FOOTBALL
Coach Mark Richt
On looking back at the last two trips to Tennessee and why those trips went the wrong way for Georgia…
I haven't looked at those games lately, but we started poorly. The thing that I didn't like was that in both of those games before it was over it looked like they beat us to the point where we gave in. It's hard to fight when you are so far down. I don't know if we fought the full 60 minutes. That's what happens when you get behind and you get behind in a place like that. We haven't had many of those since I've been at Georgia. Those were two situations right there where it did.
On how much the team has talked about putting games away offensively in the second half…
We talk about it a lot. We want to put teams away. We just have not been able to do that. You also get in a situation where if you got a lead you want to be careful not to do what we did where we threw that pick six. We're up 21 points and the defense is in complete control. So yeah you want keep doing things offensively but the more you throw it the more risk you take of that – a pick six – happening and all of a sudden it's a two-score game and it gets a little bit tighter than you want it to get. I certainly don't want to play a conservative brand of football in the third quarter, but if it's in the fourth quarter and you are up by three scores I think it's wise to burn as much clock as you can. You do that by running the ball and making sure you don't snap ball too early in the 40-second clock. Sometimes it's boring but if you win, the goal is to win.
On the offensive line…
We've still got a ways to go. I still think we got the right line up in there right now. Chris Burnette is going to get an opportunity, possibly this week, to become one of the starters depending on how he does throughout the week. We need to continue to get better and more consistent with what we do. The better we get up front the better we are going to be on offense. Usually it has to happen up front first and then you find out how good your skill is. If the line really starts playing at a consistent level, we'll see how good our runners are and how good are throwing and catching is. Don't get me wrong, we are doing a lot of good things. I know we could do better and I just want to see us reach our potential, and we're not there yet.
On if where the offensive line is now is what he expected…
When I watch film I see that we have the ability to do better and do it on a more consistent basis. I don’t want to sound like I'm totally picking on the line. At all positions we can get better. But I'll say it again when the 'OL' and 'DL' play great you are going to have a good season and a good team.
On if fatigue is an issue with the offensive line…
They are playing a lot of snaps and fatigue could be part of it. We are playing more plays than we've ever played before, and there's not a whole lot of rotation going on. There's none really. So fatigue could be part of it.
On whom Chris Burnette will be competing with for a starting spot…
Both guards really. I think Dallas Lee has played left and right. I think Kenarious Gates is at left right now and Dallas is at right. But when Burnette was in there I think Burnette was right and Lee was left if I'm not mistaken, so they are all kind of fighting for those guard spots.
On Aaron Murray's interceptions and the pass protection…
When you throw the ball you do need protection, you need good routes, you need an accurate passer and you got to make good decisions. All those things have to happen. When you throw interceptions some of them do have to do with protection, some have to do with a bad decision, some have to do with a wild throw and some have to do with a poor route. There's probably a little bit of all that in there, but I would say that we need to protect the passer a little better. I think Aaron has made a lot of tremendous plays with people breathing down his neck – as soon as he releases the ball getting hit in the mouth.
Sometimes there are situations where you must throw hot and you know a certain guy is going to come clean. It's part of the game. You catch, get it out quick and usually if you get it out quick enough you're not going to get hit or it will be a late hit. But when the protection is set where you know there is a hat on every guy that is coming and you should have the confidence to where you have a pocket where you step up to throw, we've had too many leaks in those types of situations. A lot of times Aaron has made tremendous throws with a guy leaking through. I think if we clean that up it will help Aaron overall, in his decision making and in his accuracy. The better protection you have the more confidence you have to stand in there and make your reads and make your throws.
On where the leaks have come from in pass protection…
Some of it has been offensive line play and some of it is running backs. We haven't done a lot of protection with our tight ends and haven't really had a tight end issue that I can think of.
On Marlon Brown…
I'd say he's not 100-percent yet. He wasn't last week. He felt good enough to play – kind of strap it up and go. I'd love to get to see him get back to being 100-percent and just seeing what he can do because he did have a really good camp. Rantavious Wooten had a great camp. Here we are just wondering when Wooten is going to come back. Those are two guys that were in the starting lineup in preseason and in the way they were practicing. Now, some other guys have got opportunities. I don't know if these guys will be rolling back into their starting jobs or not quite frankly, but I hope they get back to that form and push them. Right now, we'd love to play six receivers a lot. You can't play with three receivers. We need six that are healthy and know what to do and can make plays. With the pace we are going at we just can't do it with three guys. We need those guys back.
On considering playing Justin Scott-Wesley…
We had thought about him. Justin Scott-Wesley is a very talented guy. We did not necessarily want to put Chris Conley in there. I don't know, but if Wooten never got hurt and Marlon never got hurt, Chris may be getting redshirted right now. In order to do what we wanted to do we had to put the next guy in that we felt was most ready. Justin is going to be a really good receiver. We are very excited about him. I might have made this comparison, but he's a lot like where Michael Bennett was last year. A guy who is very talented and could play but you wonder if he would get enough opportunities if we took him off his redshirt. But I wouldn't be surprised if a year from now to see him do the kind of things Michael Bennett is doing today.
On updates to Damian Swann and Chris Burnette…
Damian Swann is getting better. We think he might get some scout team work today. Chris Burnette is also getting better. We think he'll probably get some scout team work today. Then, after a day like today when it’s the first time back, you get a lot better feel of where they are at. We'll see if they can make it through the practice number one, and number two, how sore they are going to be tomorrow.
On having got off to a quick start to the last two games this year and how to prepare for the Tennessee game…
We also have to be careful if we don’t get off to a fast start and how we are going to react to that. We have to prepare them for that.
On having a relationship with Derek Dooley before he was at Tennessee…
I got to know him. I know when he was a first-year head coach – and I guess Louisiana Tech was his first head coaching opportunity – we had a couple conversations. I think he was just calling some head coaches around the country that he knew and had some relationship with and was just talking a little bit about what he was about to go into and anything that I might be able to help him with. I don't remember the exact conversation other than there was a couple things that came up and he wanted to know how I did this or that. There was a little bit of that going on, so I've known him for a while now.
Quarterback Aaron Murray
On how concerned he is on the number of interceptions he’s had this year…
Not at all. Obviously I don’t want to throw interceptions; that’s not something I want to do. I want to protect the ball and get my team the best opportunity to win. I have to work on my accuracy and my decision-making and not throw those passes. I know what went wrong, I’m working on it and Coach Bobo is going to drill me hard in practice this week.
On this game possibly becoming Coach Richt’s 100th win…
One hundred wins is a lot, especially in the SEC. To be in the same program and get your 100th win is pretty impressive. We all love Coach Richt and I know he and the rest of the team would enjoy seeing him get that 100th win.
On putting pressure on himself to improve from last year…
Definitely. I want to continue getting better. I don’t want to stay the same. I want to improve on my abilities and have this offense continue to improve. As one of the leaders of the offense, I need to continue working hard, wanting to get better and wanting this offense to get better. We haven’t won all the games we’ve wanted to, but the potential is there. There are definitely flashes here and there when we look awesome, but we’ve just got to keep working. Once we clean a couple of things up, I think this offense is going to be pretty unstoppable.
Tight End Orson Charles
On playing Tennessee in the past…
I played against Tennessee (in Knoxville) my freshman year and it was a pretty hostile crowd. I was kind of upset because I felt like we just fizzled out in the second quarter; the score was pretty even and then we just fizzled out. The crowd got even louder because they felt like we gave up. I’m excited on going back in that stadium and showing them that this is a different Georgia team.
On coming back from an 0-2 start…
It was definitely depressing, but we had to come together and realize we still had our whole season in front of us. Yeah we lost two games that I felt like we could have won, but we still had the whole season ahead of us and we wouldn’t let those two games dictate our season.
On preparing for playing in Knoxville…
Just as far as switching up the snap counts and looking at the ball, I think the main thing is just looking at the ball. You won’t be able to go off the snap count because it’s so crazy out there. We’re starting to practice mixing up a few things.
On giving advice to the younger guys…
The coaches did a very good job as far as letting us know how loud it’s going to be. We put up a Youtube video and they showed us how loud it would be. I’m pretty sure the young guys really understand that. The main thing is: if you look at the ball, you can’t jump off sides.
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