Defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt met with the media Wednesday before Georgia’s home opener versus Louisiana at Monroe — a team he has yet to beat.
“I’ve coached against Louisiana-Monroe one time, and I’m 0-for-1,” Pruitt said.
Pruitt was a player development coordinator at Alabama in 2007, Nick Saban’s first year, when Louisiana-Monroe pulled off the 21-14 upset. But he said he hasn’t mentioned that to his players.
“I don’t think we need any motivation for our guys,” Pruitt said. “Our guys are excited to play.”
Pruitt also talked about his rather young two-deep depth chart and linebacker versatility. Some highlights:
- It sounds like plenty of freshmen will play in the secondary.
“We signed them to play them,” Pruitt said. “So they’re going to get an opportunity.”
- Freshman Rico McGraw is set to play a lot at the star position and cornerback.
“He’s one of the few guys that’s gonna be out there on Saturday, how soon we don’t know yet. He’s worked hard, like a lot of the guys have,” Pruitt said. “Football comes easy to him. We’ll just see how he does on Saturday when the fray kind of starts.”
- Safety Dominick Sanders remains the player Pruitt gushes the most about – despite the fact he's only a sophomore.
“Dom works as hard as anybody on the football team,” Pruitt said. “He’s a guy that is a good leader by example. Football is important to him. He’s very conscientious. He’s a tough kid. We kind of lean on him back there in the deep end. He has more experience than most of them.
“It’s sad when you’ve got a sophomore that’s got more experience than the rest of them.”
- Pruitt actually offered a glimpse of the offense when asked why he's been using "Dom" to refer to Sanders, rather than Dominick.
“As fast as our offense has been going in practice you better coach them in a hurry,” Pruitt said, smiling. “It’s faster to say Dom, I guess.”
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