UGA @ GT game thread

[Leonard Larramore]

I get all that. But he was a QB starting his first game, down by 20 and we lost .

Excuse time is over. Vad screwed up with the pick but it was our soft *** none playing secondary that still can't stop anyone.

Vad is a highly rated 1st year starter playing his 12th game by the way, why do t we apply our standards to our excuses. If we did that Vad throws for 600 and 10 TDs.

Seems our standards are way lower than our excuses

TM

I feel your pain in your writings brother but early on I made a few comments about the secondary but more so about the guys being coached up. If you go back to last year's postings on practices and camps you will see who your big hitters in the safety position were F. Holton, J. Thomas, and L. Griffin. I. Johnson and D. Smith were more cover guys they made tackles but we're not going to put their nose in any holes. Holton had some personal issues and was removed from team. One week before the season it was determined that D. Noble was not a good corner and that Griffin who never played corner would be a better corner and Noble would be a better fit in at safety. Now you seem to be a man that knows something about football. CB an S require totally different skill sets. Now you have Noble trying to adjust and Griffin who upon his arrival established himself as a big hitter who just needed reps trying to adjust as well. I think this change was a bad one. As the season progressed we ended up moving Jamea at safety because we needed that big hit, stop the run type safety. This took away from the depth at corner. Now look at the corners, L. Young showed great promise then seems to have regressed a little. DJ White who is a pure athlete had a rough game against Clemson. Rough in the since that he had great coverage just a little green with some of the tricks of the game. WR holding, pushing off, etc.... Unfortunately stuff like this happens but there are techniques to counter. What I am asking everyone to do is put aside emotions and look at facts. I think the corners were not coached well this year. Poor positioning, bad technique, bad communication, wrong angles; bottom line, everyone was screaming about Sewak but overlooked Coach Speed. Don't get me wrong, the guy is a great LB and Safety coach. He is not a corners coach. I am not saying fire anyone just place the guy in his element and bring in a "True"cornerback coach who can coach these guys up. Who knows good sound technique and knows the position from experience. Kelly did have the group moving in the right direction. Many thought Sweeting was not a good corner. This kid got with someone who provided him with CB training now look at him. He is in the NFL.

As far as the Ga loss. It was the adjustment we made on D that hurt a little. We played more of a soft zone and Ga took everything underneath as well as screens. We needed our corners to get on the the inside of the blockers. They needed to recognize the routes being run while also reading the QB. The Safety should have been outside the box. He has to be aggressive enough to break through others blocks and blow up the play. He has to be a sure tackler. A special kid that makes anyone think twice about catching the ball. Don't mean to bore you but I think we need our secondary to be coached up and kids placed in the right position.

 

[Ibeeballin]

TM

As far as the Ga loss. It was the adjustment we made on D that hurt a little. We played more of a soft zone and Ga took everything underneath as well as screens. We needed our corners to get on the the inside of the blockers. They needed to recognize the routes being run while also reading the QB. The Safety should have been outside the box. He has to be aggressive enough to break through others blocks and blow up the play. He has to be a sure tackler. A special kid that makes anyone think twice about catching the ball. Don't mean to bore you but I think we need our secondary to be coached up and kids placed in the right position.

Kind of a cut off the nose to spite the face type deal with D. We were so afraid of the screen game that we forgot a backup QB was starting. I would've took the same approach as we did in the Pitt game been very aggressive.

 

[AE 87]

Our offense did enuf to keep it to basically a 9 drive game, but was still only able to score 7 in the second half,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we were in nickel the whole game with basically no depth at DB.

 

[CuseJacket]

Kind of a cut off the nose to spite the face type deal with D. We were so afraid of the screen game that we forgot a backup QB was starting. I would've took the same approach as we did in the Pitt game been very aggressive.

I agree. Or at the very least mix up the blitz/coverage schemes and be unpredictable. Or substitute more often on the DL. Our front 4 was gassed in the 3rd quarter.

 

[kg01]

UGA loses 1 guy on defense...Garrison Smith.

On offense they lose 1 starter at WR and 3 on the OL.

GT loses 6 starters on defense 2 DE, 1 DT,1 LB, 2 DB's(including our two best players in Thomas and Attaochu)

GT loses 5 starters on offense 1 A back, B Back, 3 OL (including our best playmaker in Godhigh)

I think we have a lot of question marks next year....Where is the pass rush going to come from, who's going to step up at A back, who's going to block up front, whos gonna be the CB's?

I think things lined up almost perfectly for us this year as Murray was out and we had a first time starter coming in, playing at home, etc... but we just didn't finish it off...I honestly thought we would win.

Grantham doesn't have long left.

This is just my opinion of course and I would love to be wrong but I just think this was our best shot for the next few years.

I hear you, but we enter the game with an on-paper talent deficit each year. I agree this year was a really good opportunity. Just don't think we should expect to be out of it in the coming years.

 

[CuseJacket]

Our offense did enuf to keep it to basically a 9 drive game, but was still only able to score 7 in the second half,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we were in nickel the whole game with basically no depth at DB.

I saw us in the base 4-3, and I remember seeing Hunt-Days and Milton subbing for each other several times. Not sure about the ratio of 4-3 vs. Nickel though without re-watching. JHD almost picked off a pass over the middle, another one of the oh-so-close moments that could have changed the outcome of the game.

 

[Leonard Larramore]

Our offense did enuf to keep it to basically a 9 drive game, but was still only able to score 7 in the second half,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we were in nickel the whole game with basically no depth at DB.

They were in a base to start which was very effective. The switch to the (Nickle) came in the 2nd half which was not really effective against the what Ga flashed the second half.

 

[Leonard Larramore]

Our offense did enuf to keep it to basically a 9 drive game, but was still only able to score 7 in the second half,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we were in nickel the whole game with basically no depth at DB.

We were in a base the first half then switched to the Nickle in the second.

 

[John]

bottom line, everyone was screaming about Sewak but overlooked Coach Speed. Don't get me wrong, the guy is a great LB and Safety coach. He is not a corners coach. I am not saying fire anyone just place the guy in his element and bring in a "True"cornerback coach who can coach these guys up. Who knows good sound technique and knows the position from experience.

I'll admit that I haven't been paying too much attention to the position coaches except at OL. This isn't just at GT but I've always wondered how head coaches can just shuffle the position coaches around to fill vacancies. For example, when Groh was let go last year, CAM became the LB coach and CDW became the DL coach. I'm sure both have coached LBs and DLs before but would either be considered to be "specialists" or "true" position coach either position?

 

[kg01]

They were in a base to start which was very effective. The switch to the (Nickle) came in the 2nd half which was not really effective against the what Ga flashed the second half.

Typically what's the schematic reason for making this type of switch (from something that was effective), then staying with it although it appears to be ineffective. Did we turn checkers into chess here?

I'm by no means a coach but, from my layman perspective, our switch to the Groh-esque soft zone/read-react defense seemed to allow them back into a rhythm and subsequently back into the game.

 

[Leonard Larramore]

I'll admit that I haven't been paying too much attention to the position coaches except at OL. This isn't just at GT but I've always wondered how head coaches can just shuffle the position coaches around to fill vacancies. For example, when Groh was let go last year, CAM became the LB coach and CDW became the DL coach. I'm sure both have coached LBs and DLs before but would either be considered to be "specialists" or "true" position coach either position?

Good point John. CAM does have experience at linebacker. Also experience as a head coach. He has a year experience as a advance scout in the the NFL. Now in college he was a OL and TE. He actually set records at the TE position.

CDW has more experience in the secondary and with special teams. He himself was a good safety. Don't get me wrong a coach can come in and coach multiple positions but look at the teams that are dominating recruiting/NCAA Football. Let's take Alabama (I know! not everyone's favorite team) their guys played in the positions in which they coach. Some have experience at the next level as well. This seems to give them credibility with the kids when recruiting and current players have confidence in coaches who have played in the position. They feel they have a better understanding of the position. This is not always the case but in most cases it is true. Every recruit wants to go the NFL and when they hear that a coach has some ties to the league they get excited. Now I am not saying we don't have good coaches or ties to the league but to boast some type of exposure/experience goes a long way with these young men.

John. What are your thoughts for next year?

 

[Leonard Larramore]

Typically what's the schematic reason for making this type of switch (from something that was effective), then staying with it although it appears to be ineffective. Did we turn checkers into chess here?

I'm by no means a coach but, from my layman perspective, our switch to the Groh-esque soft zone/read-react defense seemed to allow them back into a rhythm and subsequently back into the game.

Most coaches feel that the Nickle is good against the spread or a offense that has a dominant Tight End. When we switched to the Nickle we did not get any pressure on the QB. Attaochu was double teamed and that nullified the blitz.