Depth Chart Quotes from Richt

Quotes from the Mark Richt depth-chart teleconference...

On the QB depth chart...
“It’s where we see our young men right now, the last day of spring ball. We see Murray ahead of Logan right now, but by no means does that guarantee a starting position in the first ballgame.”

On evaluation of Murray this spring...
“On a consistent basis, he performed better than Logan at this point. That’s really all there is to it. It’s the usual things – accuracy, decision making, those types of things.”

On Murray vs. Mettenberger...
“I’m not out to hurt anybody worse than they might have been hurt to this point, but Aaron would have been the No. 1 quarterback.”

On the separation between Murray and Gray...
“If I thought it was enough to just flat-out name a starter right now, I would do that. But at this point, we’re not ready to do that. But we feel like (Murray) is definitely the No. 1 guy at this point, and we’ll see what happens by the time we start the first game.”

On developing Hutson Mason...
“There’s no question there will be a greater sense of urgency in the quarterback room to get him prepared, but I think he’s got a sense of urgency anyway, because I know the kind of young man he is. Any time one guy gets one step closer on the depth chart, it’s going to change the amount of reps he would have gotten, and that’s going to prepare him more quickly than it would have with another quarterback in the mix.”

On Logan's improvements since last year...
“The main thing is he’s much more comfortable in my opinion about knowing what to do and how to do it. The more you understand about quarterback and the more you can throw a ball on time to the right guy, the more accurate you become no matter what your arm strength is or your footwork is or whatever. If you know who to go to and you’re going to him with the right rhythm in your footwork, you’re going to hit your target more often. He’s improving a lot in that area. As far as another position goes, the bottom line for Logan is I want him to be in the best position to help Georgia win, and whether that’s No. 2 quarterback or getting some reps at receiver or something, that remains to be seen. But we just want to get him in the best position to help Georgia.”

On Murray's G-Day performance...
“When you have a spring game you’re spreading receivers some on one team, some on the other, you’re working with the 1s, then you’re working with the 2s. So to get your rhythm and your timing in the spring is a little bit tougher than if you know you’re going with the No. 1 group day after day all throughout the summer, too. That’ll help. But a lot of the throws were not very high percentage throws. There were a lot of deep balls that were thrown. He actually hit a much higher percentage of the deep balls in the other scrimmages and other practices than he did that day. But he must hit a higher percentage of deep balls than he hit in that game. But the other passes that were not so much throwing a bomb, I thought he did pretty good. The only thing I didn’t like was when the pressure got pushed into his face and he was trying to make a play and he threw the interception, that was the only one that was disappointing to me. But that’s part of the learning process is to understand that when a situation is bad, let’s not make it worse, and I don’t think there’s any question that’s helping him learn.”

On how comfortable he is with depth at QB now...
“If we don’t get hurt, I feel fine. If we don’t have injuries. If you have injuries, it could be tough, it could be very tough. Especially if you get the top two guys get hurt. I’m not saying anything bad about Hutson, but you know how difficult it is for a true freshman just to be able to function and not make mistakes. I mean, (Matthew) Stafford was the first pick in the draft, and he had his rough times as a true freshman. What you saw Stafford go through is the natural progression of a quarterback, and a lot of times you’d rather that happen in scrimmages and practice rather than in a game that counts.”

On Murray's ability to lead this offseason...
“I think he’s very equipped. He’s had the luxury or the benefit of playing at Tampa Plant. He played on a state championship team. He played on a team that knew how to win and knew what it takes as far as camaraderie and unity. He knows what that feels like. When we were recruiting him, there was a certain night of the week where all the guys would get together and watch film on their own. He’s been through that before, and I think if our team will respond to him regardless of his age, I think it will go very well because he knows what it looks like, he knows what it feels like, and he’s very eager to do that, along with Logan’s leadership also.”

On opportunities for incoming freshmen...
“I don’t think there’s any doubt there’s going to be opportunities for freshmen to come in and play and maybe even win a job somewhere along the way. I can’t predict where because you just don’t know. We had nine scholarship receivers ahead of A.J. Green. We didn’t have a depth issue, but the guy came and performed and pushed his way into the starting lineup. I think there’s going to be an opportunity for anybody who wants to play better than the rest to get in there. Some spots it looks like there’s more opportunity than others as far as the lack of depth at certain spots. I think Justin Anderson will plug in at the nose. (Jeremy) Longo will plug in at one of those end spots to give you a little more depth. At Will and Sam, you can see we don’t have a tremendous amount of depth, especially at the Will position. So some of those outside linebackers will probably start out a little bit higher than some others depending on the depth, but the bottom line is, if they’re good enough, they’ll move up.”

On Vance Cuff...
“I thought Vance might have been the most improved guy on the football team this spring. He just seemed like every day he was making plays and gaining confidence, and he just did a really nice job.”

On Christian Robinson...
“He’s a young man who really probably would have played as a true freshman, and then he broke his arm and it set him back. He played some last year … but he’s really come on. He’s learned it quickly, and he’s a guy that we can count on. We know what we’re getting with him as far as how he handles things on and off the field. We know he’s very diligent and he’ll get bigger, stronger and smarter when it comes to what we’re going to do defensively.”

On increased toughness on discipline issues following Mettenberger/Dittmer dismissals...
“Getting kicked off the team is a form of discipline. I want to do what’s best for the football team, and I want to do what’s best for the young men, too. Sometimes, if the young man loses his opportunity to play for your team, hopefully a lesson will be learned by him and everybody else who’s watching.”

Note: Due to the scheduling conflict between the depth chart release and the Bulldog Club meeting tonight, I was not able to make it to Columbus. My apologies.