I've heard from a handful of Georgia backers wondering when I'd follow up on my previous posts about Louisville/ex-UGA defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. Unfortunately life circumstances put me on the shelf for a month and, since returning a couple of weeks ago, I've been waiting for the news cycle to offer me a chance to revisit the topic of Grantham.
And here it is: the list of players with college eligibility remaining who the NFL has declared eligible for the 2015 draft. It includes three Louisville defensive backs: cornerback Charles Gaines and safeties Gerod Holliman and James Sample.
This means Grantham is going to have to overcome the loss of a lot of talent. He’s already shown he can do it. In spite of the departure of two first-round draft picks and a third-rounder before last season, and a radically different scheme installed by Grantham, the Louisville defense was very good in 2015. Bobby Petrino's offense was the big problem for pretty much the entire season.
Unfortunately for Grantham (and me), Louisville's defense had its worst showing of the season against the Bulldogs in the Belk Bowl. In defense of the Louisville defense, Nick Chubb is a special player (the latest in a never-ending procession of talented Georgia tailbacks) and Georgia’s offensive line was excellent. That doesn’t explain the strangely passive and disorganized performance of the players in the Louisville secondary (though maybe three of them declaring for the draft provided some insight).
Even after the Belk Bowl bludgeoning, Louisville's defense finished No. 8 in Football Outsiders' final F/+ ranking (a combined measure of drive and play efficiency, both adjusted for opponent quality). Georgia's defense finished No. 14 in the ranking after making steady improvement in the latter part of the season.
Both Louisville and Georgia had their lowlights on defense. For the Bulldogs, it was Florida and Georgia Tech running roughshod over them; for the Cardinals, it was Chubb doing the same and Jameis Winston rallying Florida State to a comeback victory in Louisville.
There’s no excuse for the way the Gators manhandled the Bulldogs while essentially calling four running plays. But Georgia Tech’s offense hummed with the perfect quarterback to run it and Mark Richt didn’t help his defense with strategic blunders against the Yellow Jackets.
Similarly, Louisville’s defense can’t be excused for appearing so uninspired against the Bulldogs. But Winston and Chubb are elite talents and they got chance after chance to make plays because Bobby Petrino’s offense misfired and kept putting Louisville’s defense in bad spots.
I think Grantham was a good hire for Louisville. His unit needs more depth and, though I don't pay close attention to recruiting because it's kind of creepy, it appears Grantham is making inroads with legit prospects in Georgia (not to mention bringing Josh Harvey-Clemons and Shaq Wiggins into the fold).
I think Jeremy Pruitt was a good hire for Georgia. The improvement of Georgia’s defense provides Bulldogs backers with hope that the unit can provide a solid complement to a Chubb-led attack in 2015.
Now if Petrino can find a quarterback and Richt can find a way to have his team ready for every game, then the head coaches will make life easier for their defensive coordinators.
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