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Following Wednesday morning’s pool party, coach Mark Richt said spirits were high in the afternoon practice, apparently especially high on the defensive side.”
“With not going this morning and with the weather again being unseasonably cool we had good energy today, we did well,” he said. “Our defenses pretty much dominated our 11-on-11 drills. Both defenses stopped the offenses.”He went on to say the No. 2 offensive unit “just didn’t protect well.”
Speaking of offensive protection……it was pretty much the same guys working out at left tackle Wednesday (Richt mentioned Vince Vance, Clint Boling, Josh Davis, and Kiante Tripp). Richt did mention that he liked what he saw out of Davis, however.
“Actually right now we like what what Josh is doing, just keep improving and getting better. I think there’s a little more energy in his step, feeling like, ‘Hey, here’s my chance.’ “
When asked if Boling would get his starting spot back after serving his one-game suspension, Richt said it was likely, but not necessarily a lock.
“There’s no gimmes, but we’ll have to gauge who we start based on what Clint might have done a year and compare to whoever is at left tackle will probably be the deal,” he said. “Once a guy comes off of discipline it’s forgotten here. You paid the price and you’re back in good graces if you handled it right.”
Discussion later turned to John Knox:
“I see a guy who’s very talented who’s still learning in a position where you can hardly make any mistakes,” Richt said. “You make a mistake and it’s big…but he’s getting it. It’s just taking him time like everybody else.”
“We’re trying to coach these guys into knowing you’ve got to be thinking in terms of doing it every time, because the one time you don’t do it it could cost us. That’s why we try…to practice with a purpose of perfection. (Knox) is not quite where he understand what it should look like, but he’s working towards that.”
Green jerseys…When asked if RB Knowshon Moreno was just going to wear a green jersey all of camp like the quarterbacks, Richt had a simple answer.
“I think (running backs) coach (Tony) Ball feels better when he’s in green,” he said, laughing.
Richt said the injury was nothing serious, probably just a nagging shoulder bruise.
“It’s bothering him, it’s not 100 percent right now, but I know he doesn’t really like wearing the green jersey…I don’t think it’s anything more than (a bruise). When you’re a running back and you lower your shoulder to take on tacklers it’s going to tend to get sore.
Richt also said that LB Dannell Ellerbe was sporting green because of what he said he was pretty sure was a “rotator cuff bruise.”
Video tidbits Since Richt praised the defense for its work during practice today, we thought it would be appropriate to share a video comprised mostly of defensive drills from Wednesday’s practice
Here are some pictures from Red & Black photographers from Tuesday’s practice:
Sophmore center Clint Boling watches Matthew Stafford throwing the ball during practice on Tuesday August 12, 2008. Boling was the only other freshman last year other than Knowshon Moreno to make he SEC’s All-Freshman Team. Photo by Jim Diffly.
Quarterback Jonathan Batson gets some support from fellow quarterback Matt Stafford during practice on Tuesday August 12, 2008. Batson transferred to UGA from N.C. State last year
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Junior Asher Allen hopes to keep his position as one of the main kick returners during the upcoming season. Photo by Jim Diffly
Linebacker Rennie Curran stands ready at practice. Photo by Daniel Shirey.
Safety Reshad Jones waits for his turn to drill. Photo by Daniel Shirey.
Defensive Coordinator/Secondary Coach Willie Martinez gives directions to players. Photo by Daniel Shirey
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Martinez works with cornerback Bryan Evans on defensive drills. Photo by Daniel Shirey.
Here are various pictures from Frannie Fabian:
With all the injuries Georgia has suffered, the Bulldogs needed this break.
Head coach Mark Richt had decided in advance to cancel the morning portion of today’s two-a-day and went to the Ramsey Center on campus to swim and jump off the high dives a little. However, he didn’t want the team to know and wanted to surprise them on this dark and wet Athens day.
“Well we were going to do it whether it rained or not,” Richt said. ”I was hoping for everyone to be in full pads and thinking we were going to hit this morning. But when the weather hit like it did, we had them convinced we were going to come over and do a walkthrough in Ramsey like we normally do on a rainy day. So we got in there and stretched a little bit, and then I told them we wanted to get nice and flexible so no one would pull a hamstring off the high dive.”
Many players jumped off the various diving boards at the Gabrielsen Natatorium, with some of them diving in awkward fashions that had players landing in positions that could have only caused a little bit of pain.
“We’re banged up like everyone else across the country so we thought it was a good time, you know, to let them have a little fun,” Richt said. ”Although some of the guys might have gotten hurt going off the 10 meter (dive).”
Richt highlighted the showcase with two 10 meter dives, both of them backflips. On the second backflip, Richt struck a Richard-Nixon-I’m-not-a-crook pose, leaned back, did his backflip and landed feet first into the water, creating a very small splash.
“Well, I don’t know, you guys are the judge,” Richt said when asked how high he thought his backflips scored. ”But I thought I hit them pretty good. I don’t know if I was truly vertical and I don’t know how big the splash was at the end. You know, we’re trying to minimize splashes. At least I landed on my feet.”
Head coach Mark Richt dodged one storm brewing as practice ended Tuesday before walking into another in the post-practice presser.
Richt was bombarded, as expected, with questions surrounding left tackle, now that Trinton Sturdivant is out for the season with a knee injury.
“We’re a couple of weeks away and now you’ve got to start over again,” Richt said regarding how hard Sturdivant worked this offseason.
Richt said Sturdivant’s rehab will be about nine months and that it’s a “multiple ligament injury.”
Richt said that the offensive line tried out a lot of people at left tackle today, including Clint Boling, Josh Davis, who Richt said is working with the first unit the most, and Vince Vance. While they didn’t do it today, Richt said it is a possibility Kiante Tripp could move to left tackle since freshman Cordy Glenn has come on strong this camp.
“Cordy has come on as right guard but he’s talented enough to play right tackle,” Richt said. “He’s probably talented enough to play left tackle, but he’s used to playing on the right. So if we move him to right tackle we could move Tripp to left tackle.”
When asked about Glenn’s progress compared to where Sturdivant and Boling were last year as true freshmen, Richt said he was “on par.”
Losing Sturdivant hurts because the Bulldogs now need someone to step up to be able to protect quarterback Matthew Stafford’s blind side.
“We’ve seen a lot of stuff like this in the past,” Stafford said. “When Thomas Brown went down last year, Knowshon (Moreno) stepped up. There’s instances all across the board where people go down and you’ve got to step up. That’s the sign of a good team and hopefully we can do it.”
“To know the backside of your quarterback is protected, and knowing that he knows what to do,” Richt said. ”… It’s sad for him of course. He worked so hard and got up to the 310 pound range. … It’s hard to lose experience.”
Richt added he talked to Sturdivant last night and said he was in good spirits.
“He was able to joke about it,” he said. “I don’t know hot he feels roday after sleeping and waking up and then how he’ll feel after surgery.”
Sturdivant is expected to have surgery sometime next week.
Film shows dominant defensive tackles
Upon further review, Richt said his two interior defensive linemen Jeff Owens and Geno Atkins showed up well on film after Monday’s scrimmage.
“Jeffrey and Geno didn’t play a lot but when they were in there they dominated the line of scrimmage,” Richt said.
Richt added that the second team offense could not move the ball at all when Owens and Atkins were on the field.
Richt: Houston ‘will play’
With depth on the defensive line becoming an issue, Richt said freshman Justin Houston will be someone that could see a lot of playing time this season.
“I would have to tell you that (Houston) is going to play a bunch,” Richt said.
Washington wearing neck brace in practice
Freshman Cornelius Washington was seen in a neck brace today, but according to Richt it isn’t anything too serious.
Richt said Washington has soome muscles stiffen and tighten in his neck and that all he needs is to relax and let the muscles heal up.
Quick slants
Richt mentioned Jarius Wynn had another big day. Wynn has been namedropped quite a few times so far and has drawn praise from the whole staff. He also said Rennie Curran played well, even though he’s used to Curran playing at a high level. Richt mentioned C.J. Byrd had a nice hit on a receiver today and that Vance Cuff has played some great goal line coverage lately.
Here’s a video highlight…
Tyler Estep and I put together this video with some clips from the Bulldogs practice at Sanford Stadium. The music is a song called “Futures” by local Athens band Part Bear. I would suggest to go to their site at http://myspace.com/partbear. They’ve got some really good songs and put on a great show.
Click here for the video.
By Jason Butt
There’s not much to report on except for who we saw wearing a green jersey.
Cornerback Prince Miller, linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, defensive end Rod Battle, wide receiver Walter Hill and running back Kalvin Daniels were all in green jerseys this afternoon.
And freshman defensive end Cornelius Washington had a neck brace on but no green jersey. Not sure what it is but we will find out later.
By Jason Butt
Here are some unofficial stats from today’s scrimmage, as read by head coach Mark Richt:
OFFENSE
Passing:
Matthew Stafford: 11-21, 108 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
Logan Gray: 12-22, 119 yards, 1 TD, sacked once
Rushing:
Caleb King: 11 car., 52 yards
Richard Samuel: 11 car., 45 yards, 1 TD
Dontavious Jackson: 9 car., 28 yards
Logan Gray: 5 car., 25 yards
Carlton Thomas: 4 car., 9 yards
Kalvin Daniels: 5 car., 8 yards
Receiving:
A.J. Green: 3 rec., 28 yards
Richard Samuel: 3 rec., 22 yards
Demiko Goodman: 2 rec., 61 yards
Tripp Chandler: 2 rec., 31 yards, 1 TD
DEFENSE
Ramarcus Brown: 10 tackles
Bacarri Rambo: 6 tackles, 1 PBU
Vance Cuff: 1 INT, 2 PBU
Rennie Curran: 2 PBU
Jeff Owens: 2 tackles, 1 sack
Marcus Dowtin: 5 tackles
John Knox: 4 tackles
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Blair Walsh: 3-3 FG (37, 38, 36)
Andrew Jensen: 1-1 FG (36)
Green pulled out of practice again
During practice, Richt said he had to pull receiver A.J. Green out because his hip flexor was acting up again.
“A.J. Green started well but his hip flexor started bothering him to where we had to sit him down,” Richt said.
Richt also said Mohamed Massaquoi played well thus far, but has a slight strain in the back end of his knee that’s bothering him - nothing too serious to worry about - and that defensive end Jeremy Lomax sat out today with turf toe.
Quick slants
Richt said the defense did not play that well in the red zone during the scrimmage against the first team, but did do well against the second team overall. The first team offense scored on three drives that made it to the red zone, going field goal, field goal and touchdown…Richt said Jerius Wynn has played well at camp, doing a “nice job.” … Richt also mentioned that Vince Vance, Cordy Glenn and Clint Boling can all play tackle in case Sturdivant’s injury turns out to be real serious.
By Jason Butt
As reported earlier, left tackle Trinton Sturdivant hurt his knee in practice today and was carted off and taken to the hospital.
Head coach Mark Richt said Sturdivant’s knee swelled pretty big and that he’s being checked right now with x-rays.
When asked if it was a potentially season ending injury, Richt said he wasn’t sure.
“You always fear that and until we know we won’t say anything,” Richt said.
Richt said Sturdivant injured his knee on a play where both tackles were trying to push the defensive ends away to create the pocket. As the pocket collapsed, quarterback Matthew Stafford stepped up to avoid the rush. As Richt saw it, both tackles and both ends ran into each other, creating the collision that injured Sturdivant’s knee.
“It makes you sick, makes you sad when you see a guy get hurt,” Richt said.
After the injury, Josh Davis stepped in with the first team at left tackle.
By Tyler Estep
Word is offensive lineman Trinton Sturdivant hurt his knee in practice today, and that it swelled up pretty good. Jason’s actually at practice (I couldn’t make it this time), and he said coach Richt said he wasn’t sure how long the sophomore would be out.
Thought I’d pass along the word as quickly as possible, Jason will have more details in the practice roundup as soon as he’s done with interviews and such. Stay tuned.
By Jason Butt
In today’s two-a-day, practice is being held at Sanford Stadium instead of the practice fields behind Butts-Mehre. It was quite a site, and - in my opinion - the players felt a little jacked about it too.
The Bulldogs were beginning to practice special teams right when the media was being ushered out, but the highlight of the 20-25 minutes we saw was when the running backs huddled around Knowshon Moreno and did a little dance. It was pretty neat, especially when head coach Mark Richt followed the dance with, “You should have finished the dance earlier, you’re late” to the running back unit.
It also just seems quarterback Matthew Stafford throws the ball harder and harder every day. The guy’s arm strength is unparalleled. I know we mention that a lot but you just have to see it day in and day out.
Those wearing the green jerseys
Moreno was in a green jersey again, as well as a few other notables.
Defensive end Rod Battle was wearing a green 41 and linebacker Akeem Hebron was dressed in his green 37.
As suspected, Tavarres King, Nick Williams, Michael Moore and Walter Hill were in green jerseys as well.
Richt talks after practice and we will get the latest on injuries and fight out how today’s scrimmage went.
Also, we got some good video from today’s Sanford practice. We’re going to do something a little different so if it’s not up tonight, it will be up tomorrow.
By Tyler Estep
This morning’s scrimmage was the first time the Bulldogs have put together a full kick return, and running backs coach Tony Ball said behind Asher Allen (who returned 28 kicks for 690 yards last season), it’s still pretty much an open race.
“It’s really going to start with the back unit. Right now we’re going to work Ramarcus (Brown) and Richard Samuel, Caleb King and Carlton Thomas back deep,” he said.
“Asher knows what he’s doing and we need to take a look at those guys so we don’t need to give Asher a bunch of reps. My main focus right now is really trying to find 10 guys, at least two deep in that front unit, that can athletically do what we need them to do to get those deep guys loose.
He said the main reason Allen is still in the No. 1 spot ahead of all four of those freshman running backs is, well, experience. And he can catch the ball.
“Right now until I can feel comfortable with someone else being able to field kicks (Asher’s it), because that’s the first thing they go to do, they’ve got to be able to field the kicks. And until I can feel comfortable with someone else back there doing it he’s the guy.”
That said, he did mention that Samuel and King are the front runners for the No. 2 spot, but that this afternoon’s scrimmage would play a big role in determining that further.
“Right now that No. 2, that No. 3 spot, we need to know who that is and they’ll both get an equal amount of reps and then we’ll be able to assess what changes need to be made . You’ve got five guys that really have to make a statement this afternoon.” (The fifth guy he had mentioned later in the interview was sophomore TB Kalvin Daniels).
Freshman kicker Blair Walsh said he felt good, and that he spent the majority of his time during the scrimmage working on getting more hang time on his kickoffs and trying to pin them in the right corner of the field.
“We got a lot of really good work in, and we’ve got a lot of big questions to answer in our kicking game, and this is the time to answer them,” tight end Tripp Chandler said. “I think our special teams as a whole stood out, I think we looked really good.”
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