



Here's coach Mark Richt praising the defense Saturday after practice

"Great day as far as putting some shoulder pads on and being able to pop a little bit, and do what we call 'thud.' It's a tempo. You have 'live' - which is tackling, blocking below the waist. 'Thud' is a full-speed drill but there's no below-the-waist blocking or tackling to the ground. There's other times we're going to run by a guy and tag off. We were in 'thud' today. Some really good, nice contact plays.

“The defense definitely won the day. They looked like they were more excited about playing football today. It started well for them and it just kept going. Offensively, I will say, sometimes things go bad and they just turn to junk for the rest of the day. But they fought, they competed, started to execute a little bit better as we went. Overall the defense looked like a more physically tough team than the offense, as a whole. Nice, hot, smoky, muggy day.”

On which defensive players stood out Saturday...

"It was like a swarm. I couldn't even tell you who - a lot of them. The defensive backs played, I thought, exceptionally well, with the ball in the air. There were some outstanding balls in the air that were broken up, and some really good-looking picks. I couldn't even tell you who got them, because I'm going to the next play. I'm not looking at the [jersey] number to see who got it. Overall, I thought the defensive backs really had a nice day with the ball in the air, and competing physically too.”

On if he would like to see his defense always "win" practice...

"I would be sick if the offense won every day. You're going to be in trouble. Defense, they might win every day, but I like it when at least one side of the ball is tough, if at least one side of the ball is getting after it, sooner or later the other side of the ball is going to rise to that. I'm not saying the offense didn't compete. I'm just saying today, the defense got the best of it. They looked more tough, more physical. Part of it was how they swarmed the ball. It wasn't necessarily one individual play or one individual hit. The guys were really rallying to the ball and striking.

“I'll say this too - when you 'thud,' as soon as you 'thud' a guy, we call him down. We know in real games, guys actually break a tackle, guys get yards after contact. If the drill is to four yards, and if it goes to four yards the offense wins, and if it's under four yards the defense wins, if the 'thud' is at three and a half, we're saying it's down, so the defense would win. In a real game, if that back finishes behind his pad and gets one yard after contact, the offense would probably win that drill. It's hard to keep score when you're in 'thud,' but it's still worth doing, because I want them competing every single drill.”

SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN (and thank you again Cam Ghorbi)