FOOTBALL
Coach Mark Richt
“Hopefully I’m sure he learned something from it. I would think everybody saw what happened to A.J. and hopefully, if they were in that position, would not give in to whoever is trying to convince you that this is a good thing to do or that it’s OK to do. So hopefully the guys learned from that.”
On whether the return of A.J. Green has provided a boost to his teammates:
“I don’t know. I can’t help but think that the guys know. They see him everyday. They see him practice. They know he’s a very talented guy. They know that we have a better chance with him than without him. I don’t know if everybody is just kind of jumping up and down, saying A.J. is back.”
On whether teams defend Georgia differently with A.J. Green:
“I think they would. I’ll say this, based on a year ago, you might see a team have a certain percentage of a coverage versus pro-I . You are watching the scouting report and you see versus base I, what we call I-formation and base personnel, we might see that they have a certain amount of percentage of this coverage or that coverage or whatever it might be. Then when we play them in the very same coverage, they play a little differently than they have all season long, so I think if they looked at the film and said if this receiver is just as good as that receiver there is no reason to roll coverage that way, then we’ll just kind of do what we’ve been doing. But if they see somebody that they feel like could hurt them if they just played the way they normally play then they have to do something different. So we’ve seen a lot of different looks towards wherever A.J. lines up. Do I think people would have played us differently the first four ballgames? Probably would be my guess.”
“We never did that. We couldn’t do that. There is no point in doing that. We all, whether we said it or not, I’m sure there were times we were thinking about it. Durham has played very well. Durham has played that position very well. Kris really has been open deep maybe four or five times, and if we hit him on the run he is going to score. He got behind the perimeter a lot in these last few games. Of course A.J. has been able to do that too throughout his career. Murray is still getting that feel of how to hit a guy deep on the run. If you remember the spring game, everything is just way out of range. So if that ball is out of range, no one can catch it. Keep it in play, give the guy a chance, that’s what we are trying to coach instead of trying to throw that perfect ball. With that, we have caught a lot of deep balls, but if you noticed, it hasn’t been on the dead run where the guy can go take it to the endzone. But that’s better than overthrowing them. In time and with more experience, Aaron I believe will be able to hit these guys on the run a little better than he has, and I think that will help whether it’s A.J. or Durham or Tavarres King. And we have others that can go pretty good too.”
On what the presence of A.J. Green does for Georgia’s tight ends:
“The tight end position will benefit if people roll coverage to A.J. That is what happened in some of the games last year. When you saw Orson (Charles) or whoever running down the middle, a lot of times it’s because a safety is overplaying No. 8 and there is a linebacker usually and maybe a safety, but normally a linebacker trying to run with him or with Aron (White) or whoever it might be at tight end. I would think if in fact people find a way to double A.J. in some way, shape or form it will benefit the tight ends for sure.”
On Georgia’s energy level at the start of games:
“I don’t know if it was the energy level that wasn’t right. I think what wasn’t right was our ability to adjust to the things that anytime you play a team, they are going to do something new. Usually whatever is new, they are going to give it to you in the first series of the game. You could prepare for everything you see on film, but the bottom line is you are going to see something that you probably haven’t seen that needs to be adjusted to. You hope in that first series you can at least have something to draw from and say, ‘This is how we would handle this certain look.’ But when you have a brand new defense there is not a whole lot to look back on and say, ‘Last year when they did this, this is what I would do.’ When you are only prepared for what have seen and you see something new, you have to hopefully adjust well that first series, and we haven’t been able to. After that opening drive we actually played pretty good defense. I think they got three more points with about four and a half minutes to go in the game still. Of course they had that long 97-yard drive, which was kind of a stake in the heart. It didn’t finish it but it sure took a lot of wind out of our sails at that point. I think we have to do a better job of adjusting to some of those things that maybe we haven’t prepared for.”
#11 Quarterback Aaron Murray
“It’s going to be nice having him back. He’s a tremendous receiver and he causes a lot of problems for defenses. They’re definitely going to game plan to make sure that they don’t leave him one-on-one with their DBs. It just adds another playmaker to our offense who can hopefully get us going.”
On Green’s return having an effect on the running game:
“We’ll see. Teams will have to respect the pass a little more with him out there and hopefully it opens up some more lanes for our guys to make some plays.”
On practicing with Green knowing he wouldn’t be playing:
“It gets a little sad sometimes. I didn’t even want to throw to him sometimes because I would be a little upset that I couldn’t throw to him on Saturdays. It will be nice to have him back this week. He’s excited and I’m happy for him. He’s been pretty upset that he hasn’t been able to be with us the past four week and it’s really been killing him inside. He’s definitely pumped up and ready to go and like I said, we’re excited to have him back.”
#16 Wide Receiver Kris Durham
On his injury and how he feel:
“I’m alright. Health-wise I’m good. I kind of got banged up a little bit, but I’ll be fine by Saturday. I’m still a little still but I’m practicing today so it’s nothing that I haven’t been through. It’s more precaution, just to make sure that I’m good. I’ve been doing the treatment and doing everything that Ron Courson says. Whatever he says, goes, so I’ve been in there talking to him a lot.”
On the furthest he had been out of the state of Georgia before coming to UGA:
“When I was younger, I used to race BMX. I went out to Nevada and raced in Reno and I’ve raced my bike in California. I’ve never actually been in the state of Colorado so I’m excited about that.”
On the effect that long trips plays on the team:
“It’s enjoyable because it’s a place you’ve never been or you haven’t played at so it’s a good experience. I’m sure it’s different for every person as to whether or not the jet lag or the time difference plays a difference. I don’t see anything wrong with it. I think it’s a fun experience for both us and the opposing team. Whatever the coaches and administration decides what’s best, they have our best interest in mind.”
#12 Wide Receiver Tavarres King
“We are still high energy. This team is awesome in that aspect. Everyone is still high energy and still has the fight in them regardless of what our record is. Not a lot was said negatively and everyone is remaining positive.”
On extra motivation heading into this week:
“Definitely. We’re down and we’re struggling but we’ll bounce back because everyone is focused and everybody wants to show the Bulldog Nation that we’re not a 1-3 team.”
On getting an early spark at the beginning of the game:
“Football is a momentum game and I think it’d be tremendous to have something great happen. Maybe we can throw a deep one to ‘8’ or ‘12’ or ‘16’. That would put a little fire in your belly. When something big happens early, it does a lot for your confidence.”
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