FOOTBALL
Coach Mark Richt and a delegation of players met with the media Tuesday during the Dawgs’ weekly press luncheon. They offered the following comments:
Coach Mark Richt
On whether he’s been tempted to go no-huddle offensively…
“Yes and no, that’s part of the reason why we’re doing as much as we’re doing right now, because we do try and take advantage of that rule. I think there are different philosophies. If you are going to say our main goal is speed, tempo, then you are going to do very little motions, very little formation, the least amount of personnel grouping and changing. If you sub fast and you get up on the ball and you are ready to go, it still creates problems, because defensive coaches want to match personnel with your personnel. Even if you are doing that and the officials are holding their arms out, it’s still faster than they want to operate. We have a little bit of a blend of two philosophies when it comes to no-huddle, but we can go as fast as we want. We also can quickly make substitutions, personnel grouping changes, which also creates problems. It slows you down the more you motion and shift and change personnel, but it does create some issues for the defense. We do a little bit of both.”
On his faith in Aaron Murray…
“Aaron is the guy, period. Aaron is the guy.”
On Aaron Murray’s second half against Florida…
“We talked a little bit about what it means to be soft position-by-position. I guess it was the day of the game. One of the things we talked about at quarterback was you’re soft if you can’t get knocked down a couple of times and get back up and trust your protection and throw strikes. I didn’t say throw picks, but that’s the same kind of thing. You’d rather get sacked than throw a pick. That’s a test of a guy’s toughness at the quarterback position. Can he have some bad plays and then shake it off and go make some plays that will help you win the game at the end? I thought he showed real outstanding mental toughness in that area. I thought Coach (Mike) Bobo did a good job of not quitting on the guy.”
On Georgia’s running backs being open in the passing game…
“He could have checked it down a couple of times, I don’t think there is any doubt about that. He could have checked it down.”
On Todd Gurley’s game against Florida…
“I thought it was probably underrated as far as what people talked about at the end of the game. There were so many things to talk about in that game. I thought it was a tremendous performance, that many carries against that physical of a defense. To average 4.4 (yards per carry) and not really have a long run, that was a heck of a game, and his ball security was tremendous. I think early in the game he got hit pretty good. Something was bothering him. It wasn’t an injury that kept him out, obviously, but he got stung pretty good early on and didn’t say much about it. He just kept going.”
On Georgia’s offensive line…
“I thought the line blocked well. I won’t say it was any kind of a dominating performance, but I thought they blocked well. I thought we pass protected a little bit better than maybe I thought we would. I thought the run blocking was what I would hope for, just a battle, creating a little space here and there and having a back that would stick it on in there. Some of our four, five, six, seven yard runs were blocked as well as they could be blocked, and their safeties came up and made the hit. I don’t know how many times their safety was the initial hit man when he was an unblocked player just because of the numbers. There were quite a few times we stuck a hat on everybody and created space and got him to the safety, but their safeties were outstanding at coming up and making tackles. Both are very physical guys and very sure tacklers. It was one of those kinds of games.”
On David Andrews’ status for Saturday and who would play if Andrews cannot…
“We think he’ll play. We don’t think we have to worry about that, but if something happened to David I’m not sure what we would do. It probably would be Chris Burnette. I think early in the year that would have been the answer, and since we’ve played a lot more ball I don’t know if we would change our mind. I don’t know if we would put Preston Mobley in there, but I think it would be Burnette. We do think David is going to play.”
On Malcolm Mitchell’s contributions to the offense…
“It’s helped us a lot, obviously. He’s still practicing some with the defense. He’s still meeting some with the defense. He’s trying to stay up to speed as much as possible in case of an emergency on defense. So he’s not offense in every meeting and every period of practice, but he’s mostly offense. We’re getting him going again, and having him more in tune to what we’re doing and getting the rust off – there was a little rust on the guy at the receiver position, but I think he is shaking most of it off and doing some of the things fundamentally that make you a good receiver. That touchdown, it seems pretty simple, but not many guys will run it all the way to eight yards. It’s a fade-stop type play where you have to run the exact yardage and you have to make it look like you’re going deep and hit the brakes, have a sudden stop and get your hands ready to snatch it. It’s not that easy to do. It takes time and reps. Of course Aaron Murray had to get it out early. There was a guy coming free. The goal is the throw the ball before they get their eyes around, so the ball is on the way and you get your eyes around. You saw it happen to Tavarres King one time. It wasn’t the same play, but it was the same kind where the ball is on the way and you turn around and the ball is on you. The route that TK ran, it doesn’t usually happen that fast, so I don’t want to make TK look bad. The ball was thrown early because of a protection issue again. For Malcolm to run the route the way he should, snatch it strong with his hands and have the presence of mind – Coach Tony Ball always tells them to get off the sideline and wheel back inside and go and see what you can get. It was a heck of a play.”
Fullback Alexander Ogletree
On the Florida win…
“It felt great. It’s a great win. It’s always good to beat Florida – that’s a big-time game and we knew we needed it. We all went out as a team and played really hard.”
On the performance of Todd Gurley…
“Todd’s a work horse. He just went out there and got it done on Saturday. I told him before the game to go out there and play hard – I knew he hadn’t played in a game like that before and I told him it was going to take all of our ability and heart if we wanted to win. And he went out there and got it done.”
Wide Receiver Tavarres King
On the Florida win…
“This one was a lot more sweet. Being my last go-around it meant a lot to me. It’s crazy to beat those guys twice in a row – that’s something that hadn’t been done in a long time. It just topped everything off being my senior year. The defense was lights-out. It was a fun game to watch and it was awesome to be a part of it.”
On Todd Gurley…
“The kid is phenomenal. I’ve never met anybody like him. He works extremely hard, and he’s very poised. He’s a guy who’s just way ahead of his years. I don’t feel like he’s a freshman. He doesn’t act like it, doesn’t play like it.”
Quarterback Aaron Murray
On Florida…
“It was an unbelievable experience on the field and in the locker room celebrating afterwards. It was a lot of fun to get that victory – this was probably the biggest Georgia-Florida game I’ve been a part of and it feels great to be on top of the SEC east again and maybe be able to compete for an SEC Championship if we do our part these next two games.”
On how his experience helped him respond with a stronger second half…
“It would’ve been rough if I were younger. I think having played in a lot of big games helps. And with our defense playing so well, it gave some more confidence. If I was playing poorly and then Florida goes down and scores a bunch of points, it would’ve been a lot different.”
On getting ready for Ole Miss…
“We want to play every week with the intensity that we did vs. Florida. We are capable of playing with that emotion and intensity every game. Being back in the lead in the East is big – it gives us the chance to play in Atlanta. Like Jarvis Jones said after the game, that wins meant nothing if we don’t win the next two.”
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