Not so special teams

Special Teams have been a big let down this season. Richt ponders why.

"We know we have got to get better," Richt said. "It's two things in my opinion that it could be -- either it's what we are doing schematically or it's who do we have on those teams. I guess it could be a third thing: Are they actually doing what we are asking them to do? In all those areas we must improve."

The Bulldogs will enter next year having to replace Boykin, Butler and Walsh, but it's the guts of each unit that Richt is ready to address.

"We'll probably do more special-teams work in the spring than we've done in the past," Richt said. "We knew we had a great punter, great kicker, holder, snapper and that kind of thing, but we also knew we had some youth on some of those teams. We lost [Akeem] Dent, [Darryl] Gamble, [Demarcus] Dobbs -- they were guys that could protect, escape and run and tackle a guy in the open field. We lost a batch of those guys, and we were a little shy on linebacker depth, so we just have to keep recruiting those kinds of guys.

"If we've got to put a bunch of starters on defense on some specials or starters at wide receiver or whatever you've got to do -- tailback -- I don't care what position. We've got to get the best guys out there and understand how crucial it is."

It might also be worth looking at how duties are handed out as well. I'd like Richt to think about taking things over himself.