Tuesday Press Conference ~ Defense

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 Georgia’s defense…

“I envisioned a defensive team that was going to get after them like they’ve been getting after them the last two weeks. That’s for sure. Yeah, that’s been exciting for me to see it happening during the game, but even more so to go back and watch coaches’ tape on Sunday and just go, ‘That’s more like it.”

On the continuity of the Georgia defense at the beginning of the season….

“We never wanted to make excuses, and we still don’t want to make any excuses for what happened in the past, but if you have everybody from the very foundation of the spring and the offseason and the fall and the communication, obviously the more they play together, the better they are going to play and the better they’ll communicate and the fewer mistakes they’ll make. It has been a little bit of a juggling act, and we certainly know that either through injury or suspension, or sometimes something happens to a kid personally and they can’t be there, things happen. We know we have to deal with it. It’s part of coaching. We can’t expect a perfect ride and a perfect season where nothing ever goes wrong. It’s been our job to try to overcome it the best we can. I’m just glad that now it looks like everybody is really gaining confidence and everybody is playing with a lot of intensity. There are guys flying to the ball. We’re getting more turnovers because of it in my opinion. We’re just having more fun.”

Defensive Back Damian Swann

On his role this season…

“I’ve improved a lot in terms of getting accustomed to the game speed and getting in the film room every week, and I think that comes with learning from the other guys and players that have played here before me. It really comes with the small things and being able to pick up on certain schemes throughout the course of the game.”

On what former players have influenced him the most…

“Once I got here I was behind Brandon Boykin, and that was one of the guys that I studied a lot. That was a guy that I learned almost everything from, outside of what I was getting from the coaches. I think that really helped me separate myself from some of the other guys.”

On the improvement of the defense as the season has progressed…

“We’re having a lot of fun. We’re winning and we’re playing the defense we know that we’re capable of playing, and that comes with taking things more seriously. We’re getting in the film room more, and practicing harder and really paying attention to detail. It comes with everybody doing their job and doing everything that we’re supposed to do.”

Linebacker Amarlo Herrera

On playing an Auburn team that has struggled this season…

“When you have nothing to lose, you can throw everything you’ve got at the team you’re going against to try and upset them. That’s your main goal in that situation, to upset their season just like your season has been upset. You always have to play hard against a team like that because they’re going to lay it all out there.”

On the importance of setting the tone early…

“You always have to try and set the tone early. You have to come out and start quick, and set the tone fast so you won’t help them out in anyway. It’s very important for us to go out and play hard right off the bat so that we can set the tone for the rest of the game.”

On going against a freshman quarterback…

“You always have to get in a freshman’s face and put pressure on him so that you put him in a position to make bad decisions. I don’t think that freshmen really understand the game the same way that the veterans do, so we have to try to get in his face and confuse him so that we can rattle his cage.”