Georgia Football: Tuesday Press Conference
By Danny Bishop
Georgia coach Mark Richt and a delegation of players met with the media Tuesday during the Bulldogs’ weekly press luncheon. They offered the following comments:
Coach Mark Richt
Opening Statement…
“We are playing again between the hedges, and we are very excited to play another game. We had our open date last week and got some good work in. We practiced three days last week and got some good fundamental work in pads Tuesday and Wednesday. We actually scrimmaged with a lot of the guys who didn’t get a chance to play. We had two eight-play drives on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, which was really good for the guys who needed the work. We came back yesterday. I thought the guys actually did a pretty good job, considering there were three days off. They put the pads on and got after it a little bit. I thought our coaches did a pretty good job of preparing. We’re definitely ahead of schedule on our game plan. When you have an open date you have time to prepare, so we got a lot of good scout work in as well.
“With North Texas, I’m very impressed with what I see on film. Coach (Dan) McCarney has done a great job with his team. One of the things that sticks out to me is the number of junior and seniors that they have playing and starting for them. There are nine juniors and seniors on offense and 10 out of 11 defenders are either juniors or senior – mostly seniors. So they are a very veteran team.”
“I see a team that is very well-coached. I know Coach McCarney has had the opportunity to coach on a national championship team with Coach (Urban) Meyer at Florida. He’s been a head coach for many years and has had a lot of success. I think they are believing and playing hard and they’ll be ready for a big game on Saturday.”
On the team’s potential this season…
“We talk a lot about getting better. We talk a lot about how good we can become. That was one of my main discussions with the staff this morning. We are improving, and part of the reason why we are improving is because our coaches are pushing them. They’re doing a good job of being demanding, and the guys are responding well, too. There’s a competition each day out there at practice. I think guys probably sense that they have a chance to play, a chance to start, or a chance to make a travel team. That may not have been the way they felt going into the season, but it’s playing itself out that way. We have guys working hard, and it looks like they have a lot of hope of playing, and because of that, we’re going to improve as a team. The point I’m making is that we think we can become a really good team, and we hate to put any kind of limit on what we can do. We go into every game thinking that we’re going to win, and we plan to where we can win the game. There’s a lot of optimism around our players right now and how they’re practicing and performing.”
On whether he watched the Alabama vs. Texas A&M game last Saturday…
“I watched some of it. I thought I may have sat in front of the TV all day, but I found some other things to do. My wife helped me out with that.”
On his thoughts while watching the Alabama vs. Texas A&M game…
“We’re always thinking in terms of going back to Atlanta and playing for the Southeastern Conference Championship, so you’re kind of wondering if we do make it there, who would be on the other end of it?”
On the challenges of keeping players motivated during an off week…
“I don’t see a problem with our guys being motivated right now. You can gauge how they work in practice, and for whatever reason, I don’t know what their motivation is but they’re practicing hard. They’re practicing with a lot of energy. I think it goes back to the hope of earning more playing time and earning a starting position by maybe beating somebody out. We want to have great success as the season rolls on, and we know there are a lot of challenges down the road, and not just this week. Right now, I just think we’re in a good place as far as guys giving great effort and not being bored with it. I think it was probably a good time to have an open date, even though it’s early in the year. Knowing that we have another one, I think it came at a good time for us.”
Offense on Wednesday, Defense on Thursday
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