Georgia Football: Tuesday Press Conference – Defense
By Danny Bishop
Ramik Wilson, photo by Sonny Kennedy, http://www.sonnykennedyphotography.com/
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
On the defense at this point in the season…
“First of all, we did play two really good offensive teams that are outstanding with senior quarterbacks and the ability to run the ball. Plus, there are coaches that know what they’re doing scheme-wise and all of that, so we played a couple of good teams. I think if you look at some of the better defenses in America statistically after a game or two, you can’t get too crazy if you play a good offensive team. We all know Alabama has one of the better defenses and has had that for awhile, and they ran into an offensive team (in Texas A&M) that could move the ball and make plays and score points. You can’t get too crazy about that. The thing that we focus mainly on is where do we break down and how can we get better? A lot of it is just fundamentally doing a better job of taking better angles as we tackle, wrapping up better and hustling to the ball better. Tackling has a lot to do with effort and a lot to do with technique, and some of these guys are relatively new at it at this level of ball. Some of it is just making sure that we’re putting our players in the best position through our schemes to have success, as well. So we’re always evaluating what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, and we’re always evaluating the players themselves as to who should start, who should play and if it’s time to make a move at one position or another. We’re not in a panic by any means. We’re just focusing on getting better.”
On the rotations at inside linebacker…
“The quality of the play is fine. I would just like to be able to see them get a little bit of rest and not have to take every snap. You build a little bit of depth if you get some other guys in the game so if god forbid a guy got hurt, than you throw a guy in there that really hasn’t had any snaps. The goal like everywhere else up that we’re subbing is to keep guys fresher in the second half and fresher at the end of the game and the end of the season. It just builds morale. The more guys that play, the more excited they get about practicing and working hard.”
On Ramik Wilson…
“I think he’s done a very good job, but I do see times when the team gets a six, seven, eight or nine-play drive, it wears on them. You can see them huffing and puffing pretty good, but you’re going to get tired in a game after pursuing some quarterback on a scramble or whatever it is. Cumulatively, you can get run down in a game or a season. I’m just hoping we can get a little bit more confidence in some guys to let them play.”
On the defense’s ability to affect the quarterback thus far this season…
“You hope to put more pressure on a guy. Certainly a sack is something statistically that you can see that you’re pressuring a quarterback, but there are other ways to pressure him without getting him on the ground. You can force him to throw it away or break out of the pocket, which isn’t always good sometimes. Sometimes you want to try to keep guys in the pocket, but we need to do a better job of that, I don’t think there’s any doubt. The more pressure we can put on the quarterback, the less pressure there is on a relatively young secondary back there.”
On stopping an opponent’s run game…
“I think you always hope to stop the run game first. With teams that spread and throw it a lot, if they can run the ball at will, you are in trouble. It’s definitely a big focus for us. We think we’ll get better over time, and I think by continuing to substitute our players and trying to keep them fresh and taking better angles and game-tackling better, we can close that gap down. But when you do have quarterbacks that add to the run game, it doesn’t necessarily skew the numbers because it all counts, but the traditional tailback running game hasn’t gotten completely out of hand, in that regard. We just need to wrap up those quarterbacks better.”
On Garrison Smith adjusting to nose guard…
“Garrison’s doing a great job for us up front just wherever we put him. He still plays some end. He’s not always inside, but I think more than anything else, he’s shown up as a good leader. He’s been practicing hard every day and every play, and he’s kind of expecting that from his teammates. He’s stepped up in that role. I was hearing about it in the summer, but since we’re not coaching them in the summer, we don’t really know what’s happening, but the news was that he was really trying to lead a lot of the other guys. I see it in practice now, too, so that’s why he’s been the captain at least once or twice for us this season.”
On junior college transfer Chris Mayes…
“Chris has made some good progress at nose guard. He’s very physical, strong and in very good condition. He did miss some practice that sat him back a bit earlier in camp, but he’s getting better and better, and I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’ll be getting more playing time for us.”
On junior college transfer Toby Johnson…
“Toby actually had a very good day yesterday. He made one play where he had Coach (Chris) Wilson actually run onto the field and chest bump him. He’s getting there, and he’s learning. He’s one of the guys that we want to roll in there as a substitute so that we can keep guys fresh. He had a good day yesterday, and he’s getting better.”
On Paris Bostick…
“We’re hoping to let him put the regular pads on and at least go through all of our warm-ups and pre-practice stretches. We’re not exactly sure. It will be very limited what he does, but we’ll probably let him do a little bit of fundamental drills with Coach (Kirk) Olivadotti at the linebacker position. We just have to see how he looks and if we can try to get him going this year at not. He’s going to get a little work at linebacker. He just got big, kind of like Alec Ogletree.”
Jordan Jenkins, photo by Sonny Kennedy, http://www.sonnykennedyphotography.com/
Outside Linebacker Jordan Jenkins
On the defense in practice during the bye week…
“It feels like we’re starting to get there. We’re communicating well, and just trying to make sure everybody’s on the same page. It’s coming.”
On the goal-line stand…
“That definitely carries over for us. That drive sums up what kind of a defense we can be. When the other team has four plays that close to the end zone, you expect them to score. It’s something I like to look at when I think about our defense and what we can do, and what we need to do the next couple games.”
On Jarvis Jones…
“He actually sent me a text recently saying I need to get my (stuff) together. I laughed at that – I liked it. He’s doing great things in the NFL and I told him hopefully I’ll get there one day to show him up. I really take it in stride, and I sat there yesterday working on some new plays and some stuff that Jarvis used to do, and I was realizing that I should’ve been doing that all along. I am trying some new things.”
Connor Norman, photo by Danny Bishop
Free Safety Connor Norman
On the defense overall…
“We definitely see a lot of potential for us to be a great defense. It’s about putting it together every snap and every game. You could have 10 guys playing perfect and one guy doing it wrong, and suddenly you look like you’re not a great defense. I want to see us all play together.”
On the goal-line stand vs. South Carolina…
“That really showed our resilience as a defense. We are working to get better and we obviously have a lot of young guys. That’s not an excuse. I loved seeing that goal-line stand because it really showed how resilient we are and it was big for us as a defense.”
On covering Justin Scott-Wesley every day…
“He does those things you see in games every day out there in practice. I don’t know how you combat his speed if you don’t have speed yourself – you just try to survive him. He’s a great player and he’s turned into a really good receive for us. It’s cool to have seen him develop over the last couple years. He’s always had great speed and as a track guy he’s always been that way, but he’s figured out what he can do those things on the football field as well.”
On North Texas…
“[Having played at Presbyterian before UGA] I am sure they are there licking their chops. They’re ready to go – they’ve got nothing to lose and it’ll be a challenge for us.”
Photos are copyrighted property of Sonny Kennedy Photography,
http://www.sonnykennedyphotography.com/