Mark Richt Can’t Win
Mark Richt announced today that Caleb King will be suspended for the next two games for his Monday morning arrest for failure to appear in court. Fan reaction ranged from “not strong enough” to “way too harsh”. Let me be the first to say, “It’s perfect”! You may ask why? Well, I’m glad you asked. Let me explain.
First, let me go back to when Washaun Ealey was in a bit of a pinch(click here). Washaun was guilty of the hit and run of a parked car while driving with a suspended license. The discussion on Atlanta sports talk radio was varied. My boys Buck and Ole Kincade couldn’t come to a meeting of the minds.
Surprise! Surprise!
While John Kincade wanted heads to roll, Buck kept saying Coach Mark Richt had to be consistent in his choice of punishment. I actually disagreed with both. My take on this growing issue of mostly irresponsible behavior with some downright appalling criminal behavior is this. The only type of consistency I want to see is the heat consistently turned up on these players until they get the message. To me, that’s what happened today.
As I stated yesterday, an expulsion from the team would have been too harsh. A one game suspension for similar offenses had not yet worked had it? It reminds me of when my two sons were coming along. Neither were bad kids but we had the occasional issue to resolve. My philosophy was to find where their pain was. If it was a couple of smacks on the backside, fine. If it was taking the Nintendo away, great, but I was committed to finding what hurt the most and worked the best.
For most players, that means playing time.
Once again, I believe that CMR has pressed the right button, the perfect balance. The heat has been turned up, but we haven’t lost our player. It’s not just a different verse of the same old song. It’s a new song. He is definitely on a roll in the last eight days.
I hope he can keep it up.
Dawgs Victims of Micro-FANagement
I’m not sure what the typical Georgia Bulldogs fan’s expectations for 2010 were exactly. I for one had no delusions of either SEC or National Championships dancing in the back of my mind this summer. I basically took the summer off from RTK and I am somewhat loathe to jump back in to the deep end this early in the season.
After three games, the Dawgs are 1-2, having suffered a last minute loss to Arkansas this past weekend. If I had been asked, I would have predicted 2-1 at this point. The loss to South Carolina was a surprise, but only because of lethal combination of the running of Marcus Lattimore and the Dawgs thinking it was two hand touch.
While many Dawg fans lament the less than stellar play the last two weeks, and I don’t disagree completely, I do think there is another point of view to consider.
I have seen several blog posts with in-depth analysis and somewhat reasonable characterizations of the coaches and players alike. I have also witnessed Tweet-crazy folks who have no perspective on this team, this season or life itself. I now call this micro-FANagement. It’s way too early to try and build the case for keeping or firing anyone.
I want to share the way I look at coaches and coaching.
One, do the players under their tutelage get better over time. Second, does the TEAM get better over the course of a season(of course, the very best teams start strong). Third, are the players fundamentally sound and/or disciplined. Some of these questions are being answered and some have yet to be answered.
I will try and wait to see the season in it’s entirety, before I assess the ultimate success or failure of individual players, coaches or this team as a whole.
I said I will try.
Ealey Pays For Cox’s Mistake
Georgia’s Mark Richt announced Tuesday that Caleb King will start this weekend instead of Washaun Ealey at running back. Seems Washaun missed a block that allowed pressure on QB Joe Cox. Cox threw the ball up for grabs and it was intercepted. Cox would go on to throw two more interceptions, with one being a deflection off A.J. Greens hands. That one is not really Joe’s fault. But the first one was, and yet Washaun sits and Joe continues to start.
Now I’m not one of the bench Joe Cox crowd. When Mark Richt says Joe gives us the best chance to win, I try and accept that as the gospel truth; but when he benches Washaun over this, I question his judgment all over again. Washaun had started the last two games and was one of the only positive things that Georgia had going in the Florida game, gaining 70 yards on 17 carries.
I along with nearly every Georgia fan I know believes Washaun Ealey is our best running back right now. He missed a block. He may have missed more than one, I’m not going to study the tape.
I don’t care…
Washaun’s primary function is to run the ball. Blocking, while important, is a secondary function for him. Now, he along with every player should strive to improve in every phase of their respective games. Now, follow me on this. Georgia’s problems on offense are not because of Washaun Ealey’s deficiencies in a secondary function. The offense has struggled because of our inability to adequately utilize his talents in his primary function, running the ball.
I just don’t understand.
It’s as if Richt is shining a bright light on Washaun’s weaknesses to distract us from Joe’s continued struggles. Spreading the blame around to lighten Joe’s burden. This staff has always harped on it’s running backs having to be able to block to get on the field and I understand that this is a crucial issue in most situations. But do you really think that is Georgia’s biggest issue on offense? Please.
SEC Flagged for Illegal Man On Field
The Florida Gators beat the Georgia Bulldogs in tackle football Saturday. I had hoped for a better showing, but I’m not the least bit shocked we lost. What I am shocked about is the fact that apparently it’s okay to attempt to injure your opponent in today’s SEC with impunity. I expected Urban Meyer to react with minimal objections, but Mike Slive’s office should be ashamed….again.
As you may know, Brandon Spikes, LB for Florida was caught on video holding Georgia running back Washaun Ealey down and purposely attempt to gouge him in the eyes. The punishment? Sit down for the first half against Vanderbilt, and don’t do it again, okay? I saw some Gator blogs today that stated if…IF Spikes did this intentionally, it was bad. Except the prick that does EDSBS…who thought it was great. Screw him.
The Southeastern Conference is now a wild west show, where anything goes. I know you are familiar with the officiating, but this is a safety issue. If nothing else, player safety should be job one in Birmingham, but it’s not. Don’t worry, I can still say what I want. Let them try and reprimand or suspend me!
Now, players can do whatever they want up to and including purposely injure another player without any real repercussions.
The main lesson here? Don’t get caught next time. Great job Mr. Slive!
Are the Georgia Bulldogs Coached Up?
I was reading THE Bulldog’s Blog and one of David Hale’s readers used the term “coached down”. It’s not a very commonly used phrase, but very descriptive and it made me think….no comments please! Especially you Bernie! It reminded me of a conversation I had with one of Thomas Brown’s high school coaches several years ago. Thomas was probably a junior at UGA at the time.
He was expressing some frustration because he felt Thomas was having his natural running instincts and abilities “coached out” of him. He said Thomas had shown a game breaking ability that I am sure helped him get recruited and a scholarship offer. Why then would the Georgia running backs coach go against that grain?
It could be as simple as the coach wanting the backs to run north and south and not to go east and west. That’s a pretty common mantra, but sometimes you have to go east and west just a little. These days that hole that was supposed to be there just isn’t there. Some of our backs run there anyway and fall down.
One of my favorite books as a kid was Run to Daylight by Vince Lombardi
That’s some basic stuff, but do we do that? Seriously.
Here’s a question for you. Since when do we recruit running backs as projects? The comments from Coach Richt recently regarding Richard Samuel prove to me that he is an ongoing project at running back. The fact that he is “still learning the position” doesn’t ring true to me. He’s been on campus 18 months and still doesn’t know what to do or how to do it? How can that be? And he’s starting again this weekend vs. Tennessee.
Now I have an occasional reader that feels I dislike Richard Samuel. That’s not the case. I want Richard to be successful. It’s up to the coaches to give him a chance to be successful. I’m just not sure that running back is the spot. If this weekend is Richard’s coming out party, I will dance naked in the street and kiss him square on the mouth, I swear I don’t care.
To clarify, I will get dressed again before said kiss on the mouth.
I think the more likely scenario is it could be Washaun Ealey’s coming out party. A fractured jaw and concussion for Caleb King may have created that opportunity for Washaun. It took an injury to Thomas Brown in 2007 for Knowshon Moreno to get the numbers of carries that proved his true value.
Bottom line is, I want to win. I am very concerned about our ability to run and consistently stop the run. Monty Kiffin will have his defense ready. He will put the onus squarely on Joe Cox to win this game. Joe will be hit early and often if we can’t slow the Tennessee pass rush by running effectively.
This will need to be our best over-all game to win.
Let’s do it! Go Dawgs!
Georgia’s Backfield Emotion
Everyone has an opinion about the question mark UGA has at running back. Will it be Caleb King…Richard Samuel….Dontavious Jackson… Carlton Thomas…Washaun Ealey? Someone posted a link of Washaun highlight’s on Dawgvent the other day and it got me thinking. I seldom go to the extent of looking at all the Youtube stuff, but I did this weekend. I had some opinions before, I have stronger ones now.
Too many fans get hung up on “measurables” like height, weight and 40 forty yard dash times . Many times it is the little things that matter most. Size is an important variable. A running back in the SEC will be subjected to a great deal of violence and mayhem. It takes longer to crush a big rock than a small rock but, if the rock doesn’t get rocked, then he can rock and roll, know what I mean? Durability is always a concern though, no matter your running backs size.
How fast you run from point “A” to point “B” while interesting, does not necessarily translate to a productive college running back. The speed at linebacker and safety mean you better change your angles or you are going to get blown up and possibly fumble from time to time.
It’s that sometimes almost imperceptible move that means the difference
between head pain and yards gained.
Knowshon had it. Caleb, Dontavious, and Washaun have it. Richard Samuel has not shown it at all. He runs like a tall athletic fullback. He could run by you but sometimes prefers to run over you. That’s okay in high school, but last year he was not able to adequately transition to SEC football. I would never write a young man off because sometimes things click and voila, they arrive. That being said, Carlton Thomas not only has it, he looks like Barry Sanders in his highlight tape. I just saw his tape today, so I came to that conclusion on my own but I was not the first to say it. I swear, if he had a couple of inches and pounds on him, I would say hello Heisman in 2011 or 2012.
All of these guys have ability. Most people believe it will be running back by committee in 2009. I have said it before, thats just fine by me. As long as the committee appoints Carlton Thomas to the special teams sub-committee in charge of returns. This kid needs the ball in space. I know this is not news, but I’m telling you this right now. He will be a difference maker, whether on special teams, bubble screens, reverses or as a decoy. The opposing defenses will have to account for this mightiest of mites. I can’t freakin’ wait!
Tell me what you really think!