— Overworked metaphor of the day: “tighter ship”. As in,
Since offseason workouts started, Georgia’s players have frequently commented on how their coaches seem intent on running a tighter ship this year.
Georgia coach Mark Richt confirmed as much on his pre-spring teleconference on Wednesday.
Sounds great. At least until you read Richt’s next comment.
“I think that every year we try to tighten the ship,” Richt said. “I think that every year you evaluate what you’ve done — what you’ve done well, what you maybe feel like you didn’t do so well. And anything that you feel like you need to tighten up, you’re gonna do it.”
Every year? Somebody needs to explain to me how the 2008 ship was tighter than the previous year’s.
— I tell you what, for a guy who’s lost two NFL first rounders from his team, Richt sounds remarkably confident about his team’s prospects.
Despite the losses of key players like quarterback Matthew Stafford and running back Knowshon Moreno, Richt said he does not see many holes in his lineup as spring approaches. “I don’t know if we have anything that’s glaring,” he said. Among the interesting position battles, he said, are running back, tight end, cornerback and “probably the biggest question” on the team is who will handle kickoff duties.
If the biggest worry Georgia has is who kicks off, this should be one helluva year.
— Herbie comes to Athens.
Georgia’s G-Day spring game on April 11 will air live on ESPN at 1 p.m. Brad Nessler, Kirk Herbstreit and Wendy Nix will call the game for the network. Richt said admission to the game will be free to encourage fans to attend and provide an inviting gameday environment for the televised event. …
Be prepared to hear Herbstreit gush about that program in Gainesville constantly. ESPN couldn’t send us Uncle Ron? At least we won’t be subjected to Pam Ward.
It’s a nice gesture to waive the admission fee, especially during an economic downturn, and it may increase student turnout, but for the rest of us, not having to pay five bucks to get in won’t have as much of an effect on our decision to attend as will the Masters or the weather. There isn’t much Richt can do about the former, but he could add the latter to his prayer list. Or better yet, call in Sonny Purdue. He’s got experience in such matters.