Head Coach Mark Richt
Opening Statement…
“South Carolina is 1-0. They are really an outstanding
football team. As I look at this game I’m seeing two defenses that played
pretty darn good and two offenses that are trying to find their way. More than
likely the special teams will be the deciding factor in this one. As we know,
it’s a team that we have always had great battles with and very, very close
games. We have won six of the last eight and just about every time we play, the
score is within a touchdown. Rarely has anybody scored more than 20 points on either side.
The way it’s shaping up, it looks like another one of those, quite frankly.
We’ll play it with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. I know it will be exciting
to be home for our players. We are looking forward to our Dog Walk and getting
the guys excited about the game. The night atmosphere certainly adds to the
atmosphere. It’s the first Southeastern Conference game. The SEC has begun and
we are looking to go 1-0.”
On Coach Mike Bobo taking some of the blame after the Oklahoma State
game…
“That’s what leaders do usually. If their unit doesn’t do
well, they aren’t going to blame someone else for it. I admire that about Mike
(Bobo). I think as we watched the film, not to say we
couldn’t have called this or called that possibly, it always comes down to the
execution of the play. We didn’t call any plays that we didn’t practice. We
didn’t call any plays that didn’t have a chance. For one reason or another, we
didn’t execute as well. I say that, but that first drive, quite frankly, should
have been about a five-play drive if we were really executing extremely well.
We have to stay versatile. We have to mix things up. We can’t just sit there
and say we are going to grind it out with everybody that we play. We have to
have a good mix of run and pass. I think we ran it 30 times and threw it 30
times, so it’s not like we weren’t mixing it up. I think it was an execution
issue probably more than anything else.”
On the perception of
the program being 0-1…
“I’m not worried about perception. I’m worried about winning
right now. We played a top-10 team and lost. That’s what happened. We’re
playing game two and we’re focused on what it takes to win the next game. We’re
not focused on what people say about us. You just can’t do that; it’s
counterproductive. We’re much more concerned about studying film, getting a
plan, implementing the plan and practicing it to the point where our players
understand it well and can play full speed and get after it.”
On Marlon Brown and Rantavious Wooten not playing at Oklahoma State and whether
he expects them to play on Saturday…
“I do. The game (last Saturday) was tight. You have a young
guy in there that you don’t feel like understands it as well as a veteran guy.
You kind of look at your veterans and see if they have enough juice in them to
keep going. We decided not to play
those guys, but we cannot go the season with just four receivers; there is no
way, so we have to play those guys. I told the freshman that you have to make
sure in practice that you are sharp. The sharper you are in practice,
that breeds confidence in your coach to give you opportunities. We know
we need to play them, but they also need to continue to get to the point where
they are studying and practicing to where it gives them confidence and the
staff confidence.”
On whether there is
any added urgency being 0-1…
“Bottom line is we aren’t worried about that. We’re worried
about preparing for the game and focusing on what truly will help us win. Like
I said a second ago, focusing on those things doesn’t do you any good. What
does you good is preparation.”
On how Joe Cox has
handled the loss…
“He’s been good. He’s a pretty tough kid mentally. One of
our other coaches or media saw Joe in the locker room afterwards going around
the room talking to just about every one of them, talking to them and
encouraging them for the future. That’s the good thing about Joe.”
On Logan Gray…
“He can run our system. We had planned to get him in the game
mostly in the red zone area, and we did get him in there one time during the
first drive of the game. Unfortunately we didn’t get in the red zone very
often, so we didn’t use him. Right now Joe is definitely the No. 1 guy and
we’ll see if and when Logan will get in there.”
On whether Georgia
will use Logan Gray in the red zone…
“That’s what we had planned last week. I’m not saying for
sure what we have planned this week. That was the plan last week.”
On whether Joe Cox’s
performance was influenced by the flu…
“I don’t know. He wasn’t going to tell us. The only thing we
could do to gauge it was stick a thermometer in his mouth. I can’t say he felt
great. When you come off the flu, you don’t feel great but he felt good enough
to play and perform. I hope that he’s 100 percent when we get going for this
ballgame and doesn’t have anything that can keep him from a peek performance. I
saw nothing and Joe certainly never said anything like he was feeling
miserable.”
On Caleb King…
“I don’t think there’s much doubt that we would play him and
get him going. He may get hot. We do plan on him playing in the game. We do
plan on him practicing today. We have to monitor his reps. Any kind of pulled
muscles; they’ll feel healthy enough to practice or maybe even go full speed,
but if you go full speed too many times in a row and you begin to fatigue, then
you are susceptible to having it pulled again. We just have to keep a good eye
on him, and he has to be willing to communicate what’s going on too. We do plan
on playing him. How much will depend on this week’s practice and probably also
will have to do with what he does when he gets his opportunities.”
On the flu…
“If a guy is going to get infected with it from a teammate,
it usually manifests itself pretty quickly, so we feel that we are out of that
situation. Our guys are all over campus and who knows who might be getting
something on campus. I don’t think anybody is out of the woods. Across the
country it could spring up at any time. Ron Courson
has done a great job of monitoring it and doing the due diligence to try to
prevent it. Joe had symptoms; we didn’t get him around the team until he was
past the point where he could get somebody sick. Part of the reason he didn’t
practice was because he didn’t feel good. The other part is because we didn’t
want him among the group. Obviously he felt good enough to travel, but we
didn’t travel him with the team because we didn’t want to take a chance of
getting everybody on the plane sick.”
On Georgia’s kickoffs
and Oklahoma’s State’s long kick return…
“The fans want the long kick, but the longest kick had the longest
return. The kicks that were a little shorter had the better hangtime
and ball placement, and we covered those better. I wouldn’t say that because we
kicked it deeper that was the cause. We had a young man who should have
contained and forced him inside to where our coverage teams were. We didn’t do
a good job of that. Our second wave didn’t get in position to corral him. There
was some great hustle at the end to keep him from going the distance. The guys
that were designed to be safeties did their job, so it didn’t become a
touchdown at that point. Ultimately that ensuing drive was a touchdown on a
short field. We just can’t have it.”
On Brandon Wheeling…
“Brandon is a guy that transferred to us from West Georgia.
He couldn’t play last year. He was kind of hoping he could get some type of
waiver to play last year. He was a walk-on and he was a scout-teamer. We really
liked what we saw from him and we thought he could help us even last year. We would have used him last year if he was eligible to play. He got eligible this year and we saw
enough from him where we feel like he deserved an opportunity to get a
scholarship, so we put him on aid, we traveled him and we played him. That’s
pretty good for a kid who is competing with three senior D-linemen and a couple
of young guys who are coming on strong. I thought he did a nice job.”
On Vince Vance…
“He played fine and yes, we plan on him being our left
tackle going into the game. We are anxiously awaiting Josh Davis’ return. Josh
will practice, but it’s not likely that he will play in this game. When I say
practice, he will phase into scout team work and he
will start to do some work without a lot of bodies around him to gauge his
progress. We’re hopeful that he could play real soon. That will help us.”
On night games…
“For whatever reason when you get under the lights there is
a little more excitement. This time of the year, during the day it’s usually
hotter. It may be 20 or 25 degrees
hotter when you add the heat index for a 3:00 kickoff or a 7:00 kickoff. I
think there is a huge difference and the guys usually
respond a little bit to what the weather is like. The cooler it is the easier
it is to not only be excited about playing, but maintain that enthusiasm, speed
and quickness. There is a lot less chance of a guy dehydrating and a lot less
chance of a guy camping up. And I think the fans, when they have a little bit
of time to get worked up, tend to be more excited by the time kickoff rolls
around at 7 (pm).”
On whether he would
like to change the SEC schedule of opening league play with South Carolina…
“I don’t even know what it would take to do that or what
kind of problems would arise from it. A lot of times we are all creatures of
habit and no one really likes change much. If you have a systematic way of
scheduling teams and everybody kind of gets settled into it, the first time you
change I’m sure everybody would throw a fit about it, so I’m fine with the way
it is right now.”
On Georgia’s intensity
level…
“We definitely need a strong intensity level. I don’t know
if we weren’t intense as much as we didn’t play with the speed and we didn’t
finish blocks like we should. By no means were we horrible; we were close, but
we just need that extra effort on each play to block a little bit longer, or
where if you block a little bit better you are going
to create a little more space. That little space can mean all the difference in
the world between a guy getting tripped up and a guy going to the house. I
don’t want to cause any panic or anything; it’ not that at all, but we want to
see a little more fire come out of there. I think they played with good effort,
but I think they could give greater effort. By no means did they play with no intensity. They played pretty hard, but they need to play
harder.”
On Steve Spurrier…
“I have a lot of respect for coach Spurrier.
I’ve always admired his work. I haven’t always liked playing against him and
losing a game against him from time to time whether it was at Florida State or
here at Georgia. I’ve learned a lot from him just by watching his film. I think
he’s always shot people straight. They may not like it all the time, but I
think he’s been a guy that tried his very best to play within the rules, which
I respect. He’s a heck of a football coach.”
On Casey Nickels…
“Casey has been with us two or three years now and kind of
started out as a tight end or a D-end. He grew enough to play some offensive
line for us. Part of it was because we didn’t have enough bodies in the spring.
He got thrown in there and all of a sudden decided that he had a better chance
there. He is a senior. He is going to graduate. He is a guy that could play
another year if he chooses to. He may change his mind. We wanted to reward him
for what he had done, and we had one to give. I don’t like to sit on a
scholarship where I can help somebody.”
On the importance of
walk-ons…
“It’s crucial. The best thing I could say about those guys
is at the end of their careers when they are looking at their jobs, and
potential employers call about guys, they are so easy to recommend, because you
say, ‘This guy is a team player. He put the team first. He will sacrifice any
personal glory for everyone else. He’ll work hard without the great reward. He
is paying his own way to go through this pain and misery.’ Those guys are just
so great because they have that true spirit of Georgia and the true spirit of
what intercollegiate athletics is all about. They are awesome.”
On Georgia’ receivers…
“The didn’t get a lot of opportunities. We must be
diversified in that. We must spread the ball around and give guys opportunities
to make plays. Sometimes a guy is not a playmaker in people’s minds because he
hasn’t had a chance to make a play. We have to get them in there and give them
opportunities. As the season goes on they will. We have to just throw it out
there and see what they can do. We have to spread it out. We can’t just hone in
on one or two guys and say they are going to make every play for the entire
season. We’re not going to have success if we do that.”
Joe Cox
On how he is feeling this week after battling flu like
symptoms last week…
“I feel a lot better. I’m glad it’s gone.”
On how big this week’s
game against South Carolina is for the perception of the Georgia football
program…
“It’s big. Everybody wants to see how we are going to
rebound. This is the start of conference play, and we have to play well. I
think everybody knows that and is ready to do that.”
On how important it is
to get more players involved in the offense this week…
“It’s real important. That definitely puts a lot of stress
on any defense. We’ve got plenty of guys who can do it, but we have to it
consistently.
Shaun Chapas
On putting together a
game plan for this weekend against South Carolina…
“Starting with today we really just got to stay focused and
get into the game plan. We need to really focus on the little things all week,
and hopefully we can put it all together on Saturday and capitalize by putting
on a good performance.
A.J. Green:
On how special playing
South Carolina is for him personally being a native of the state…
“It’s very special, but after losing our game last week I
just want a victory to get this feeling out of my stomach and get a victory
under my belt.”
Charles White
“This Saturday is going to be a big day. It is our first
home game, first SEC game, and our first step towards the SEC Championship,
which is one of our goals each year.
South Carolina is a great team and it’s going to take our best effort to
get the job done. We have to continue to get better everyday and do more in the
film room, on the practice field and just continue to improve and everything
else will take care of itself.”
Rod Battle
“We are ready to play at home. There is nothing like playing
under the lights in Sanford Stadium and we can’t wait. It’s going to be tough this week going
against another great defense. It is going to be very important that we create turnovers.
Last week we had our opportunities, but we didn’t capitalize on them. That’s
one thing going into this week that we would love to improve on.”
Bryan Evans
“We want to come out and keep our fan support. On defense we
need to get more turnovers. Last week, we had no turnovers and I think that was
a big difference in our game. This week we are coming out prepared to get some
turnovers for our offense.”
Rennie Curran
On the South Carolina
game being televised…
“Any time the game is on TV, you know you are representing
your school, millions of people are watching and it is just going to add to the
intensity to the game. You have
Bulldog fans watching and soldiers around the world, it makes it that much more
important. “
On the defensive
performance last week…
“We could have done a lot better on turnovers and put some
points on the board. We fought hard and played a full four quarters. It was a
learning experience. It was a good day for the defense, but we have a long way
to go. We definitely took a step in the right direction.”