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Sunday, November 15, 2009

Sunday Teleconference Notes (11/15)

Some quick tidbits from Mark Richt's Sunday Teleconference...

-- Biggest news: A.J. Green and Bacarri Rambo will both miss this week's game against Kentucky.

Green has an AC joint separation in his left shoulder. Richt said it will not require surgery, but it's difficult to gauge the recovery time for this type of injury.

"What you want is not only to get the soreness out, but you want it to be strong, too," Richt said. "So we've got to see how quickly we can get him pain free and from there we'll see. Just because he's pain free doesn't necessarily mean he's ready to play."

The news is very good on Rambo, who was knocked unconscious on the field and suffered a concussion. Before he was carted off the field, however, he was awake, talking to his teammates and moving all his extremities.

He was taken to the hospital for observation, but the results have been extremely encouraging.

"He really has recovered extremely well," Richt said. "There are really no symptoms from it -- no headaches, no neck pain. Just about every test he's been through he's passed with flying colors. But he will not play this week for sure."

-- As for Green's replacement, that's up in the air. Rantavious Wooten got the start last week against Tennessee Tech with Green out, while Israel Troupe made the most of his opportunity against Auburn with two catches for 62 yards and a touchdown. But it won't be the receptions that will ultimately decide who gets the nod, Richt said.

"We've got some practicing to do to determine our starters at receiver right now," Richt said. "They made some nice plays catching the ball, but we need to block better in the perimeter, much better than we had this last game. I've very disappointed in how we blocked at the receiver position. It's a little bit similar to the running backs where if you don't pass protect, you're not going to start. If you don't run block as a receiver, you're not going to start either. We've got to see who wants it the most during the week and probably determine it once we know how these guys practice."

-- One player who received plenty of praise was Caleb King. If you haven't seen the block he made to allow Joe Cox to connect with Troupe on the 50-yard TD, check this out.

-- Darius Dewberry left Saturday's game in the second half with a hyperextended elbow. Richt said the injury was minor, however, and expected Dewberry back this week.

-- Interesting way that Richt handled a question about the defense. First, he offered some praise on how they performed after the first two drives and how they were in a position to get as many as five takeaways (although they only got two). But the interesting reply was to a fairly direct and innocuous question: Is this year's defense performing better than last year's? Here's what he said...

"I think the thing that I really would have liked to have seen was what kind of defense would we have played all year long if we weren't constantly turning the ball over deep in our territory or throwing the pick six or having the kickoff returned for a touchdown. All of those things can deflate the energy of a team. So I think if we could magically take away all the very, very short fields we put them in, it would have been interesting to see how it all stacked up. But right this minute, they're playing very well."

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seems like he quite purposefully stopped short of saying the D had improved over last year.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

David-

is it that or is this his way of making an excuse for the defense's poor play. It sounds like he is saying that the problem this year hasn't been bad coaching/execution but nothing outside of bad luck. That is a SCARY thought to me, it should be to anyone who questions Willie's ability to remain d coordinator, and apparently it is to Mark Bradley too.

Anonymous said...

Got the highlight of Caleb running over Eltoro?

Anonymous said...

Get ready to hear him repeat that in longer form when he's defending why Willie is back in '10.

David Hale said...

Greg, I didn't take it that way. He didn't say, "Yes, we've been better on D this year because...". Instead, he evaded the question and said he wondered what the D might have looked like w/o all the turnovers -- which, in truth, is a fair comment. But I've heard Richt endorse guys before. This was hardly an endorsement.

Schlagdawg said...

Yeah, does anyone know when the Caleb King hit on Eltoro occurred?

Schlagdawg said...

Never mind, the hit happened around 14:11 in the 3rd quarter. Found it on ESPN360

Anonymous said...

Richt will say the same thing to Evans after the season when evaluation of the Def comes into conversation. The idea is to get you to think that the defense sucked this year "because of the turnovers, etc etc" and not because of Martinez incompetence at the helm.

I think Martinez will be back next year.

josh said...

can someone ask richt what's more important regarding receivers: route running and catching or blocking. i get his point about wanting receivers who can block, but shouldn't priority #1 be somone who can catch with blocking being secondary? i know blocking is extremely important, but lets get the playmakers on the field.

Anonymous said...

Josh,

I disagree. While you certainly want to put your best playmaking receivers on the field to catch the ball, Georgia's offense is only as good as its running game and you can't run the ball well without great blocking on the perimeter. Strong rushing performance = UGA victory (when the D isn't giving up 40+ of course).

idiot with a tivo said...

HOW MUCH MORE EVIDENCE DO YOU NEED TO SEE THAT THE DC SCHEMES ARE HORRIFIC? 10 of 19 games more than 37 points isn't enough? Watching wide open receivers as the norm? Watching time after time our Corners 15 yards off their receiver?

If Mark Richt was an economist, he would say there isn't enough data to predict the recession we've been in for 2 years!

Michael said...

What you have in that answer is the Mark Richt campaign to keep Willie for another year.

Here's what sucks. With the talent we keep bringing in, eventually we'll get another perfect storm like 2007 where we have so much overwhelming talent even Willie can't screw it up. Then Richt will declare victory.

Then we'll give up 30+ points another 10 times in two seasons.

traderdawg said...

I saw everthing I needed to see immediately after the game. Willie and Coach Richt in a big bear hug. Nothing is going to change next year.

Anonymous said...

My local high school has a great defense and a crappy offense, this past Friday the offense turned the ball over 3 times inside the 30 and the other team got 7 points. I think that was Richt making excuses for Willie.

Anonymous said...

I like Richt's answer. Yes, he is making excuses for his defense...they really have been put in bad situations all season. But David is right, he does not condone their performance at all.

He knows CWM is gone after the season. I doubt Willie would come back next season if we wanted him to. Why trash a friend and a defense that he still has a relationship with, and still needs the rest of the season? I think the bear hug was a much need sigh of releif between two freinds who know they will be parting ways.

Dog44 said...

I tend to agree with the commenters that see Richt's argument as mostly setting up a defense for Willie Martinez. No, Richt is not endorsing the defensive performance this year because he CAN'T... the data would make him look silly. But I just don't see Richt letting Willie go when in his mind he's thinking "He didn't really have a fair shot this year because of the turnovers, etc."

Now, having said all of that... I think these final two games probably will determine Willie's fate. If the D plays pretty well, he'll be back. If we get embarrassed again by Tech's offense, it would be a much harder case for Richt to keep him (unless, of course, the defense is put in bad situations again during that game!)