Moving pocket, key runs on the agenda
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Healthy at last, he’s ready to play
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You normally don’t hear of Mark Richt disagreeing publicly with media folks.  And if he was going to get upset over something someone wrote, I’d have put my money on Mark Bradley or Jeff Schultz being the author. 

But it was actually their fellow AJC writer Bill King and his “Junkyard Blawg” that Richt referenced after practice yesterday.

Mr. King had written that Georgia’s thinking “seems kinda fuzzy” when it comes to using quarterback Logan Gray to return punts.

After his Q&A session with reporters yesterday, Richt brought up that post to the rest of the media.

“I usually don’t ever read a blog, but I read the blog about Logan Gray catching punts.”  Richt said he wanted to “try to educate whoever cares that when Logan is back there — I tried to explain it the other day — it’s at a time when our opponent is punting it in.  It’s a pooch kick.  Our defense — our punt return team — is in punt safe to keep them from faking the punt because they’re across the 50-yard line.

“All Logan is doing is making a decision whether it should be a fair catch or let the ball hit.  The fine gentleman who writes the blog, I don’t think he understood that very much, but I just thought maybe if everybody got educated on that a little bit better, they’d understand why Logan would do that.  He was 100 percent last year on making those decisions and never bobbled the ball.  I think that’s not a hard thing for him to do and we’re not expecting him to return the punt because those punts don’t get returned.  There’s no return set up.”

Well.  That was interesting for a couple of reasons.

1.  Richt feels the need to explain to fans what he’s actually doing with Gray.  That’s a good thing.  Making sure fans know what’s going on is a good thing.

2.  That he chose to single out the blog and admit that he reads it.  While the rebuke won’t help Mr. King’s reputation with those folks who expect perfection from the media, it does show that he’s well read.  “Read the blog Mark Richt reads!”

On a sidenote, I’d suggest that Richt not get sideways with The Junkyard Blawg.  Mr. King always makes a point to defend Richt against the coach’s detractors… even when they’re not really detractors.

It’s been 10 days since sophomore Georgia quarterback Zach Mettenberger was arrested for underage consumption/possession of alcohol, disorderly conduct, obstruction, and two counts of possession of false identification.

Still, no punishment has been announced by Mark Richt. 

“I’m disappointed, first off,” Richt said yesterday.  “I did spend some time talking to him.  There’s a little bit more information that I want to gather before I make a final decision.  I would certainly think by the end of the week I’ll have a final decision on what we’re going to do.”

Richt also said the Mettenberger — who was in a 3-man competition for the Bulldogs’ starting job — “knows that he’s dug himself a hole and he wants to climb out.  He knows that what has happened this last week is not going to define who he is and define his career.  What he does from this point forward will define that.”

Georgia policy dictates that any alcohol-related arrest requires an automatic suspension of 10 percent of the season, which (rounding down) equals one game in football.  Richt, however, could make the suspension longer.

The coach pointed out that Mettenberger’s reps in practice have not been cut due to his arrest.  While that may be so, it’s hard to imagine his chances for winning the starting job — as the team’s most important leader — haven’t been negatively impacted by his arrest.
 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — With Georgia’s loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament, the book closed on Mark Fox’ first season in Athens.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Georgia-Vanderbilt III turned out to be an unsatisfying sequel for the Bulldogs.
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It took about two minutes for Georgia to grab the lead in Game Four of the SEC Tournament.  And they never gave it up over the final 38.

Behind 23 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists from Trey Thompkins, Georgia sent Arkansas to its sixth straight defeat, 77-64 in Nashville tonight.

Analysts agreed that the Razorbacks would need to hit threes if they were going to survive tonight.  Turns out they hit only 1-of-12 for a chill-inducing 8%. 

Georgia dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Hogs 41-25.  In addition, four Dawgs finished in double digits (Thompkins, Travis Leslie with 21, and Ricky McPhee and Dustin Ware with 10 each).

For Arkansas, Michael Washington led the way with 20 points, followed by Courtney Fortson’s 16 and Marshawn Powell’s 10.  Powell, who said earlier this week that UA was his team and that he would lead them, managed only three buckets from the field.

The Razorbacks finished the season 14-18 while Georgia improved to 14-16 and will now face Vanderbilt in tomorrow’s nightcap.

Several Commodore players made it clear on Wednesday that they would have preferred to play Arkansas… saying that they don’t match up well with the Bulldogs.  We’ll see if Vandy looks the least bit timid tomorrow.

On a sidenote, we here at MrSEC.com went 4-for-4 in our Round One tourney picks.  So what do you want to bet we pull a doughnut tomorrow?

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I’ve been 18.  And I did some stupid things at that age (and a few since, too).

So I can fairly say that Georgia quarterback Zach Mettenberger did a really stupid thing in getting arrested early yesterday morning.

Mettenberger was arrested near Valdosta and charged with underage possession of alcohol, disorderly conduct, obstruction, and two counts of having a fake ID. 

He received the five citations from police in Remerton, Georgia at 1:30am ET Sunday morning.

What makes matters worse is the fact that Mettenberger is (or was) in a three-man competition to land Georgia’s starting quarterback job.  My guess is that Aaron Murray and Logan Gray are now well ahead of Mr. Mettenberger in Mark Richt’s eyes.

The University of Georgia requires an automatic one-game suspension for any alcohol-related charge made against a Bulldog athlete.  So it’s possible that Mettenberger could miss the season opener against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Again I say… stupid.

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UGA running backs find their footing
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BATON ROUGE, La. – Tasmin Mitchell has been LSU’s best player all year long and did what he could to ensure he’d go out a winner in his final home game.
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Georgia will head to the Southeastern Conference men’s basketball tournament in Nashville as the No. 6 seed from the East division.
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ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia has made plenty of strides in rebuilding a beleaguered program this season, but much like previous years, the regular season will come to an end without much on the line for the Bulldogs.
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After a surprisingly long search for a new defensive coordinator, Georgia’s Mark Richt is saying all the right things about the man he finally landed — Todd Grantham.

Matter of fact, Richt’s words sound like those of every coach after he makes a hire:

“My only goal was to get the right man.  My prayer was regardless of what path I took that in the end I’d get the very best man for the job, and we got that in Todd.  I’m 100% convinced of that.”

Perhaps Georgia did land the right guy in Grantham.  He is of the Nick Saban coaching tree and that seems to be the top fruit-producer in the country when it comes to hiring football coaches.

Not to pick on Richt, but these kinds of comments are all about selling a hire to fans — and in some cases — to the hire himself.  After all, I’m guessing Grantham doesn’t like hearing that he was UGA’s fourth choice at best.

So Richt says he’s got the right guy.  Derek Dooley will say the same about Justin Wilcox.  And Urban Meyer will say the same about Teryl Austin.

Yet Richt first offered the job to John Chavis, Kirby Smart and Bud Foster.

Dooley first offered his coordinator gig to Kevin Steele and a handful of others.

And Meyer chased Tyrone Nix and actually hired George Edwards — who left just weeks later — before settling on Austin.

That doesn’t mean any of three new defensive coordinators in the East will be anything less than stellar.  It just means fans should probably take it with a grain of salt when their head coaches say those fellas were the right men for the job all along.

They may well turn out to be… but something led those coaches toward several other candidates first.

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His team is 5-9 in conference play.  It’s 13-14 overall.  And it hasn’t won a road game all year.

Yet Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution believes that Georgia’s Mark Fox should be named the SEC’s Coach of the Year for his first-year efforts.

Seriously.

I can name three coaches in Fox’s division that are more deserving of the honor:

John Calipari — Brought in a freshman class second to none and then somehow kept the egos in check and coaxed such youth (albeit talented youth) to a 12-2 record in the SEC.

Kevin Stallings — Has quietly put together the SEC’s clear-cut second best team.  The Commodores are physical, smart and they refuse to go away.

Bruce Pearl — Made a stand on discipline by dismissing his best player yet still led UT to a top 15 RPI and wins over Kansas and Kentucky while dealing with numerous injuries and suspensions.

Fox has done a solid job in his debut season in Athens.  The Dawgs have been better than expected and have become downright dangerous at Stegeman Coliseum. 

The coach whose hire led to much head-scratching last year has given Bulldog fans plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future.

But Fox’s team does have two players — Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie — who are projected as future NBA lottery picks.  So the cupboard isn’t completely bare.

And it’s hard to forget about that 13-14 record overall.

Credit Fox for a better-than-expected first year.  But save the awards, trophies and honors for somebody else.

ATHENS — Not everything has changed, but Georgia’s defense could be excused for feeling like it has.
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The Trey and Travis show got help from unlikely places on Saturday to help Georgia knock off Florida for just the second time in the last 14 meetings.
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ATHENS — Georgia doesn’t have time to dwell on its missed opportunity Thursday at Vanderbilt.
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Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo didn’t take a five-loss season lightly.  According to him, no one in Athens did.

“Anytime you struggle as a football team and lose five games — which is not acceptable, we know it’s not acceptable — you’re going to soul-search for what we can do better.  The first thing we can do better is block better, take care of the ball better and not turn it over, and (by doing those things) we’re going to be better immensely as an offense.

“You’re always searching for answers, and anytime you lose it’s, you know, ‘the sky is falling.’  But you just go to go back to taking care of the little things and getting better at each aspect and coaching your position better…

“We’ve had change.  We’ve had turnover.  We struggled last year.  Eight and five.  But sometimes that’s good: You need to be on the fire.  And I think it’s lit a fire in everybody.”

We pause for positive Georgia fans to say that their team will be sooooo much better in 2010 because of 2009.  And for negative Georgia fans to say, “We’ll believe it when we see it.”

The most-pressing issue facing Bobo personally is the Georgia quarterback position.  Aaron Murrany, Zach Mettenberger and Logan Gray will all have a shot at the starting job when spring practice opens next week.

“There is not a clear-cut #1 going into the spring.  Logan Gray will take the first reps with the (first-team) offense, but we are planning on rotating all three and giving all three an equal amount of looks with the first group.”

Splitting reps between three candidates will be a challenge, but it could be worse.  Auburn will try to divy up snaps between four quarterback candidates.

Georgia star Trey Thompkins says he hasn’t “really thought about” leaving Athens after his sophomore season to enter the NBA draft.

Thompkins says that the progress Georgia makes will play into his decision.  “… I want to be known as a guy who helped the program go from where it was to where it will be.”

Good quote.

Thompkins is projected by NBADraft.com as a lottery pick in 2011 if he returns to the Dawgs next season.

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It really doesn’t mean anything, but it’s still nice for Georgia fans to hear: former Texas quarterback Colt McCoy recently bragged about UGA QB Aaron Murray.

According to Joe Schad of ESPN.com, McCoy told him that “Aaron Murray was one of the most impressive players he’s ever seen.”

Big words.

Murray will battle fellow sophomore Zach Mettenberger and junior Logan Gray this spring for the Dawgs’ starting quarterback position.

It was just a couple of years ago that Georgia fans were muy desilusionado over a preseason #1 team that tumbled to a 10-3 finish.

It was just a couple of months ago that Mark Richt and Damon Evans were having to answer questions about the state of the UGA program.

And it was just a couple of weeks ago that many Georgia faithful were disheartened by the “worst” signing class of the Richt era.

So much for all that negative talk, it’s time to look forward to 2011 — not 2010, but 2011 — and start thinking about a national title.  Really?

Bill King, who runs the Junkyard Blawg for The AJC, posted a story on Friday asking fans to give their thoughts on a Rivals.com writer who thinks the Dawgs might be primed for a national title the year after next.

The fans response to Mr. King’s poll?  Well, 51% of the 2,500-plus voters believe UGA will win “the SEC and national championships again” within two or three years.

Another 18% believe 2011 will be that year for Georgia.

But 31% say the Bulldogs won’t win an SEC or NCAA title “until Mark Richt is gone.”

Now that’s just 1/3rd of a 2,500-person online poll, but if the results are taken seriously, it does show that a solid chunk of the UGA fanbase is down on Richt at the moment.

Make of it what you will.  Are the Dawgs headed back to the top in 2011?  Or will Richt have to go before UGA climbs the mountain again?

Personally, I don’t know about 2011 — maybe, maybe not — but I also don’t believe jettisoning Richt would bring the Dawgs closer to a title.  In fact, I think getting rid of a good coach would set them back further.  But that’s just me.

The current Georgia coach has nice things to say about the son of a legendary Georgia coach… who happens to now be coaching one of Georgia’s biggest rivals, Tennessee.

Marc Weiszer of The Athens Banner-Herald asked Mark Richt about coaching against Derek Dooley, the son of Vince Dooley.

“I’ll just say this — I’m a big fan of Derek.  He’s a very sharp guy.  He’s a very straightforward, honest guy.  He’s a guy that I think we’re going to enjoy having him in the league.”

Not quite the same response that the name Lane Kiffin used to elicit, eh?  Matter of fact, some of those kind statements about Dooley could probably be taken as references (at least on some level) to his brash predecessor.

Just last week, Boise State’s Chris Peterson also praised Dooley at length.  In their days in the WAC, Peterson was 3-0 versus Tennessee’s new coach and averaged a 42-23 victory against him.

Tennessee fans will no doubt see all the praise for Dooley as honest love.  Last year, they liked having the guy no one liked.  Now they like having a guy that’s popular.

But folks around the league might be seeing this praise and thinking, “yeah, everyone’s glad to have add a guy to the SEC who went 4-8 at Louisiana Tech last year.”

Either way, it’s certainly a new dynamic in Knoxville. 

A coach who isn’t detested by his rivals?  Whoda thunk it?

(For the record, I’ve never been a guy who thought a coach had to be hated to be good.  And the man commenting on Dooley in this piece comes to mind.)

ATHENS, Ga. — Trey Thompkins admits, he was getting frustrated.

The free throws wouldn’t fall. The scoring chances weren’t there. His team, which had held a one-point lead at the half, had seen Alabama sink one bucket after another to go up by double digits.
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Overachieving and underachieving
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Writers can talk about a coach being on the hot seat.  Talkshow callers can scream, moan, whine and complain.  Messageboards can melt.  And athletic directors can give votes of confidence.

But in today’s sports world, it’s money that matters.  (Cue Randy Newman.)  And according to UGA officials, the amount of money coming in for Bulldog season tickets in 2010 is “very, very similar to 2007 and 2009.”  (In ‘08, the Dawgs were preseason #1s and that led to higher than normal ticket sales.)

That, of course, is very good news for Mark Richt.  Despite concerns over the direction of Georgia’s program and it’s recent recruiting class, UGA fans are still buying tickets.  That shows support for Richt, his staff, and his ability to steer the Bulldogs’ boat.

As the “dean of SEC coaches,” Richt is in danger of fans growing tired of him.  There are more complaints now on the internet and on talk radio than at any previous point in his tenure.  More columnists and media personalities in and around Georgia have openly questioned the future of UGA’s football program.

But as long as fans continue to donate money and buy tickets, Richt will be Georgia’s coach.  And that’s a good thing for the Bulldogs.