Home / Hotline Reports / Bulldog Hotline - Oct. 6, 2008
Bulldog Hotline - Oct. 6, 2008
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Scott Howard opened up noting the new polls have UGA ranked #10 in all major polls. Also, the open date has allowed some injured players to heal but some are still out.
How did the open week go? Richt says an off week isn’t really a week off. The guys lifted three days and practiced two. Plus our coaches got out and recruited Wednesday and Friday. Also, the coaches got to work on putting together the game plan and met last night to finalize it. Also, we try to get the players to go home and rest, if they’re close enough.
We have a few guys coming off injuries.
Battle – still out (slight chance he could be back)
Ellerbe – didn’t practice today, doesn’t look good. Some guys might feel better later in the week but maybe haven’t had the chance to prepare properly during the week.
Durham – doesn’t look good
T. King – questionable; better chance than Durham
Stafford – fine
Moreno – fine
Figgins – trying to play
The TE position: Aron White getting the majority of the work. If you know what to do and you fight like mad you can get it done. K. Tripp has been moved from tackle to TE, getting lots of reps in practice and starting to look a bit like a TE. Figgins would like to get some inside drills to know where he stands.
Southerland will be able to play FB for the first time this season. He practiced last Tuesday and Thursday and today, so he’s fine. He’s a great leader and a heck of a football player.
K. Tripp has turned into quite a utility player. He even moved back to LT in practice last week. There is a lot of carryover between T & TE. The big difference is learning pass routes at TE. For a big ol’ guy (280 or 290) he runs some pretty sweet routes. Pretty good hands too. He just sucks it in and doesn’t let it get to his body. He has a lot more blocks where he releases to a LB or safety so he has to learn to engage in space and not just lock into the guy.
Rick in Woodstock opened the calls tonite. He wants to know how to send a DVD of a player to Richt.
Paul in Gadsden, AL got abused after last week. He was impressed with how we fought back the second half vs. Bama. He wants Richt to know we’re still behind the team but we need to go out and kick butt now. Richt also knows there is now a sense of urgency. Four of the six in the east still control our destiny. Every SEC game counts on that record. If you go undefeated in the East but lose all your games vs. West teams you probably won’t make that SEC Championship game.
CMR actually drove up to Clemson Saturday morning to watch his son practice, have lunch and watch a movie, Fireproof (made by the same people who made Facing the Giants). Richt highly recommends it.
Tony in Vidalia asked if we’d considered moving Southerland or Chapas to TE. Richt said we had messed around with that. K. Tripp has moved over there for 2-3 weeks now. The transition is easy blocking but the trick is learning pass routes. Figgins has put his hat in the ring. His shoulder is holding up enough. Plus we have options of going with 3 WR/2 back or 4 WR/1 back sets.
Tanya wonders about silver on homecoming, like a blackout, and about weeks off around Florida? Richt doubts we do anything except play in our red jerseys at home. If our fans wore silver it might reflect sun and take down aircraft. (laughs) As for open dates, last year was only the second in 15 years we had an open date before Florida. We’re now in a spot where we’ll have an off date before Florida every other year.
Mike in Macon asked about having Moreno at QB and King at RB. CMR laughed and thinks the “wildcat” is catching on now. We had it in the game plan one game but probably not this week. When your QB is just going to hand the ball off the defense only has to account for 10 in the running game. If your QB can run that accounts for an extra man in the run game. If you take a safety and roll him down you now have the offense outnumbered in the run game if the QB hands off and does nothing else.
Steve in Peachtree City wants some history on how we’ve gotten behind on the OL. CMR’s second year, we had 6 senior OL, then nothing but freshmen, and Richt remembers vowing he would never let that happen again. Sure enough, a few years later we’re in the same position. We had a bad run of guys having career ending shoulder injuries, then we had to play some guys sooner than we’d like. We just haven’t been able to take guys, redshirt them and bring them along. Last year we started three freshmen and this year three freshmen are playing a lot. We’re getting more linemen in the program.
On defense, we have good numbers at DE and inside. We need to get more pressure off the edges but the DTs are playing pretty good.
Les in Macon has two questions about the kicking game. Will we see more of Prince Miller on punt returns, and Richard Samuel on kick returns. Richt thinks we will see more of Prince Miller. Also, Logan Gray has done a good job back there, especially when we’re deep in our end.
Scott in Grayson thinks last year’s game in Knoxville and the second half the year before in Sanford should be a driving force this week. He wonders where Southerland fits in. Southerland doesn’t just block people, he can “blow them up.” And how do we gameplan around Eric Berry?
Richt said Southerland was voted offensive captain for this game. We want as mature a leader as we can get for this big game. Don’t be shocked to see him get the ball in short yardage. We’re not going to try to reinvent the wheel. Chapas did an outstanding job.
As for Eric Berry, he’s a tremendous athlete. He’s an interception machine, sure tackler and super fast. You have to understand if he’s playing the “high hole” or spinning down into the box to play a 3rd WR. We just have to make sure we get a hat on him when he’s down in the box. When we’re throwing, look one way and throw the other, or else that guy will hone in on it.
Chad in Lincolnton thinks UT found a QB last week in Nick Stephens. They haven’t had a breakout game and would like to get it against us. We don’t need to let them have it. Richt saw the film and thinks Stephens showed poise and threw the ball well for a first start. There might have been once or twice they jumped offsides just because of a new cadence. Their coaches are impressed with him since he’s already been named starter for this week. Also, they play defense well. Hopefully we’re able to score enough points to get them out of a comfort zone. We never did that to John Parker Wilson in the last game.
Mitchell in Baxley thinks we can still run the table and win the SEC, but is worried about the penalties. Richt says we do things to discipline players and the team, but he doesn’t want to squeeze them so hard they’d quit playing aggressively. Since that time, we have a situation where the team pays a price if we have so many penalties. During practice, whomever commits a penalty gets pulled out and has to do up/downs. Richt doesn’t think it will slow down effort and attitude.
Carl in Bainbridge asked about Nick Williams, from Bainbridge. Richt said he’s got a spirit and loves to practice and hit. As soon as he learns what to do, he’ll make a big impact on defense. He is already helping out on special teams and the scout team defense.
Terry in Macon wonders if Cordy Glenn will someday move to tackle, and if this OL will eventually measure up to last year. Richt thinks Glenn can play tackle and we give him reps there all the time in practice. One thing about the OL last year is they stayed together from the start through the whole year with few changes.
Charles in Conyers wonders if Richard Samuel will stay on offense or eventually move to defense. Richt thinks right now he’s a running back and we hope to get him a few more totes.
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