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Cleaning the mess Georgia's '99 defensive woes have Donnan's attention
Posted: Tuesday April 11, 2000 06:50 PM
By Stewart Mandel, CNNSI.com ATHENS, Ga. -- Three agricultural consultants and four months of drainage work have yet to erase the mysterious smell coming from beneath the turf of Georgia's Sanford Stadium. As for the stink from last year's Bulldog defense, that removal process is nearly complete. Despite an 8-4 season and record-setting comeback to beat Purdue in the Outback Bowl, last year was considered a disappointment among many here on a campus whose expectations each fall rise to a point short of seeing Herschel Walker himself trot back on to the field. One didn't have to look far for the culprit, either. A defense loaded with potential superstars often fell flat, allowing 441 yards to Central Florida and 552 to Georgia Tech, and falling behind 38-0 against Auburn.
"Auburn was one of those games where you were just like, 'This is not happening,'" receiver-turned-safety Jermaine Phillips said. "If you look at the film, play by play, we're not getting beat. It was just a few big plays at the wrong time." Coach Jim Donnan obviously needed to make some changes, but no one would have expected one quite so drastic as this: In February, just after Signing Day, Donnan demoted defensive coordinator Kevin Ramsey, who he had hired away from Tennessee just a year earlier, leading Ramsey to publicly criticize Donnan and reach a settlement with the school to leave altogether. Though the players say they support the decision, many had become close with the young, African-American Ramsey, and are uncomfortable thinking back to the shocking move. "It was the best move for our program, I guess, but I don't want to express my emotions about that sort of thing," linebacker Kendrell Bell said. "I'm here to play for Georgia, to try win a championship, and not get wrapped up in things like that." Georgia's defensive players have spent the spring getting acquainted with their new coordinator, a man who many football fans will get reacquainted with in the fall. It's Gary Gibbs, the former Oklahoma coordinator under Barry Switzer, head coach from 1989-94 and old friend of Donnan's. But unlike many college situations, where the coordinator has to teach all-new schemes, Gibbs has only minor tweaks to make to a unit that returns 10 starters and already plays his preferred "4-3 Multiple" defense. Gibbs inherits arguably the SEC's fiercest defensive line tandem in Richard Seymour and Marcus Stroud. Last year's two-way sensation Charles Grant, who led the team in sacks as a freshman with seven sacks, is expected to fully recover from an anterior cruciate ligament tear suffered in his knee late in the season. Bell anchors a linebacking corps that also includes veterans Will Witherspoon, Adrian Hollingshed and Boss Bailey (brother of Washington Redskin Champ Bailey). And the secondary produced 16 interceptions last year.
They look so good on paper, you almost need reminding these same players ranked 12th defensively in total yards allowed in the SEC last year. "I try not to read the paper, I don't need any more stress," Bell said. "I read one article last year -- I accidentally read it -- that talked about how our linebackers were all-this and all-that, and suddenly I was like, 'Oh man! We've got to do this, we've got to play like this.' You don't worry about that stuff during the game, but it adds up afterward." With a talented, experienced defense essentially pre-selected and gift-wrapped for him, Gibbs' primary challenge may be preparing himself. The college football landscape has changed dramatically during his six years out of the game. In the SEC alone, there are untraditional offenses to contend with at Florida and Kentucky. Even Lou Holtz has pledged to implement the spread offense at South Carolina. "In terms of what's happened since when I got out, there are more spread offenses, more matchup situations," Gibbs said. "In the past, it was specific schools, but now it's most schools that will cause matchup problems. But you just have to figure out the things you've got to do differently to match up." By all indications, this is a highly talented group that suffered some highly costly lapses. After all, when the 'Dawgs weren't falling under a shower of Ben Leard or Joe Hamilton touchdown passes, they were hanging within two points of SEC East champ Florida midway through the fourth quarter, or registering 11 sacks of Kentucky QB Dusty Bonner. "We've got a lot of capable athletes," Phillips said. "Last year, we were learning a new defense, everyone was trying to get on the same page, they didn't always mesh together. "But you could see it, that this could be a great defense. The third quarter against Florida, you could really see the defense come together. In the second half of the Outback Bowl [when Georgia came back from down 25-0 to win 28-25] -- Drew Brees is a great quarterback, but you saw the defense come together at halftime and come out and shut him down." The situation with Sanford's turf has wiped out Georgia's traditional spring game, so the new-look defense won't truly be on display until the Sept. 2 opener against Georgia Southern. By then, no doubt, the demanding Bulldog faithful will expect both problems wiped out.
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