Onward and upward, or forward, or whatever:
- Herschel Walker has weighed in on the state of the Georgia football program, with some critical words on all the arrests this year. Strange timing, you might say, considering the two-game win streak has everyone feeling good for awhile.
But Walker, during an appearance on ESPN's "College Football Live" on Wednesday, said the losses "concern" him, but the off-field problems are worse.
"Because (if) they’ve got off-the-field problems, there’s something going on with that program, and I think Coach Richt has got to get a hand on it. I love Coach Richt. He’s a great coach, and there’s no doubt: I do not think Coach Richt should be fired. We’ve got to find out what is going on within that program when you’ve got 11 guys since March that have been in off-the-field problems.”
- Things are moving towards Chris Rainey being on the field when Florida plays Georgia in a little more than a week. Gators head coach Urban Meyer said on Wednesday's SEC teleconference that Rainey would be "eligible" for the Georgia game, but didn't come out and say he would play.
- You don't often have coaches calling out each other in public. So the comments by Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer on Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino are priceless.
Zimmer was Petrino's defensive coordinator during Petrino's abbreviated stay with the Atlanta Falcons. Zimmer called Petrino "gutless" and a "coward" for leaving the team early. Zimmer also used some colorful language you can't use on a family blog.
Petrino clearly doesn't make many friends in the coaching business. It started in 2003 when, as Louisville's head coach, he agreed to a covert interview with Auburn, which was still employing Tommy Tuberville, who had hired Petrino at that school.
So I'd be curious if Tuberville sent Zimmer a fruit basket Thursday morning.
- Finally, a bit of shameless plugging for my stories in Thursday's papers:
Bacarri Rambo, Shawn Williams and Richt weigh in on the NFL's hard-hitting issue of the week. Rambo, as both a safety and someone who has suffered a concussion, has an interesting viewpoint.
In my other story, I delve into just how and why A.J. Green's presence has lifted the Georgia offense. Derek Dooley and Robbie Caldwell talk about how they tried different coverages and didn't work, and Aaron Murray suggests other teams start worrying more about Kris Durham and Tavarres King.
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18 comments:
I'm sorry, but I think Herschel's comments were a little out of line. I'm sure the stuff the players did back in his day would make our "emerging from an alley" offenses look petty. The difference is, they're not nearly as scrutinized as they are now.
And he thinks Richt isn't harsh enough?? I would say Richt is one of the harshest disciplinarians in the country. He just suspended our starting running back for NOT PAYING A SPEEDING TICKET. That wouldn't have even warranted extra running at other schools.
The University of Florida football team had 251 traffic violations from 2006-2009.
12 players had at least 7 citations.
NONE of them were arrested.
I don't think there's anything out of line with that. His salient points were.
1. We need to find out why all the players are getting arrested and fix it.
2. Richt shouldn't be fired.
I think everybody should agree with the first one and for this season at least I agree with the second. And lets not start comparing ourselves with fla when it comes to discipline. I would like it if Herschel spoke in public a little more (about UGA).
Seth,
With the hot topic of hard hits and concussions, I curious to hear what Murray had to say about his hit during the Vandy game. The video look bad, and then I saw the picture showing his helmet nearly coming off.
Seth,
This has nothing to do with Georgia Football, but what are your thoughts on the Georgia Music and Sports Halls of Fame leaving Macon?
ANYONE KNOW WHAT SIDE DAWGS ARE ON IN JAX.... LIKE A SECTION NUMBER OR VISTOR SIDE.. IM BUYING TIX..
THANKS FOR THE HELP
GO DAWGS
Confed dawg -
We are the "home team" in Jax this year, so our seats are going to be on the west side of the stadium. (The south endzone is the one near the river).
Everyone has got to respect the words of Herscel Walker. He's possibly the most respected anything to ever come through the uga program. I'm glad he showed his confidence to mark richt.
I can also understand him worrying about the arrest and all that's going on. From the outside I'm sure it looks bad. If someone just sees"another ga player arrested" run across the bottom of sports center constantly you would think the team is full of "thugs".
In reality in my opinion we are from from thuga university like has been suggested. Like has been said before at other schools these traffic violation barely get noticed. If cam newton or mark ingram get pulled over with a suspended liscense I bet we don't even hear about it.
Also I don't know if they should or not but what ever happened to the suparstar athletes getting special treatment from the police? I know when ealey or Caleb king gets in trouble the police know exactly who they are. I have heard from many different people that at other universities (Texas being one) the authorities turn a blind eye to much worse offenses. It's almost as though there is a witch hunt going on. Maybe a quota of "arrested dawgs" to meet?
I actually don't expect them to get special treatment from the police but maybe we should stop treating them special ourselves. They are humans. We can't hold them to a higher standard than we would hold our own friends or family. My buddy gets arrested for a suspended licsense and I think it's a small mistake. Certanely not something that's gonna show up on the local news. If anything these are stupid mistakes for the most part and these are kids. They have a right to be a little stupid!
Anon 9:26 ... our starting running back was suspended for being arrested. While not paying his speeding ticket is what started the ball rolling, it's the arrest - on top of the 10 previous - that was the call for suspension.
We all know that UGA/ACC/GSP cops have pretty much a zero-tolerance policy. It just means our players have to be that much more responsible. Complaining about how other schools athletes are/are not treated gets us no where.
Seth,
With all the talk of concussions it seems my question (has UGA redesigned their helmets because it seems that a lot more helmets are coming off after hits this year than in years past) a week or so ago provided a bit of foreshadowing. It seems though the answer is that maybe opposing players are aiming higher.
Here's an example of other teams treating there players a little different. Oregons lemichael james for instance...
According to Sgt. Tom Borchers of the Springfield Police Department, James was taken into custody Tuesday, a day after getting into a fight with his girlfriend.
James’ girlfriend, according to the police report, said the running back grabbed her around the neck and pushed her to the ground. She complained of pain to her neck and of abrasions from being pushed down in a parking lot.
If this is uga the players is kicked off the team immediately but at another school it is barely mentioned! Now James is a heisman frontrunner and nobody remembers this at all. I don't even know if he was suspended. He missed the first game but I thought it was because of injury.
Also has anyone seen that rainey is about to get reinstated at fla? Aggregated stalking>traffic violation
Seth,
I know this isn't a Mailbag post, but do you have any idea how UGA-UK came to be on CSS while Miss St-UAB is on national TV with ESPN-U? Seems like the Dawg fanbase is bigger than any potential audience for MSU-UAB.
Those of us outside the southeast sure would like to know! I'm sick of ESPN3!
Everybody needs to bring "TIME TO DIE, FLORIDA!" signs to the game if Rainey plays. Spread the word!
11:11 here, just read the FIRST LINE of this post again and realize it is in fact a mailbox comment post. Sorry I'm a moron. Still want to know about the TV thing, haha.
CSS has 6 picks during the season. They picked BEFORE EspnU this week.
Here's a url to a PDF file of cable systems that will carry the game.
Also per the SEC page, the game will be made available on gameplan on Direct TV. Not sure about Dish Network.
http://secsports.com/Portals/3/CSS_Regional_Distribution.pdf
http://secsports.com/Portals/3/CSS_Regional_Distribution.pdf
Why doesn't UGA start a program like Alabamas? Off duty police can where there uniform and come watch practice for free that is closed to media and the public?
It is time to thing outside of the box!
Go Dawgs!
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