ATHENS — Georgia coaches hope this is the week they’re able to keep Isaiah Crowell on the field.
The Bulldogs would like to provide multiple touches for the freshman tailback. But conditioning, injuries and sometimes even equipment malfunctions, have kept Georgia from being able to “feed” Crowell the football at a rate befitting his abilities as a playmaker.
“Obviously he’s a guy you’d like to be able to play a lot of snaps,” offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said this week. “He’s just not there yet. It’s a work in progress. He worked hard in practice [this week] not only to do what he needs to do schematically, but pushing himself where he’ll be ready to go on Saturday. But it’s just going to take time.
‘He’s a freshman. He’s learning what it takes to carry that ball more than 15 or 16 times. But that’s our goal, to keep him out there.”
So far, Crowell has had 50 touches. That breaks down to 16.7 per game. With 316 total yards he averages more than 6.3 yards per touch and has scored three touchdowns.
Bobo said earlier this season that Georgia would like to give him 20 to 30 opportunities per game.
“Every time he touches to ball, he’s a threat to get positive yards or maybe even take it to the house,” Bobo said. “He’s just got to keep working at it so we can get the ball to him more.”
Boykin’s versatility
Crowell is not the only player Bobo wants to get more involved in the offense. Senior Brandon Boykin falls into the category, too.
The All-SEC cornerback and record-setting kick returner has been getting snaps on offense this season as well and has been impressive. Playing at both flanker and running back, the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder has four carries for 95 yards and a touchdown. Last week, he added the first two catches of his career, which totaled 14 yards.
Including his 341 yards in returns on special teams, Boykin averages 20.5 yards every time he touches the ball.
At this point, Boykin is among the leaders to win the Paul Hornung Award. Meant to recognize the most versatile player in college football, Boykin made the Hornung’s weekly honor roll each of the first three weeks of the season.
Seeking sacks
The Bulldogs have had difficulty sacking quarterbacks — they have registered one in three games — but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been able to put pressure on passers.
That’s the interpretation, according to defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.
“My whole thing is more of disrupting a quarterback and getting him off the spot and those kinds of things more than just sacks,” Grantham said this week. “Sacks is a number that I like, that everybody likes. It’s a visual play. But ... stopping them on third down, being hard to score on, being stout against the run, those things are probably more important.”
Georgia ranks last in the SEC in sacks and eighth in run defense, but is second in the league and 12th nationally in opponents’ third-down conversion rate (26.2 percent). It’s also second in the league in pass defense and fourth in turnover margin with six takeaways.
Etc.
With walk-on Parker Welch’s appearance against Coastal Carolina on Saturday, it is seems evident that he is the third-string quarterback and that freshman Christian LeMay will be redshirted. ... Tailback Richard Samuel has added “IV” to the end of his name this season. The first three seasons he just had “Samuel” on the back of his jersey. But he added the Roman numeral this year because he’s the fourth generation in his family to use the name.
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