I promised @Radi Nabulsi I would give a small digest after attending todays UGA Men's Clinic with Coach Richt so here it is and bear with me because it's lengthy but I wanted to share the scoop with fellow Dawgs fans...
The event started at 8AM in the Butts-Mehre's Multi-Purpose Room (mini-IPF) with Coach Richt taking photos with each of us and signing one autograph per person. We each got CMR Camp t-shirts and then toured the weight room and reported to the team meeting room. I was very disappointed in the turnout, only 50/60 guys. I hope this poor turnout doesn't discourage future sessions.
Coach Richt was the first speaker and spoke in general on the team's summer status and the freshmen early enrollees and those that reported last week. Clark Williams, Assistant Video Coordinator, (aka Clark Video) showed us an exclusive video which they put together for the team to watch to get hyped for the Arkansas game. It included clips from the boxing movie "Cinderella Man" and Clark joked he had to beg CMR to include one cuss word in the clip. The motivation worked, helping the team to a big road win in Little Rock against an Arky team that just lost to Bama by one point.
Next up was Coach Lilly covering film and formations of the "offensive" side of special teams. Coach Lilly was hilarious and showed some of McKenzie's big plays.
Coach Ekeler was next with his Red Bull-intensity on the "defensive" side of special teams.. He had everyone in stitches with one of my favorite lines of the day "Isaiah McKenzie is faster than a fart in a skillet." Showed some film of Sony Michel in kickoff coverage, (covering) 40 yards in 4.19 in the Clemson game and how we flipped the field in the Vols game (leading to Josh Dawson's fumble recovery for a TD) and in the Auburn game (leading to an easy TD run for TG3). Ekeler continually sang the praises of Tim Kimbrough as "Phenomenal and a Grown a$$ Man". Ekeler said "We want snot bubbles coming out of the opposition's helmet when we hit them and Timmy does that".
Funny exchange: Ekeler pointed to the National Champion plaques on the wall and said "We want to add some more rectangles to that wall" upon which Lilly said "Actually Mike, those are parallelograms". Ekeler then replied "I was never very good at Geology anyways".
Coach Schotty was next, he started out by saying "Don't even ask me who the starting QB will be" ;-) Schotty gave an overview of the offensive transition in terminology. He walked through some of what the plays/formations the team (esp. Freshmen) are learning. We could not take any pictures "Cause that game in October is gonna be tough enough already".
Coach Sale then presented O-line plays/formations, followed by Coach Brown for RBs and Coach B-Mac for WR's and Coach Lilly for TE's. Each often included game film to highlight the key points.
We then went outside and 5 coaches led stations that the men would rotate between:
1. B-Mac - Run a route between cones, stay inbounds and catch a pass
2. Brown - Run through tackling pads while maintaining 3-point contact
3. Lilly- Practiced blocking while holding a medicine ball, running & catching a TE route
4. Sale - Funniest demo of the day, showed us how hitting a tackling dummy was "like making sweet love to your woman". Said we are gonna to continue to get BIG a$$ guys that can move
5. Schotty - Ran a 5-stop drop based on his clap and threw a pass in the flat
Next we moved back into the defensive room where we were introduced to "The man that brought back the Georgia defense"...Coach Jeremy Pruitt. Coach Pruitt showed formations/assignments of various D packages and supporting game film. He then opened the floor for questions and was immediately greeted with "Why couldn't we stop Florida or tech?" He put most of the blame on himself for the team not executing to seal the edge vs UF and said tech began to impose their will on us in the 4th qtr and we cannot allow that to happen (and hopefully this year will impose our will on them). Excited about the talent coming in and the LB and D-line battles.
Funniest exchange - one of the staffers told Coach Pruitt "You can take 2 more questions" and Jeremy said basically "Don't tell me how long I've got, I'll stay here all day if they want." LOL
We then broke for lunch and sat with Coach Richt, Pruitt, Schotty, Sale, Hunter Long and other coaches. I am standing in line for lunch and a UGA staffer says "Excuse me, do you mind if Nick Chubb breaks in line in front of you?" Of course I said NO WAY! ;-) Was a great experience for this Dawgs fan to talk to Chubb for 5 minutes about Herschel (and MMA), Nick's work ethic going back to Cedartown for Spring Break and the workout and nutrition plan. Incredible experience!
After lunch there was a Q&A session with Long, Richt and Chubb. The highlight was Chubb's work ethic and how he stays so humble. CMR talked a little about Cost of Attendance, mainly what you've read on here before. Oh and Richt gave away a few items including a visor and he says "Do we have visors at UGA?" LOL
Next up was Director of Strength and Conditioning, Coach Mark Hocke. He spoke for 20 minutes on "mental and physical muscle". Highlights were 2 players with heaviest back squat with 505 lbs- Nick Chubb and Jordan Jenkins. Said both could do more if the coaches let them - they need to protect the players, not build Olympic weightlifters. Heaviest bench press went to John Atkins, 500 lbs.
We then toured the players lounge and locker rooms with Director of Athletic Equipment John Meshad. We got to see a comparison of old & new helmets, with Randall Godfrey's compared with Nick Chubb. Also of interest was that the reason the "Silver Britches" don't look the same is the lightweight lycra that Nike uses. The Cowboys and Raiders have raised the same complaint and Nike is working on it. The new pants are much lighter, especially when wet with sweat. Also got a scoop on any possible future plans for "blackout jerseys" but vowed not to make that public.
Remember those "State Champs" rings which Turkey Neck commissioned for the maggots? You better believe that is bulletin board material inside the players' area - along with the score by quarter for that game.
Oh - one more thing - heard a report from a few ladies that went to Saturday's Mark Richt Women's Clinic that Sony & Kenneth Towns modeled the team underwear for the ladies...until CMR said "Enough fellas, time to pull up your pants"
Luckily the guys had no such fashion show.
All in all a fantastic day, more guys need to attend next season to make this the success it should be. I will post photos in a reply since I know this is an extremely long post.
The event started at 8AM in the Butts-Mehre's Multi-Purpose Room (mini-IPF) with Coach Richt taking photos with each of us and signing one autograph per person. We each got CMR Camp t-shirts and then toured the weight room and reported to the team meeting room. I was very disappointed in the turnout, only 50/60 guys. I hope this poor turnout doesn't discourage future sessions.
Coach Richt was the first speaker and spoke in general on the team's summer status and the freshmen early enrollees and those that reported last week. Clark Williams, Assistant Video Coordinator, (aka Clark Video) showed us an exclusive video which they put together for the team to watch to get hyped for the Arkansas game. It included clips from the boxing movie "Cinderella Man" and Clark joked he had to beg CMR to include one cuss word in the clip. The motivation worked, helping the team to a big road win in Little Rock against an Arky team that just lost to Bama by one point.
Next up was Coach Lilly covering film and formations of the "offensive" side of special teams. Coach Lilly was hilarious and showed some of McKenzie's big plays.
Coach Ekeler was next with his Red Bull-intensity on the "defensive" side of special teams.. He had everyone in stitches with one of my favorite lines of the day "Isaiah McKenzie is faster than a fart in a skillet." Showed some film of Sony Michel in kickoff coverage, (covering) 40 yards in 4.19 in the Clemson game and how we flipped the field in the Vols game (leading to Josh Dawson's fumble recovery for a TD) and in the Auburn game (leading to an easy TD run for TG3). Ekeler continually sang the praises of Tim Kimbrough as "Phenomenal and a Grown a$$ Man". Ekeler said "We want snot bubbles coming out of the opposition's helmet when we hit them and Timmy does that".
Funny exchange: Ekeler pointed to the National Champion plaques on the wall and said "We want to add some more rectangles to that wall" upon which Lilly said "Actually Mike, those are parallelograms". Ekeler then replied "I was never very good at Geology anyways".
Coach Schotty was next, he started out by saying "Don't even ask me who the starting QB will be" ;-) Schotty gave an overview of the offensive transition in terminology. He walked through some of what the plays/formations the team (esp. Freshmen) are learning. We could not take any pictures "Cause that game in October is gonna be tough enough already".
Coach Sale then presented O-line plays/formations, followed by Coach Brown for RBs and Coach B-Mac for WR's and Coach Lilly for TE's. Each often included game film to highlight the key points.
We then went outside and 5 coaches led stations that the men would rotate between:
1. B-Mac - Run a route between cones, stay inbounds and catch a pass
2. Brown - Run through tackling pads while maintaining 3-point contact
3. Lilly- Practiced blocking while holding a medicine ball, running & catching a TE route
4. Sale - Funniest demo of the day, showed us how hitting a tackling dummy was "like making sweet love to your woman". Said we are gonna to continue to get BIG a$$ guys that can move
5. Schotty - Ran a 5-stop drop based on his clap and threw a pass in the flat
Next we moved back into the defensive room where we were introduced to "The man that brought back the Georgia defense"...Coach Jeremy Pruitt. Coach Pruitt showed formations/assignments of various D packages and supporting game film. He then opened the floor for questions and was immediately greeted with "Why couldn't we stop Florida or tech?" He put most of the blame on himself for the team not executing to seal the edge vs UF and said tech began to impose their will on us in the 4th qtr and we cannot allow that to happen (and hopefully this year will impose our will on them). Excited about the talent coming in and the LB and D-line battles.
Funniest exchange - one of the staffers told Coach Pruitt "You can take 2 more questions" and Jeremy said basically "Don't tell me how long I've got, I'll stay here all day if they want." LOL
We then broke for lunch and sat with Coach Richt, Pruitt, Schotty, Sale, Hunter Long and other coaches. I am standing in line for lunch and a UGA staffer says "Excuse me, do you mind if Nick Chubb breaks in line in front of you?" Of course I said NO WAY! ;-) Was a great experience for this Dawgs fan to talk to Chubb for 5 minutes about Herschel (and MMA), Nick's work ethic going back to Cedartown for Spring Break and the workout and nutrition plan. Incredible experience!
After lunch there was a Q&A session with Long, Richt and Chubb. The highlight was Chubb's work ethic and how he stays so humble. CMR talked a little about Cost of Attendance, mainly what you've read on here before. Oh and Richt gave away a few items including a visor and he says "Do we have visors at UGA?" LOL
Next up was Director of Strength and Conditioning, Coach Mark Hocke. He spoke for 20 minutes on "mental and physical muscle". Highlights were 2 players with heaviest back squat with 505 lbs- Nick Chubb and Jordan Jenkins. Said both could do more if the coaches let them - they need to protect the players, not build Olympic weightlifters. Heaviest bench press went to John Atkins, 500 lbs.
We then toured the players lounge and locker rooms with Director of Athletic Equipment John Meshad. We got to see a comparison of old & new helmets, with Randall Godfrey's compared with Nick Chubb. Also of interest was that the reason the "Silver Britches" don't look the same is the lightweight lycra that Nike uses. The Cowboys and Raiders have raised the same complaint and Nike is working on it. The new pants are much lighter, especially when wet with sweat. Also got a scoop on any possible future plans for "blackout jerseys" but vowed not to make that public.
Remember those "State Champs" rings which Turkey Neck commissioned for the maggots? You better believe that is bulletin board material inside the players' area - along with the score by quarter for that game.
Oh - one more thing - heard a report from a few ladies that went to Saturday's Mark Richt Women's Clinic that Sony & Kenneth Towns modeled the team underwear for the ladies...until CMR said "Enough fellas, time to pull up your pants"
Luckily the guys had no such fashion show.All in all a fantastic day, more guys need to attend next season to make this the success it should be. I will post photos in a reply since I know this is an extremely long post.
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