By now we’ve all got a chance to wax philosophically on the Boise State versus Georgia game from this past Saturday night. The Dawgs got out worked by the Broncos, they were pedestrian in their attack and listless in their execution. As a result of this the “Mark Richt Hotseat” meme has been fired up anew, this time with new additions and more ammunition than just the “can’t beat Florida” and “why can’t he win the East” shots that have been fired in the past.
Enter Wednesday, Richt’s post-practice presser. It was not a growl-fest or a grill session that would make headlines and fuel radio spots across the country but in listening to the audio there are things that raised the eyebrows of this blogger. No discussion of the hot seat, not really any truly combatitive questioning but a few nuggets of noteworthy talk nonetheless.
I’ll skip the aTm chatter and get right to the points that did give me pause.
Richt’s discussion of the poor pass protection including “he’s gonna be on his back”
This is a Wednesday practice. That’s your last work day. In college football you get Sunday OR Monday to install your gameplan, Tuesday to understand and Wednesdays are for tweaking and perfecting. If you’ve got glaring, and I use that word because Richt made it clear third down pass pro was a legitimate issue, protection issues during a Wednesday blitz or situational period then you’re going to carry those with you into the game Saturday. Thursdays are shell days; you don’t have contact, you run through you two-point plays, you make sure everyone is on the same page. Fridays are dress rehearsals to make sure personnel groupings are good to go before you take off for the hotel.
In short, if it is not fixed Wednesday it will be an uphill battle to correct it for Saturday. Given Boise State’s sacking of Aaron Murray six times it is clear the Dawgs have a blocking issue. Richt just let us know it isn’t close to being fixed.
“This just might be a team that you gotta scrimmage to get them going”
Practicing is a mentality. You develop it over the in the spring, over the summer and through camp. You grow that mindset through a sense of urgency a burning need to get better and goal of being successful as a team. Coaches foster this through not just the attitude they bring to the practice fields everyday but through intensity in the film room, a strong work ethic in the weightroom and most importantly what is and what is not acceptable in all of the mentioned areas.
I’ve said this in regard to extra benefits but it holds just as true here and now, “kids get away with what you let them get away with.” Kids don’t just create their own practice atmosphere. Freshmen, by and large, don’t walk on to campus with an instant understanding of how to operate at a BCS caliber practice.
Practice is a learned behavior. It is a cultural belief passed down through current players, coaches and the support staff.
This is Richt’s eleventh season in Athens. Those lettermen on that roster know what is and is not an acceptable approach to practice. If they don’t know, that’s on the coach. That’s not to say that kids, with school and girls and life in general, are going to be up, hooting and hollering everyday but practice is work. They go out there everyday with a job to do, goals to accomplish and regardless of how life outside of football is going that job and those goals must be pushed towards everyday.
Which brings us to “THUD” tempo and the Dawgs practice having “reduced in its intesity” because “we’ve not learned how to practice on that tempo” from Richt.
Outside of a playbook, time management and juggling responsibilities I fully believe that “THUD” tempo is the most difficult thing to grasp for a new college football player. The problem? Georgia doesn’t have a team full of “new college football players” out there practicing. This ties right into the practice points; if your team doesn’t get how thud tempo operates then they either have refused to learn, have learned and ignored, haven’t been taught or have been allowed to do the total opposite of what is expected.
See how that works?
You don’t decrease intensity for thud tempo. You don’t decrease speed. You don’t decrease explosion or leg drive or contact. The only thing that should change when a coach designates a period as “thud” is no one goes to the ground. No cut blocking, no tackling to the ground and no diving at legs. Period. That’s all. Linemen still fire off the ball. Linebackers still smack running backs in the hole. Wide receiversstill get off jams and defensive backs still fight for the football.
It is not tagging off on hips. It is not slowing down to contact. Thud tempo is football without bodies on the ground. If a player is in year two, three, four or five and doesn’t know how to do that there is something broken in the system.
Now look, I’m rooting for Mark Richt this weekend, I’ve liked the guy since his days at Florida State and Georgia is a program that raises the level of play in the SEC, East specifically, when they are firing on all cylinders. Richt isn’t his SEC peers; his presser wasn’t flip as we’ve seen out of Steve Spurrier in times he doesn’t have an answer for his guys and it wasn’t dismissive or combatitive as we’ve seen out of Nick Saban. That said it was telling, at least from the standpoint that what we saw on gameday against Boise State isn’t a new issue. You practice like you play and if their lacking intensity and going through the motions what you get is a listless performance on Saturdays.
Let’s hope, for the players, coach and Dawg fans sake something changes quickly.
(h/t to Russ Mitchell for kicking this audio to me)
