Georgia looks for more productive pass rush

By TIM TUCKER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For the next three weeks, the AJC will look at how the Bulldogs are addressing deficiencies on last year’s team. Today: pass rush.

Athens -- Yes, they’ve heard you.

“Being called one of the weak links on the defense, it’s kind of hard to ignore,” Demarcus Dobbs said.

“That’s been the conversation for a while,” Rod Battle said.

“We take it to heart, you know,” Dobbs said.

Dobbs and Battle are among Georgia’s defensive ends, a group that last season took the brunt of the blame for the Bulldogs finishing ninth in the SEC and 72nd nationally in sacks per game.

High on Georgia’s repair list for 2009 is getting more pressure on opposing quarterbacks from the ends. Or as coach Mark Richt put it: “We need some juice off the edge.”

Georgia hopes that needed improvement will come from better health at the position, from using linebackers as rush ends in nickel-defense situations and, most of all, from passion and preparation stoked by a desire for redemption.

“Defensive ends, I feel like they’re hungry,” Richt said. “They feel like they’ve got something to prove.

“Historically, since I’ve been at Georgia, our defensive end position has been highly productive. ... Last year, we fell short of what was normal for us.”

One year after leading the SEC with 42 sacks, Georgia’s defense had only 24 last season. The total looks bad enough but the closer you look, the worse it gets:

● More than half of the sacks — 13 — came against Georgia Southern (3), Arizona State (4) and Michigan State (6).

● Just 10 of the sacks came in the eight SEC games.

● Only 9 1/2 of the sacks came from the ends, 4 1/2 of those from seniors no longer on the team.

● And eight defensive ends combined for fewer sacks than former Bulldog Marcus Howard, now with the Indianapolis Colts, had in his senior season (10 1/2 in 2007).

As for the chances for improvement at the position by Georgia’s Sept. 5 opener, the news is mixed.

On one hand, the injuries that devastated the position last season and in spring practice appear to have healed. Battle is back from shoulder surgery, Dobbs from a broken foot and Cornelius Washington from forearm and shoulder injuries.

“Looks like we’ve got more healthy defensive ends than we’ve had in a long, long time,” Richt said. “I think Dobbs is in great shape. I think Battle is in great shape.”

On the other hand, Justin Houston, whose strong spring practice portended a breakout season, has been suspended from the first two games for violating team rules.

The loss of Houston will “affect us tremendously,” Dobbs said, against Oklahoma State and South Carolina. But his return thereafter should be a boost.

Battle and Dobbs are the presumptive starters for the first two games. Battle has started 20 games and is eager to reestablish himself after the injury-plagued 2008 season. Dobbs had one of Georgia’s bigger defensive plays last season, a final-minute interception to preserve a 42-38 victory at Kentucky.

Others in the mix include Kiante Tripp, who returned to defensive end after two years on the offensive line, and freshman Montez Robinson, a highly regarded recruit from Indiana. Robinson said he’s been told he has a chance to play as a freshman “if I know the playbook and give 110 percent.”

Battle, the veteran of the group, has been encouraged by summer workouts and early preseason practices.

“We recommitted ourselves this summer,” he said. “We know as a group we must challenge ourselves.”

Georgia plans one strategic change from last season that might bolster the pass rush: It will use linebackers, such as Marcus Washington and Darryl Gamble, as rush ends when they otherwise would come out of the game in nickel-defense situations.

“We’re going to make that our normal mode of operation,” Richt said.

The biggest thing the defensive ends have going for them right now might be their determination not to relive 2008.

“It’s hard not to use people talking bad about you as fuel,” Dobbs said. “It’s always in the back of our minds, how we struggled last year and how we strayed away from ... the tradition of the Georgia defense. We’re just trying to hold up our end of the deal.”