More reader mail:

While we all were hoping for better things this season, we were over-hyped last summer, lacked on the field leadership that we got from Kelin, Cheese and Velasco, had too many injuries for even a talented roster of athletes, and finally missed out on some coaching in some areas. Obviously, we are not a sound football team this year and it certainly doesn’t require an ex-coach to see that we have giant voids in our special teams play. On the other hand how much better would our kick-off coverage be if we had not had approximately 15 crucial injuries to players who were either starters or second on the depth chart whose places were taken by walk-ons who have neither the speed nor the athleticism to really get down field and cover?

My doubts about Georgia’s national championship contention are well-documented.  That being said, I really was glad to see our humble little band of brothers ranked #1 in the pre-season.  I think it was due mostly to the strong finish of 2007.  It certainly made the Georgia Southern game an electric atmosphere.  In retrospect I am still glad that we were preseason #1.  If Moreno and Stafford stay, we might be up there with at least a few #1 ballots if we were to prevail in convincing fashion over the Slide Rule Jockeys and beat Ohio State in the Citrus Bowl (I hate corporate sponsorships of bowls…it is still the Peach Bowl, just with little parachuting cows, the coolest promo ever).

I’m not sure how many guys that would ordinarily be on kick coverage were out due to injury, but the writer makes an excellent point about senior leadership and this year’s team, particularly on defense, lacking the same.  I’ll be truly despondent at the loss of Jeff Owens if he decides not to return, and Asher “Most Definitely” Allen will be a senior leader next year, most definitely.  Injuries to Ellerbee were a blow to senior leadership, and I don’t know if C.J. Byrd quite fits the bill for defensive leader, though I haven’t given it much thought.

More thoughts:

On the other hand, I think that any reasonable man could be expected to correctly conclude that at least some intangibles and a few tangibles left town with BVG. The question is: Did we go from top-five really rare defensive genius who brought mental and emotional toughness and ensured a perennial championship contender and drop off to a DC who is simply average, or slightly above? As they say in the military, some officers are outstandin g performers at the division level and total failures at the corps or army level. Maybe CWM is a top-drawer position coach handling the DB’s, but not top-drawer as the DC. Personally, I think this is a fair statement, but our overall problems this year are so varied and nebulous that it is hard to get a grip on this stuff.

I recall back in the heady days of the early 00s knowing that we’d eventually lose Van Gorder, probably sooner rather than later, and that whoever was selected as his replacement would be a step down.  Turns out I was right on both counts.  That being said, BVG was one of those rare DCs that come along once a generation, and in the current coaching carousel environment their moving up to a HC position is virtually a guarantee (except Charlie Strong!!! @!#$%!@#@#!$##!#$%$@#!%!@#!!!!!!!!!).  So I enjoyed it while it lasted.

However I think CWM gets too little of the credit when things are going well, and too much of the blame when things aren’t going well.  In my opinion a good DC must be a good motivator, but more importantly should put the defenders into schemes that give them a chance to make a play.  And I think by and large CWM does a good job with the scheme, but this year we just haven’t had guys on our team making big plays, and things like that awful busted coverage against Florida aren’t his fault.

My beef with CWM is that he spends the first half deciding if we can get sufficient pressure without blitzing, and in those instances when the front 4 can’t pressure the QB, Georgia often gets behind early.  The perfect example is Florida 2005, where the defense spotted UF 2 TDs on their first two drives.  Throw in a few turnovers by the offense and a half dozen personal fouls, and you get this year’s Alabama and Florida debacles, and West Virginia, and Virginia Tech, and Tennessee last year.  But on the other hand, when the game has been close and it gets down to nut-crackin’ time, the Defense has come through in the 4th quarter.  Usually a bit later into the game than we fans would prefer, mind you, but they tighten up late.

In conclusion, I think CWM is a very good DC, but not one of the greats, and I don’t know who could be an available defensive coordinator that would surely be a step up.  

I am very, very interested to see how Georgia’s defense plays in the first half of this Tech game.