Deleted Scenes: Problems on the Ground

I have a story in today's Telegraph on what's been ailing Georgia's running game. There was plenty of info I couldn't squeeze into the story though, so I figured we should post it here.

Mark Richt on what needs to happen to get the running game going...
"We definitely need to run block better. I actually think we’ve pass protected pretty well, but we need to run block better, and that includes tight ends. There are times that the offensive line does it and the tight ends get tossed around. Every once in a while we’ll have everything blocked to the T, then the fullback takes an edge off a linebacker and doesn’t go right down the heart of a guy. When they get in situations where it’s just one guy, we need yards after contact. So it’s a little bit of everything right now in the running game."

Joe Cox on how much the lack of a running game hurts the ability to open up the playbook...
“You can tell that it does affect us a little bit because we’re getting stuck in third-and-long situations. If you want to run the ball on first and second down, you have to get yourself in a manageable third down. We didn’t do that in the first half. I don’t really think it’s a problem, but it’s something we’ve got to focus on it this week and get it right.”

Cox on the problems with the running game...
“I think there’s been times where, you’re not going to be able to block every run play completely right and just go to the house for a touchdown, especially when you play good defenses. LSU had a fantastic defense, especially in their front seven. You’re not going to be able to just stone those guys. I think there’s been instances of the line having a missed assignment or maybe not holding on to a block long enough, then there’s been times where backs have missed the hole. It’s not like there’s one huge problem, it’s everybody executing on the same play instead of having somebody miss something on every single one of them. It’s something that we’ve just got to execute better.”

Cox on whether it's harder to not have a true No. 1 tailback...
“I would like to say it’s not, but it does help when you have a guy like that and people have to be worried about the run. The run game opens up everything else, especially in our offense. We need to do a better job of executing our run plays so it can affect our run plays when we do play-action pass. We’re not worried about having one guy get all the carries in a game, but we’ve got to be able to execute better with the guys we do have.”

Cox on Washaun Ealey's pass blocking...
“Like any freshman, you’ve got to every now and then help them out and remind them, but his technique’s good and he’s a strong kid.”

Cox on handling Ealey's first taste of playing time...
“I had no clue. It was pretty funny. The first thing I thought was, great, now I’ve got to go out here and make sure he knows what to do on every play. But he looked comfortable. We didn’t want to get in there and be telling him all this stuff. I was just like, leave him alone and let him run. He knows what he’s doing and I think he’s going to get a lot of confidence from that experience.”

(*Note, he was laughing about the "make sure he knows what to do" comment.)

Cox on whether it's the line or the tailbacks that has been the problem...
“I think there’s been instances of both. We’re not going to get 10 yards a carry every time we touch the ball, but there’s been opportunities for better runs and there are times when there hasn’t been opportunities to run. It’s been a little bit of both and it’s something that we’ve got to work on. You can see when our running game did start to pick up, everything else started clicking.”

Rennie Curran on seeing Ealey develop in practice...
“Those first couple weeks of practice, he wasn’t running the ball as tough. You could tell he was kind of nervous going against the starters. He was trying to measure himself or worried about whether he was going to get hit hard. But after a while, he stopped caring and started running hard and he lost that fear, which has made the biggest difference in his game. He’s matured a lot as a player in a short amount of time.”

Curran on Ealey's ability...
“You can feel it when you hit him. He’s a big boy that I feel like can carry the load. Some freshmen, you look at them and you can tell that it’s going to take another year. You can tell with him that if he just gets that mental side right, he’s going to be a great player.”

Washaun Ealey on whether he was surprised to play this year...
“At first I was thinking they were going to redshirt me, but they kept telling me to keep practicing hard and learning the plays and that I’d play.”

Ealey on wearing Knowshon Moreno's number...
“It’s some big shoes to fill, but they just gave me a number and I just rolled with it. I was hoping to get No. 3 but a senior, Bryan Evans, he got it.”

Ealey on what he thought when he first found out he'd wear No. 24...
“I really didn’t want it at first because I knew I had big shoes to fill. And with my name being Washaun and his name being Knowshon, I knew I’d get a lot of comparisons. But I just rolled with it.”

Ealey on his first taste of action...
“I was nervous at first but when I got in the huddle, Joe was there encouraging me telling me to just play ball.”

Ealey on putting his successful high school career behind him...
“It was very hard for me to just leave it behind, but I know I’m on a different level right now and everybody’s good.”

Ealey on his performance in his first game...
“I did pretty well, but I think I could do a lot better. It’s hard to say I did well because we lost, but in the future, I think that’ll change.”