Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Crowell protected from up on high?

By now, most of you have heard the varying quotes, tidbits, reports, and anecdotes from Georgia players and the coach at SEC media days.

While most of this tends to be coachspeak, with the odd factoid and interesting revelation thrown in, I did think it was interesting how QB Aaron Murray mentioned that he, center Ben Jones, and linebacker Christian Robinson visited Isaiah Crowell the day he got on campus to talk with him and even work out a bit.

It wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary to hear that Murray and Jones were getting acquainted with the young running back. After all those will be the two guys he works most closely with out on the field, save maybe the fullback. The interesting thing to me is that Robinson was mentioned as part of the group, being on the other side of the ball, and about to be laying out hits on the new guy in a matter of days.

Looking at it that way, and knowing in what high regard all three of those 'veterans' are held by the coaching staff and Mark Richt in particular (possibly more so than any other player, save Orson Charles), one has to wonder if they were directed by the head coach to see to it Crowell feels as comfortable and looked after as possible; that he's shown right off the bat what it is to be an ideal student athlete.

It could be that, after seeing the last two prized running back recruits go by the wayside for off the field issues, Richt has sent his captain and lieutenants out to keep it from happening again.

Or, it could be that these players simply realized that things have to be different, and that if Crowell follows the straight and narrow, then he's got the ability to help the whole team get back on top.

Whatever the case, it's nice to hear that the leadership of this team is taking a proactive approach to, well, lead.

6 comments:

  1. I think these players are excellent leaders & people, regardless if they were directed by Richt or not, I think this kind of attitude should/will be directed towards the entire team.

    We've always had leaders on the team , but with Murray, I think we have someone the whole team can admire & respect.

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  2. Could be they are impressin' the fact that they are keeping an eye on him. What better way than to visit and run through a few plays off the field?

    Bet Robinson also "conditions" his butt with a few practice hits to let him know what he's in for in the SEC. Hope so.

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  3. Both good points. Hopefully, he's the type of kid who doesn't "need" any prodding to behave himself and work hard, but the Dawgs are at a point where they can't afford to take that chance.

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  4. FWIW, my impression on this scenario is that it's quite obvious Aaron, Ben, and Christian (and a few others) have quite obviously stepped up as the bonafide leaders of this team in the off-season.
    That being said, I've been told by a few current players (including a starter, names withheld,) that Isaiah has proven to be the laziest kid ever. Apparently he'd "rather sit in his dorm room all day than go to class or workouts." and that "he's pretty close to getting suspended." It's pretty disappointing, but not too surprising.
    I figure that the boys are just doing everything they can to get him to buy into this team and this program. Let's just hope it works. I'm not buying into the Crowell-hype just yet though.

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  5. Actually they didn't talk to him the day he got there. It was a few weeks into getting to campus. So I took it as something may have been noticed that needed to be addressed. Direct Quote from Murray:....... "“Oh yeah, we sat him down. One of the first weeks he was here, me, Ben [Jones] and Christian [Robinson] and a couple of other guys went to his dorm, took him outside, talked to him and ran him through some plays. Then we told him, ‘Hey, we’re here for you."......

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  6. Not surprised that Robinson went with them...those three are very close friends off the field

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