Jim Harbaugh believes his work is being unfairly judged.
I sure would love to be in the meeting when Harbaugh’s agent argues for a contract extension and raise because the process is kicking some righteous ass.
Daily Archives: December 1, 2020
Upon further review…
Jake Rowe makes a couple of good points in his second look at the South Carolina game.
On offense, JT Daniels isn’t perfect, but he’s making some good decisions on the fly.
One of the reasons the run so heavily outnumbered the pass in this game was because the defensive looks dictated where JT Daniels did with the football. If you look back at some of UGA’s most productive plays on the ground, quite a few of them were either RPOs or plays that had a pass tagged on if the look was right.
The most notable was James Cook’s 29-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. That was an RPO where Daniels had a chance to pull it and hit George Pickens on the curl route with space, but Georgia had a hat for a hat in the box because the Gamecocks were showing bracketed coverage on Pickens. That obviously worked out well for the Bulldogs and there were a number of other instances where UGA took advantage of the packaged plays or RPOs to make the Gamecock defense wrong.
That tracks with what Kirby said about Daniels.
On what he has seen from JT Daniels the first two games he has played and what he is looking for him to improve on…
“Good decision making—that is the most important thing, to continue to make good decisions. If it’s not there, take off and run with it, throw it away—which he did the other day. He threw it away one time. There are going to be times where you don’t have the perfect call, or maybe they got the perfect defense into a call, and hey, you have to punt, you have to throw it away. That’s what I want to see him do and continue to get better at.”
As impressive as Daniels’ start has been, we need to remember he’s still very much a work in progress. He’s only going to get better with more reps.
Meanwhile, on defense…
Lack of eye discipline on defense: This mainly applies to the linebackers and the STAR/nickel position. Look no further than the 35-yard connection between Luke Doty and Nick Muse on South Carolina’s first touchdown drive. That was a really nice play call from the Gamecocks but Tyrique Stevenson’s eyes were in the backfield way too long. The guy he was coverage man-to-man on the play released into the back field for the end around, giving Stevenson the next man, which was Muse. By the time he took his eyes out of the backfield where he was eyeing the end around action, it was too late. Muse had already run by him on the wheel and he couldn’t catch up. The same occurred multiple times with the linebackers where they were late picking up a swinging running back out of the backfield. Those instances resulted in easy yardage.
It hasn’t been just Stevenson. The ILBs have been guilty of much the same. Florida took big advantage of that. The problems haven’t been talent (although Rice’s injury, to be fair, has to be factored in). They’ve been the result of poor fundamentals, something you wouldn’t expect this staff to tolerate.
Filed under Georgia Football
Georgia’s next AD will be…
Oh, you were expecting a name? Sorry, I don’t have one for you.
But I can opine with confidence what the sole qualification for the hire is. McGarity’s replacement will be the person who does the best job of convincing Jere Morehead that he or she is the one who can continue, and even enhance, the only legacy of the current AD that matters.
At Georgia, McGarity oversaw an annual budget that has grown to more than $120 million and spearheaded more than $200 million in facilities construction, expansions and renovations. During the 2019 fiscal year, the Georgia Bulldog Club raised a record $64.9 million in gifts and pledges to support athletics.
When they don’t say it’s about the money, it’s about the money.
The Georgia Way is about bringing in the dough and conservative management. Accordingly, anyone with an existing connection to Butts-Mehre has a leg up in the competition. That being said, both Schlabach and Emerson ($$) toss out a name that piques my interest, not that it likely matters.
Danny White, UCF athletic director: White, who turns 41 next year, has a business administration degree from Notre Dame, a master’s in business and sports administration from Ohio University, and a doctorate from Ole Miss. He is the son of former Duke AD Kevin White, older brother of Florida basketball coach Mike White and was previously an associate AD in the SEC at Ole Miss.
You left out the part about him being an arrogant ass, Seth. Not that there’s anything wrong with that — in fact, I’m kind of intrigued by the concept of someone behaving that way in the service of advancing Georgia’s interests with the SEC and the NCAA. White would kind of be a bizarro-McGarity in that regard, which would certainly be a refreshing change around these parts.
Which is why there’s zero chance of him coming to Athens. UGA only tolerates self-serving assholes, like Michael Adams.
Ah, well. I’m off my soapbox now. Wake me when it’s over.
Filed under Georgia Football
Which way?
I know on one level, this is coachspeak. I also know that Kirby Smart has a certain vested interest in players staying in Athens. Still, I do think there’s an interesting point to be made that this isn’t a normal year to decide to leave early for the NFL draft.
On the conversations with underclassmen regarding the NFL Draft…
“We gather information on these guys based on how they play, what’s going on, how big the pool is at their position. We try to be very honest with them, don’t get emotional about it. We’re not recruiting them like people say. That’s a decision that they have to make. What we want is to arm them with information, and I say the same thing every year, ‘We’re going to give you the information to make the best decision possible.’ Ultimately, you have to make the best decision possible. What value do you put on a degree? What value do you put on preparation, because 100 percent, the higher you get drafted, the longer you’re able to stay. So, ultimately, we want these kids to get drafted as high as possible. There’s value in coming back because they cannot develop in that league. There are no practice reps, there is possibly no Combine, there is no coming to OTAs and getting you better. You’re there, and you’re going to be good enough or you’re not. We can still develop players, and every general manager, scout you talk to says, ‘If you’re going to have someone grow and get better, they’re much better doing it in your organization than ours’ because they don’t have the freedom to get them better. We don’t have a lot of those conversations right now. We’ve had a few, but we don’t have those conversations because we want the kids to focus on being student-athletes and finishing out the season.” [Emphasis added.]
Evaluations are going to be a challenge, that’s for sure. Add to that every college player gets a mulligan for this season (hell, Demetris Robertson hasn’t ruled out coming back for another year), along with the possibility that it becomes possible in 2021 for college athletes to monetize their NIL rights and you hope these kids choose wisely, whichever way they go.
Filed under Georgia Football, The NFL Is Your Friend.
Meteor game, shots fired.
You know what I think about Florida, so be impressed when I say this is some five-star shade being tossed.
I hope Fulmer doesn’t choke on his doughnut when he sees that.
Farewell, my lovely.
Mark Bradley’s send off of Greg McGarity is every bit the tongue bath you’d expect, but this is the part that really does it for me:
It was only after the 2014 season, which saw the Bulldogs go 9-3 with wrenching losses to South Carolina, Florida and Georgia Tech that McGarity began to wonder if Richt could still do what McGarity said he hired coaches to do – play for championships.
Yes, Mark, please tell us about all those championships Georgia’s won under McGarity’s watch. I’ve lost track.
When all you’ve got is a catchphrase of an excuse for running off a football coach you were never that enamored of in the first place, you ain’t got much at all.
Filed under Georgia Football, Media Punditry/Foibles
I feel ‘ya, dog.
Poor ol’ Nick.
Maybe now he knows something about how those fans who sit in 90+ degree heat watching the Tide obliterate some cupcake feel in the fourth quarter when they leave early.
Filed under Nick Saban Rules
Get The Picture 