Here are about 8-10 minutes that Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford did with the beat writers last Friday afternoon. I thought there was some interesting stuff in here. Enjoy!
On not throwing it around this year like somebody like Hawaii's Colt Brennan:
We’re still playing pretty balanced, but we’ve got two great backs and an offensive line that’s doing a great job of blocking. If it’s working, keep doing it.
On whether it's difficult for him to throw so sporadically:
Absolutely. It’s tough to sometimes get in a rhythm, but we do a good job of picking out plays that are pretty basic and easy for us to throw and catch, so it’s working well for us.
On whether that affects him:
Not really. I think there’s sometimes during in the year where I was pressing, but I think I’m doing a good job of just kinda taking what they’re giving me now.
On whether not throwing much affects a former quarterback like Georgia's offensive coordinator Mike Bobo:
He’s been doing good. I think he just wants to win. That’s the way we all are around here. Whatever it takes to win, we’re willing to do it. He’s been doing a good job of not forcing the issue on anything, really.
On whether he expects that to change:
Yeah, we’ll probably start throwing more and more as I get older and as our O-line gets older, just things like that. But even if it did stay like this, if we’re winning games, I’m happy.
On whether he looks at his stats:
I do sometimes, but I really don’t know them.
More on getting to throw more in the future:
Yeah, and it’ll come. I’m still young. Obviously I expect a lot out of myself this year, but I’ve just gotta keep doing what I’m doing and keep plugging away.
On whether he thinks a bowl win would affect their preseason rankings:
I think a win would be huge for us, not only in the preseason rankings, just going into the offseason workouts for us, getting some momentum and keeping it, I guess. I think it’d be big for us.
On how it seems like time of possession will be an important statistic in the bowl:
Definitely. Their offense can put up points in a hurry. They’ve been doing a great job of that all year, so we’re gonna have to try and keep the ball as much as we can.
Yeah. Florida’s the same. Any team with a good offense, it’s nice to hold the ball for a while.
On whether they might add more wrinkles because of the extra time between games:
Yeah probably. We ran two or three in the bowl game last year. We have a few. Just obviously with the extra time, coaches are thinking about trick plays and stuff like that – just ways to exploit the defense. I guess it’s worked.
On whether he's watched Hawaii's defense on film:
I’ve watched some…They play hard. They look good, play hard, run to the ball, not overly sophisticated in what they do, but they do what they do well. It’s gonna be a challenge.
On the difference with Bobo as OC this year:
We just do a lot more out of different sets. We were pretty basic. I only got to play under coach Richt’s system for half a year or so, so I’m not the expert on that. We just do a lot more out of different sets and personnel groupings and just some different stuff – not a whole lot too different.
More on Bobo:
He just wants to win. That’s awesome. He does a great job. Obviously him being the quarterback coach is nice because he does a great job of teaching me and telling me exactly what he wants the offense to look like and how he wants it run. It makes it easy on me just hearing it from one guy.
On whether he had a talk this year with O-line coach Stacy Searels about being patient with the young offensive line:
In the spring, our motto was, ‘Fake it till we make it,’ so yeah, we sat down and had that talk. But they’re doing a great job.
On how the line has improved as the year went along:
I think they have. They’ve been doing a great job and we’re able to do pretty much everything we want to do.
On being frustrated with the line just before the season:L
It’s tough. We had three freshmen playing and guys in new positions. We didn’t even have it all sorted out then on who was gonna play where. Some guys really stepped up and played well this year and made it a whole lot easier on me and the backs.
More on whether he was ever frustrated by not throwing more:
Sometimes, but the biggest thing to me is winning ballgames. We’ve been doing a good job of that lately and hopefully we can keep it going.
On why he came to Georgia from Texas:
I just like the coaching staff, I liked the guys around and I liked the town. It was a place where if I couldn’t play football, I’d be happy going to school here.
On Thomas Brown taking 21 hours this semester:
It’s crazy. I really don’t know how he does it. It’s unbelievable. How many classes is that, three or four?
It was seven, five of which were upper-level classes in his major:
Wow. Good luck. I’m not doing that anytime soon.
On whether he saw any effect on Thomas because of the academic burden:
No. He’s been doing great over here and I haven’t seen any difference out of him.
And now Thomas is graduating and can focus on the draft and the combine:
He’s gonna tear that combine up too, so I’m happy for him.
On whether he saw Knowshon Moreno's attitude as a runner wear on defenders:
I don’t know if I saw it on defenders, I think a lot of people got their eyes opened – coaches and teams, to see how special of a player he is, more than anything.
On whether Georgia has a growing national image:
I hope so. Hopefully after this game, if we play well and get a win, we’ll start getting looked at even more on a national scale. I think we’ve been doing a pretty good job of doing that, though. Winning is what really gets you out there.
On Logan Gray:
I think he’s gonna be a good player. He works hard in the weight room trying to get bigger and does a good job out on the field. He’s getting it. I think he’s gonna be really good.
On Walter Hill:
He’s got great hands. He goes up and gets it when it’s in the air. He moves slow sometimes walking around, but when he gets out there, he plays hard, so it’s good. He’s physical.
On redshirts that have stood out:
Whew, so many. Walter, Troupe’s been playing good too.
On Israel Troupe (I'm pretty sure that's who he was talking about):
He’s been doing good. He’s gonna be a heck of a player. I’m happy for him. He’s starting to get it now, too. Now’s the time of the year where everybody starts clicking and realizing kinda what it’s about. They’re doing a good job. I think Justin Houston’s gonna be a heck of a player. He’s been doing a good job on the scout team too.
On what stands out about Troupe:
He’s fast, he catches the ball. He and Walter both are physical guys, bring a tough mentality to the receiver position. They’ve been doing well.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
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4 comments:
Stafford must be on the quarter system or something. We took 3 classes way back then. I think Bobo has the Dawg history that Richt only gets a bit - all great Georgia teams have run the ball very well and any Georgia team can run the ball. Richt liked to run screens out of the shotgun; now it is power football. Staff-Daddy is a Texas Dawg (like me) who grew up knowing about Earl Campbell, the Cowboys dominant running game, etc., but he came to UGA because Richt let them zing it. Throwing it too much and not being in power sets enough got us beat some in the past. I LOVE what we are doing now. GO DAWGS!!!
Barnes leaving - sad for him that he did not get the playing time his talents would give him at many universities and wish him the best.
This might give us another scholarship for a very talented freshman.
I don't really understand how Stafford doesn't know that 21 hours is a lot of classes. Does he think 4 classes is a lot? I'm sure for a football player it's quite a bit harder to take more hours, but how could you not know that 3 or 4 hours is generally 1 class?
it was just an off-the-cuff comment. I'm sure he knows. He was just put on the spot.
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