SPORTSLINE ON SHOCKLEY
Dennis Dodd may be the master of the obvious, but he’s also quite good on the profile pieces. He puts up a nice one on D.J. Shockley’s decision to stay put for four years at Georgia while waiting for his shot as a starter. Outside of Texas Tech, where guys seem to like to wait a while before stepping in and throwing for 9,000 yards in a single season, it’s rare to find this in college football, and the article does a nice job of showing that after all this time…Shockley still doesn’t seem sure as to exactly why he stayed, which seems to be the take among many of the Dawg faithful here.(For more Georgia obsession, please pay a visit to Braves and Birds, a fellow Atlantan and a welcome addition to our blogroll, even if UGA fans do drive like meth-crazed suicide bombers.)
After four years in the same system, though, there should be no excuses for Shockley not being all-SEC this year: phenomenally talented, he’s poised to lend support to the Tee Martin Hypothesis this year in Athens, sparking a comeback of all things early-’90s with a replay of the Charlie Ward Fast Break offense. Please, though, please don’t let it bring back grunge flannel, though. It might work in Seattle, but down here it gets hot, and we don’t need that shit coming back with sixty percent humidity and 84 degrees. We’d rather wear a condom over our eye like Left Eye than go through grunge again.
We’d gladly wear the “2 Hype” shirts than go back to wearing flannel in 80 degrees.
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Peacedog says:
A couple of comments:
1) Careful with the “phenominally talented” stuff. Is he really? I don’t think his physical skills are lacking. I’ve seen him makes some beautiful deep throws and leave defenders in the dust. But neither of those things sets him head and shoulders above everyone else.
I sometimes think he’s still “arguably the top recruit in the country” in many people’s eyes (not that you are viewing things through those glasses). Is he really this top talent? He’s above average, but perhaps he was never going to be as good as everyone thought he would be (the fun thing is we get to find out this year). People miss on this stuff, sometiems. That he has talent is undeniable. I think how much talent he has is open for debate, though.
Also, all the talent in the world doesn’t mean cock if you aren’t a good decision maker. Mixed results there thusfar. I think he’s a good kid and pretty intelligent; I know he’s dilligent. So I think he will improve in this area for next year (god I hope so, in any case).
But he could have a very good season and not be All-Sec. Heck, the Dawgs could win the east and he barely makes third team in a successful year.
2) Are you familiar with the Sports-Guy for espn’s page 2? He beat the T-Martin Hypothesis to the punch a long time ago with the Ewing theory. His works a bit different (I hate that I cannot link to this because all of the archives are subscriber only).
A team with a big start never accomplishes the ultimate goal with that star. The star then goes away form some reason (often injury, but it can be something like graduation), and then team exceeds what they did with that star. It was created in honor of Big Pat himself. UT was one of the classic exmaples – Peyton was the all-everything QB, but they couldn’t be UF. He leaves, and then you get a national title.
3) I think we will run more than people think, but that remains to be seen. Playcalling has not been Richt’s strong suit. How creatively he can use the bevy of backs will in part dictate the season. But the O-line has to get better. They couldn’t push people enough in short yardage last year, though it was an improvement from the previous year.
I’m not sure how much of a factor Lumpkin will be – it may be another year before he is 100%.
Also, I worked in a cock reference for you, in the spirit of blogpoll round 2.
June 28th, 2005 at 1:52 pm
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Ian says:
I’m aware of the Patrick Ewing Theory, and I “created” the Tee Martin Hypothesis as something of a narrow sub-rule of it (see my post). It specifically addresses when an iconic white QB is replaced with a running QB. See: Peyton-Tee, Eli-Spurlock, Schaub-Hagans, Greene-Shockley.
June 28th, 2005 at 2:23 pm
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Anonymous says:
Thanks for the cock reference–we appreciate you getting into the spirit.
Yeah, like any other second-stringer, the between-the-ears stuff is unknown for Shockley, which means all we’ve got to go on is his past performances in limited time and our confidence in Richt’s ability to call a game. We trust him completely between the 20s; in the red zone, we sometimes wonder what’s going on in there. With a mobile qb, that might loosen up some interesting options down there for UGA.
Your backs, though, need no improvement. They’re primo.
Oh, and maybe we should call it the Tee Martin Corollary of the Patrick Ewing rule, made especially for college football.
June 28th, 2005 at 2:27 pm
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Anonymous says:
Ian beat me to it–elegantly crafted.
June 28th, 2005 at 2:29 pm
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Peacedog says:
I think it’s important to recognize where one theory is an offshoot of another, in the interest of science. Think of the children!
That’s a pretty good summation of Richt. At times the playcalling, 20 to 20, is pretty darn good and at times its shaky, but it’s generally solid if not spectacular (when we’re running well, the play-action is deadly). Most of my UGA friends have been overly harsh of Richt based on the red-zone woes (several people were calling for his removal after the Arkansas game last year – lunacy. That’s the other thing we should crusade against: insane football fans). But I definately think we’ve had too many problems there.
I do think part of it has been O-line releated. That’s where the line really earns its money. Defenses – even porous ones – gain the advantage of “the twelth defener”, and don’t have as much space to cover. Less space always hurts a talented team on the offensive – doesn’t matter what sport you are talking about. It’s that much more important to win the battle on the line of scrimmage, because sometimes you have to get 3 yards where 3 don’t exist.
But the playcalling at times has been baffling down there.
My only worry about the back’s is Wares untimley fumbles from last season. If he eliminates that problem, I’m going to be giddy.
June 28th, 2005 at 2:34 pm
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Anonymous says:
Finebaum calls them the “sports sociopathic” crowd. Couldn’t be said better; fans need to be more patient. Keep in mind we’re saying this as someone who called for Zook’s head after the first loss to LSU.
Richt should just do what he does best: score from 25 out and avoid the whole thing togther. That’s what the Weinke offenses did.
June 28th, 2005 at 2:42 pm
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Peacedog says:
I had Weinke on my college fantasy team his Senior year (Elkon is my partner, for the record). That was bliss.
I do think he understands you have to run more/somewhat differently to win at Georgia in the SEC than you did at FSU in the ACC. However, we’ve had mixed results in the I, and that’s supposed to be our Redzone Go-to offense.
June 28th, 2005 at 2:45 pm