Dawg Blog

O Line could be Outstanding

Posted on Mar 11, 2010 by Jeff Dantzler  | 

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As spring practice will crank back up for Georgia, let’s take a look at some different areas for the Bulldogs.

The offensive line should certainly be a strength, Georgia with almost all of its frontline players back, in addition to a nice crop of redshirts, and then come fall, some true freshmen and hopefully junior Trinton Sturdivant, a freshman All-American on Georgia’s 2007 squad that finished No. 2 nationally, who has suffered a pair of major knee injuries.

Clint Boling and Cordy Glenn on the left side at tackle and guard, anchor the front, and Ben Jones is back at center. The competition figures to be hot and heavy with Josh Davis and Chris Davis figuring in the mix, along with Justin “Bean” Anderson, who can play guard or tackle.

Amongst the redshirt freshmen to keep an eye is Chris Burnette, a highly touted guard who was the salutatorian of his senior high school class.

Stacy Searels is an excellent O-Line coach, he’s got talent, depth and experience – plus a group that has to have sky-high confidence after plowing through Tech in the regular season finale, as the Bulldogs amassed over 300 yards on the ground.
There will be growing pains at quarterback and quite likely on defense, as Georgia goes through a series of adjustments, so for the Bulldogs to contend for a trip to Atlanta, the O-Line must play big in 2010.

Tagged: georgia football, 2010, offensive line

One (long) Month Until G-Day

Posted on Mar 10, 2010 by Andrew Miller  | 

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Today, March 10th, brings us exactly one month away from G-Day. Sweet.

The last time most of us were inside Sanford Stadium was for the dreaded UK game last fall. Remember that? Its the game where during the course of the second half we fumbled a kickoff, watched our defense give up 60+ yard screen plays for touchdowns, called an end around inside the red zone, called a pitch play on the one yard line and fumbled, and were subjected to Miley Cyrus music over the PA system. Sheesh. I’m ready to purge those thoughts from my mind and replace them with visions from a glorified football scrimmage; I’m ready to walk out of Sanford Stadium in a good mood.

Speaking of good moods, here is a bit of optimism regarding the advance weather forecast for G-Day. The trusty Farmer’s Almanac says that April and May should be “much warmer and drier than normal” in the southeast.

And finally, since the UK game was the last time that Sanford Stadium was open and available to the public, I direct you to Ryan Scates’ Editor’s note from the most recent issue of BI Athens which is available now. I’m still laughing at the mental image of he and his girlfriend doing their best rendition of the “Trinton Sturdivant Shuffle” in the end zone at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium last week.

Tagged: gday game, trinton sturdivant dance, uga football, bulldawg illustrated athens

Defensive Players who could Make a Jump

Posted on Mar 10, 2010 by Jeff Dantzler  | 

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Here are some players who need to have big seasons for Georgia’s defense to make a jump:
DE/OLB Justin Houston – the SEC’s leading returning sacker can make that next step and become an elite defender.
OLB Cornelius Washington – knows how to get after the passer and should be a great fit on the edge.
S Baccari Rambo – big hitter who was Georgia’s best “back seven” player for a stretch before getting hurt.
CB Brandon Boykin – the SEC’s best kickoff returner is also a good corner who can take it to another level.
CB Branden Smith – the electric sophomore-to-be could team with Boykin to give the Dogs a top flight pair of corners.

Tagged: georgia football, defense in 2010

Issue #5 of Bulldawg Illustrated Athens Beyond the Hedges is out!

Posted on Mar 8, 2010 by Cheri Leavy  | 

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Click on the cover below and view page by page of the issue:

Tagged: bulldawg illustrated, bi athens, athens ga, uga athletics, uga sports

Gym Dogs Shatter Season-High, Edge Out UCLA

Posted on Mar 7, 2010 by Georgia Sports Communications  | 

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ATHENS, Ga. -— With the Georgia gymnastics team needing at least a 9.9 from Courtney McCool in the final performance of the day, the senior delivered with a 9.925 on floor to wrap up a stellar 197.900-197.875 upset victory for the No. 5 Gym Dogs over No. 3 UCLA on Saturday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum.

Georgia’s 197.900 was good for second-best in the nation this season behind only the 197.950 by Oklahoma last night. UCLA’s 197.875 is now third. Georgia’s previous season-high was its 197.250 on Feb. 19 at Florida.

Georgia set season-high marks on vault, beam, and floor on the day, while the Gym Dogs got 17 season-best individual performances including their first “10” of the season – coming from senior Grace Taylor on beam. Georgia won at least a share of three events, as Kat Ding won vault, Taylor shared the beam title, and Hilary Mauro won floor.

The win extended Georgia’s home winning streak to 33 straight.

“It feels great, it really does,” said head coach Jay Clark. “The team finally showed up and did what we all knew we were capable of. What a great day for both teams. I think what you really saw today was how we knew we could do it, and how we’ve been doing it in the gym, and this will really help us get ready for the stretch run.”

The Gym Dogs (5-4) started out their day on vault, where freshman Noel Couch and sophomore Gina Nuccio kicked it off with matching 9.850s, which marked a season and career best for Nuccio. Junior Hilary Mauro then added a season-high 9.900, while was followed by Cassidy McComb’s season-best 9.875 and Marcia Newby’s season-high 9.875. Sophomore Kat Ding then continued the record-setting effort as she included a season and career-best 9.975 as Georgia finished with five season-bests on the first event on its way to a 49.475 effort on vault, marking their best vault total of the season.

UCLA (9-3) got a 9.925 from Anna Li and a 9.900 from Vanessa Zamarripa to total a 49.300 on bars in their first rotation as Georgia took the lead after one.

Georgia hit the bars next, where the first three Gym Dogs set season-high marks there. McComb led off with a 9.800, followed by Taylor’s 9.850 and Newby’s 9.875. Gina Nuccio posted another 9.875 for the Gym Dogs while Ding added a 9.900 to round it out at 49.300 on the event. The Bruins saw a strong vault effort, led by Zamarripa’s 9.950 and a 9.9 from both Li and Tauny Frattone to earn a 49.500 on the event. That gave UCLA the slim 98.800-98.775 lead at the halfway point.

The third event of the day for Georgia was beam, where Taylor shone in the fifth slot with her “10” – the third perfect score of her career and second on beam, with the other coming on March 14, 2009 vs. Michigan. Taylor’s teammates also turned in solid routines on beam to continue Georgia’s day, with McComb leading off with a season-best 9.850 and the freshman duo of Couch and Christa Tanella adding 9.900s – both career highs. McCool then wrapped it up with a 9.900. The Georgia total of 49.550 was a season-best in the event, and after UCLA totaled a 49.425 on floor, Georgia took back the slight lead at 148.325-148.225 after three trips.

The last stop was floor, where the Gym Dogs were started off by Couch’s career-high 9.875 which was followed by Mauro’s 9.950 to mark a career-high for her. Nuccio followed with a season-best 9.875. At that point, through three routines on the final rotation, the score was deadlocked at 168.150. McComb went fourth on floor for Georgia, logging a 9.925 to tie her career-high, while Taylor went next with a 9.900 to tie her season best. That set the stage for the SEC’s Co-Gymnast of the Week McCool, who needed to post at least the 9.900 for Georgia to tie the Bruins. The senior again rose to the occasion, posting the 9.925 to seal the win as Georgia totaled a season-best 49.575 on floor to make it the third event of the day with a season-best score. UCLA finished on beam with a 49.650 – paced by Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs – but the Gym Dogs held on for the slim 197.900-197.875 victory.

“This blows my mind – this is Georgia,” said Tanella. “This is what we’ve worked for. This is who we are and what we’ve been waiting for and trying to show, and finally we did it.”

Georgia and UCLA have combined for the last seven national championships and a total of 15 in their storied histories. The Gym Dogs improve to 33-13 all-time against the Bruins.

UCLA was the fourth consecutive top-10 opponent on Georgia’s schedule.

Today’s meet will air on March 11 at 10 p.m. on CSS.

The Gym Dogs will have a busy weekend in store as they next head to take on No. 12 Michigan on Fri., March 12 at 7 p.m. in Ann Arbor, before returning to Athens to host 25th-ranked N.C. State on Sun., March 14 at 4 p.m. to close out the regular-season.

Tagged: gymdogs, uga gymnastics, jay clark, ga bulldogs, georgia fan photos, bulldawg illustrated