The Bauta option

This is something Tyler and I touched on, but I wanted to give it some more thought after reading this piece by Paschall.

Most quarterbacks wear noncontact jerseys in spring games, but Bauta chose to invite the defensive hits by wearing white. The 6-foot-3, 216-pounder from West Palm Beach rushed six times for 35 yards, and Richt praised his decision to welcome live tackling and showcase his athletic ability in the run game.

...

"Whether that's the case or not, I'm going to be in there grinding every day like I'm first on the depth chart or last on the depth chart," Bauta said. "It shouldn't matter. To be honest, it's never going to affect my motivation of what I'm doing. If I'm the No. 2 guy or No. 3 guy or whatever the case may be, my preparation and work ethic can never stop.

"I have to be prepared, because you never know what can happen." 

Truth. We all remember thinking Aaron Murray was on his way to a career game on Senior Night right?

Look, I have no hesitations in my confidence with Hutson Mason running the offense. Some uneasiness is there, but that is solely a product of no longer having a longtime starter under center. However, I do feel like we will need an added dimension at quarterback in certain situations.

For instance, there are two big differences I saw once Mason took over late last season. One was simply confidence. Murray had that as a fifth year senior; Mason lacked it, understandably. Secondly, and most importantly for the 2014 season, is zip on the ball. Mason will gain confidence aplenty as he continues to become entrenched as the starting quarterback for the University of Georgia and the leader in the huddle. But he won't have all of the throws we've become used to seeing.

You may read that as deep throws to the center of the field or deep outs to the sideline. But where it will truly manifest itself as a potential issue is in the red zone. There's just less time to put a pass on the money to the right spot before the whole window is completely shut.

Again, like Tyler said in the podcast, we may be proven wrong. I hope so. But what may be a valuable option, both in the short term and the long, is Faton Bauta. Even if he too doesn't have the arm to make those throws, or even if he doesn't quite have the grasp of the playbook yet to allow Bobo to keep the entire thing open, he could add another dimension with his running ability that would freeze linebackers long enough for a play to develop.

With that, the yards and the touchdowns will come. Without it, Marshall Morgan's leg may be our best red zone option.

The Junkyard Dawg Podcast #7 - GDay wrapup with Tyler Dawgden

The one and only Tyler Dawgden of Georgia Sports Blog joins us in the Junkyard to talk about spring practice news and specifically GDay. He talks about the secondary's development under new defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, the embarrassment of riches at receiver and running back, the quarterback competition behind Mason, and of course, the new era of piped in music at Sanford Stadium.

The end got clipped a bit in editing, but this one is chock full of insights and information. Great stuff. Many thanks to Tyler for taking the time to join us!

Thanks for listening y'all! Here are the links from this episode:
- Tyler's recap post of GDay, and also his thoughts prior to the scrimmage
- Emerson's 10 players whose stock rose this spring
- Get the direct JDP Feed HERE
- JDP in the Android Store!!
- Or on Stitcher!!

Chad Kelly chooses not to get rid of cable.

Chad Kelly threw an interception. When you throw an interception you get benched. When you get benched you have yourself a hissy fit. When you have yourself a hissy fit you get in a "fender bender". When you get in a "fender bender" you get dismissed from the team. When you get dismissed from the team you get escorted from practice by campus police.

Don't get escorted from practice by campus police. Get rid of cable.

Damn Good Daddy!

A picture as great as his tournament. Congrats Bubba!

GDay wrapped into two tweets

Got back into town late last night and haven't even seen the first clip from the scrimmage. So you'll definitely get better analysis elsewhere. I'll spend much of the day catching up on everything I've missed.

But I think these two tweets from a couple beat guys summarize the whole thing pretty well:

Good day for players to show off their skills in a glorified scrimmage. And a great day for fans to get a taste of a college football Saturday. In April.

An idle crockpot never boils

Nice piece on Ray Drew here by Emerson. The rising senior has always been quick with a pithy quote, but he's having to prove himself on the field all over again.

“Ray’s had some good moments, just like everybody on the team,” Pruitt said. “He’s just gotta continue to work hard. Just take it one drill at a time, one play at a time.”

Drew is saying all the right things about the demotion. After all, he could find himself back on first team very quickly.

And he says that it did make him work harder.

“I don’t know what the thinking was behind it, all I know is I can control what I do from here on out,” he said. “Hopefully it was a motivational deal, and by the time the season rolls around I’ll still be out there. But that’s gonna be up to me." 

Put a spring in my step

I know I'm behind on the news of the last scrimmage. But I've got to tell you that reading this this morning brought a smile to my face.

Hicks with a touchdown catch and Rumph leading all receivers! If only it were August y'all.

The Junkyard Dawg Podcast #6 - Coach Bauerle allegations

It's a getaway episode just before the Junkyard is locked up for a week. Heading towards some vacation, but wanted to weigh in on the Coach Bauerle news as well as some developments from spring practice. We're one week away from GDay folks!

Links from this episode:
- Coach Bauerle suspended indefinitely
- Pruitt moving players all around
- Emerson's Tramel Terry feature
- Find the JDP in the Android Store!!
- Or on Stitcher!!

And email your feedback to thejunkyarddawgpodcast@gmail.com. Go Dawgs!!

Friday Feedbag - shower discipline in Athens GA

First, my sincerest apologies for pranking some of you the other day. Second, be forewarned that it won't be the last attempt at Mike Campo'ing y'all. To make up for it, I figured we'd start the weekend with something to eat. This has been slow roasting for quite some time. So it should be quite savory.

From the WTF file comes a tale of two young lovers, both wild-eyed and head over heels for each other. Undoubtedly planning to spend the rest of their lives together. Without question the most innocent and genuine relationship in Clarke County. Pure and unabashed contentment. Relentless passion and unconditional devotion to one another.

Like Mr. Ward, Lil Dools doesn't believe in cutting corners in the shower.

They even had so much passion for each other's personal hygiene that they decided to shower one another with an amorous lather. Cleansing each other...rinsing...repeating. Conditioning their inner affections and staring deeply into each others gaze, they reached towards the soap dish at the same moment, and...

...did I mention they were both sixteen? And that they thought they were in the apartment (the one rented by the girl's step-father) alone? Yes, well what happened next you've probably heard about. The step-father came home, assaulted the recently well rinsed young man and was later charged with battery and cruelty to children.

Which is why I dropped it in the WTF File. No, I do not condone grown men hitting teenagers. Especially when said teenager is wearing nothing but his birthday suit. But if I were the boy's parents I would find it hard to press charges against Mr. Clinton Ward. But then again, I'm more of a believer in you reap what you sow. After all, Life has all kinds of natural consequences. And if you want to pretend to be an adult, you best be ready to defend yourself.

Nekkid or not.

Now, some links to chew on:
- Condolences to the guys over at Sports and Grits. RIP samdizl.
- If you haven't already, make sure you check out the Mark Richt artwork contest. I still torn between Patrick's and Holly's. But I give the edge to Holly for including Grizzard.
- Garbin takes some comfort in adding a lot of numbers to the history of the offensive line's production.
- Blutarsky finds it hard to feel any sympathy for Ricardo Lewis.
- Bobo is "rolling through a lot of guys" until the reinforcements come this summer.
- Poole tries to keep up with the pace of practice.
- Just started a new book with some Georgia flair - The Killing King of Gratis. Written by a an actual reader here named Jay Jackson. Y'all check it out.
- Thirty-three years is a long time to stay up so late. Goodnight Mr. Letterman.

Speaking of Two Young Lovers, let's wish em every happiness.

That's all from here ladies and gents. I'm heading to the coast tomorrow by way of a beer festival in Greenville. I'll be updating the blog here, but it will be between salted rims and fried seafood. Until we meet again kids, stay clean and don't share any staph infections.

We don't need no stinking depth chart!

According to Coach Pruitt, his defense still has that new car smell:

“We have no depth chart,” he said. “We just have somebody who goes with the ones.”

On Thursday, that included nose guard Mike Thornton and walk-on Aaron Davis at cornerback.

Indeed. Yesterday JJ Green took some reps at safety after cornerback Brendan Langley got a look back there the practice before. Which Pruitt explained as such:

“Brendan was a high school wide receiver,” Pruitt said. “He’s got really good ball skills. Just looking for a guy who can play the ball in the deep part of the field.”

So the transition between Grantham and Pruitt continues with more questions than answers, but the new defensive coordinator is confident things will shake out just fine by August:

“Two weeks into fall camp, we’ll get them in their spots,” Pruitt said. “Maybe they’ll be some guys this spring that kind of take that step to where you say I know I can count on him but right now we’re just a work in progress.”

Hey, the defense was going to be a work in progress anyway. Just glad it's with new coaches looking over players that are eager to make an impression. GDay is going to be pretty fun!