FOOTBALL
Coach Mark Richt
Opening Statement…
Coach Will Muschamp has a very outstanding team in my opinion. I know they’ve lost the last three, but they’ve played three ranked teams, and two of them are dominating everybody that they play. I think there is a perception that Georgia is on a roll and Florida is struggling, but if you flip those schedules I’m not sure it wouldn’t be a whole different story for us and for them as far as winning. They are a very talented team as always, very fast team. That’s the one thing that sticks out more than anything is just the team speed, offense, defense, special teams. We have issues to deal with in that regard.
On if he believes that to former Georgia player and now Florida head coach Will Muschamp that this game does not mean more to him than any other games…
He won't know until the game is played in my opinion. He has experience coaching against Georgia, so he's used to that. He's just not done it as a head coach, so I'm sure there might be some different emotions as maybe a coordinator, I don't know. The first time I did it I was just a couple years out of leaving Miami. I was a young graduate assistant coach, and I still had teammates that I played with and most of the staff that coached me was still there. It was very emotional. When I came to Georgia and coached against Florida State I knew at least 50-percent of the players and just about 90-percent of the staff. Now, it is far removed for him. He hasn't really coached or played with hardly anybody on our staff, so I think I can buy into what he is saying.
On whether Aaron Murray’s emotions affected his performance against Florida in 2010…
I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that they played well. That first pick of the game, the guy breaks on the ball and makes the play. I don’t think it had anything to do with emotions. I think Murray threw the ball to the right guy on time, and he jumped it. He did a great job. I think it’s more of an execution issue, really.
On what he will say to Aaron Murray about last year’s game against Florida…
I think the less said the better. We’re trying to focus real hard not on the fact that it’s in Jacksonville, nor the fact that it’s even Florida. We’re looking at the team we’re playing as far as their personnel, their scheme. If you are a quarterback, what’s really important? It’s not important if it’s your hometown, it’s not important if it’s in Jacksonville. It’s important to know if there is enough crowd noise that you are going to have to deal with that. It’s important to know what jersey numbers they wear and what positions they play and what types of tendencies they have in the red zone or third down. Those are the things we are focusing on, not so much that it’s Florida, not so much that it’s his home state team. I want him to focus on what’s going to help him win when the ball is snapped. That’s where our conversations are going.
On the status of WR Malcolm Mitchell…
He didn’t do well yesterday. He practiced for about five minutes.
On how the off week has helped Isaiah Crowell…
I think Isaiah is healthy right now. Until you get in the game and start taking shots I don't know if that wrist injury is 100-percent healed, but I'm hoping by the time we get there it will be like game one for him in regard to that injury.
On how much of Crowell's battle with the injury is a mental thing…
I think it is part of the learning process. In our league, anywhere in college or in the NFL, there's time where you'll run the ball and there's some space and you can do great things on those plays. But there's a lot of plays where the blocking is in place but you're not getting a tremendous amount of movement where everybody is stood upright and maybe all you need is one guy to hit the pile and push it through and all of a sudden break out of there or get two or three yards after contact. Sometimes it just flat out stinks and you get hit in the backfield. That's not much fun either, but you got to get used to that. I think all young backs, especially high school backs, could dominate people who could hardly tackle them and they could start one way and turn around and go the other way and no one could pursue them and chase them down. It just doesn't happen anymore in their careers and they got to learn to deal with that. I think Isaiah as well as all young backs are learning that.
On if he is considering a redshirt year for Rantavious Wooten…
I suppose Wooten could be redshirted at this point. We've been hoping that things would turn. He's still on the injury report. I ask every day how he's doing. I'm asking about symptoms. When you hear 'not much of a change,' 'not much of a change' long enough you realize that this thing was a little more serious than we thought. It's still week-to-week in my mind though. There's still a lot of football to be played, a lot of very meaningful games to be played, so I'm not counting him out right now.
Quarterback Aaron Murray
On treating the Florida game like just another game…
I don’t know if it’s because I’m from Florida or if it’s just a big game, but it’s a big game. It’s one that you circle on your calendar every year. When we’re working out in the off-season, we’ve got the first game, Florida and Georgia Tech circled. There are other games on the calendar, but those are the games that get us motivated and pumped up when we’re conditioning. It’s a great rivalry. I love the atmosphere in the stadium and just being a part of it.
On last year’s game…
I was definitely very excited. Growing up, I wasn’t a big Florida fan, but obviously living in Florida means you are going to watch the Georgia-Florida game. Going from seeing it on TV and then getting in the stadium and being a part of it, I definitely had some jitters. I didn’t start off the way I wanted to offensively, but we pushed through and had an unbelievable second half. I’ve definitely matured and I understand what the environment is going to be like; I think I’ll be able to handle it better this year.
On the offensive struggles in the Red Zone…
We just have to execute when we’re down there. We’ve had plenty of opportunities to get the ball in the end zone, but we just haven’t connected in either the running or the passing game. We’ve been working on that; just watching a lot of film and figuring out what we need to do in there. It was a great bye week in order to go back and figure out the things we need to work on. That was definitely one of them and I think we figured it out and we’re ready to go out there and put more points on the board.
Offensive Guard Chris Burnette
On where the Florida rivalry ranks for him…
I guess you could say Florida and Georgia Tech are 1A and 1B. I guess which one is a bigger deal depends on who you are. For me, Florida is the biggest rivalry. It’s been so one-sided these past 12 years, so hopefully we can go out there and prove ourselves and do well this year.
On really being able to contribute to the O-Line this year…
It’s been encouraging; especially since I didn’t really have the opportunity to contribute and do what I came here to do my first two years. Those first two years really gave me patience and the opportunity to grow as a person and as a player. I feel like having the opportunity to help this year is great. We’ve been doing well the past few weeks and I just pray that we continue to do that and continue to get better.
On Florida’s defensive speed…
It’s definitely going to be a challenge. They have plenty of speed, not only in their secondary but in their defensive front. Those guys are very athletic. I guess people are saying there are a lot of five stars on their defense. They’re also young, so hopefully we can take advantage of the lack of experience. Most of the time when you play guys with a lot of speed, you have to get them before they get started. So, if we can catch those guys and block them before they can get a lot of speed going side-to-side I think we’ll be able to do well.
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