Defensive Line

I hope I'm wrong but feel that UGA is going to be pretty light on the DL for the first three or four games based on the losses we have incurred in the off season and the planned loss of JL and possibly JR.

Is it time to cross train linemen to use in a pinch like this?

GO DAWGS!!!!!GATA

Growl, believe I have read since Smart took over that there is a lot of cross training going on. Fall practice will afford several of the players to step up and claim playing time.

Some have mentioned shuffling offensive linemen, moving them to the defensive side. Actually makes me cringe a bit. We went through that "a lot" under the previous head coach.

Still say there is a lot of talent that can come off of the bench and play SEC football. Great opportunity for those that want to play on Saturdays.

This Fall practice, not a doubt it will be like none we have seen or read about before. Players are aware.

Guess I keep getting "what used to be" with "the way it is now" mixed up because of the "specialization" demanded in todays world. Guess I'm going to have to shift gears and stop questioning and start observing and adhering, might be less taxing on my small brain.

Growl, could not get your last post out of my mind. Went back and read some things and came up with this . . . . Appears that you and Kirby have some of the same thoughts.

*********************************************************

“I feel better about rushers than I do about the inside guys. I’m worried about [that],” Smart said Monday during his SEC Car Wash appearance at ESPN headquarters. “The good thing is we don’t play an LSU, Arkansas type that’s just going to break your neck, but we do have to play fast-tempo teams.”

*********************************************************

What I really like about the above comments from Coach Smart, calls it exactly as "he sees it".

The above comments from Kirby Smart were copied from this article.

*********************************************************

Kirby Smart feels good about his team’s ability to rush the passer. But how often will his Georgia defense force the third-and-long situations that will allow players such as Davin Bellamy and Lorenzo Carter to pin their ears back and chase down opposing quarterbacks?

Smart, the Bulldogs’ first-year head coach, isn’t sure.

“I feel better about rushers than I do about the inside guys. I’m worried about [that],” Smart said Monday during his SEC Car Wash appearance at ESPN headquarters. “The good thing is we don’t play an LSU, Arkansas type that’s just going to break your neck, but we do have to play fast-tempo teams.”

Georgia’s defense already had holes to fill up front following the departures of linemen Chris Mayes, Sterling Bailey, James DeLoach and Josh Dawson, plus bookends Leonard Floyd and Jordan Jenkins. Then Smart dismissed sophomore reserve Chauncey Rivers in May following a third arrest in seven months. And now sophomore Jonathan Ledbetter faces an indefinite suspension following his second alcohol-related arrest this year.



"I feel better about rushers than I do about the inside guys," Kirby Smart said Monday. "I'm worried about [that]." AP Photo/John Bazemore

Suddenly a thin depth chart looks like a possible nightmare.

“I’m extremely concerned at defensive line because of the one kid that we had dismissed, Chauncey Rivers, and Ledbetter has got a suspension, so those are two core [players]. I mean Ledbetter’s probably going to be a starter and now he’s out. Rivers is a really good role player, good pass-rusher and he’s gone. We did bring three guys in, but once again, you start counting on freshmen in our league to be starters and it creates problems.”

Surely Smart’s staff will groom the youngsters to contribute, at minimum, even if the Bulldogs don’t have to start them right away. While Trenton Thompson and John Atkins are back to solidify the middle of the line, it’s possible that the freshmen -- led by ESPN’s No. 23 overall prospect Julian Rochester -- play out of necessity.

Eventually Ledbetter will return to the lineup, although Smart was deliberately vague about the timeline.

“I’m not getting into the number of games, but I think it’ll surprise everybody when they find out how many,” he said.

In the meantime, Smart should be thankful that his team will not face a smash mouth rushing team early on, giving his staff time to develop its interior line. Opening opponent North Carolina was one of the nation’s better rushing teams last season -- and star running back Elijah Hood is an early Heisman Trophy candidate after rushing for 1,463 yards in 2015 -- but the Tar Heels run a spread scheme, not a downhill, I-formation attack that would obliterate interior creases.

After the opener, the Bulldogs will face only one opponent -- Tennessee on Oct. 1 -- that ranked in the national top 40 in rushing offense last season before taking on Auburn and Georgia Tech in November.

Maybe Ledbetter will be back by then, and Georgia will have surely developed some depth up front by then regardless.

But Smart remains unsure how the available players will fare on those key early downs, when stuffing the run would create passing situations that allow Bellamy and Carter to do what they do best.

“I’m worried about the 280-to-300-pound guys,” Smart said. “We’ve got some 230, 240 -- Bellamy, Lorenzo Carter, D’Andre Walker. We’ve got some guys that can rush the passer, but we’ve got to get them to rush downs.”

Buc, I believe a workable DL, for the short term, can be a servicable one with a little pre-conditioning of certain athletes. They have to buy into being used short term on both sides of the ball if need be. Of course this could lead to injuries associated with playing a position that players are'nt used to, thus much better conditioning is warranted and has to be followed from the beginning of the teams life. Expectations have to be real!

Growl, this is where I am at . . . . the time has come for all of the "talk" to find its way to either the "pro" or "con".

Appears to me that many (not all) that claim to be UGA supporters are now in a state of confusion. By that and mean this, can back up what I say from my extensive reading. I read, read everything that is new on a daily basis.

Yes, many of us have been around for a long time, maybe we don't understand exactly what we see today. Maybe we do.

I believe this . . . . Shades have been raised, sunlight beginning to find its way on our program, finally. Maybe I have said too much about the "higher ups", but anyone that knows me understands this was/is the "opportunity" to change the face of not only the football program, the "entire program". The Lady Sportswriter understands, not a doubt. Steve has "barked" for a long time about the "overall". Would like to see both of these folks get together, they have what it takes to "change" the way "business" has been done for "years".

College football is a "HUGE BUSINESS".

When those that understand the FANS have been "short changed", change will come.

Example . . . . Head Coach Kirby Smart. Along with that . . . . Smart and Company. Never will I forget the way this group of coaches were put together. Media, always a step back are beginning to sway.

Went through the same BS when Erk was sent to Statesboro, they did not have a football team. What did Erk do . . . . read Erk's accomplishments when moving to Middle Georgia.

Some of us refer to that as coaching.

Will Stop . . . . Go Dawgs, FANS understand.