Georgia Bulldogs: Wherefore Art Thou, Jordan Love?

Photo Credit: Richard Hamm

Jordan Love is a redshirt sophomore from Glen Allen, VA.

Coming out of Deep Run High School in 2009, he was thought to be a sleeper candidate for the Bulldogs defense.

One of his most trumpeted attributes was his speed—he was clocked at having run a 4.4 forty—which made him an attractive option for  more than a dozen schools that recruiting year (including Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee).

Recruited by former Georgia defensive coordinator,  Willie Martinez, Love seemed tailor made for the type of scheme Georgia's secondary ran at that time—the soft zone—which was focused on minimizing deep ball plays. However, in truth, such coverage often left the secondary susceptible to getting beat short and mid-range plays made in front of them as they often played 8-10 yards off the line of scrimmage.

Enter Love's speed.

Theoretically, if your corners and safeties have enough speed, they can make up ground quickly, even on the short and mid-range pass plays—making the chance for a big play less and less likely. Even more than that, Love was felt to have the mindset of a safety. He liked to play big, hit big, and punish guys whenever possible.

His three-star ranking at that time didn't seem to truly give you a picture of his possibilities at the next level.

Yet, here we sit two seasons later and all we've seen of Jordan Love is a series of unfortunate events—from an unfortunate injury in his first season to an unfortunate encounter with Athens police in his second (not to mention that whole being stolen from thing)—he hasn't truly had an opportunity to prove that he can do anything aside from being shown the wrong kind of love at Georgia.

On the positive side, though, he hasn't been resting on his laurels this spring and, even though he has yet to prove the value his skill-set would have in the 3-4, you have to be figuring on him having a chance to do so this year—if he can stay healthy. 

I have no expectations for Love beyond being a reserve at this point, but it wouldn't surprise me to see him become the type of player who knows how to make the most of the plays he's given.

Georgia Bulldogs: Richt Makes Staff Change, But Is It Enough?

Coach Richt finally made the step that throngs of Bulldog devotees were hoping he would; he removed Dave Van Halanger from his position as Georgia's Director of Strength and Conditioning.

Okay, great! But why did he then turn around and hire/promote his replacement from within?

Joe Tereshinski, Georgia's newest director, was Van Halangers assistant/video coordinator. He's definitely not the splashy hire that Georgia fans were hoping to see when they called for this change. Many expected to see more time and care taken in selecting a qualified candidate.

The quickness of it all just seems, excuse the license, a bit sloppy and uninspired.

That's why it's not hard to believe this theory offered by Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution—Richt wasn't the impetus behind the decision.  Schultz speculates that the under-whelming nature of the hire could be because it was made at McGarity's insistence.

Richt has stated, on numerous occasions, that McGarity is clear about the direction he feels the football program needs to go if it is to become a force on the national stage. And, it's very possible, that he took one look at the S&C program and suggested maybe Richt should start with letting Van Halanger go.

Richt might have felt pressured to give McGarity what he wanted but, perhaps, wasn't willing to go all-in with the decision once it was made. Hence, he simply promoted Tereshinski.

Even still, setting his friendship with Van Halanger aside, one would think that Richt might be more careful in making such a choice. If nothing else the failure of former defensive coordinator, Willie Martinez, and the struggles of offensive coordinator, Mike Bobo—both in-house hires— should have given him the impetus to say, "maybe I should think outside the box on this one".

The S&C program is the one place where, it was clear, Georgia needed new blood and, no offense, but  Tereshinski doesn't exactly offer the excitement and change that so many were hoping to see.

Either way, it is what it is and, until this season is officially over, none of us will know what the "reorganization" will entail. 

Now, to be fair, Joe Tereshinski could, in the long run, be the solution that we were all waiting to see.

Perhaps he will bring an open-minded approach to the program which will allow him to make the necessary changes that Van Halanger didn't seem as willing to undertake—in which case he should be thought of as a considerable upgrade already.

However, if all Tereshinski manages to do is carry on the outdated traditions of Van Halanger, then, honestly, this whole business is much ado about nothing.

In Todd Grantham, Georgia Hopes To See Some Shades of '76' (VIDEO)

When you mention the name Todd Grantham around a Georgia Bulldog fan these days, you hear a lot about him being the man who will return the Georgia defense to a "GATA" brand of football.

For those of you who aren't aware of exactly what "GATA" means, it's an acronym for "Get After Their A--es" or, the more PG version, "Get After Them Aggressively".

It's a term that was born during the days of Georgia coaching legend, Erk Russell. Russell once roamed the sidelines of Sanford Stadium as the Georgia Bulldogs defensive coordinator. He is considered by many fans to be the symbol of how a defense should be—the father of the "Junkyard Dawg" (JYD).

He was also the man behind the stifling Georgia defense that would eventually win the National Championship in 1980. He is still thought of fondly by many a Georgia Bulldog fan, both old and young, because he was a hard-nosed, take no shorts, kind of coach who expected and often received the very best that his guys had to offer.

In his 17 years as coordinator, Russell coached the defensive unit to 27 shutouts. Georgia's opposition was held to less than 17 points in more than half of the games he coached (135 out of 192) and,  no opponent ever scored more than 28 points on an Erk Russell led defense.

Since his departure, there have been few who could come close to that kind of dominance.

Brian Van Gorder (2001-2004) was great, but his early departure did not set well with many and his replacement, Willie Martinez, didn't pan out.

Enter Todd Grantham.

He's a no-nonsense guy with a nose for defense. It's impossible not to listen to him and feel like you want to go out and hit something as hard as possible. He inspires the very essence of "GATA" already—without having coached a down—and if he ends up being anything close to advertised, Georgia is well on it's way to regaining their SEC respect.

So, with Alabama being the 'King of the Hill' right now, and Georgia being the underdog with, what many feel, little chance in hades of making the SEC Championship game this season, it seemed only fitting to post the video you see below because even the mighty ones have been known to fall.

Here's to a season where, hopefully, Georgia can make that happen...a girl can dream, right?



GATA...indeed.

Willie Martinez Is Gone But Georgia Is Still On His Mind

In a recent interview with the Chattanooga-Times Free Press writer, David Paschall, former Georgia Bulldogs' defensive coordinator, Willie Martinez, talks a little bit about his time at Georgia. Martinez is now the defensive backs coach at Oklahoma but still has two daughters attending the University of Georgia and plans to make trips to Athens to visit them when he can—maybe.

Here are just a few highlights from the article which can be read in full here.


On his dismissal:

"I really don't want to get too much into that, but we've talked. Obviously he felt like he had to do something, but I don't really want to revisit that. We've talked. I'm at Oklahoma, and I'm excited to be here and am ready to move on from that chapter of my life."

On his feelings about Athens and UGA now:

"That was the longest place I had ever been," Martinez said last week. "My son is 14, so he's lived a majority of his life there. There are some great memories that we will have forever and some great friends that we will have forever...both of our girls are still at Georgia, so we'll obviously be visiting them and their friends quite often, I guess."

On the 45-42 loss to Georgia Tech in 2008:

"...losing to Georgia Tech was the worst," Martinez said. "The way we played in the first half, which was solid, and then to come out in the second half -- that's our No. 1 rival at Georgia, and we had won every year. We wanted to keep it going, and I'm glad we were able to get them back last year."