Thoughts on Special Teams

I like John Fabris as a defensive ends coach. I've been told that he's one of the better teachers on the staff. He arguably had the most consistent unit on the team for the seven years prior to this season under Richt. Look at some of his pupils:

• Charles Grant - became a better player working with Fabris.
  
• David Pollack - had never played DE before working with Fabris. Left with exceptional technique.
  
• Quentin Moses - came to UGA as a basketball player with raw potential. Became All-SEC.
  
• Charles Johnson - lived up to his considerable billing.
  
• Marcus Howard - went from a 210 pound kid without a position to All-SEC end.

This year his group is ravaged by injuries and a down talent cycle, but he's still a good DE coach. Now...with all of that praise out of the way. Let's talk about special teams.

Our punt return and punt coverage teams have been historically strong under Fabris. For instance, Georgia is second in punt return yardage this year. Andy Bailey and a few blocked punts in 2006 aside, we've also had good punt and field goal units for most of the past eight years.

On the other hand, you've got the debacle that is our kickoff return coverage. The Dawgs are currently 10th in the SEC in kickoff coverage and 79th nationally. We routinely give our opponents starting field position between the 30-35 yard line in big games.

Much has been made about directional kicking. At this point, it's not where the kick lands that's driving me nuts. It's the actual coverage. Georgia's kickoff coverage unit looks nothing like you see in Florida, LSU or Bama. We have three walk-ons and a third team quarterback covering kicks. Those other schools put their fastest young talent across the line.

Logan Gray, bless his heart, looked like Martin Gramatica trying to make a tackle down field on the long UK return. I'm all for building morale and rewarding the hard work of walk-ons. I want our players to have fun, and I respect Richt's approach generally. But you know what's really fun? Winning. And it's easier to win when you have your best players in the game.

Why we have a 180 lb backup QB covering AND blocking for kicks is beyond me. It's almost as if Fabris is trying to work out some sort of childhood issues around being a slow, undersized player in a fast, big man's sport. Just because a walk-on has "a case of the want its" doesn't mean that he can change the space time continuum to arrive at his intended destination dramatically faster than a kid with greater talent who is coached up.

One area where I'd like to see Richt make some changes is in this area. If it requires a staff wide intervention to get Fabris to put our best players on coverage units, then so be it.

PWD