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Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Georgia’s ‘D’ will be fine
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Athens — Sometimes, you have these hunches. For instance: Despite Georgia’s defense preparing to face the horror that is an SEC football schedule with just three returning starters and uncertainty wrapped in youth everywhere else, the Bulldogs will bark just fine, thank you.
Georgia has two things going for it before Oklahoma State comes to town in 16 days in search of torching the hedges with its sizzling offense:
Tradition and talent. The Bulldogs’ coaching is impressive, too, which brings us back to tradition. As Mark Richt and his assistants like to say to their players, tradition never graduates. More specifically, when it comes to defense, that tradition has produced a slew of teeth-rattlers from Thomas Davis to David Pollack to Tim Jennings and lofty national defensive rankings in Richt’s six seasons.
There also is talent throughout Georgia’s depth chart. With the Bulldogs always ranking among the national elite in recruiting, their No. 3 guys could be Mr. Everything guys elsewhere.
Not only that, you can add truth to that tradition and talent. No matter how many ways I asked Georgia defensive coordinator Willie Martinez about what he thought his inexperienced group would do this season, he responded with the same answer or a derivative thereof.
“I don’t know.”
That’s because Martinez doesn’t know. I mean, who does know? The Bulldogs lost both starting defensive ends to the NFL, and they are missing three linebackers with a combined 76 career starts. They also watched accomplished defensive back Paul Oliver leave abruptly for the pros after academic issues.
Plus, the Georgia defense must try to conquer everything from a rising South Carolina offense under the ol’ ball coach to a Florida spread offense that remains potent while trying to defend its national championship.
So Martinez kept telling the truth (“I don’t know”), when others in his situation would have kept telling the myth (“We’ll be better than people think.”).
We’re back to that hunch, and that is, Georgia’s defense will be better than people think. Because Martinez kept telling the truth, you could believe him about those other things. Like whether Georgia defenders have progressed, regressed or stayed the same during the months since their ghastly effort in the spring game. In addition to allowing more than a few gigantic plays, there were missed tackles and botched assignments combined with a mighty dose of lethargy.
Martinez nodded, before leaning forward in his office to say, “The experience that some of the younger guys have gained between then and now has helped, but the mentality is just different. The offseason of strength and conditioning also has been a big plus, and whereas they were missing tackles, now they’re grabbing and holding on. They’re also getting off blocks better, and a big thing is that we have more depth this fall than we had in the spring.”
Here’s another big thing: According to Martinez, Georgia is filling the leadership void with the maturation of middle linebacker Brandon Miller and strong safety Kelin Johnson, two of those returning starters. “They’ve been contributing and having really good camps, and that’s a positive, because the younger players can see that,” said Martinez, whose unit finished last season ranked eighth nationally in total defense. This is Martinez’s third year as Georgia’s coordinator, and, at 44, he’s been coaching for more than a couple of decades, including every year of the Richt regime with the Bulldogs.
So, surely, Martinez has a feel about what his current unit …
“Don’t know,” Martinez said quickly. “You’re talking about 18- to 22-year-old kids. With three aspects of college — academics, athletics and social life — there are a lot of things going on in their lives, and you don’t know how a young man is going to prioritize those things. You also don’t know how they’ll react to adversity.”
This is what we do know: The Mighty Gators have one fewer returning starter on defense than the Bulldogs. Does that mean Georgia will conquer Florida for only the second time in 10 years?
Don’t know.
Permalink | Comments (52) | Categories: Terence Moore, UGA / SEC
Plea won’t please NFL commish
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Do you remember what happened on Saturday, April 28, 2007?
Roger Goodell does.
Boy, does he.
That’s when the NFL commissioner asked Michael Vick if he was involved in illegal dogfighting. That’s when the Falcons quarterback looked Goodell in the eyes and said he wasn’t involved in illegal dogfighting and that none of it occurred on his Virginia property.
That’s when Vick set himself up for leaving the NFL for a long, long time and likely forever.
Maybe you’ve heard. Vick and his lawyers are discussing whether to accept a plea deal from the feds by Friday. If Vick does so, he would be telling the world that he was involved in illegal dogfighting and that it did occur on his Virginia property.
Translated: Goodell would not be pleased, especially since the no-nonsense commissioner doesn’t strike me as somebody with amnesia.
Permalink | Comments (57) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Quick Hit, Terence Moore
