Congrats to the UGA Chapter of NABJ 2011 inductees:
Maya Clark
Iris Garrett
Loni Gibson
Cameron Johnson
Jasmyn Johnson
Crystal Mitchell
Kristen Robinson
Taylor Saxton
Asia Thomas
Brianna Watts
Kim West
and our honorary member, Sportscaster, Bob Rathbun!
CONGRATULATIONS GUYS AND WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!
The award-winning UGA Chapter of NABJ has done it again. This year, the student organization took home the National Association of Black Journalists’ Chapter of the Year award for once again. I can’t begin to describe how proud I am to be a member of such a hard-working chapter. This is our third time winning the prestigious award and it is definitely an honor. We have great plans to achieve the same in 2012!
By: Jordan Thomas
This year’s addition to the Georgia-Florida rivalry was quite a thriller and featured more parity than ever. These teams were very evenly matched. However, the bulldogs certainly didn’t get off to the start they were looking for. On Georgia’s first offensive play, Aaron Murray dropped back and threw an interception. Many thought this would foreshadow another lopsided Florida victory, but in reality, it just turned into a wasted opportunity to score by Florida. The teams went back in forth with their defenses primarily dominating the game. For Florida, they turned to their playmaker Trey Burton and electrifying tailbacks-Jeffrey Demps and Chris Rainey. Burton had a huge 51-yard scamper for a TD and rushed for over 100 yards on the game. The speedsters, Rainey and Demps combined for another 122 yards on the ground to help Florida’s offensive attack. It really wasn’t that great of a day for Florida’s young QB, John Brantley as he went 16 of 25 for 193 yards and one interception.
For Georgia, their offensive production was almost the utter contrary from that of Florida. Most of their scoring and moving of the ball was due to their passing attack. Georgia’s total rushing amount (126) was only four more yards than that of Trey Burton alone. Aaron Murray had to take the game into his own hands and in the process, took on a gunslinger mentality. As the game progressed, he became more and more aggressive throwing the ball. On the day, he threw 3 touchdowns and had over 300 yards, but he also threw 3 picks and only completed 49% of his passes. In the end, this simply would not be enough to overcome Florida’s speedy defense and speedy rushing attack. The game was certainly very close and had to be won on an overtime field-goal, but Florida went on to win their 18th victory of the last 21 in the series.
By: Kairi M. Coe
As you all know, at the University of Georgia football is a BIG deal. With a crowd of over 90,000 fans, every Saturday during the fall is a big event. So why not dress it up a little? For all you fashionistas and sharp dressing young men out there, dressing up for a football game is a great way to show your school spirit in style. Let’s take a look at some stylish (and affordable!) options.
For the guys wearing a Bulldogs shirt, a pair of jeans and a baseball cap with the school’s logo is standard. For the guy who wants to appear more clean cut a nice red polo with cargo shorts would help you do so. Even add some red sneakers into the mix if you’re not a Sperry type of guy. The main statement a guy can make at a game fashion wise is just to appear as comfortable and as clean as possible.
Now onto our UGA women. If the football games are not a place to showoff and show out then who knows what is. For a lady Dawgs fan your little black dress is the norm. Dress it up a little with red accents such as sandals, bracelets and headbands. A lady in red is always noticed!
So get out there and showoff your BullDawg spirit. With these tips the game will not be the only thing turning heads!
By: Jordan Thomas
The Bulldogs, coming off a relatively easy win against UL Lafayette, went into Williams-Brice Stadium in search of their second victory. Unfortunately for the Dogs, South Carolina’s freshman HB Marcus Lattimore was not on the same page. In only his second game, he demonstrated why he was the #2 running back in his recruiting class last year and exploited UGA’s defense in the process. He carried the ball an astounding 37 times for a total of 182 yards on the ground and crossed the goal line twice. Lattimore’s 182 rushing yards is the most by any halfback under Spurrier’s tenure. Maybe this is what Coach Spurrier and his Gamecocks have been missing. In their last 3 competitions at home against the Bulldogs, South Carolina has only managed to rush for 53 yards. Needless to say, Lattimore thrashed that statistic by rushing over 100 yards in the first half alone.
From here on out, Georgia’s defense has their work cut out for them. They missed tackles all over their place. Their defenders were trying to arm tackle and simply throw their shoulders at SC’s players. At times, their secondary even looked afraid to come up and attempt to stop the run. In addition to that, their pass defense did not look much better as the Gamecock’s receivers used their size to jump right over Georgia’s corners, Branden Smith and Brandon Boykin. South Carolina’s 6-4, 233 lb wide receiver Alshon Jeffrey hauled in 7 catches for 103 yards. However, this was primarily set up by the Gamecock’s run game which made Georgia’s safety creep up into the box, and thus one-on-one coverage resulted on the outside.
Many UGA faithful faulted this loss on the absence of A.J. Green. The offensive unit was stagnant to say the least, but the game was not lost because of him. It was lost because of Lattimore’s dominating rushing performance which allowed South Carolina to control the clock. Georgia’s redshirt freshman QB, Aaron Murray only threw the ball 21 times and completed 14 of those attempts. Even if Green was playing, he would not have seen the field much just like the rest of the offense. However, after the devastating news last week that A.J. will be suspended for four games (only 2 more now), Georgia better start finding other options to get the ball to. Washuan Ealey produced well for the Bulldogs and their run game until he fumbled 3 yards away from the end zone with the game 14-6. This was a very crucial play for the Bulldogs as they looked like they were about to close the gap with the Gamecocks and make it a very close game. Ealey was the bulldog’s leading rusher with 19 carries for 75 yards. The Bulldogs will have to put this loss behind them and come out ready to play the Arkansas Razorbacks as they come back home to Sanford Stadium.
By: Jordan Thomas
After missing rhythm and timing on their first few drives, the bulldogs utterly dismantled the UL Ragin’ Cajuns. Georgia snatched their first win of the season behind the arm of their young, savvy QB and very stringent defense. The defensive unit of UGA only allowed 128 total yards and one touchdown, a 60-yard bomb from Chris Masson to Ladarius Green, all game. UL Lafayette just never could quite get their offense going, only rushing for 14 yards in total. The bulldogs forced 3 turnovers; 1 was an interception returned by CB Jakar Hamilton for a touchdown.
On the offensive side of the ball, Aaron Murray showed off his versatile skill-set with his accuracy and mobility to make throws in and outside of the pocket. He looked more like a poised veteran of the UGA offensive set than a redshirt freshman. On multiple occasions Murray was pressured and forced to scramble by the Ragin’ Cajun defense; however, he responded assertively to this threat with a 16 yard scoot down the sideline for a touchdown and by completing 16 of 24 passes on the day. He also threw for 4 touchdowns and only gave up 1 interception. The running game wasn’t bad for the bulldogs either as Caleb King and Carlton Thomas delivered solid contributions, both averaging 4.7 yards per carry.
This was an obvious mismatch, and Georgia really exploited the disparity of talent between the two teams. Once the bulldogs got their offense going, it was a landslide victory. However, Georgia’s upcoming competitions will not be as easy as this one. Next weekend, the dogs will make their way up to Charleston, SC to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks. South Carolina also ran over their opponent, Southern Miss, to a 41-13 win. The gamecocks haven’t beaten the bulldogs since 2007, but UGA needs to come prepared to compete because last year’s game was won in the fourth quarter in a 41-37 thriller. On the positive side, Georgia will gladly accept the return of some noteworthy players in A.J. Green, if possible and Washaun Ealey. After the game, Coach Richt commented that Ealey would definitely be available to play against South Carolina, where as Green still has to wait for the NCAA to pass judgment on his sports scandal investigation.
By: Jordan Thomas
It’s finally that time of the year! Time to put the weights down and pick the pads up. College Football is back, and there’s simply nothing like it. Dreadfully, anticipated Saturdays filled with excessive tailgating, over exuberant Lee Corso predictions, big-hits, and colorful stadiums are here. The Georgia Bulldogs are coming off of a relatively average season considering their high expectations. They are perennial competitors within the SEC and are only looking to surpass those ambitions this year by becoming SEC champs or better. To do that, they are certainly going to have to improve their 4-4 in-conference record from last year. However, the bulldogs have many questions to answer.
First, they need to start with the most important position in football, and that’s most certainly the quarterback. Georgia was 80th out of the 119 FBS teams in passing yards, averaging only 201.2 yards a game last year. Although there passing game wasn’t too good, there wasn’t much competition for the senior QB Joe Cox. However, he is now gone, and the team will have to hone another starting quarterback from a group of freshman. The leader of the pack coming off of the off-season is redshirt freshman Aaron Murray. Everyone’s quite curious to see how he’ll perform in his first collegiate start for the bulldogs. He will start off the season with a relatively easy opponent in UL Lafayette. This should allow him to build some confidence within himself and his receiver corps.
That brings me to UGA’s second question: they need a #2 receiver to step-up and take some pressure off of their superstar wide-out A.J. Green. He doubled the receiving yardage of the next leading receiver (Tavarres King) and combined for more yards and receptions then the next two leading receivers (Tavarres King, Orson Charles). However, Green encountered some off-season trouble as he became part of an on-going investigation by NCAA officials of an agent scandal down at a Miami party. There, agents allegedly offered college athletes improper funds. Green responded by saying that he’s never even been to Miami before. In addition to that, 7 of his teammates were also part of off-season quarrels. The most significant, besides A.J. Green of course, was their starting tail-back last year, Washaun Ealey. He was involved in a hit-and-run accident last Friday with a suspended license. After university officials told him to wait for police to arrive to the scene, he left before they could get there. Coach Richt wasn’t having any of this nonsense and commented, “I’m not happy with it. It’s foolish. He knew better.” Ealey was suspended for this Saturday’s game.
Ealey only complicated matters of the bulldog’s last major question entering the season. Similar to the A.J. Green situation at receiver, who is going to come in and fulfill the #2 RB position in his absence? Caleb King is the starter for this week and Carlton Thomas will be the backup, but how will they respond to their increased work load? Looking at the bigger, long-term picture, which one of these young QB’s and RB’s will aspire to fill the shoes of the likes of the Matthew Stafford/Knowshon Moreno dynamic duo? With all that said, there’s nothing left to do except be part of the 90,000 plus emphatic, proud Bulldog fans who will pack Sanford Stadium and watch the Bulldogs take on the UL Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns.
This is the new UGA-NABJ blog. Stay tuned for more updates!
UGA NABJ 