@mcdawg: What about Dantzler, DeBell, Ward, A. Long, H. Long, Gates, Houston, Andrews and Lee...and the potential new comers Theus, Pyke and Brown? Do we have potential to improve with them?

Hey Soga, agree on the D progress, I feel like we are getting back to the BVG days. Although I have some concerns about the way UT was able to convert on long 3rd downs late in the game...maybe a mix of desperation on their part and the feeling of victory on our part. We have some young guys that are really stepping up plus a few holdovers that are playing much better. I can't wait to get Tree and Washington back.

As far as the O goes...it's all about the OL. We still seem to lack effort or strength or something in the 2nd half (except UT game). There has been comments about the lack of play calling once we get ahead but we are still handing the ball to Crowell...so it seems to be something other.

Crowell, Mitchell, Jones, Tree, to name a few...special players!

Walsh's misses for sure are a mystery! I guess he spoiled us and we expect perfection or near it. I'm with you on the 4th and shorts. It's a pet peeve of mine. It shows a complete lack of confidence in our OL and it sends a negative message to the team. Of course when we do go for it we don't block. With a back like Crowell a 4th and 1 should be a no-brainer. If the coaches have that little of confidence in the OL they should work to fix it.

Hey WD, welcome back...
The old gang is scattered...I made it back just in time for the start of the season but had to change my name due to legalities (was Leecodawg).

Maybe things will change when/if we collect a string of W's. An improved OL would help in that area...Maybe some new OT's that can handle the speedy DE's. I keep hoping that Dantzler, Ward, Long and others will step up and take the OT spots and show some speed. Our OT's seem to be better suited for OG's...

The defense of the trick/special teams play has been frustrating at best. Getting beat on a fake punt in sickening…like WV 05. I think a little more focus in that area is in order.

We had a lot of missed opportunities against OM. Something I don’t think we can afford going forward. OM maybe the worst SEC team we play. We will have to improve to make it the rest of the way…UF doesn’t seem to be hurting as bad as we first hoped and UT is getting better as the young players learn. Aub seems to find ways to win when they shouldn’t and you never know against GT.

I’m looking forward to getting the MLB’s off the injured list. The only good thing about it is playing time for some who would not normally get in. Speaking of which…I’m really want to see what Hudson Mason can do. I hope we can get him more playing time.

Crowell and Mitchell are special players. Their play warrants the 5 stars. I’m excited about the future with young men like them.

I’m sorry but I just don’t buy into this idea of…if CMR takes over the OC duties that our problems will be solved. Does anyone think CMR is sitting on the sidelines saying to himself…oh golly Bobo is going to cost me my job if he doesn’t do better? Not…Bobo is a by-product of CMR. I’m sure if CMR didn’t agree with Bobo’s coordinating he would step in and correct it…it is HIS job on the line. CMR commented that the problems/errors in the BST game were ‘fixable’...how? How is he going to make the OL better?...the DL better? We got physically whipped in that game and I’m sure it was a combo of better athletes coupled with smarter play. If our staff knew how to fix the ineptness, why not ‘BEFORE the game…did the staff and players not watch a ton of film on BSU since before spring? Did our staff go into the game with alternate plans if the first didn’t work? Do we have any ability to adjust on the fly?

It is what it is. If the staff had a clue they would have planned a better game. The staff should have recognized the weaknesses and made adjustments. We evidently are fooled into thinking our team is all that by watching them in practice against each other and then when faced with trails do not know how to adjust to get relief.

We had visions in our head of Washington, Jones, Jenkins, Tree, Tyson and others running all over the field crushing the little boys from Idaho. We thought Glenn, Bean and Jones were going to plow straight ahead pushing the BSU DL off the ball while Samuel and Crowell ran amuck. We thought our TE’s were going to run unmolested past slow LB’s while Murray took his time connecting on easy passes. BSU watched film of GA and knew what they needed to do and did it. I fear that SOS is watching the BSU/UGA film and salivating.

Welcome back marine! Your reason for being absent is much better than mine. I actually didn't find the 'football' blog tab until two days ago. I kept searching for my Dawg comrades in the regular news blog.

I too was able to keep up with the Dawgs via the Senator's GTP blog.
Now that I've found where Macs been hiding I'm getting the insightful details that sustains me. If we could have just a few more that are MIA from the old site, we could sing, 'the gangs all here!'

I can understand your feelings not wanting to talk football after last season. It's like discussing lost battles. It's too painful to review. There is much to be optimistic about for this year with the new talent, the improved S&C program and the seemingly new focus by the coaching staff. I believe the Dawgs were much more talented in ability than last year’s 6-7 record. Of course we learned that all the physical ability in the world can’t make up for mental lapses. I hope the improvements we’ve been hearing about equate into many more wins.

Good to have you back.

OH YEAH!! GATA!!!

Three of our foes play tonight...MsSt, UK and GT. It'll be a appetizer before the main meal...

Insightful as always Mac, enjoyed the read. Grantham heaped praise on JJenkins for Tuesday's practice...stating that JJ had his best practice yet. So, IF Garner is up to his usual tricks, maybe Grantham will step in and make suggestions on the rotation. I would really love to see those two NT's push each other all year...nothing like competition to make you better. I picture the two of them on goal line stands...that's 700lbs of plugging weight.

One other issue that has me concerned. There was an early camp report that our tackles Glenn and Anderson were approaching 350lbs. Even if the near 30lbs of added weight is all muscle, I find it hard to believe that some speed wouldn't be lost not to mention flexibility. That kind of weight may be great for run blocking but can they keep up with the smaller speedy DE's in pass protection? I'm envisioning many holding calls. I'm not sure but I think I read somewhere that the running during camp may have trimmed them up a bit. I just remember you always talking about speed and flexibility being so important for the OL.

Also, I read the comments and the article on the ‘wheel route’ incidence at practice…funny, when I read that article you were the very person I thought of. I hope the wheel route is something our O can make effective and our D can stop.

Yep, what a sensitive world we live in. We now need a dictionary of words Not to say so we can be sure to be politically correct. Boy do I miss guys like Lewis Grizzard.

Nike could have 'tricked-up' the unis and come closer to UGA tradition. Some sharp silver britches and the right red would have been nice. People say we look like Power Rangers. ...but tradition is only important to the respective school. I think the BSt Nike Pro unis look awesome.

Thanks for the welcomes. Man it’s good to hear your voices again...err…see your comments I mean.

soga, I’ve checked several other Dawg forums and didn’t see any of the old names…of course some could be using a different aliases these days. And your right…this team seems loaded with strong, fast talent. The coaches and players are saying some of the right things to indicate ‘focus’ so now if we can just put it all together.

Mac, the Senator has indeed been very busy. His ‘blog’ has kept me going all this time I was away...I frequent GTP for insightful comments and links to interesting articles. Maybe his ‘blog’ could be a sneaky way to contact Lady and GCR…I’m sure they’re visiting there.

So for a few comments about our team…you may have already discussed these thoughts but I haven’t researched through the forum so excuse me if it’s all redundant.

I’m tickled pink that Kwame decided not to just step aside and let JJenkins walk in a start. That being said I hope JJ is everything we’ve hoped he would be. Having two dominate NT is just too awesome.

IF, the NT’s can demand double teams, I feel Tyson and Jones can cause OL’s problems…DLott impressed in the spring and seems to be healing from his accident and should be a strong 2nd teamer soon.

I can’t wait to see what Jarvis Jones and ‘Tree’ bring to the LB position…this can’t be anything but good.

The safety position…I wasn’t surprised about Rambo losing the start but I was surprised by the comments from MR that may indicate he lost his spot due to disciplinary reasons. I just figured he lost his spot due to the mental lapses in coverage.

WR, hearing that MBrown finally is stepping up and using his physical talents, gives me visions of the next AJ. Also, this battle for 3rd is exciting…one day I think it will be MBennett and the next MMitchell. Mitchell has a chance to be a special player. Bennett is the next Durham.

We seem set at DB for years to come…we appear to have enough fast talent that in rotating them, there’ll be no drop off from start to finish. Brandon Smith stepping up was a pleasant surprise. I hope the injury is short lived…his comment about still being able to run a 4.3 40 indicates there is no lasting mental effects. I like the idea of these DB’s that give us the talent for some bump-and-run coverage. I like physical in-your-face play from the corners.

Other talent that I wonder when and where they will break into the rotation…DSwann, CSanders, DOwens, JLove, NMarshall…these guys could show up anywhere at anytime…can’t wait.

One more thought…can we get some scooter driving lessons up there???

Well I like KoolAide as much as the next guy but the flavor in Moon's reason just doesn't taste right. I can understand some excitement about Murray returning to fulfill some potential that was evident last year...but stating the the OL is 'very good'. I'm hopeful that the new S&C program will improve our trenches and that Friend's coaching will bring some consistency to the OL but to claim the OL is 'very good' just from off season practice reports...I'll reserve that judgement for real game time evidence...did I mention I was hopeful?