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UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 29, 2015

Mark Richt

Athens, Georgia

An Interview With:

COACH MARK RICHT

COACH MARK RICHT: All right. Good to see everybody. I'd like to start out talking just a moment about Devon Gales, the Southern University football player who had the spinal cord injury. I know that a lot of things have been tweeted out and all that kind of thing. I know on my website or my Twitter account I tweeted out the way in which, you know, our bull dog nation can help or anybody around the country for that matter. There is a website. Claude, is there a way -- does everybody have access to that?

CLAUDE FELTON: There's a handout down there that has that information on it.

COACH MARK RICHT: There's a handout for that. And I would think if they just went to the Southern University website they could find it, if anybody watching would want to get involved helping out. But anyway, I'm hoping -- we'll do everything in our power as the Bulldog Nation to bless Devon and his family going through this time. And looking forward to seeing his progress.

All right. We're going to play Alabama this week obviously. A lot of people have been excited about this for a while, at least that's what I hear. I know we're excited because we're playing them this week. But I'll start with their offensive team. Of course, you know, Coach Saban has done a great job there at Alabama, won a bunch of games and championships, and they do a wonderful job there on both sides of the ball. But we'll start with offense. We'll start with offense. They're averaging 460 yards a game, over 200 yards rushing and about 260 passing. They're averaging 35.8 points per game. So they score a lot of points. And also they're averaging about 25 first downs a game. That's No. 1 in the league right now. They've got 10 rushing touchdowns, nine passing touchdowns, so very balanced in their approach. And they've got the personnel to get it done.

Quarterback, they've played both Bateman and Coker. Coker has played the most, had the most reps. He's hitting about 55 percent of his passes, eight touchdowns, four picks, but has really done a good job of leading their team.

At running back, I think most people know who Henry is, No. 2. 430 yards rushing, averaging over six yards a carry, and eight touchdowns. And then Drake, No. 17, 221 yards so far this year, 5.8 yards a carry, with a touchdown. At wide receiver, Stuart is their leading receiver with 21 catches, 177 yards, a couple of TDs. Ridley, the freshman, doing a great job for them, has 15 -- excuse me, 17 catches for 125 yards and a touchdown, and then their tight end, Howard, number 88; 6-6, 240, he's got 13 catches for 183 yards. Got a couple of returning linemen. In Robinson, one of their tackles, 6-6, 346 pounds, sophomore; and then No. 70. Kelly is their returning starter at center. He's a senior, about 300-pounder, 6-5, 300-pounder. So offensively they're doing a great job there.

On defense they have eight returning starters. They're giving up 17.5 yards a game, which is fourth in the lead. They're giving up 267 total yards a game, which is second in the league, and they're giving up around 56 yards a game rushing, which is No. 1 in the league. So they're No. 1 rush defense in the league and maybe in the country. I didn't look at the national stats, but I'm sure they're very high in that category as well.

Like I mentioned, eight returning starters on defense. Very talented guys. One of the things I think that stands out the most to me is just the way they're all put together. You got their D linemen, all 6-4, 300-pounders. Their linebackers are anywhere between 240, 250 pounds, 6, 6-2, most of them. Their DBs are all around the six-foot range and are in the 190, 195-pound range. Just a really good-looking football team overall. And Reggie Ragland is No. 19. Their mike linebacker, he leads the team with tackles with 34. Seems to be one of the leaders, if not the leader of that defensive group, signal-caller type guy, just making a lot of plays. Very impressive with what he's been doing.

Up front Jonathan Allen has led the team in sacks and tackles for loss. He's doing a wonderful job. No. 93. And then like I mentioned, the two big men, you got Reed and Robinson, both 6-4. One of them says 312, one says 313 pounds. But when you look at the film, you can see they're wide loads. They're strong. They're physical. And that's really the trademark of the Alabama defense right now.

In the back field, Cyrus Jones, No. 5, seems to be the guy that they have the most faith in as a cover man, although Humphrey is the super talented kid, number 26 on the other side. He's a redshirt freshman. And their safeties, I believe were corners a year ago and now playing safety. Just very talented guys, guys with great ball skills, guys with toughness and they're all flying the ball, doing their job.

Their kicker, Griffith, has made three out of seven field goals, as long as 40 this year. Their punter, Scott, has got 17 punts averaging almost 39 yards a punt. Kick return man is Drake, 18.9 yards per return with a long of 40 and their punt return man is Jones, again, the corner. And does a great job there.

So it's going to be a tremendous challenge for us, a team that is used to winning, and a team that's, you know, very well coached. I think we all know that. And we're just looking forward to the challenge of it, and with that I'll answer any questions that you have.

Q. Coach, you mentioned Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake. What are some similarities that strike you not only in how they utilize the running backs but how Derrick runs compared to how nick runs as well?
COACH MARK RICHT: Yeah. Well, Derrick, big kid. 6-4, 240 or whatever he is. I could take a peek here at what we got listed. Yeah, 6-3, 241, but he's very tall for a tail back. You don't see guys that tall very often, but just a very fast guy, very powerful guy. He's a punishing runner. I mean I don't know if I could compare him so much with Chubb other than they both carry the load for their team and they're both physical backs, tackle breakers. But they have other skills as well.

And then Drake, not quite as big, but definitely got a lot of speed and agility, and you know, is doing a very good job as well. So -- and they got young backs in the fold that I'm sure will be stars one day as well.

Q. Mark, what's your confidence level in your defense right now, and where would you say they're at this year compared to the first year under Jeremy Pruitt?
COACH MARK RICHT: Well, I've got a lot of faith that our defense is going to play hard and that they're going to be well coached. I know Coach Pruitt and the defensive staff will put a good plan together and, you know, one thing we've never had an issue with is our guys playing hard. You know, so if they play hard, if they know what to do, that's really all we can ask from them. They're going to get challenged this game because there is a great balance in how Alabama approaches their offensive game. They do run the ball well with power. They do, they can spread you and run the ball. They've got all the play action passes and they can, you know, spread it and drop back with the best of them. So it'll be a challenge for our guys to be disciplined and to tackle well and make sure everybody's playing their gap responsibilities in the run game and making sure when we rush the passer we don't lose contain things, all those fundamental things that have to be done. But I've got faith that they'll play well.

Q. Do you see a big difference in year two Jeremy as opposed to year one?
COACH MARK RICHT: Year two?

Q. Yes.
COACH MARK RICHT: Well, you know, you've changed some personnel. I think we did become younger overall. If you take our top 22, we're extremely young. And I don't like to say that much because it sounds like you're making up an excuse, but there are an awful lot of young players that are within our two deep. And we lost some veteran guys a year ago that ended up making some NFL clubs and things of that nature.

So I think we've got the right kind of guys, but we certainly have got some youngsters that will be counted on and have been counted on so far. And sometimes that's not the best situation, but I think -- I think our defense, again, is going to be extremely well coached and is going to play really hard.

Q. Mark, their kryptonite, if they have one, seems to be up tempo on defense, facing up-tempo offenses. Are you guys built on offense to go up tempo for extended periods?
COACH MARK RICHT: Yeah. Well, we do -- we go without a huddle most of the game. We do huddle here and there. We've huddled at the end of some ball games to just use as much clock as possible. It's a little easier to manage the clock when you huddle, if you're trying to kill time rather than stand at the line of scrimmage and everybody kind of looking at each other. We found it's probably a little bit easier to get in the huddle and try to finish the game. But we like no huddling. We do have different paces. Sometimes we go faster than other times. But we like it because it -- if you get the play call and you get to the line of scrimmage and see what's going on, it gives you time to make a change if you need to. Like one time we -- one time last game we just lined up wrong and if we'd have broken the huddle and then the guy lined up wrong, we'd have been having a delay of game or calling a timeout, but because we no huddled and got to the line quickly, we looked up, there was still like 20 seconds on the clock for a guy to just go all the way across the field and get set and make sure everything is okay before he snapped the ball. So there's a benefit in that way. But we can go with good tempo. We can go with good pace and that's been a part of what we're doing and we'll continue to try to do that.

Q. How important is eye discipline for your secondary this week given the fact that their running game can set up the play action pass?
COACH MARK RICHT: It's huge. People that run the ball that well, they're going to throw play action pass. They're going to make that pass look like the run. They're going to try to block it the same with pad level of your linemen and sometimes pull a lineman like you would -- usually when you pull a lineman, you're running the ball. But sometimes people pull linemen and still pass the ball. So you know, teams that run the ball well are going to make it look exactly like the run, or at least as close as they possibly can. And then people get out of position. Linebackers get up on that line of scrimmage and DBs at times make mistakes. But if DBs do the right thing and stay where they're supposed to be which is usually with some depth. But the linebackers can't help but get sucked up into the action. There's creases there. There's throwing lanes. You know, so the better a team can run the football, the better the play action pass will be and the less chance you'll be in third and long and that's what we're all trying to stay out of. But it's very important for our guys to have that discipline. And read their keys, but sometimes the keys look almost identical.

Q. Just wondering, when you look at the tape how different is this Alabama offense compared to the one you saw in the 2012 championship game when they were pounding it?
COACH MARK RICHT: Well, I'm just trying to remember now. I really didn't look at that side of the ball much on that game because it was different, different coordinator, I believe. But they pounded the ball that day, that's for sure. And they're capable. You see their offensive line in person, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Q. Coach, obviously we've already pounded on the story line of Georgia's run versus Alabama's run defense. I'm sure there's so much more to it than that. To you, the match up of your offense against their defense, what's it going to come down to and how much of it falls on the shoulders of Greyson Lambert?
COACH MARK RICHT: Well, your quarterback has always gotta play well in games like this, no doubt. But it's just like the last game, I think most people could see -- I could see anyway, I thought our line played better in the third quarter than they did the first two quarters. I thought they created more space for runners and a better pocket for the quarterback and things started to go. So this game is a line of scrimmage game for both teams. And it's going to start that. But somewhere along the line, our quarterbacks are going to have to make some plays. I say our. Ours and Alabama's. The quarterbacks will have to make some plays. But sometimes making the play is just doing what you always do, which is get yourself in the right run game, get yourself in the right protection, you know, put the ball on the money, throw the ball away, hit a check down, take what they give you. I mean rarely does a guy have to do something acrobatic or above and beyond the call of duty. Just do your job and do it well. It gives you a chance.

Q. Coach, you said at the top a lot of people have been excited about this for a while, or so I hear. Given that, you know, Alabama has been here before and a Top 10 game, LSU a couple of years ago with Murray-Mettenberger was a huge game. Could you sense it in practice yesterday that this is a big kind of week with the players and how do you guard against that when you've got the national attention of a game like this?
COACH MARK RICHT: I thought it was very much business as usual yesterday. I'm expecting it to be the same today. I mean our approach really has been on trying to improve and trying to get our scout teams to simulate everything the best they can and just focus on assignments, focus on technique, focus on effort. And then obviously focus on academics when you're not at the butt's mere. So that's what we're trying to keep everybody's mind on their job, on their business, on their assignment, on their responsibility and not anything else. And I don't mind guys getting excited about a game. I like them getting excited about a game, but they have to be able to function well, you know, on top of that.

Q. Obviously starting with Jeremy a couple of years ago a lot of people with Alabama backgrounds have some here. I know you didn't set out to hire a bunch of people with Alabama backgrounds, but how much influence and ideas have those guys introduced to this program?
COACH MARK RICHT: Well, every guy I hire has experiences from somewhere, you know. So we've got nine full-time coaches, a lot of quality control coaches, strength coaches. We've got people in a lot of different roles in recruiting. And so you get a lot of ideas from a lot of places because of the experiences that they have. So there's no question that we've had a lot of ideas that have come from, you know, guys that were at Alabama, guys that were at Auburn, guys that were at Southern Cal, LSU, just all kind of different places across the board. And I'm -- you know, I'm a guy that's very open minded to listen and hear it out and see if there's a better way, or even see if there's a way that everybody just wants to buy into, because sometimes you got -- you know, there's more than one way to skin it. You know, and if what we're doing is very sound and everybody's excited about it and we all buy in, then I know it's going to have a better chance of getting sold in the right way, too. So you know, the job I have is to make sure when I listen to these ideas and when we listen to them as a staff, that we talk it out and then we find what we think is the best practice, the way of going about it, and then everybody leaving that meeting room together. That's the main thing. But there's been a lot of good ideas from a lot of places, but certainly from guys that have coached at Alabama.

Q. How does having Nick and Sony sort of at the same time, same age have them push each other sort of help the team as a whole?
COACH MARK RICHT: It's been great. When you have guys that are that talented and that productive, when we talk about Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, you know, it's healthy when they like each other. It's healthy when they enjoy each other's company, and like you said, push each other and cheer for each other. And you know, I guarantee you every time Nick does something good, Sony's excited for him, truly excited for him. And I think when Sony does things well, I think Nick's happy for him. But I mean I think that -- I think that runs you through the whole team. I think -- I don't see anybody getting mad when a teammate does well. I think they are excited about it, and it's important to be a group of guys that care. I mean you could play and compete and not like a guy. You could play alongside a lineman that you don't like and probably have a decent amount of success, but to me, it's just -- it's better when guys enjoy each other and believe in each other and love each other, and that's what we try to build here at Georgia.

Q. Coach, four games in, is there one thing in particular on each side of the ball that you think needs to be shored up the most?
COACH MARK RICHT: Right.

Q. And then will there be any extra emphasis on special teams this week in practice?
COACH MARK RICHT: Right. Well, gosh. Everything -- like I've been saying for years, I mean everything we do, we film. We review it. We critique it. And any given day there may be something that needs to get cleaned up. And it's just -- it's just an ongoing process that never ends. And to say, you know, one specific thing on each side of the ball, I really couldn't do that for you. And as far as special teams, you know, with the 20-hour week the way we have it setup, you know, if you're going to take a lot of extra time on a special team or a lot of extra time on offense or a lot of extra time on defense, you're just pulling away from something else, because you know, it's really kind of like a machine. I mean we know exactly what we're going to do as a staff throughout the week. We know exactly what we're going to do with the field, with the players, what we're going to do in meeting times and how long they last and what we're going to cover. So to sit there and say we're going to try to spend more time on it, we really can't if we wanted to. But we emphasize everything. There is an importance, I think we -- we probably spend as much time meeting, walk-through and practicing special teams -- I doubt there's many teams that do it more than we do, as far as the time allotted for it.

Q. Mark, I think it was the South Carolina game where Greyson had several different receivers to start off the game, maybe five or six, but it looks like him and Mitch will have a good connection going. Do you expect there will be like a No. 2 wide out that emerges or what's going on with Greyson and Mitchell?
COACH MARK RICHT: I don't know. I didn't look at the stats. I don't even know who's our No. 2 guy right now. You know, I don't -- I really don't think much about, you know, this guy connecting with that guy as much as the quarterback knowing his progressions and going through his progressions properly. I think if you have a favorite receiver, you may force it to a guy that you shouldn't force it to at times. Now, if the guy's that good, maybe that's a good thing, you know. If he can make the play no matter what. And I think that's what happens, when you see a receiver go make a play in a jump-ball situation or a back shoulder throw like Malcolm has done a couple of times, I'm sure that's increasing Greyson's faith in him to go ahead and let it rip.

And there's nothing wrong with that. But we also don't want to force a slant or a, you know, like if the play calls for a three deep coverage and you gotta read this side of the field and if it's two deep you read that side of the field and you just disregard the rules and say I'm going to throw it to Malcolm no matter what, then we got a problem. But when he's the primary guy and he thinks he's in position to make the play, then if he throws it and believes in him, that's fine. But we just don't want them to get to where they love a guy so much they're going to make a bad decision.

Q. Mark, I think I read that this week that Alabama is the underdog for the first time in like six years, 70 something games. What is your reaction to being the team that put them in the underdog role?
COACH MARK RICHT: I don't really have a reaction to that.

Q. Mark, I just wondered if you could give an update on Davin Bellamy and Rico McGraw for this game.
COACH MARK RICHT: Davin will practice. Rico, I'm not exactly sure where he's at right now. But I would say he's questionable. Davin would be -- my guess would be probable.

Q. Mark, there's been a lot of talk about whether Alabama has slipped or whether their dynasty, so called, is over. You've been in the league a long time. Just how hard is it to maintain what they've done for as long as they've done it, and also do you think they've changed the nature of the league in the sense that, you know, they sort of set the target that everyone had to shoot at for the last half decade?
COACH MARK RICHT: Well, I think Alabama is a great football team, and they're as good or better than they've ever been in my opinion. So I don't know what the talk might be out there. But they're as good or better than anybody in our league and as good or better than anybody in the country. So you know, you just gotta play the games and see who wins, but I think they're still a great team. I do.

Q. Mark, are you eager to see Lambert play in this game? The window is maybe a little smaller.
COACH MARK RICHT: Yeah.

Q. And rush a little fiercer.
COACH MARK RICHT: It'll be interesting for everybody to play this game. I'll be interested to see everybody react. But again, you know, the thing that we try to get done as a coaching staff is get them to think about what's most important and then try to create really good habits in practice that will carry over into the game. And the better -- you know, usually when you're a little tired or if it's a little loud or if you got hit in the mouth a couple of times or whatever it may be, what usually carries you is your habits that you've developed over time. That's why we try to train them a certain way in the off season and try to train them a certain way during camp and train them a certain way during practice every week. That's all we can do, and then we expect them to, you know, react in a good way because of the habits that we've created.

Q. Coach, you mentioned at the opening Devon Gales' injury. It's something that hadn't been talked about much is Marshall Morgan is the guy who hit him. I'm just wondering if there's been some counsel there.
COACH MARK RICHT: I don't know, other than -- I know that he went by the hospital to visit the family. I think that was really healthy for him and for everybody. I mean if he didn't go, I don't think they would have thought one way or another, but I think it was good for him to go and talk to everybody and understand that it's football and no one's mad at Marshall and he didn't do anything that was out of line in any way, shape or form. It's just unfortunate.

Q. Followup on Marshall as far as his play. I mean both Griffith at Alabama and Marshall have had hiccups early this season, but do you have the same confidence in Marshall?
COACH MARK RICHT: Oh, I do.

Q. I know the guy is the SEC record holder for consistency.
COACH MARK RICHT: I do. I sure do. Yeah. I believe in Marshall and his ability to kick off and to kick extra points in field goals, and he's very solid fundamentally, and I think he'll finish strong.

Q. The last two times obviously you played Alabama were huge games, but a lot of distance in between them. Is there anything you can take -- obviously new player, a lot of new coaches, but do you take anything from looking back to 2012 or even back to 2008 from those games?
COACH MARK RICHT: I guess we play -- we play so many big games that come down to the little things. Could be one play. It's just like I mentioned -- I don't know who I mentioned it to, but, you know, we were not real happy with the number of penalties that we had the first few games, and we talked a lot about being more disciplined in that area. And so we come out of last game with only two penalties for 10 yards. That's two five-yard penalties. If you had that all year long you'd say, you know what, I'll take that. That's pretty good. But you know, one penalty cost us an interception and the other penalty cost us a touchdown pass to Malcolm Mitchell. Even though it seemed little, well, the tackle wasn't on the line of scrimmage all the way. He had to move up six inches to be legal. That cost a touchdown. It cost more than five yards. And the same thing on you know, we had a defender in the neutral zone when the ball was snapped and we ended up getting a pick. Well, that pick could have been the difference between winning and losing. So those little things really matter.

Q. Anything else that you kind of stress to those guys?
COACH MARK RICHT: Well, we stress that in -- that we're playing a big game, and all games are big, and the little things matter, and that's what we're focusing on, every little thing that can make a difference.

Q. You talked about it a little the other night on the call-in show, but talk about what it's like to really see Sanford Stadium progressively becoming much of more of a raucous crowd and what is it does.
COACH MARK RICHT: Yeah. Our crowd has been great. I've been really excited and pleased with the Bulldog Nation and how they've supported us and how they've -- and just game day how they've supported us. It's just like what game -- the game I guess South Carolina was a 6:00 kick or whatever it was and just to wake up at 7:30, whatever it was and look around and see all the tailgaters there, and we had some recruits getting up early for breakfast or whatever it was, and they were just kind of in shock at everybody in place already, you know, ready to go, for a night game.

And so that atmosphere is huge. And then to -- our Dawg Walk is unbelievable. The student section during pregame warmup is just awesome. Our players just really react to that in a positive way. And you know, the band obviously is a part of the Dawg Walk and part of the pageantry.

And then our fans, like wearing red, I'm sure everyone is going to wear red and they're going to do a great job of getting loud when they're supposed to and staying loud and make a difference in the ball game. They will make a difference in this game, with the amount of noise that they're going to make and the amount of energy they're going to bring to our players when good things happen. So I just have a lot of respect for the Bulldog Nation and thank everybody very much for what they do.

Q. Mark, what's you and Coach Schottenheimer's thinking regarding Brice Ramsey? I think some maybe were a little surprised that he came in in the first half when it was relatively close still. Are you trying to get him work?
COACH MARK RICHT: Yeah. That's been our plan, and that was our plan going into the South Carolina game, to get him in there in the first half, to get Brice in there. And it just was too -- we were too hot, and we decided not to do it at that particular time, but our plan is going to stay the same as far as trying to get him in there and get him quality time and help him develop as well.

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