I want to believe!!!!

wlayton, what is it about the DE position that you don't like? I just want to know what I'm missing that no one else is...I mean, I know there's inexperience, BUT:

1) The G-Day game showed that Justin Houston is a beast.
2) DeMarcus Dobbs did enough to prove himself last year. The worry with him is injury.
3) Let's face it. Just like Sean Bailey was in '05, Rod Battle is DUE. All that hype, all that talent, and nothing so far? I don't think so. This is Rod Battle's year.

There are DE’s on campus, but the ones that are there have either not done anything noteworthy or haven’t played at all. The DE’s are in a word, unproven. UGA typically plays a speed guy at one DE (think Marcus Howard and Quentin Moses) and a bigger, stronger player (often referred to as the “buck” end) at the other defensive end (think Charles Johnson). At the speed end, UGA has Justin Houston. He is without question the DE with the best potential on the team. He played well in the spring, and I believe that he’ll step it up this year. Two problems: #1 He is one guy, and UGA always rotates defensive ends to keep them fresh. #2 He is suspended for the Oklahoma State and South Carolina games. Behind him at the speed DE are Jeremy Longo (Redshirt freshman was hurt in spring and will most likely miss several games to open the season) and Cornelius Washington (Good athlete, but he’s been hurt since he stepped on campus. Redshirted last year, but really got no experience in practice because of shoulder problems. Hopes to finally be 100% by the opening of fall camp.) At the other Buck end, there’s Battle. He missed spring, but I think that he’s solid (if unspectacular) when he is healthy. Dobbs is behind him, and he was also hurt all spring. He played a lot last year, but did nothing to impress other than to intercept a couple of batted balls. (If he had been anywhere near the QB, he wouldn’t have been in position to intercept those balls around the line of scrimmage.) Kiante Tripp is behind him. He’s a good athlete, but he has failed to make an impact at both DE and OT. Montez Robinson is a true freshman that could factor in. He is more of a speed type of rusher, but he is a true freshman and needs to hit the weights.

I think that DE is the biggest question mark on the team. If they can’t get pressure from the defensive line, that makes you blitz linebackers to get pressure on the quarterback. That was a large part of the problem last year. We had to bring linebackers to rush the passer which leaves you vulnerable in coverage.

That's it in a nutshell....IMO.

Ok, ok....I'm done....phew!!




Oops, sorry,

One other item to note: you will most likely see some linebackers move down to defensive end, at least in passing situations. (Remember that Gamble and Washington played there a bit in the spring game.) I believe you could see either of those guys play a little defensive end, and I also think that Darius Dewberry could be moved there on either full-time or part-time basis. That might help out considerably in rushing the passer, but none of those guys are experienced defensive ends. You can’t just stick a guy in there that has no idea what he’s doing because it’s very important for the defensive ends to play assignment football.

Joe Cox will go down in Dawg lore.
Mark my words, I can feel it in my arthritic bones.

wlayton wrote:

One other item to note: you will most likely see some linebackers move down to defensive end, at least in passing situations. (Remember that Gamble and Washington played there a bit in the spring game.) I believe you could see either of those guys play a little defensive end,

I think you move Marcus Washington right now to DE. Speed plus strength. He showed he coudl get to the QB when he played there on G-Day. We're stacked at linebacker.

Can't blame me for being optimistic. We've had an embarrassment of riches in terms of talent for three straight years now. Time to cash in.

wlayton wrote:

One other item to note: you will most likely see some linebackers move down to defensive end, at least in passing situations. (Remember that Gamble and Washington played there a bit in the spring game.) I believe you could see either of those guys play a little defensive end,

I think you move Marcus Washington right now to DE. Speed plus strength. He showed he coudl get to the QB when he played there on G-Day. We're stacked at linebacker.

Can't blame me for being optimistic. We've had an embarrassment of riches in terms of talent for three straight years now. Time to cash in.

Totally agree with you dapolla about Washington or any other LB moved but they will definitely need to learn ALL the nuances of the position......not just rushing the QB. There lies some of the problem. But definitely agree that there's talent there to try it out.