Munson told CMR he did something unusual by taking them to the Ramsey Center.
CMR thought it would be a good time to give the guys a break, mentally and physically.
He said the coaches fooled the players by telling them they were headed to the
stadium for practice. When they got to the pool they pulled out the tape cutters,
cut off the tape and joined in the fun. CMR wondered how many of the guys would
jump in the pool, but about 40 or so did and watching them go jumping off was
wild. Even CMR went off the diving board. He reminded Munson he enjoyed going
off the 10-meter board, back in the day. In the beginning, it was anarchy with
guys jumping off the 3-meter, 5-meter and platform. The swim coaches eventually
took charge and told guys when they could jump, especially off the platform,
so they wouldn’t be jumping into each other!
Inman (6-7, 320 or so) did something that looked like a hippo dive from
the 10-meter. It was quite a sight to see; he really jumped far off the platform.
CMR told Munson he saw some of the biggest cannonballs you’d ever see, with
splashes going 30-40 feet in the air.
The
Auburn game will be about physical play, especially the way Auburn likes
to play offense. They like to hammer the ball. The teams that have done well
against Auburn have been able to slow down their running game. CMR thinks you
can scheme to get guys to make the hits on their back, but Cadillac and Ronnie
Brown are two of the best tackle-breakers CMR has seen in awhile. The challenge
is not just to get our guys in position, but for them to make the tackles.
We’ve still got guys who are banged up but will be as fresh as could be. The
guys who are able to play ought to be as rested as they’ve been in awhile. CMR
hopes we’ll have enough juice to get the job done.
Dawg Walk is at 2:00 and this is as crucial of a Dawg Walk as we’ve had. CMR
knows the fans will be there and get the guys jacked up. He stressed the importance
of the crowd being involved in the entire game, especially when Auburn has the
ball, as crowd noise can result in penalties or missed assignments by them.
It’s easy for fans to get jacked up when we do something good, but we need our
fans to get jacked up and make them do something poor.
The first caller wanted to gauge the attitude of the team. This past week, it
was tough to get it cranked up. Open dates are tough anyway, and there were
some lingering effects from the loss to
Florida. As practice wore on Tuesday
and Wednesday, as we got into competitive drills, things picked up and the attitude
got better as the week went on.
Bert from Roswell was concerned about the new SEC tie-breaker rule .. at least
until
Tennessee went out and beat Miami. He also reminded CMR of the road-field
hex. Twice in 22 years isn’t very often. What CMR has pointed out to the team
is that, of all the UGA teams that have won the SEC title, those teams had only
one loss and one tie at home.
We also have to make sure we get our players back to the huddle. In particular,
Thornton knows his flinging the ball against the wall in Jax is something he
knows not to do. ABC commentators on the Tenn.-Miami game yesterday said SEC
officials crack down on stuff more than others. CMR took note of Winslow’s complaints
after that game yesterday.
Another caller said he gets lots of comments about how classy CMR and the staff
is, and our team is, whenever he wears his UGA stuff traveling around. If you
walk into the locker room the moment after a tough game, you’ll see lots of
emotion and disappointment after a tough loss. Once things settle down, they
act in a first-class manner.
One caller wants to know if we considered letting a team score on purpose. You
don’t want to let them score a TD because you never know when a guy might miss
a kick, and we’ve been pretty good at blocking kicks. We called timeout after
their second and third plays to leave some time after a kick. You also never
know if they may fumble a snap of something of the sort.
Heidi in Gainesville wants to congratulate CMR on a wonderful season so far.
Will Pollack be up to full speed? CMR says he’s feeling pretty good even though
he’s had all sorts of little stuff (turf toe, knees, etc.).
Fundamentally, Greene has not been as sound as he’s been in the past and we
just need to get back to that – regardless of what’s happening around him. CMR
expects him to have a big ball game because we have to have it. He had a great
week of practice last week. Also, he didn’t wear the knee brace in practice
last week.
We have some bootleg plays in the general game plan but did not use them against
Florida because Ratliff makes a lot of INTs off the crossing routes. But those
might be available against a team like Auburn that likes to play man-to-man
and pursue the ball.
Gerald Anderson has made a lot of progress; we think he’ll make it to the ball
game. We hope he can get some quality running and change of direction tomorrow
and some work in practice later in the week. With Golston out, we need help
from Anderson up the gut because that is where Auburn will try to pound us.
Both the offensive and defensive staffs are studying the Auburn-Ole Miss tape
right now.
Coach VanGorder will have great opportunities at some point in time, and CMR
hopes he waits for one that may really suit him .. much like CMR waited until
a job opportunity came along that looked special to him.
Jeremy in Memphis thinks we need to follow the
LSU game plan and try to get
a big jump in the first quarter. CMR agrees; if we can get a lead of any kind,
it will begin to get Auburn to think about getting out of their game plan. You
have a better chance to succeed if you make Auburn start passing the ball.
The line of scrimmage will be very important, especially for us keeping their
OL off our LBs. We think we can be in position to make tackles; the key will
be whether we make those tackles.
Auburn has two great LBs who would’ve been high draft picks had they left school
after their junior year.
About recruiting – how do we look getting the guys we want in-state this year?
CMR says it's difficult to tell. We have commitments from in the state,
and we’re right in the middle of the fight for a lot of other guys. Ga. HS football
is some of the best in the nation and we just need to convince guys to stay
at home. CMR encourages guys to stay close to home where their families can
see them play, and enjoy the benefits of being a Bulldog for life. There’s a
great network of people to help give guys an opportunity.
As the Florida game went on, CMR was more impressed with the OL run blocking,
and Watson. And the RBs were breaking tackles and getting yards after contact.
That helps giving us better shots at 3rd down conversions.
In the Florida game, CMR thinks we put too much pressure on the OL. We need
to do better at getting some quick strikes to build momentun.
We gained confidence in our running game against Florida and just need to get
the passing game geared back up to compliment it.
One caller asked about red pants and Munson was already laughing before the
caller finished asking. CMR likes the silver britches and thinks it’s a classic
trademark look. If the players asked, he’d consider. They wanted black shoes
from the day CMR got here, and he said he do it if we made the SEC title game.
What about using a spy on Campbell? CMR knows that is a concern, as they can
get the number right against us when Campbell runs.
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