Tuesday Press Conference ~ Defense

FOOTBALL

Coach Mark Richt and a delegation of football players met with the media during the Dawgs' weekly press luncheon on Tuesday afternoon. They offered the following comments:

Coach Mark Richt

On Georgia’s defensive front…

“I think it takes a total team effort for your defensive line to look good as far as your defensive effort. If everybody is playing their gap responsibilities like they’re supposed to – I’m not talking about just down linemen; I’m talking about linebackers, safeties fitting into the right spot - I think it helps the D-line. The D-line could be playing pretty well and if other guys are missing gap responsibilities, some big runs will pop. It’s just like offensive linemen. You kind of get blamed every time there is a sack, but a lot of times it’s a back not blocking somebody or a quarterback holding the ball too long or even a guy running the wrong route and the quarterback holds the ball because of it. I think it takes everybody to make everybody else look good. They are big and physical, and they do usually eat up a couple of blocks, especially the two big men inside. Garrison Smith has been very strong at the point, so I think it all works together. I think they’re doing pretty much what they’ve been doing all year long.”

On potential injuries that could occur to the defensive line as a result of facing triple-option offenses…

“I think if you play aggressively and we do a good job of simulating it throughout this week and next week, I think we’ll be fine. The thing of it is, down linemen get cut all year long. It’s not that different as much as it is for the guys on the perimeter. It is somewhat different, and I’m not going to say that it’s not, but there’s probably more of it, but they do get cut. There are times when people are trying to run a zone play and one guy is engaged on the nose guard and the other guy is trying to cut him off. Or even sometimes a guard is trying to get up to a linebacker, but the responsibility of the nose guard is not to let him get there, but the center behind that guard has the job to cut the guy off. The goal sometimes is to cut the nose guard with the center. A lot of times offenses aren’t even trying to have a guy high and a guy low, but it just happens. That happens to those guys more than you think, all throughout the year.”

On the play of linebacker Michael Gilliard thus far…

“Michael has really grown all throughout his career. I think he’s gotten better every single year. I think he’s taking on the responsibility of being a good senior leader. His body year by year has gotten a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger, and a little bit faster. He certainly has a great knowledge of what we’re trying to do, and he plays physical. He takes on blocks well, he doesn’t jump around things, and he understands the gap responsibilities and plays them well. I think he’s doing a very nice job for us.”

On Gilliard making adjustments throughout the season…

“I think everybody understands that whatever role you have, you have to play it well, and you have to play it with the right type of attitude. I just see a bunch of guys that are enjoying playing defense right now and enjoying the success that we’ve had lately. Michael’s certainly adjusted very well.”

On injured linebacker Chase Vasser…

“Chase’s situation is that he’s still not coming around with the shoulder injury. We’ll just see kind of see where it goes. He’s just not healthy right now.”

Linebacker Christian Robinson

On facing two triple option offenses in consecutive weeks…

“I think it’s a good thing the way this works out. It gives us an opportunity to work on the same thing for two weeks in a row. A big thing for this week is that we’re going to have to knock them back and then stay on your feet and make plays. Obviously we’re going to go against cut blocks so getting to play against it two weeks in a row will allow us to get better at playing against that block.”

On Georgia Southern’s rushing offense…

“A lot of people don’t understand that the people that go to Georgia Southern ran this triple option in high school as well, and they’re some of the best guys at executing this style of offense. No body else, that we’re aware of, runs this type of offense except for them and Georgia Tech. They have great athletes; Johnathan Bryant has the speed to take it to the house at anytime. Jerick McKinnon, their quarterback, is good at what he does so we have to be prepared for the best athletes for this type of offense.”

On preparing for the triple option then preparing for a more traditional offense…

“It’s difficult, but at the same time it still helps you with the fundamentals of football. A lot of the time defending this style of offense comes down to the most basic fundamentals of football of just being in position, making tackles, and knocking them back. That’s how you defend this offense and that’s how you win games. It comes down to turnovers and big plays. You just have to be able to stone this offense and get the ball back in your offense’s hands.”

Linebacker Amarlo Herrera

On Georgia Southern’s offense…

“They have the players that are the best fit for their style of offense. They have guys that allow them to convert on third down and on fourth down and keep the ball in the offenses hands and keep the clock running.”

On facing two triple option offenses in consecutive weeks…

“I think it’s beneficial for us to face two of the same offenses back to back, because it allows us to build off of this week and correct the mistakes that we may make in this game. It allows us to go back and look at the mistakes we may have made and then correct them which allows us to get a step ahead of our opponents because we have more experience of what we need to do better.”

On preparing for the triple option then preparing for a more traditional offense…

“You really have to take it one week at a time. We’re going to have to look at, and prepare for these two weeks differently then we’re going to go back and get back to what we usually do against a regular style of offense. It’s not very frustrating, it’s just football. We have to be prepared for anything at anytime and be ready to go against different styles, so we just have to play fast and make fast decisions.”