Sophomore Richard LeCounte recorded nine tackles in Georgia’s G-Day game in April and appears poised to earn his share of playing time this season, but coach Kirby Smart said Tuesday he’d like to see more stability in the 5-foot-11, 185-pound safety’s play.
“He makes some of the greatest plays I’ve ever seen, and then he makes some of the most boneheaded plays,” Smart said. “So there’s not a level of consistency there.”
Lest anybody gets the idea that Smart doesn’t care for LeCounte, the coach said, “Y’all are all going to take that and write bad stories about Richard and that I said something bad about Richard. I love Richard; Richard is one of my favorite players to coach. And y’all will say ‘Coach Smart is attacking Richard.’ That’s not the case.
“Richard loves to practice. He loves football as much as anybody out there. But he has to do things consistently in order to be successful. And right now he’s not doing things consistently. Has he made some phenomenal plays? Yes. Is he talented? Yes. But we have to play within the system and play with discipline. You have to do your job. If your job is to play the half (the field), you gotta play the half. And that’s what we’re working with Richard on.”
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