirk is very embarrassed about this situation, and has apologized to the two tutors that he offended, he did not intend to gratify anyone by exposing himself.

“The fact is that Kirk had a bad case of jock itch. The statute Kirk has been accused of violating requires that the Defendant have an intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person and that the Defendant is reckless about whether another may be present who will be offended or alarmed by his conduct.

“We think that Kirk’s conduct falls squarely under the Disorderly Conduct statute … That statute requires only that a Defendant is reckless about whether another may be present who will be offended or alarmed by his act.”

Scratch as scratch can, I tells ‘ya.

Too bad this kid’s an amateur, because he’s a medicine commercial waiting to happen.