FOOTBALL
Coach Mark Richt
There are some good defenses out there and they have played some very good football teams. When you play Alabama, LSU, Mississippi State back-to-back, those might be the three best defenses definitely on that side of the league. I haven't looked at their statistics, but my guess is that they are all probably top-10 or 15 defenses in the country, so they have struggled some against those teams, but they've also had their games where they put the 30 and 40-point margins on there. Well just see how we do against them, but they are not putting the numbers up that they've put up in the past.
On what has caused Georgia problems with third down defense:
Mostly our inability to squeeze the quarterback in the pocket. We’ve allowed him to get out of the pocket either on QB run situations or scrambling situations to where he can buy a little more time and put more pressure on our coverage. Then the back end, our defensive backs and linebackers, especially in zone coverage, we’ve not been disciplined enough once the quarterback does buy that extra time we’ve been too quick to try to go sic him when he hasn’t even crossed the line of scrimmage. Or well go jump a guy in the flat who is one yard past the line of scrimmage, still maybe seven yards away from the stick and just go aggressively try and stop the play right there instead of hold off the curls, the square ins and then break on the ball if the quarterback crosses the line of scrimmage or if he throws it out in the flat, whatever it might be. I think that’s been our biggest problem.
On Branden Smith’s status:
Branden right now is in a non-contact situation today, and if everything goes well we hope to progress him to the contact tomorrow.
On the possibility of moving Branden Smith to one spot:
He’s a corner. He’s a corner. When we play him on offense, it’s actually very little practice time that he gets. The things that we ask him to do, we feel like we can rep with the team, within a five-minute period and then get him back to defense. We don’t think it hurts him in the defensive role. If there is something special, he might could work on it after practice with a teammate if there is something that he needs to perfect that’s a little different.
On Chris Rainey:
He’s dangerous. He’s fast and he has ball skills. He is a guy who could take it the distance anytime he touches it. One mistake with that guy and he gets out into space and he is going to score. He is a special player, he’s a game-breaking player, and that’s what we need, that’s what they need, that’s what everybody needs is those kind of guys.
Senior Inside Linebacker #51 Akeem Dent
It's been really exciting to turn it around. It's just been different among the team. Guys are a lot more focused and playing hard.
On playing in Jacksonville against Florida:
It's a rivalry, period. They have a little hate in their hearts about us, and we have a little hate in our hearts about them. It's always a great game in a great stadium with the 50-50 seating. It's like a bowl game kind of atmosphere.
On playing this game as a senior:
It's always been one I've circled on my calendar ever since I committed to Georgia. It's always been one of the games that I look forward to every year.
On Georgia's defensive preparation for the Gators:
We have to go out and prepare the same as we have been preparing the past three weeks. We have to focus in on the guys they are going to try to get the ball to and just go in trying to stop their offense with the weapons that they have.
Sophomore Inside Linebacker #45 Christian Robinson
Personnel. Just look at who they use normally and how they use them. Looking at tendencies and things they might want to change. If you are looking at a certain formation and they only seem to do one thing out of it, they might try to throw a different type of play in to go a different direction. That's what a lot of teams try to do if they go back and look at what they've been doing, and that's probably something they've looked at and might want to try. But Coach Todd Grantham and our staff has done a great job of preparing us those certain situations and those opportunities.
Sophomore cornerback #19 Sanders Commings
It feels great. I don't know if the defense has ever led a category since I've been here, so it feels good to lead the SEC in something.
On the significance of the UGA-UF game:
We are playing for something. If we win this game and get some help from other teams, we can still win the SEC East. So this game definitely means a lot to us, and it always does. Even if we were 0-8, we would still want to beat Florida.
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