On Monday, I was able to catch up with Georgia head coach Mark Richt at the Atlanta Sports Council’s annual College Football Preview Luncheon. In Part 2 of my conversation with the Bulldogs head man, he discusses concerns about the offensive line and defense, and talks about the battle for the placekicking job as the Bulldogs get set to begin Fall practice on Aug. 4.
On the state of the offensive line after starting three freshmen a year ago …
“The good news is three of those freshman starters are back. The bad news is the other two starters were seniors and they’re gone. Not only the experience of Fernando Velasco and Chester Adams is gone, but the leadership is gone. Fernando was the undisputed leader of our offensive line. And right now we don’t really have that. We don’t have a senior offensive lineman in the program. We have one junior who is a second-year player, Vincent Vance, who came from Georgia Military College, and the rest are freshmen and sophomores. So, there’s not a lot of seniority there. There’s no one true leader right now. Hopefully somebody will rise to that position.”
On the ability of the defense to pressure opposing quarterbacks without blitzing …
“Well a little bit like last year, we don’t know where the true defense and pass-rushing pressure will come from. We thought Marcus Howard could do well for us, but he hadn’t started until his senior year last year. I wouldn’t say we have a dominating returning pass [rusher], although a lot of guys have had sacks. And I don’t care if it’s done by committee or by one or two guys. So that will be a question, to see who steps up in that role.”
What about the questions surrounding depth, particularly at safety?
“I think we have three guys (CJ Byrd, Reshad Jones and Quintin Banks) ready to play, but one or two guys go down at safety, and we’re very, very inexperienced. Those are the main questions. I think a few injuries at any position can change the complexion of what we consider a mature group of defenders.”
What about the role of John Knox?
“He’s developing, but he still has a long way to go. It’s one thing to play in the Spring game against an [offense] you see every day, and get out there and play in the Southeastern Conference where the gameplan changes every week at a very rapid pace. So again, [him] just being young and inexperienced, [there’s] nothing really much to draw from. He’s learning everything from scratch. When a safety makes a mistake, it’s usually a touchdown, so you’ve got to be really careful.”
Will Blair Walsh be given every opportunity to win the placekicking job?
“Blair is on scholarship. We thought enough of him to give him that scholarship. So we’re expecting him to do well, but we will not give him the job. We did not give the job to Andy Bailey. He competed with [Brandon] Coutu and won early on. It was a very tight race. At the end of that first year, Coutu took it over as a walk-on and was also the kickoff man. Coutu handled both jobs for most of the rest of his career.”
Butler can be reached at jbutler@scoreatl.com.
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