FOOTBALL
Coach Mark Richt
On if last year's Mississippi State game was a tipping point with what all happened in that contest…
We had a penalty call back an interception that we had. We had a penalty called with Kris Durham catching a slant getting inside the 10 or something like that. We had the fumble. We had a lot of things happen. But they made their breaks too though. They had some things bad happen to them that could have been big plays for them too, so it wasn't like it didn't happen both ways. It was a frustrating day because it seemed like every time something really good happened to us that could have sparked us ended up with either a penalty or a turnover. We're talking about the Durham touchdown. We're talking about Washaun Ealey getting hit on the one-yard line after really a heck of a call by Mike Bobo. We had our tailback vertically hot down the middle of the field, which not many people do. We caught them in the right blitz. We executed perfect and gained 15 or 20 yards and then the ball spits out. They knocked the ball out. They did their job. They earned it certainly. It was a frustrating day. I'm not looking forward to another one like that.
On if last year's game carries over to this year…
For me it does personally. I don't know if the players are looking at it that way, but I do.
On what Michael Gilliard and Amarlo Herrera will face against Mississippi State…
It’s a big day for those guys. They are a very physical team. Most everybody who watches college football probably watched them play LSU on that one Thursday night. Most of the country got to see that game, and what I saw is what everybody else saw, two teams just having a bloody battle up front. LSU wasn’t trying to keep any secrets about what they were going to do. They just lined up mostly in the I-formation and just hammered the ball at them, and Mississippi State was holding up pretty darn well I thought. You could just see all their players and how physical they were in that game.
We definitely have one of those games where we better roll up our sleeves and get after it. Thankfully I think we’ve played more physical to this point than we did a year ago. It always comes down to your defensive front first. Are you creating some kind of havoc up front? If the D-linemen get moved, there aren’t many linebackers in the country who are going to stand a big 300-pound lineman on them and really come off of that block and make a play. Usually the D-line has to do such a good job of holding that line that these guys have a hard time coming off. If a guy comes off, usually you double-team a lineman and you work up to a linebacker when you run a lot of the combination blocking. If one lineman can handle our down guy, and then another one can freely get up on a linebacker, we have problems no matter who the linebackers are.
The big key is going to be will we free those guys up to make some hits. Then when it does come and there’s a lead blocker on them, that they do have to fit properly and try to get things to bounce outside. That’s what you hope to do with a team like this. If they start splitting you vertically, you are in trouble. Your safeties are trying to make tackles and it’s going to be a long day.
On the injuries of Damian Swann, Marlon Brown, Chris Burnette and Chris Sanders…
Swann, I would say right now is doubtful. Marlon, we are hopeful. Marlon actually got a little work yesterday. Chris Burnette, we are hopeful there too. We are not counting him out, more hopeful that a week ago. Chris Sanders is going to end up having some season-ending surgery on his shoulder in the next week or two.
On Garrison Smith…
I like how Garrison has done. I really like Garrison period. He's a guy that has a great attitude, great personality. He's always got a smile on his face and works real hard. It's fun to start seeing him make some plays and get excited and create more depth upfront. He's a very quick defensive lineman. He's very powerful. He's got great positional.
On what has been different for Bacarri Rambo this year aiding his success with interceptions…
He's had opportunities. The ball has got to come your way. He's caught them all but one. I think there was one against South Carolina that he could have got that might have been a big difference in that game. He's been making the play when it comes to him. He's been benefiting from the defensive line or linebackers pressuring the quarterback to force bad throws. He had a great spring. I think he's totally recovered from his injury that he had at the Auburn game early in his career. He's got a great focus. He had a great camp, and he knew all along he wasn't going to play game one but he didn't mope or cry, he worked. I think he's an outstanding player. We got a pretty good perimeter right now in my opinion.
On updates of the status of Kolton Houston and Derek Owens…
Nothing new to report on Kolton. On Derek, I hope to have some information by the end of the day to be able to address that.
On assessing the team a third of the way into the season on what he is proud of and disappointed with…
I'm most proud of how hard they are playing, how much they are enjoying the game, how much they are enjoying each other and how hard they are competing. I really like that. I like what we are doing with the no huddle. We are seeing the benefits of it, and to just run and pass the ball as well as we did last week. I think we are still a very balanced football team but now with a different pace and a different tempo, which I think is very good. I like the energy that the young players have been bringing to this season.
There have been some key freshmen and redshirt freshmen doing something big things for us. I like that. I'm not really disappointed. I get disappointed when guys don't try hard. I get disappointed when guys don't act right. I don't get disappointed in the guys if they don't execute. You're not happy about it. If he doesn't execute because he's careless, because he doesn't study the game or because he’s not trying hard enough, I'll get mad at those kind of things.
We've got to not give up some of these big plays that we've been giving up. The turnovers against South Carolina were just monstrous. The fake punt was big. The special teams issues – sometimes you have issues that don't cost you the game or don't cost you a touchdown, but we've had some pretty big ones that have cost us. We've got to get better at that.
On if Texas A&M being in the SEC will open up recruiting in the state of Texas more…
Definitely to the SEC in general, but I would think more so to the Western Division because of the proximity of the teams on that side or that area of the country. But not to say it wouldn’t help the Eastern Division teams to get into Texas too. We still like our state a lot. We have no complaints about the amount of talent based in our own state. There'll come a time when there will be some more efforts to get into Texas I'm sure.
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