For Chas Henry, that day is now.
A visitor dropped by Todd Grantham’s Florida defensive meeting room in August during his first preseason in Gainesville. The veteran coordinator was told someone wanted to say hello.
“I walked in there and I started giving him the choke sign and all of the coaches just started dying laughing,” Chas Henry said.
Henry told the story on the same day Grantham began the first game week preparing his Florida defense to face Georgia, where he coached against the Gators for four seasons on the other side of the rivalry.
It was back in 2010 that Grantham again showed his unvarnished fiery side. He put his hand on his neck on the sideline as Henry prepared to attempt a 37-yard field goal in a tied game in overtime.
Tee hee!
I wonder who will get the last chuckle on third-and-Grantham this Saturday.
Dawg fans weren’t exactly thrilled with his tenure, an up-and-down stretch in which UGA held up really well against third down in one season and not so great in the others.
- 2010: 42 percent
- 2011: 28.9 percent (No. 3 nationally)
- 2012: 36.5 percent
- 2013: 39.5 percent
That led to #ThirdAndGrantham becoming a thing on social media.
The easy assumption is that Grantham’s defense was blitzing on basically every third down and allowing his defense to get carved up. Perception about Grantham became reality, but regardless of how it happened, his defenses weren’t great on third-and-long.
The Gators aren’t exactly elite on third down overall this season, but have been getting better over the last few games.
Those stats offered by Florida miss an ounce of context, because two of the last three opponents (LSU and Vanderbilt) are among the worst third down teams in the country. But the sentiment is there. For now, Florida is enjoying third/fourth-and-Grantham. It remains to be seen if Florida will continue on this trajectory, or if they’ll regress to the mean on third down.
One could ask the same question of Jake Fromm, who hasn’t exactly been tearing it up on third down this season (passer rating: 101.41). That especially goes for third-and-long, where Jake has thrown three of his four interceptions on the year, on less than eight percent of his total pass attempts. If I’m Jim Chaney, I’m pulling a crayon out of Mike Bobo’s box and sticking to the draw on third-and-ten.
You have to figure between Todd and Jake, though, something’s gotta give.
Get The Picture 
The greatest 3rd and Grantham ever. Let’s pray we see something like this.
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This is the quintessential Grantham play: the DB was dancing around like a jackass before the play, then a simple switch concept by the receivers led to a massive coverage bust, and the safety wasn’t deep enough and took a bad angle.
It really was a perfect testament to All Hat, No Cattle’s entire time in Athens.
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I won’t be at the game Saturday, but I need a favor from those who will attend. Should we ever score on a third down, I would love to hear every red and black fan start chanting, “THIRD and GRAN-THAM (clap, clap, clap clap clap)”
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I’m not gonna mock Grantham after the performance of our defense vs LSU. Is it 4th & Kirby or maybe HUNH & Kirby?
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They’ve still been far better than Grantham’s defenses were on third down the last two years (aside from the 2011 anomaly). In fairness, Grantham’s defenses have been better on third down since he left Georgia.
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Grantham is the ultimate personality fit in Gainesville.
Remember how Grantham was castigated by the AJC (Towers/Schultz), Richt, Adams and the entire alumni base for his antics in Vandy and with the choke sign in Jax? (For the record, I agree that a college coach should not act like that).
Florida is completely fine with all that. Grantham has found his happy place.
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Let’s separate one of those: Franklin had absolutely no business scolding one of our players for what he thought was a dirty play. As a HC, you communicate your concern to the UGA HC, you don’t go after the player. Grantham was well within his area of responsibility to tell James to buzz off, and protect his player from Vandy’s interpretation.
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I’m thinking we might see a little more of Fields in this game, not just running but also throwing. This has nothing to do with Fromm’s play but more to the point that Grantham & his D may not handle the change up very well.
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If we bring Fields into the game it should be for an entire series, not one play. Coming in off the bench and expecting to throw a strike is not wise. The QB needs time to get into the rhythm of the game.
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I’d say “You have to figure between Todd and Chaney, though, something’s gotta give” sounds more appropriate.
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They faced off last year. How did that go?
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It went great. That time. In my opinion, the comparison should be apples & apples. Coach v Coach or Player v Player. That’s all I was referring to.
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Didn’t ctg just recently get in a scuffle with another coach? Wasn’t it the Vandy game? I hope our dudes are aware of that too.
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Let’s set the record straight. That wasn’t a ‘choke’ signal. It was just another of the countless hand signals CTG used to motion our DBs into position (or more accurately, out of position).
I’m glad fu can laugh about it. Because CTG is a DC on THEIR staff now, not ours.
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