Hello friends! Thought I’d add a place where we could talk about some Georgia Bulldog football. Feel free to add whatever you feel, rumors you heard or information you may have. Just whatever’s on you mind about our team. On the heals of a disappointing 2010 football season where I was expecting a little better performance from my Dawgs, now we have some more bad news with the passing of UGA VIII from lymphoma. This is like the third one to pass away I think in like the last 3 or 4 years.
Between losing mascots, a key player or two to the NFL draft and, IMO, the lack of discipline on the team at times, I have many hopes and questions about this upcoming season. I mean what’s your thoughts on players getting suspended left and right for mostly what seems to me like senseless, boneheaded mistakes? Do the kids these days just not care or think that they are above the rules set forth by their coaches because they are supposedly a standout athlete? How much responsibility leading to these suspensions should fall back on the coaching staff? Have they lost control of this team? Personally, I’m just not sold on the coaches being able to do a whole lot more with making the players do what they are supposed to do as I see the same thing happening all across the SEC and the nations different football programs all together. And, I am a firm believer in sticking to what you say, so if you’re told to be somewhere at a certain time or do a specific thing by a specific time, I think punishment should be laid down if you fail to make it happen. I mean, I do understand that there are always special circumstances, but the things I feel fall into this category are few and far between. Maybe that’s just the military in me lol.
Last year before the opening game of the season, we had, if I remember correctly a few players suspended. One in particular comes to mind, Washaun Ealey. Both him and Kaleb King had issues this past season. Well guess what? Ealey has done it again! As of right now, he’s suspended again and who knows for how long this time and even if he’ll stick around to continue to play ball for Georgia. Luckily we were able to land another standout tailback in Isaiah Crowell from Columbus, Georgia but I really hate to have to start him as a freshman, especially in an opener like Boise State! I’d much rather have the experienced back out there or atleast be able to swap them in and out. Also, the loss of wide receiver Logan Gray is not good news to my ears. He has decided it seems to transfer for his final year of eligibility to a school closer to where he’s from around the Columbia, MO area. His reasoning is that he wants his family to be able to attend all the home games he plays in. Can’t too much argue with that I guess although I felt he was a good asset to have on the team.
On the upside, I am proud of our recruiting class this year and the job that the coaches did to land the players we grabbed. We ranked 5th in the nation with this years class! One in particular is the before mentioned Isaiah Crowell. He’s a beast and I feel will put up great numbers before he leaves the school! Another is receiver Malcolm Mitchell. A couple of defensive players I can see being key as soon as they hit the field are defensive ends Ray Drew and Sterling Bailey. One main piece to Todd Grantham’s 3-4 defense is the addition of nose guard “Big” John Jenkins. He’s a 6'4", 353 pound monster from the Mississippi area. It’s guys like that in a defensive scheme like the 3-4 that are able to create problems for the offense in more than one way. Not only is he big enough to push offensive lineman around, most of the time he’ll require a double-team to slow him up which in turn will open up rushing lanes for defensive ends to fire through into the opposing teams backfield. Although some of these players may not see the field at all or limited action this upcoming season, it excites me to know they are there and being developed for the next few years.
One last point I’d like to talk about is the addition of a new offensive line coach, Will Friend. He’s taking over the position that Stacy Searels left. He held this position for UAB last year and the thing I like most is that they only gave up 12 sacks for the year. That was tied for 15th nationally. Georgia gave up 24 sacks and ranked 10th in the SEC in rushing offense. With his knowledge and the return of a few starters he’ll have to work with in Trinton Sturdivant, Cordy Glenn, Kenarious Gates and Ben Jones, Friend is surely to improve on these stats.