J.J. Green's (15) move to defense could be big for Georgia. (Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports)
The Georgia team must feel like it owes their fans something for the 2013 season.
The Bulldogs went into the season with plenty of talent, an experienced quarterback and high expectations. But then 2013 happened; or to be more specific, the great injury plague of 2013 hit. One by one key players Georgia coach Mark Richt was counting on went down and didn’t get up.
There’s no need to revisit the injury list, it is sufficient just to say the injuries crippled Georgia’s hopes for a either a division, conference or national championship.
Georgia still finished with a respectable 8-5 record. But a 24-19 loss to Nebraska in the Gator Bowl, which was Georgia’s 17th straight bowl appearance, put a damper on the end of the season considering four of the Bulldogs five losses were by five points or less. So to make sure 2014 will not be a repeat of 2013, Richt reshuffled his defensive coaching staff, most notably bringing in Jeremy Pruitt from FSU to coordinate the defense.
“Obviously he’s a winner at the high school level and collegiate level,” said Richt of Pruitt. “He’s been involved with championship type teams. He’s a good teacher. He loves coaching ball and he knows how to handle people and help them grow. He fits the mold we were looking for. We’re very happy to have Jeremy.
“We had a lot to learn, especially defensively with a new staff, but I think the guys are getting there. There’s a ways to go and a lot to get done offseason on both of the ball.”
Richt reshuffled some players to bolster the defense. One of the biggest moves involved moving running back J. J. Green to defense, where he won the Coffee County Hustle Award for his work during spring football.
“The thing that J.J. has brought is a mental and physical toughness; a guy that came to the defensive side of the ball at a good time when everybody was learning from their defensive coaches,” said Richt. “There are some things that he’s got to improve on. Everybody had their exit meetings with their coaches and had a chance to talk about things to improve on but he certainly did well for himself over there.
“Most everybody thinks about the big guys up front that stand guys up and stays on them long enough to allow the linebackers to come up and make the tackle. We think our linebackers are going to play well.
Richt was happy with the SEC’s decision to stay with eight conference games and he doesn’t have to worry about scheduling a team from another power conference in the future because the Bulldogs face Georgia Tech from the ACC every year.
He believes the move toward giving the five power conferences—the SEC, ACC, Pac-12, Big Ten and Big 12—more control over their programs is a good thing.
“I think there are things that make sense for us, those five conferences. It might not make sense for the rest of the NCAA body and college football,” Richt said. “It will allow everyone to sit down—FBS and FCS—and make some decisions that are in the best interest of our student athletes and makes sense for everybody.
“With the new format we pretty much meet the criteria the league has set in regard to the five power conferences. I’m sure down the road there will be some other games. You have to be careful how we do it. You don’t want to have too many seasons where you don’t have six home games. I haven’t even looked at it but you could have some seasons where you don’t have six home games. I think you should have six home games maybe even seven or eight. I just think we have to be careful about it.”
But those concerns are down the road for Richt. Currently, his main concern is the Bulldogs — and the biggest concern for this year’s team, which has a lot of talent, is just to stay healthy.
