Georgia linebackers coach Mike Ekeler said he couldn’t sleep Saturday night. Said he was physically ill.
Ekeler’s issue wasn’t insomnia or a stomach bug. He said he was sick over a mistake he made in the Tennessee game.
The Bulldogs’ co-special teams coordinator says it’s his responsibility to make sure there are 11 men on the field — not 12 or 10 — on Georgia’s punt returns. Clinging to a 21-17 lead in the fourth quarter this past Saturday, the Bulldogs had 12 men on the field and the resulting penalty gave the Vols a first down.
“I felt so bad,” Ekeler said. “I was just sick. I was literally sick to my stomach all night. It’s something I’ve never had happen my whole career as a coach. It was probably the worst feeling I’ve ever had in coaching.”
To Ekeler’s considerable relief, Georgia’s defense held strong and Tennessee was forced to punt again three plays later.
“I was pretty thankful,” Ekeler said with a laugh. “I said a couple of quick prayers. … Again, that’s my responsibility. I’ll stand up and take that bullet. That’s my fault.”
While Ekeler takes the blame for that miscue, he also deserves some credit for the Bulldogs’ successes on punt returns this season. And there have been a lot more of those than failures.
In fact, entering Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt, Georgia leads the SEC in number of punts returned (16) and is fifth in the league in average yards per return (12.9). While that may not seem remarkable in and of itself, it represents a dramatic improvement over last season, when the Bulldogs were last in the SEC and 122nd nationally at 2.92 yards per return.
“It’s big, there’s no doubt,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. We’ve worked so hard on the technique of blocking for these return men, because we knew they had ability.”
Freshman Isaiah McKenzie is third in the league with a return average of 19.5 yards. He already has recorded a 52-yard touchdown and had a 29-yarder this past Saturday that set up the Bulldogs’ offense for a score.
McKenzie is sharing the returns job with sophomore Reggie Davis and the duo often line up as twin safeties on returns.
“I like what we’ve done with some of our twin-safety looks and allowing those guys to block depending on where the ball gets kicked,” Richt said. “We can cover more field on different types of punts. I think we’ve done a good job of using both of them and a good job of fidning the right guys who can really run down the field and execute the kind of blocks that it takes to spring a guy. So hopefully we’ll continue to get better as we go.”
Richt credits Ekeler for both the schematic changes and overall improvement. Ekeler declines to accept it.
“That’s all him,” he said of McKenzie. “He’s got God-given abnility. That’s what he came here to do and those guys up front are blocking their tails off. It’s nothing magic. It’s just desire and going out playing their tails off. That’s what they’re supposed to do.”
Ekeler also coaches the Bulldogs’ kickoff coverage team, and he was less pleased with its performance against the Vols. Georgia did not have a touchback, Tennessee averaged 40.6 yards on the field-position swap, Georgia fell to eighth in the league in kickoff coverage (40.3 ypr).
Ekeler took the blame for that as well.
“Last game, we stunk it up,” he said. “I believe in this: As a coach, you don’t point a finger, you point a thumb.”
Vanderbilt features one of the best kickoff returners in the SEC. Sophomore defensive back Darrius Sims already has two returns for touchdowns, both of them coming in the same game against South Carolina.
Ekeler indicated the Bulldogs aren’t planning to pooch or directional kick to counteract Sims’ returns.
“We’ll kick it deep and we’ll challenge ourselves,” he said. “We’re not going to back away from anybody.”
About the Author
