Here’s a statistical description of what “foot off the gas” looks like:
I know it’s hard, Kirbs, but if Nick could do it, you can, too.
Category Archives: Georgia Football
Throw the damned ball, Monken.
Interesting thread here…
In other words, if you’re an elite team and you don’t have to throw the ball, great. You’ll likely kick ass. But in the games when you’ve got to pass, Georgia is coming up short as measured against the teams we’d consider its peers.
Like it or not, it’s the way the game is played now. Adapt or die, Kirby.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!, Strategery And Mechanics
Kicks like a girl.
Georgia special teams players say if Vanderbilt’s Sarah Fuller has to be blocked on a kick return, they’re just the guys to do it.
“You know, once you’re between those white lines, I think it’s fair game,” Georgia senior linebacker Monty Rice said Tuesday. “If she’s trying to tackle Kearis (Jackson) on a kickoff (return), we’re going to have a problem. We’re going to block her just like we do Rodrigo (Blankenship) if he was over there. We’re not going to go overboard because she’s a girl; we’re just going to do what we’re coached to do because that’s what we’re coached to do.”
I wonder if Blankenship would appreciate that comparison, Monty. LOL.
I also wonder how Fuller being blocked, or, on the flip side, making a play on special teams might impact her NIL value, which has taken off since she appeared in last week’s game against Missouri.
Filed under Georgia Football, SEC Football
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.
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
McGarity rides off into the sunset.
Say farewell.
I’m not going to make a “and there was much rejoicing” crack until I see who the replacement is. There’s a part of me who thinks we’re in for a “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” scenario.
Filed under Georgia Football
He gone.
This is no surprise.
I had hoped this would work out for him, because he’s been through a lot. Maybe the next place will turn out to be a better fit. Best of luck, kiddo.
Meanwhile, it does clean up the quarterback room at Georgia. For now, anyway.
Filed under Georgia Football
Shape of things to come?
I know, small sample size and all, but I can’t help noting that after two games, JT’s passer rating is a relatively gaudy 187.34, which would put him in the top three in the conference if he had enough starts.
Yeah, I’m probably getting way ahead of myself here, but, you know what? Screw it. I’m having too much fun watching him run the offense right now.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
