Thoughts on Year Four and Todd Grantham

Just hope CTG can get this upcoming defense to stop the run. Teams like bama will get their yards on the ground but 350 is just too much. Depth on the defensive line is needed as well. Simplify the scheme, with the athletes that UGA produces you don't have to be too complicated, they will make plays. Unimpressed with our run d, but like the halftime adjustments, liked the pass d for the most part. But in this conference you have to be able to stop the run first. Hope CTG can get it together. I like the guy, he has fire in his belly that has been needed for awhile. Would hate to see him go, or threads wanting him to be fired but he has to get the results on the field.

BullDawg2010, think maybe this is what you want to see improved on. With ya!

Looking ahead to 2013 Season, several things that I think about. First off, none of us know at this point how both the offense and defense will play. Talking heads might, not me. Notre Dame rated higher than Georgia . . . .OK.

Who among us thought that Notre Dame would be undefeated entering the National Championship game? Carry that another step. Who among us would have bet (wagered) that Texas A&M would defeat Alabama in Tuscaloosa? Who really thought that Georgia Tech would beat Southern California in their bowl game? The same Southern Cal that was plastered on every preseason poll as being the best college football team in the nation. The talking heads forget their early predictions and then tell us how smart they are at the end of the season. I think that is a fair statement.

Talent abounds in Athens, more on the way. Talent for both sides of the ball. If all of our wishes come true, this recruiting class could rival any class at any time in Georgia recruiting history. Also think that is a fair statement.

If the offense turns out to be as good or near as good as many of us think they will be and produce in 2013, no reason not to be in the top five offenses in the country. Too much talent not to score a lot of points. This should be a team that relishes being covered by man defenses and a good reason for that is a quarterback that will put the ball in the air. AM sometimes is juiced at the beginning, but he has no fear. Good passing offenses try real hard to get that extra second before the release. We get that, it is lights out for many teams on our schedule, that includes some of the better teams.

Don’t know how many watch film on teams like Alabama and others. I mention Alabama for this reason. Kirby Smart makes sure that every man on the defensive side maintains their gaps. That is his job. Not often does that group find itself out of position. There is always a man lurking and when an obvious mistake is made, the 5’8” or so head coach will bring a 6’5” 320 pounder to his knees. This is something when watching the Georgia defense play, simply does not come up to the standards demanded in Tuscaloosa.

I am one of those that believes that Todd Grantham has some old habits that need to be broken. He does seem to go with his “starters” a bit longer than maybe he should. There again, don’t know just how much faith he has in some of the other players. Looking over the list of players that are currently in Athens and some that we hope will make Athens their residence, should not have too many depth issues. At some point when we have a full compliment of players, hard for me to believe that there are only 22 or so that see too much of the playing time. Not talking about “mop up” in runaway games, talking about times when number one needs a breather and number two steps up and does the job. Said in another thread that this is Grantham’s fourth year. These are his players. Mark Richt has given Todd Grantham full run of the defense. At this point whatever the defense does or does not do, it belongs to Todd Grantham. Remember his words . . . . Next man up. That not only applies to injured players, should apply to playing time.

Much has been said about teams on our schedule, especially those with sure fire NFL talent. Don’t have to name them, we know who they are. If we can’t beat some of these teams because they have one or two special players, then it has to be explained to me why that is.

Only fair to look for and expect bigger and better things from Georgia football. 12-2, hard to beat those numbers year after year, but there is not room to allow UGA to fall back ever again to some of the numbers we witnessed a short time back. I am sure that I saw Mark Richt change over the past couple of years, anyone that watched the game in Orlando knows that he was all over two of the referees . . . . All over them, screaming, jerking his headset off and chasing one of them down the sideline. Fire in the belly, don’t know, sure of one thing, he was pissed.

Georgia beat a very good Nebraska football team in Orlando. Don’t care about those that bring up the huge loss to Wisconsin. I do know that they were 1-1 against Wisconsin in 2012. I also know that AM/Bobo/Richt did their homework and out coached Bo on Conley’s huge touchdown catch. We were prepared for the defense that Bo called. Film work pays off and AM is known for that.

2013 football season holds a lot of promise.

Go Dawgs . . . . Coach’em Up!!

I'm glad you mentioned maintaining your gap, and no we do not do it.

Gap control is an on field discipline issue, and yes we are still lacking in
that area.

Players must temper their enthusiasm to get up-field on the rush, or in crashing down on the line trying to compress the inside lanes (and as a result giving up contain on the outside)

Hopefully Chris Williams will be able to communicate that to his linemen. I'm pretty sure
Garner either didn't or didn't do it well enough because we certainly struggled with it.

Plus yes when talking about complicated... gap control for the linebackers is more complicated. 3-4 schemes involve a lot of 2 gap stuff, where the defender has to read
the play in order to know which gap he has whereas in a 4-3 scheme your gap is usually
set. 3-4 is versatile because of the different players you can use and you can disguise
things, but it is more complicated.

Wartdawg, good read.

I have noticed when Grantham talks about putting pressure on the quarterback, a lot of the players on the defense sometimes forget those gaps, or look for the big play. That is the kind of play that Johnny Football and others look for. That goes back to spending time in the film room.

Really not trying to bash Todd Grantham, do have to say (again) watching him on the sideline in Orlando was not a pretty sight. Would like nothing better than for Grantham to be all that. It is UGA football and a UGA football coach that I am mentioning.

We were ranked as one of the best defenses in the country at the beginning of the year, again that was coming from the talking heads. I believed that we were a top ten defense if not better. Bothered me that the talent level on our side was either not motivated or . . . .

Say again, hope I don't have to hear a lot of talk about young men learning the system. Takes me back again to Alabama. They lost a lot of players at the end of 2011 to the NFL, what did they do . . . . back to back National Championships. They did what Grantham says on occasion . . . . next man up. The defense had not one but several step up.

I also believe that there is enough talent in Athens to have a better defensive line in the coming season. Maybe play "team defense", much like the young folks in Tuscaloosa.

Believe we can be very good.

Buc, imo, in order to "reload" every year, we just need to get over that hump and win ONE NC (or another SEC....beating BAMA would help)......we were sooo close this year.

Saban can cherry pick just about any recruit he wants.....rarely does he lose one and when he does, he has the ability to "steal" 3 from other programs. When you win 3 of 4 NC's, he basically has his choice of who he wants and therefore can reload year in and year out.

When we lose players to the NFL, many times it leaves us with holes to fill......BAMA has 2 backup players at every position (maybe more) usually with experience waiting their turn and they don't skip a beat.

We're getting there.....real close......need to find a way to get over that hump.....could open up the flood gates.