DEL.ICIO.USKing deposed to backfield’s background
Since early play in Florida game, RB has been mostly relegated to bench
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, December 29, 2008
Georgia’s second-leading rusher wasn’t quite sure who Georgia’s second-leading rusher was.
“How many [yards] did I have?” Caleb King asked.
Jason Getz/jgetz@ajc.com
Caleb King was expected to be Knowshon Moreno’s primary backup in 2008.
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Two hundred and forty-seven, but then, who’s counting. Was there a less relevant statistic that the Bulldogs took to Orlando this weekend? Georgia’s second-leading rusher is a man without a role.
“I’m trying to work hard, trying to still find my spot on the team,” he said.
Two years ago, before Knowshon Moreno’s ascension, King ruled the Bulldogs chat rooms. One recruiting service, Rivals.com, declared him as the best player in the state. Yet for now, he has all but vanished. During Georgia’s final four regular-season games, he carried the ball twice. In tight SEC games at Kentucky and Auburn, he never set foot on the field.
He is a third-teamer now, displaced in November by freshman Richard Samuel as Moreno’s chief understudy. If the Capital One Bowl is to be Moreno’s swan song, King will become one of the offseason’s foremost stories. But for now, he tries to believe he is better for all that has happened this season.
“I believe I got better,” King said of the season. “On a scale of 1 to 10, I believe I’m a 7 or 8.”
Asked about King’s development, coach Mark Richt defends his redshirt freshman who, it should be remembered, was merely trying to hold his own against the program’s first running back since Herschel Walker with more than one season of at least 1,000 yards rushing.
“It’s hard to grab a spot and get a stranglehold on it when you don’t play a lot,” Richt said. “The more you play, the more you can see. … I see a lot of signs of progress in Caleb, on and off the field.”
Play changed everything
Nevertheless, King was no one’s idea of an accessory when he signed. Through this season’s first two months, he was Moreno’s chief apprentice, averaging more than seven carries per game. He almost split the load with Moreno as the Vanderbilt game progressed, carrying the ball nine times in the second half to Moreno’s 13.
Then everything changed in the first quarter against Florida. With the game scoreless and Georgia facing a third down on the Gators’ 16-yard line, King was supposed to pick up linebacker Brandon Spikes on a blitz from the right side.
He missed Spikes completely, quarterback Matthew Stafford was tackled for a 4-yard loss, Georgia missed a subsequent field-goal try, and the afternoon fell apart. King got one carry in the second quarter and nothing else. Samuel got four carries for 40 yards.
King is still working at it, but admits he’s had to learn how to block. The failure to engage Spikes has become a telling point of his career.
“At Georgia, we play a big role in the blocking scheme, as well as the running game,” King said. “You can be an All-American runner, but if you don’t block, you won’t play.”
In his defense, few star running backs arrive at college as polished blockers. It is a separate skill that they typically did not spend much time on in high school. Running backs coach Tony Ball made King a special project after the Florida game, and King has seen the results, even in such rudimentary elements as when to engage — or “punch” — the block.
“He taught me step by step how to block,” King said. “I didn’t know blocking was that difficult. Blocking is probably one of the most difficult things. … Just [knowing] when to punch. People are usually 6-4 and 280 coming off the line, so you’ve got to punch right. If you go too early or too late, they’ll pretty much run you over.”
Few carries available
But with improved blocking, is King back in the mix? This might not play out until next spring. Under Richt, Georgia almost always has had an alternate back to share the load. But Moreno had a whopping 166 more carries and 1,091 more yards than King.
Only with Musa Smith in 2002 had the starting tailback had such a disparity in Richt’s regime (178 more carries and 1,010 more yards than freshman Tony Milton).
Should Moreno leave for the NFL, he creates a huge vacuum. Where King and Samuel fit is unclear.
“But I would say even if Knowshon returns, those guys will be playing at a higher level and [we’re] more likely to get them more reps,” Richt said. “If Knowshon were not to return, I would think there’s a ton of playing time up for grabs.”
King prepares for the Capital One Bowl with one eye on the game plan and the other on 2009. And while his education as a blocker continues, his frustration is natural.
“Of course,” he said, “because I feel I can go out there and be a playmaker for the team. But one phase of the game is holding me back.”
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