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UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 13, 2015

Mark Richt

Athens, Georgia

COACH RICHT: Want to thank everybody from AT&T today and the work that you've been doing, trying to help everybody stay drug-free, that's so important.

Another thing that you may have realized, or somewhere along the way heard, that Malcolm Mitchell was part of the AFCA Good Works Team, 22 members of that. And this morning, he was at Beryl Elementary School thinking he was going to be reading to the young people over there, and they surprised him with the trophy.

So he's part of the 2015 Allstate American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team. Some be said we're No. 1 in the nation in that category. That's a great honor for our student athletes to be thought of in that light, and we absolutely love our men of character here at Georgia.

Okay, let's move on to Missouri. Coach Pinkel has done a great job there. Been there a long time. I guess he's been there the same amount of time at Missouri that I've been at Georgia. Obviously not in our league all those years but has done a great job of leading that program for years.

We all know the two-time Eastern Division champions the last two seasons. Went 7-1 last year. So they are a team that knows how to win. Last time they were here, they beat us. So we know that we have a great challenge in that regard.

We'll talk a little bit about their offense first. I guess there's another stat that's probably worth saying: As a team, just reading up on them -- I didn't like this stat, but the last six times they lost a game, the game after that, they have won six in a row.

So the game after a loss, they have won it six times in a row. And so that will be a challenge for us to try to stop that streak.

But offensively, they are averaging 311 yards a game, 117 rushing and 194 passing and they are averaging 18.3 points a game. They are No. 2 in the Southeastern Conference in red zone offense. Their quarterback, I'm not 100 percent sure, are we hearing that Mauk is not going to play, or do we know -- is there certainty on that? Was not included on the depth chart? So we are going by that, as well. So you never know for sure. But we are assuming that Lock, their freshman quarterback will be at the helm. He's hit 59 out of 92 for 512 yards. He's got three touchdowns and three picks to this point.

Hansbrough is a guy that's rushed for over 2,000 yards in his career at Missouri, No. 32. He's a senior running back and he's got 166 yards this year. But the guy leading their team in rushing right now is No. 21, he's rushed for 324 yards to this point.

As far as the receivers are concerned, Brown, No. 2, has got 18 catches for 200 yards. And Moore, No. 6 has got 16 catches for 205 yards and two touchdowns. Brown has actually got four touchdowns receiving, and then Leftwich, No. 18, has got 11 catches for 104 yards and a touchdown. Their tight end caught a couple balls, as well.

Up front, their line has four out of five senior offensive linemen, very veteran group. They are all big men and very capable of doing a great job. That kind of gives you an idea about their offense.

Defensively, some of the statistics are pretty daunting, actually. But they are No. 1 in the SEC in pass defense. They are No. 1 in the SEC in points given up per game with 13.5 points per game. No. 2 in the league in total yards given up, 275 total yards a game. And no one has scored more than 21 points on them this season. So they are doing a wonderful job.

Most of the times, things start up front. If you just take their front four, they have got 28 tackles for a loss, 11 sacks and 66 tackles, which is very impressive and again we are talking just the front four. Harris, 91, has got four sacks. Brady, No. 56 has got six sacks. So just been the two edge rushers they have ten sacks and 20 tackles for loss. Very impressive edge rushers, which they have had for years. That's just been one of the trademarks of Coach Pinkel's teams.

Their defense in total has 48 tackles for loss, and that's third in the nation. When we were looking at the third down statistics of the opponents they have played to this point, just a massive amount of third and ten plus. There's probably more third and ten plus than there were all the other third downs put together. So we have got to try to limit the tackles for loss for sure.

Kentrell Brothers, their outside linebacker, No. 10, leads the nation in tackles. He's got 74 tackles and you can see y very athletic, does a super job of getting off of blocks and can run to the football extremely well.

He's actually blocked two kicks, as well. Michael Scherer, No. 30, their Mike linebacker, he's No. 2 on the team with tackles with 42, playing some good ball. Both returning starters there.

In the secondary, No. 11, Aarion Penton, is 5-10, 190, playing really good at corner. We think he's one of their better cover people, and he also plays nickel for them. He's been very active.

No. 22, the only guy that's not a returning starter is actually leading the defensive backs in tackles with 30. Their safeties do get very involved in the run stopping the game.

They don't give up -- philosophically, I know they have got a new D-coordinator, but philosophically, they have not changed a lot in that they do not like to give up big plays. They like to keep everything in front of them. They like to break on the ball and tackle and get the ball knocked out. They just are pretty convinced that people can't drive the field and stick it in the end zone without getting those explosive plays. And it's hard to get those types of plays against them. But just a great tribute to how they play the game, and outstanding for years on the defensive side of the ball.

When it comes to turnover ratio, they are the same as us. They are plus one right now. Their punter, Fatony, is averaging 43.7 a punt. And Penton, their punt return man, is averaging 9.1, the return. Their kicker, Baggett, is 35 points away from the school record foremost points in career. He's hit eight out of ten kicks and his longest field goal is 41 yards. Their kick return man, Sherrils, is averaging close to 18 yards a return.

So that kind of rounds out the scouting report on them. Again, defending Eastern Division champs two years running and certainly is going to be a game that both teams are hungry for a victory and I'm sure our fans will be able to enjoy a heck of a ballgame under the lights between the hedges. So we are looking forward to that.

I'll open it up for whoever's got questions.

Q. Before we get going, just get your reaction to Steve Spurrier and will it seem weird -- every year he's been an SEC coach, he's faced you in some kind of capacity. So getting your reaction to him.
COACH RICHT: Well, yeah, that relationship goes back a lot of years. When I was at Florida State, obviously he was at Florida a lot of that time. I don't know if he was all of that time but a lot of that time.

Some of my memories of Coach is just watching his offenses play. They were running the fun-and-gun as everybody knows over there at Florida, and we were competing against that year after year. As a young coach, you watch offensive football and you learn, and you steal ideas. I can't tell you how many times we would watch film of what we were doing and decided to put it in there at Florida State over the years.

The other way I got to know Coach Spurrier a little bit better was through the Heisman Trophy awards banquets. I was blessed to coach Charlie Ward and Casey Weldon was runner-up, so he was there, and Chris Wienke won it, along with Charlie. So I was at three of those events and I think Coach Spurrier was at every one of them. I think he goes back to every one of them. Kind of got to know him through that a little bit. Really enjoyed that.

And the other thing that's kind of meaningful to me, and I mentioned this before, 2006, my wife, we found out she had some cancer; that she's doing fine and 100 percent well now on, but he was one of the coaches that picked up the phone and called me and let me know he was thinking about me; and Katherine, and really appreciated that about him.

He was fun to compete against because you just never know what was going to happen or you never knew what he might say. Some people got real bent out of shape with a lot of things he said. I never really did. I just figured, the thing I liked the most about Coach Spurrier, and as far as a relationship as a fellow head coach, is that he was always just honest about everything. What he was saying is what he was thinking, and he wasn't going to pull any punches one way or another.

I appreciated that about him. So I didn't always agree with everything he said (chuckling) but I never really took anything too personally if he was trying to have little fun here and there. But I would wish him -- I texted him this morning, matter of fact, I wish him and his family a wonderful retirement. Coach, you deserve it, and you've blessed college football for many years.

Q. Did it surprise you last night? Did you have any inkling?
COACH RICHT: I didn't know. It was a surprise. I didn't expect it to happen. But, you know, I can understand it. I can understand it. It's quite a job, quite a business, and to be doing it as many years as he's been doing it, I'm not surprised necessarily. I mean, it surprised me that I didn't know it was coming when it came, but everybody ends their career somewhere along the way.

Nick Chubb, by the way, appreciates everybody who has been reaching out to him. Just wishing him well, and he's doing well. He's in good spirits and he'll be getting that surgery here in that next little bit.

Q. You always talk about eliminating the outside noise, so I know you're probably not aware of the criticism, it's real high after two losses so far this season. How do you generally react to things not going the way you want to? Clearly you feel the same way fans do; you wanted to win the game.
COACH RICHT: Yeah, we all have frustrations. I just go back to the things I can control, and I focus on that. Don't focus on things I can't control. So the things I can control is how we prepare for the next one.

So that's what I think about it. That's what I focus on. I focus on our staff. I focus on our team and what do we got to do to win the next one. It's just like in the middle of a ballgame, if there's a pick six or a penalty or whatever, something that's not really great, my goal is not to go find the way and wear him out. I mean, I may talk to him a little bit about it, but my goal is to say, okay, well, something bad happened, where are we now, what do we got to do to win and that's kind of how I treat the season, as well.

Q. How do you react to the kind of ever-changing SEC when you have Florida lose their quarterback, and you mentioned Missouri's suspension, and knowing what might seem like something -- can change in two weeks.
COACH RICHT: Yeah, it's amazing how fast things can change whether through suspension or injury or whatever it may be, retirement of a coach, things do change. And that's the whole thing, it's changing for everybody. Everybody has issues. Everybody has injuries or guys banged up or they have got somebody who has got an issue off the field or whatever it is, so now you have to manage it and try to find a way to keep everybody focused on the job at hand.

And most every coach and player to a certain degree, I think finds comfort in the grind of it, in the routine of it. This is what we're going to do this day, this day, this day, this day, this day; in order to get all the work in, we have to do it a certain way. I think it's a little therapeutic sometimes, too, when you're licking your wounds a little bit.

Q. Obviously last year Boss was known for his vocal leadership and some guys on defense. Was that missed in any way or did you feel like people were stepping into that void right away or what?
COACH RICHT: I think we have good leaders on this team. I think that we have some really solid seniors, especially. And there's some other guys that are a little bit younger but experienced enough to have leadership qualities.

But I think we as coaches got to help them understand that they have influence and understand -- and maybe even help them infiltrate their energy into the team, and understand that they can influence these guys and they need to have faith and confidence that they can; and they need to be unified as they go about it.

So those are some of the things that we work on with our guys and we actually have a leadership meeting here in an hour or so -- did I say something funny? Okay. I thought maybe I said something really dumb (Laughter).

Q. Kind of a two-parter. College football is a next-man-up kind of sport; is Keith Marshall ready? And can you give us an update on the A.J. Turman's status with the program; is he healthy and ready to go, as well?
COACH RICHT: Right. Well, I do believe that Keith is ready to play. I mean, he's been getting a lot of reps and he has been playing to a certain degree. So yeah, he definitely knows he's going to have to step up. Brendan Douglas, the same way.

We have actually been spending a little more time training Quayvon Hicks, mainly because he's played a lot of plays in his career and also, we have trained him in the past at that position and he's got some pretty good running skills. He's a physical back and he also is probably more proficient as a pass protector, as well.

So that's kind of the guys we kind of go into the game with. But yeah, I think guys get excited when they have an opportunity to play more. I mean, just natural, every's working hard to get a chance to play. And you know, sometimes get a chance to start or whatever it is, and I think it just gets their blood pumping just a little bit harder in practice and in a ballgame knowing that they are going to get more reps.

A.J. is doing really pretty good. He's healthy and he's been working hard, and he's been giving us a good look on the scout team recently.

Q. How concerned are you with the third down conversion percentage right now?
COACH RICHT: It's not good.

Q. How are you trying to go about correcting that?
COACH RICHT: Well, first thing, last night, as a matter of fact, we looked at every single one of them for the year, all the third down conversions, the good and the bad, and tried to find the common themes and threads and things that we might be able to do better. I'm not going to get into a lot of details because may give a hint to what we might be trying to get accomplished.

But I think you've just got to look at it in totality, and that's what we did. There was a couple times you're in in the game, and you're running out the clock in a three-minute offense or something like that. There's a few of those thrown in there.

But for the most part, even if you took those out, statistically, it's not been what it ought to be. And we've had too many three-and-outs. You get three-and-outs, you lose momentum offensively. You put your defense back on the field faster than you want to.

So we've definitely got to get better at that. That's a huge point of improvement that we're trying to make. And last night was third down night, and I can promise you, we stayed up another hour, hour and a half than normal, just first of all, like I said, reviewing every one of them, critiquing every one of them and then going to try to get the plan.

Q. Going forward with Sony Michel, he's obviously a little bit of a different back than Nick Chubb. Do you anticipate the offense looking a lot different or the same or what do you anticipate?
COACH RICHT: I think a lot -- we are not reinventing our playbook. We may emphasize some things more than others and just how much of a load Sony will take on, it will definitely be -- he'll be the primary guy. But how does that translate into number of carries and all that kind of thing; I think the key to that is really keeping an eye on him and just seeing how he's doing.

Like I said before, with a lot of TV time-outs, like CBS game, you get four in each quarter and then you get four floaters throughout the game. So if you say go six plays and put the other guy in for three; or every third series, the other guy goes in -- well, as the game is being played, it may not be the wisest time to do it.

You may just have a TV timeout and it's time to put the other guy in by what you design; but your No. 1 guy is ready, fresh, there's no point in doing that. So you just have to keep an eye on him and make the move when needed.

Q. After looking at the film, how did Trenton Thompson grade out, eight tackles, seemed like he had a good performance.
COACH RICHT: He did. Trent, he does a really good job of using his hands and getting separation from the blocker and being able to shed him and go make a play. D-Linemen, it's hard to find guys that can get off blocks, and because of him using his hands the way he does -- and he's not perfect by any means. He's still a work-in-progress for sure.

But Coach Rocker has really helped him develop some good fundamentals. And he came in with some good stuff, too, now. He wasn't as highly thought of because he wasn't a good player and didn't have some good technique. But he's certainly perfecting it, and he's making an impact. He's starting because he deserved to start. We didn't promise him anything in recruiting. You come in and earn it, and he did.

Q. Missouri is starting a true freshman quarterback and obviously you have a commitment for next year. How tough is it in the SEC to start as a freshman? I know you did it with Matthew.
COACH RICHT: It's not easy. Matthew took his lumps a bunch. I remember a couple ballgames, it was rough. So I think it's tough to start a true freshman for sure. I think if guys can come in in mid-year, it gives you a little bit more of a chance if you have a spring prior to it.

But whether that happens or not, you just can't simulate the speed, the sounds, the sensation of playing in front of that many people, not only in the stands but on national TV; and the attention that is brought on about it, being able to manage your social life; being able to manage academics. It is a bunch; even the most talented guys and the most mature guys, they hit a wall somewhere along the way and you've got to help them through it.

Q. With six games left to go, and the goal of getting to Atlanta still is in reach, what trait with this team do you feel like they have that can finish strong and be able to get to that point?
COACH RICHT: They play hard. When you play hard, it gives you a chance. We weren't having a lot of missed assignment problems, but this last ballgame, we had more than most.

So we've got to look at ourselves and say, are we giving them too much. And if we are, we need to make sure that we reduce -- you know, when you reduce learning, usually increase the ability to play fast. The more certain a guy is of what he's supposed to do in all situations, the faster he can play.

And that's what you've got to do. You've got to react fast. You've just got to play with your -- being able to turn loose your God-given ability. If you're thinking too much, then you can't do what you've been given naturally I guess. It almost has to be second nature to you. That's why freshman quarterbacks have a hard time being great, because there is a lot of things to learn. And some of the best passers in the world, if they are thinking too much, they don't throw as accurately because they are just not able to anticipate like you need to and all that.

I think the biggest thing that gives me hope that we can get where we want to get is how hard everybody is playing and how hard everybody is trying to do what we are asking them to do. They have been coachable, teachable, playing hard as heck, and we appreciate that about them.

Q. You guys only have 11 receptions from tight ends this year. What sort of change with Brian Schottenheimer coming in --
COACH RICHT: Well, I don't know how that rates to last year. Do you have any stats on that?

Q. Inaudible.
COACH RICHT: Well, he might have been the only one. I don't know. I don't know how far we have from a year ago to be honest with you. Hadn't really looked at it.

Somebody asked me that on the call-in show last night, and the reality is, we have progression reads. Meaning, we're going to throw it to this guy if he's open; if not, we'll throw it to that guy or that guy; or we may go high to medium to low. Sometimes we work outside-in on some of our reads and that type of thing.

So if a guy is open, we throw it to him. That's the goal. And sometimes the tight end is the guy in the progression that breaks open first. Sometimes he doesn't. So we're not doing really a whole lot different. There's a tight end or two in our scheme every single snap. Not everyone -- we've done a couple times where we've got into four-receiver sets, maybe less than five probably all season long. So there's one or two tight ends in the ballgame and they are eligible receivers and they are running routes. Sometimes it gets to them. Sometimes it doesn't.

Q. You spoke Sunday night, when asked about the punting and Collin, going maybe more to a rugby-style kick. What precipitated that decision and did that have anything to do with consistency? Have you considered using somebody else in that spot?
COACH RICHT: Right. Well, if we put this punter in and all he did was rugby, and then we put him in and all he did was traditional, then we tell them what we're doing. That's part of it. You want a guy that can do both.

There are certain pressures that they will bring if they know you are in a traditional punt. They could pretty much get you to set your protection a certain way because everybody in the country, if you're in the shield, you do it about the same way. Everybody knows, hey, I can get them to turn this way and punt it or whatever.

But also, there's certain looks you can get overloaded on and make it more difficult to protect but if you have the element of being able to rugby it at any given moment, then some of the pressures that may hurt this shield punt scheme, it doesn't even faze the rocket -- we call it rocket, but the rugby kick.

So you've got to mix it in. Now we did a bunch of it this last game, obviously, and some of it had to do with the protection issue and some of it had to do with just trying to get balls out there that are hard to handle, because they had a really good return man.

We know, like I spent a lot of time with Coach Ekeler on punt return and block; and the teams that rugby, that ball is just so unpredictable where it's going to bounce and all that. It's hard to set up a return. So if you have a really great return man, it's harder to set up a return.

Now the one that he got some yards on, that ball ended up being up the in the air, you if remember and really it didn't have enough height. Some people rugby and get it high and drop it where you want it and some do that little nasty thing where you don't know where it's going to bounce.

So either way, you've either got to get great height and land it where it needs to be or strike it where it bounces around but still get it in the area of the field that you're trying to cover. But the reason why we've done some of the rugby is to be less predictable in how we protect.

Q. You've talked before about speaking during the off-season; how could you categorize the rivalry with Missouri, given that Missouri has won the last two Easts and you've won the two before that.
COACH RICHT: Well, the more you play somebody, the more it becomes a rival game, and the more they ruin your plans, the more you want to get after them.

They have done well. We need to do a good job against this team because they are real solid, and they do the things that you need to do to win games and sometimes it's not super flashy, but they find a way to get done more times than not. So as far as a rivalry, it's hard to say it's a true rival game yet but anybody's in the Eastern Division becomes a rival here in a hurry.

Q. You mentioned about Sony maybe having a little bit reduced role. Does that include kick return and who would work there and is McKenzie available?
COACH RICHT: We don't see McKenzie being ready. It has not been totally finalized how we are going to manage Sony. We could either keep him on the teams he's on and just not have him go every time that team goes out; or me take him off completely from a couple and allow the other guys to get reps and get good at it.

There may come a time in the ballgame where we've got to have, whatever it may be -- we may be punting, if we get this guy on the ground, we win. Well, Sony's probably going in the game, so I'm not going to sit here and say he's off of all the teams.

Thank you.

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