Bulldog Hotline Redux - Mizzou

Last night Richt was unavailable, so Scott Howard had both Coach Bobo and Coach Grantham on the Bulldog Hotline. And although it made things more difficult in transcribing it as both coordinators are more "wordy" than Richt, it was good listening. You can hear the excitement in Bobo's voice when asked about the young kids he has out on the field. He doesn't shy away from the mistakes they have made, but seems eager to see them develop the way everyone is expecting them to.

Then Grantham went "live":

Robert in Sandy Springs is thrilled Grantham is in Athens. Says he is much appreciated, thankful for everything he does. Asks about the difference between coaching on the sideline as opposed to the box. Also wants to knows about Corey Moore and Josh Harvey-Clemons and how they are being worked in the secondary. Grantham says he was in the box when he first started, mostly checking personnel. Once he became a coach he moved down to the sideline to work with the defensive line. Then when he became a coordinator he and Saban (at Michigan State) discussed this and decided it was more important to be down on the field. Better feel for the players and the game. Plus he likes to make the signals. He’s the “live” guy. Being down on the sidelines also allows him more time to make the call, make decisions. Lakatos and Olivadotti are his eyes up in the box and they tell him the personnel and where certain breakdowns are on both sides. Thinks you just get a better feel for the team and how the line of scrimmage is doing if you’re on the field. The second part of the question about the secondary, thought Devin Bowman got better from game one to game two. Did a better job jamming receivers, re-routing them. Again, Sanders is expected to play both safety and corner. As far as Corey Moore, he’s a lot like Shawn Williams. They need to continue to work Corey and be patient. He’s just playing behind a talented guy, a senior. So when his time comes he’s got to be ready for it. Josh Harvey-Clemons is playing both the safety and the nickel position. Says he would’ve been in the game Saturday if there had been just one injury. Will continue to work him and develop him because he’s going to be a good player going forward.

Anyone who has seen Grantham coach knows he would be a lost soul in the box during a game. And I especially enjoyed his explanation for why it's more important to have Malcolm Mitchell on defense than it is offense.

Trevor Samples asks if Malcolm Mitchell will play more at WR with Sanders Commings returning this week. Grantham says that Sanders is a guy that can play corner or safety and this week he will probably be doing both. Says he thinks Mitchell can be a dynamic corner. Has the length and the size to be a press type corner and make it hard to make accurate throws. Thinks he’ll have to continue to help us on defense because of the need we have at defensive back. Thinks can play both sides. Can get in on some special plays. Makes the point that on offense you can control the plays he’s in on. On defense he can’t control what the offense runs. Can’t tell you whether it’s going to be a run or a pass, just that they have these people in the game and they need to matchup in a certain way. Defense is about matchups, both to prevent big gains and to get guys like Jarvis one on one on people to make big plays. So he’ll continue to play Malcolm in the secondary.

And to think I thought he was going to give the standard "Mitchell was recruited as a DB" answer. It's clear that our defensive coordinator thinks Mitchell can be even more of an impact player on his side of the ball than on the side where Mitchell earned his bones last season. Can't say that I disagree, especially after seeing what #26 could do at about 80% healthy the other night.

More where this came from. Go check out the full transcript.