Notebook: New Scheme Creates Plenty of Questions

Abry Jones admits it has been a popular topic of conversation among Georgia’s defensive linemen and linebackers. As the Bulldogs prepare to switch schemes to a 3-4 defense, no one is quite sure where they’ll end up or what their role will be, which makes for an interesting, if somewhat anxious, guessing game among the holdovers.

“It’s pretty much just talking about where we could play,” Jones said. “But mostly we’re just waiting to see.”

Jones played exclusively at defensive tackle last year but said he’s prepared to play defensive end in new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s 3-4 scheme that features just three down linemen.

Other players could find themselves on the move, too. Some of Georgia’s defensive ends from a year ago could make the move to linebacker, while the Bulldogs are still in search of a player to fill the void at nose tackle.

While the process has made for a confusing few days for players still unsure of what lies ahead, senior Demarcus Dobbs said the change in scheme could create some new opportunities, particularly for some underutilized reserves like Cornelius Washington and Kiante Tripp.

“Cornelius being the athlete he is, he’s excited he could be a stand-up guy and play outside (linebacker),” Dobbs said. “But it’s all where your heart is. Those are talented guys, and with the coaching change, everybody’s on a clean slate. People are out to compete again, and that’s going to make everybody else better. A guy like Cornelius, an undersized D end, he might get a lot better. It gives us options.”

Options are nice. Answers might be a bit better for Georgia’s defenders.

But that will come in time as Grantham and his new staff get settled – their first team meeting is slated for Friday – and begin to implement their scheme during spring practice.

What isn’t a concern, Jones said, is the Bulldogs’ ability to adapt. While few players are certain of what’s in store for the 2010 season, he’s sure there is enough athleticism and talent on the roster to navigate any early turmoil.

“At Georgia, we have a lot of athletic players, so I’m pretty sure we’re all going to be able to adjust,” Jones said. “The athletic ability is still going to be there. It’s just catching up to learning the scheme as well as we knew the last scheme.”

AN EARLY START

Two of Georgia’s rookies for 2010 are already getting started in their preparations for the coming season.

Offensive lineman Kolton Houston and safety Jakar Hamilton, a junior college transfer from Georgia Military College, enrolled early and have spent the past two weeks in school, getting accustomed to classes while hitting the weight room and working out with teammates.

“I just wanted to get an edge on some of the other players and get stronger and faster and learn the playbook, so when they get in here, I already know all that stuff,” Houston said. “Just adjust to the college life without all the practice stress in the summer and fall.”

The adjustment to college isn’t quite as big a transition for Hamilton, who spent two years studying for the role under the strict rules at GMC and head football coach Bert Williams.
So when his new teammates warned him about the big obstacles ahead, he hasn’t gotten particularly stressed about meeting the challenge.

“Coach Williams is a great coach, and I know he pushes everybody there that plays football hard,” Hamilton said. “Everybody kept talking about mat drills. We did mat drills there, too, but it was like 5:30 in the morning outside in the cold.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean Hamilton sees his new life at Georgia as a walk in the park. Quite the opposite, actually.

“It’s been pretty busy lately,” Hamilton said. “Everybody’s been trying to call me and I tell them, ‘I’m pretty busy right now so I’m going to have to hit you up later.’”

GETTING TOUGH

Grantham’s introductory news conference last week met with a fond reaction from fans who drooled at his promises of an aggressive, attacking defense. Those promises weren’t lost on his players either.

“You want to have that mentality as a player and when you hear that, it gets you excited,” cornerback Brandon Boykin said. “I remember last year in spring football, we were real aggressive. So if we can bring that same excitement, I think it’ll be able to carry over to next season.”

As aggressive as Georgia may have been last spring, the evidence didn’t show up on the field in the fall. The Bulldogs ranked second-to-last nationally with just 12 takeaways all season and in their five losses mustered just two interceptions and didn’t recover a single fumble.

That’s an issue Grantham and new secondary coach Scott Lakatos hope to address immediately.

"I think those takeaways come basically with guys being in position to make those plays when they come about,” Lakatos said. “I think you put yourself in position by being fundamentally sound and that's one of the things I bring to the table with those guys on the back end. … That's something we'll definitely emphasize and practice and hopefully it will carry over into a game situation."

Grantham said his hope was to create a defense that left the opponents glad to see a game end, and that’s music to the ears of Georgia’s defenders, including newcomer Hamilton.

“On defense, you’ve got to be aggressive,” Hamilton said. “I’m one of those players who just doesn’t care. I’ll throw my whole body even if I have to break something to do it. If I have to catch a concussion, I’ll do it. And having (Grantham) coming in, I’m real excited to see what he’s bringing to the table.”

NEW LOOK FOR DBs

A year ago, Boykin was trying desperately to soak up all the knowledge he could as the lone newcomer in Georgia’s secondary.

As the Bulldogs begin their offseason workouts in preparation for spring practice, Boykin now finds himself as the lone holdover from last year’s unit.

“It’s a quick change,” Boykin said. “I’m trying to take over that leadership role like they did, but it’s going to be fun. A lot of us are going to be young out there -- me, (Bacarri) Rambo, Branden Smith. It’s going to be a challenge for us, but I think we’re up to it.”

Seniors Prince Miller and Bryan Evans and junior Reshad Jones are all gone – Jones leaving a year early to enter the NFL draft – meaning a big shakeup among the defensive backs. Smith and Rambo are likely to land two of the open spots, and Hamilton, a junior college transfer, is hoping to secure the free safety job as an early enrollee.

“I knew nobody was going to give me a starting position,” Hamilton said. “I knew I was going to have to come in and work hard and earn that starting position, and that’s what I’m doing now.”

Veterans Vance Cuff and Quintin Banks figure to be in the mix for starting jobs along with youngsters Sanders Commings, Jordan Love, Shawn Williams and Makiri Pugh and incoming freshman Alec Ogletree.

Grantham has promised that the depth chart starts fresh upon his arrival, and no jobs are secure. So while Boykin remains the lone holdover among Georgia’s starting defensive backs, he’s also one of the biggest proponents of the newfound competition at the position.

“I think it’s an opportunity for people who didn’t really play a lot last year to have a fresh new start and for the people who played last year not to get complacent,” Boykin said. “I think it’ll definitely help us as a team.”

THE PRO PERSPECTIVE

Beyond Grantham’s hard-nosed approach to defense, he brings another big plus for Georgia’s defenders: A road map to the NFL.

Grantham has spent the past 11 years coaching in the NFL, including his last stop with the Dallas Cowboys as a defensive line coach. Those are credentials that look awfully impressive to Georgia’s players hoping to turn their performance in Athens into a professional contract in the coming years.

“It’s exciting knowing that he came from the NFL so he can give us tips and tools to get us where we want to go,” Jones said. “He’s a person who’s been there before and he knows how it’s done.”

Even for seniors like Dobbs, who might otherwise have some concerns about adjusting to a new defense in his final year at Georgia, Grantham’s resume offers a measure of enthusiasm about the lessons that can be learned from a former NFL defensive coordinator.

“Being my senior year, you want somebody to steer you right,” Dobbs said. “With all his experience, you know he has a lot to share with all of us, and I’m just trying to learn as much as I can. It’s good to have somebody like him come in, and I think it’s going to work out for the better.”

Notebook: Players Eagerly Await Coaches' Arrival

When he first heard the news that Scott Lakatos had been hired as Georgia’s new secondary coach, cornerback Brandon Boykin did a quick image search on the Internet, just to find out what his new coach looked like. Beyond that, however, Lakatos remains a mystery.

The same is true of new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, who like Lakatos has yet to meet any of his new players, despite extensive anticipation on the part of the current crop of Bulldogs.

“The anticipation comes and goes, but I’m ready for the coaches to be here, and ready for everybody to settle down and get rolling,” defensive end Demarcus Dobbs said. “I’m ready to know what position I’m going to be in, what position I need to play, so I can try to be the best at that and learn as much as I can.”

Dobbs’ eagerness is understandable. With a brand new set of coaches and a brand new defensive scheme, the 2010 season could look a good bit different from the 2009 version of the Georgia defense, and like the rest of his teammates, he’s anxious to learn how he’ll fit into the big picture.

While Dobbs is a senior wondering what his final year has in store, freshman Jakar Hamilton arrived on campus just two weeks ago without even knowing who his first college coach would be.

“It was difficult but I knew Coach Mark Richt was going to get the job done,” Hamilton said. “Fortunately we got (Grantham) from the Cowboys who has been in the league for 11 years, and I’m just excited and ready to meet him.”

Georgia has a team meeting scheduled for Friday, which is likely to be the first time most of the players meet their new coaches in person. With recruiting season coming to an end and Georgia’s staff playing catch up, time has been limited for the coaching staff as a whole, and Grantham just wrapped up his NFL season with the Dallas Cowboys last weekend.

So while it will no doubt be a busy few weeks before offseason conditioning shifts into high gear in early February, the excitement and the jitters are both evident, defensive tackle Abry Jones said.

“It’s a little bit excitement and nerves,” Jones said. “It’s exciting that we finally got a new coach and a new scheme but we’re also nervous because we’ve never run it before, so it’ll be like a first time.

ON THE MOVE?

Grantham brings with him a brand new scheme on defense, and many of Georgia’s players are still a bit up in the air about where they’ll fit into the 3-4 defense.

One player who is a bit more excited than concerned, however, is Jones, the former Northside star, who thinks the changeover in scheme could mean a move to a position he played extensively in high school.

“I could play defensive end because I played in high school,” Jones said. “It wouldn’t be much of a jump.”

Jones said he hasn’t heard any indication of how the depth chart will shake out in Grantham’s new 3-4 look, but he said if it’s up to him, defensive end would be his preference.

Either way, Jones said his role will change a bit in 2010 with an increased responsibility in stopping the run with just three down linemen. Still, it will be a new experience for the sophomore.

“I played in high school in a three down linemen type of scheme, but never in a real 3-4,” Jones said. “Seeing that I came in as a freshman and had to learn one new defense, the only bear would be learning a whole other defense. Other than that I don’t see a problem with it.”

A NEW ATTITUDE

After two arrests and an indefinite suspension in early December, the future looked bleak for rising sophomore defensive end Montez Robinson. But Georgia announced last week that Robinson had been reinstated – save a two-game suspension to open the 2010 season – and Dobbs said the time away has worked wonders for Robinson’s outlook.

“You can just tell the guy has a total change of attitude,” Dobbs said. “I don’t know if it was him going home for the bowl game and talking to his family or whatever it was, he has a great attitude.”

Robinson played sparingly last season but was named to the SEC’s All-Freshman team at year’s end. He was arrested on multiple charges last month, however, and was immediately suspended from the team.

Since his return, however, Dobbs said Robinson has worked hard and shown a far more outgoing personality.

“He’s happy. He’s upbeat. Before he was never like that,” Dobbs said. “He was just kind of a mellow guy, walking around finding his way. But now you can tell there’s a complete difference in him, and I’m excited to see what he can do this season.”

ON THE MEND

Three Georgia players underwent offseason surgeries last week and will be limited during the spring.

Offensive lineman Justin Anderson and fullback Fred Munzenmaier both had shoulder surgery and will be limited during spring practice. Defensive end Jeremy Longo had surgery on his knee. He will miss all of spring practice.

All three are expected to be fully recovered by the start of fall practice in August.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“There was actually no other open rooms. It was him or like two baseball players and a tennis player. So I was like, I’ll just live with A.J.” – Georgia early enrollee Kolton Houston on how he ended up roommates with offensive lineman A.J. Harmon.