Dealing with the Middle Men

John Jancek finds himself in a good situation. As the linebackers coach, there are 4 linebackers with starting experience, 2 more that has played a lot and 4 freshman that are itching to get their chance. He has been coaching for almost 15 years and prior to coming to Georgia has worked with Willie Martinez and Brian VanGorder. Now working with Coach Martinez again he is ready for something big.

Dave McMahon -- How has practice been going?

John Jancek -- It has been good. We are getting a lot accomplished. We are a little banged up right now, but we have been playing good.

DM -- Which players are banged up?

JJ -- Brandon Miller and Darius Dewberry are a little banged up, but they should be fine.

DM -- Anyone look really good in Friday's scrimmage?

JJ -- It is hard to say. I will have to watch the films more, but I liked the 1st group a lot. The 2nd group has a longer way to go, but some of them are true freshmen, so that is natural.

DM -- The linebacker group returns a lot of experienced talent, that has to make coaching a little easier...

JJ -- Players like Danny (Verdun-Wheeler), Jarvis (Jackson), Tony (Taylor)and Brandon (Miller) have all got starting experience so that is great. Also Marcus Washington played a lot last year as a true freshman.

DM -- A lot of the linebackers are cross training and playing several different linebacker positions... why all the cross-training?

JJ -- It helps us with depth. You never know what is going to happen and with the players having the ability to play other positions it will help the team.

DM -- Which players have the ability to crosstrain?

JJ -- Danny can do it, so can Tony and Jarvis. Brandon is pretty close.

DM -- Tell me about the four freshmen...

JJ -- They all run extremely well. They are picking up things really quick especially since it has been just 2 weeks. I am very pleased with them.

DM -- Any of them have a chance to play this year?

JJ -- We haven't made any decisions on that.

DM -- Georgia has had a lot of great linebackers in recent years, does that help out motivate the current linebackers?

JJ -- A lot of those linebackers come back here. Players like Will Witherspoon, Tony Gilbert and a few others come back here a lot. The players love seeing them.

DM -- Thank you for your time and answers.