DAWGBEASTS and the VOLS

**AARON MURRAY – 17 of 25, 266 yards, 2 TD, 2 rush TD – Murray played his best game yet as a DAWG and we can rest assured that he will only continue to improve. The kid's throw to Rontavious Wooten was about as tough as they come and Murray's execution on that play was a thing of beauty. Is there anyone out there still looking around for SEC Freshman of the Year? Well you can stop looking…he currently resides in Athens, Georgia.

**AJ GREEN – It was great to see AJ working the middle of the field more on Saturday and the toughness displayed on his deep catch is one of the things that make him a truly special player. Green didn’t crack 100 yards this time out, but his presence on the field continues to help open things up as the DAWGS offense finds its legs.

**SPECIAL TEAMS – Georgia’s special teams units continue to play well, this week forcing a pair of turnovers on fumble recoveries. I give Blair Walsh and Jordan Love equal credit for that first forced fumble. Walsh may have actually punched it out, but at the very least he forced the issue and made the returner switch hands with the ball. It was during this switch that Love got his hand in there, the ball came out and the DAWGS pounced. Blake Sailors showed some great hands on the second recovery and took one of the worst “shoulda been” facemask infractions I’ve seen in a long while.

**JUSTIN HOUSTON – Houston continues to rack up the tackles for loss, adding three more including two more sacks to run his season total to six.

**DEFENSIVE LINE – The quality of play among the players involved in the rotation along the D-line on Saturday, including Brandon Wood and Kiante Tripp, had a lot to do with the DAWGS holding Tennessee to a mere nine yards rushing in the game. I saw players getting penetration and playing with good technique…that is what disrupted the Vols running game.

**TRINTON STURDIVANT – Sturdivant made his first start of the season on Saturday. In my view, you can absolutely see that his presence is having an effect on the performance of the O-Line.

**BOSS BAILEY – Boss was an honorary captain for Saturday’s game and delivered a pre-game speech to the DAWGS. Boss is a DAWGBEAST this week for using his audience with the DAWGS to say what we true Georgia fans feel and expressing just how much it means to represent the University of Georgia. Thank you, Boss. You’re a Damn Good Dawg.

ALL-AMERICA ON PAUSE

Trinton Sturdivant is like a shooting star that is lost in the haze of a cloudy night. The big offensive tackle has twice had his ultra-promising career derailed by severe knee injuries and both he and his team have suffered as a result.

Even before he proved it on the field by earning Freshman All-America honors in 2007, Sturdivant had been touted as a can’t miss prospect. After backing up the talk (done by others, not by Sturdivant himself) as a key contributor on the field for a Georgia team that won the Sugar Bowl and finished ranked #2 in the country, Sturdivant readied for the 2008 campaign as the rock solid returning starter at left tackle. That was one spot on the team no one expected to have to worry about. Then tragedy struck. During a pre-season scrimmage, the big offensive tackle went down in a heap and those watching knew immediately (even if they could not say so immediately) that they would be without #77 for the 2008 season. The DAWGS shuffled and re-shuffled the O-line throughout the season and still managed to make and win a New Year’s Day bowl game, but nothing looked too solid along the offensive front all season.

Flash forward one year. Sturdivant had put in his work…all of the grueling hours of physical rehab, all of the lonely times when there was no one else to help him carry the weight of recovery…Sturdivant had gone through it all and had come out healthy and ready to reclaim his starting spot for the DAWGS. Then, on the opening Saturday of the 2009 season for Georgia, Sturdivant landed awkwardly in Stillwater, Oklahoma and in a flash his season was over again.


Courtesy AJC.com

Everyone felt for the young man. Every DAWG felt their heart sink. Not because of the impact that Sturdivant’s latest injury would have on that day in Stillwater or on the 2009 season, but because we all knew how hard the big man had worked to get back on the field. How could something like this happen to a young person who, by all accounts, does everything the right way…the Georgia way? Once again, the DAWGS would shuffle and re-shuffle the O-line and everyone was left to ponder what might have been.

Flash forward another year. Once again, Sturdivant has put in his work. Once again, he has put in all of the grueling hours of physical rehab, all of the lonely times when there was no one else to help him carry the weight of recovery. Once again, Sturdivant has gone through it all and had come out healthy and ready to reclaim his starting spot for the DAWGS. But this time, things are a little different. Not for #77. He is still the same wildly talented young man that walked off that field in New Orleans after a Sugar Bowl blowout victory over Hawaii. What IS different is the team Sturdivant will be walking back to. Sturdivant is walking back to a unit that gelled together well down the stretch last fall, coming off a strong final seven games of the 2009 season that saw the DAWGS rush for a total of 1,510 yards. Only time will tell how all this works out in the end. Will the return of a former All-America with a proven mettle bolster an already strong Georgia offensive line, or will Sturdivant’s presence prove unsettling for a unit that appears to be a strength heading into the 2010 season. The responsibility of putting it all back together rests at the feet of Coach Searels and Coach Bobo. Frankly, even when dealing with great players like Sturdivant and Clint Boling and Ben Jones, this is no easy task.

Now we find ourselves impatiently counting down the days until the start of the 2010 college football season. Everyone that is asked is saying that Trinton looks good and strong and on pace to be ready to reclaim his starting spot for the DAWGS. This is fantastic news for Sturdivant and for everyone else in the DAWG Nation. But what’s more, it says more than a little about what kind of young man Sturdivant is both on and off the field. It is a testament to the character of a student athlete that is willing to persevere through the toughest of challenges, far away from the bright lights and the roaring crowds. That, my fellow DAWGS, is worthy of a WOOF!


Courtesy Georgiadogs.com

On September 4th, the DAWGS will go “between the hedges” and the 2010 season will get underway. Count those of us here at the BEAST among those that will be cheering a just a little bit louder when we see #77 jog onto the field in Athens for the first time since the DAWGS whipped Kentucky 24-13 on November 17th, 2007.

Glory, Glory.

SPRING PROVING GROUNDS II

If this is not your first visit to A DAMN BEAST!!!, then you are no doubt aware that our football world view is one that believes defense wins championships and that special teams can be a game-changer and should be made a priority. With that said, even the brilliant minds that gave us “Football for dummies” must admit that football begins and ends along the lines of scrimmage. That is why the publicity ducking, hog-mollies up front take center stage in the latest installment of things we want to see by the time the DAWGS are turned loose at G-Day on April 10th.

SPRING PROVING GROUNDS II: OFFENSIVE LINE STABILITY

Over the last couple of years, injuries have been a harsh reality of life along the DAWGS offensive line. In 2008, the DAWGS deficiencies along the O-line were masked in part by the talent on hand at the skill positions in Matthew Stafford, Knowshon Moreno Mohammed Massoquoi and AJ Green. In 2009, with no proven play-makers other than Green to cover up their offensive warts and a rotating door along the offensive line, the Georgia offense struggled to find their way in the run game and failed to develop any consistency.

By the time the DAWGS arrived at their annual grudge match in Jacksonville against the HATED Gators, Georgia was trotting out their fifth different starting group on the offensive line with junior Clint Boling (LT), sophomore Cordy Glenn (LG), sophomore Ben Jones (C), junior Chris Davis (RG), junior Josh Davis (RT) getting the starting nod.

Though many chose to discount the successes the DAWGS had seen in the running game during the 4th quarter the week before against Vanderbilt, there were signs of life in the Georgia backfield and there had definitely been a shift in the Georgia game plan. This renewed commitment to pounding the rock would begin to become evident against the Gators.

Starting in Jacksonville, the DAWGS strung together some impressive rushing numbers over the final six games of the season as Washaun Ealey and a healthy Caleb King began to find their way. Here’s a breakdown of Georgia’s net rushing yards down the stretch…

FLORIDA – 121 yds (33 carries, 3.7 ypc)
TN Tech – 304 yds (39 carries, 7.8 ypc)
AUBURN – 169 yds (38 carries, 4.4 ypc)
KENTUCKY – 196 yds (44 carries, 4.5 ypc)
GEORGIA TECH – 339 yds (44 carries, 7.7 ypc)
TEXAS A&M – 208 yds (40 carries, 5.2 ypc)

Of course, the DAWGS statement game during this stretch was the ground game exhibition put on against the Techies as Ealey and King declared “WE RUN THIS STATE” and then went out and proved it. King ran for 166 yards and two scores while Ealey punched holes in the Tech defense on his way to 183 yards. Over the final six games of the season, King got loose for 459 yards and six scores and Ealey chipped in with 595 yards and three TDs.

More than just the production in numbers, the DAWGS appeared to play with a different attitude over the last half of the season. An attitude that can only come from the confidence gained when you dictate the game and impose your will on your opponent. That type of football can only be played when you are getting production in the run game and that starts with the play of the offensive line. After their early season struggles, the DAWGS eventually found the winning formula along the O-line and the results showed. The obvious problem is that it took so long to figure out what the right combination would be.

Now we find ourselves heading into spring practice and the DAWGS would appear to have a good handle on the how the pieces along the offensive line should fit together. That is until you factor in the possible return of the DAWGS would-be starting left tackle from the last two seasons, Trinton Sturdivant. After missing the last two years (except for about 40 minutes) with severe knee injuries, the catalyst for all of Georgia’s offensive line shuffling, Sturdivant is said to be ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation and well on his way to making a return to the lineup at some point later this year. For now, the coaching staff is remaining cautiously optimistic that Sturdivant can come all the way back. At this point, Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and the rest of the staff are viewing having Sturdivant ready to rock and roll come the fall as a “luxury”, but they appear to have learned their lesson and know that they cannot afford to count on it. Earlier this week, Bobo had this to say:

“When we’re talking about our objectives as an offense and what we want to accomplish this spring, we want to establish depth at the offensive line with out counting on Trinton Sturdivant. He’s a luxury. We think he’s going to be back, he’s ahead of schedule, he’s doing great, but we have to establish depth besides him.”

You can read more on this and other DAWGS notes HERE.

This thought process is music to my ears. If the DAWGS big left tackle can return to form and reclaim his starting spot, it will be great news for Georgia and it would be fantastic for Sturdivant. However, the DAWGS cannot just assume #77 will be ready to go. This is why when news starts rolling out of Athens in the coming days, one headline I will be looking for will be the one in bold face detailing the progress along the offensive line. A good place to start would be to just keep rolling with the starting five from the back half of the 2009 season, but you can be sure that everyone will get a hard look and that the coaching staff will make every effort to get the best five players on the field. I just hope whatever changes prove necessary due to coach’s decision or that are forced by player effort, they sort themselves out so that Georgia can hit the ground running when fall camp rolls around. It’s no secret that the longer an offensive line can play together as a unit, the more productive they will be. Given that the DAWGS backfield appears to be ready to run in 2010, I am hopeful that a constant re-shuffling of the offensive line will not prove to be the stumbling block for the Georgia offense.

Glory, Glory.


Courtesy AP Photos