I feel like I've probably written a bit too much about the Bulldogs' improved attitude this offseason, but hey, whan you've got to find 8 months worth of stories without a game being played, you've got to come up with material from somewhere, right?
Anyway, I think the newsworthy stuff from my story in today's Telegraph are the quotes, particularly Mark Richt's mention that this team might have the best leadership of any he has coached. Still, there were plenty of quotes that didn't make it into the story, so I figured I should post them here...
Rennie Curran on the team's attitude...
“It’s been night and day with the morale of the team, the attitude of the guys. Whether it’s running 10 hundreds or whatever, everybody’s just focusing on doing whatever it takes. It’s great to have all the guys buy in and know that when they come to Butts-Mehre, it’s time to work, that they separate the work from the play.”
Curran on what has changed...
“I feel like we have just a lot of hungry guys who are ready to get out there and make things happen. You look at the guys who left and the guys who are replacing them – Brandon Boykin for Asher Allen, Darryl Gamble coming in there for Dannell, Bryan Evans – these are guys who have been waiting to get the opportunity and are just hungry and excited about wearing the ‘G’ and are dedicated. I’m excited. Whenever we step out on the field as a defense, it’s a good feeling knowing I’ve got guys who are as dedicated as I am and want us to win as much as possible.”
Curran on what the coaches did to create more leadership...
“Coaches have always been trying to get us to understand it’s not about how many times they tell us certain things, it’s when we as players take charge and take that leadership to get better. Right now, I think we’re in a position where we realize all those things they’ve been saying, all the things it’s going to take to make us successful.”
Michael Moore on the personality of last year's team...
“We were a team full of stars and I guess they’re trying to say we didn’t handle it the right way. I don’t want to say that, but maybe we should have taken a different approach.”
John Lilly on how Richt tried to shape the personality of this year's team...
“Coach Richt really set the tone early in the offseason, and he would continually remind everyone that the star of this team is going to be the team. You think about a lot of great teams that there have been throughout the last several years and in many cases the teams that won national championships, it was hard to really pinpoint a guy that really stood out or was a do-it-all guy. That’s probably where it started, and he’s tried to make a point of emphasizing that. But then the players have to buy into that with a very unselfish and team-oriented attitude. We’ve got a lot of guys who have won a lot since they’ve been around here. The guys that just got here want to win. I think they know what it’s going to take to get that done.”
Mark Richt on how the team developed new leadership...
“A group of men just decided they wanted to make a difference in leadership, especially our seniors, and there’s just been a very strong buy-in.”
Richt on what the leadership has been like this year vs. others...
“I think we have a lot of strong leaders this year, and Rennie is certainly one of them. I really like what Evans has done. Prince Miller, Reshad, Gamble, Jeffrey, Geno, Rod Battle and of course Rennie. A lot of guys are really making a point to be leaders. It’s outstanding. Rennie is a big part of it, but some years, quite frankly, that leader is outnumbered. It looks like an overwhelming task. But Rennie’s got a bunch of guys like him that are very motivated to do well, do it the Georgia way, do it the way the coach says, and they’re the quality control at practice as much as the coaches are. And that’s what I told the guys, as much as we can be a player-driven team, then the coaches don’t have to spend as much time driving you and can spend time teaching and guiding you. You’d rather be taught and guided than pushed. So if you can find a way to motivate from within, coaches can spend a lot more time teaching.”
Richt on how much of a role the coaches have in developing leaders...
“We have a huge hand in that. It’s our job to cultivate the culture that we’re after, and it’s up to us to recruit the type of players that are going to buy in to the Georgia way. We have to understand that on the front end. Some guys, quite frankly, got it before they got here or had a very strong bent to be a leader. A guy like Rennie, Rennie showed up, loved Georgia, worked hard, was going to do what Coach said from Day 1. With some guys, you have to develop that trust. Some guys need to learn how to work. Some guy need to learn what the Georgia way means. It’s a culmination of that kind of thing, but once you get the culture right, you hope it will continue. This year, maybe more than any year that I can remember, if the young guys watch the old guys and say that’s the way to do it, we’ll continue to have a great culture on this team.”
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