ATHENS — Brian Schottenheimer hasn’t spent much time talking to the media since he arrived at Georgia – kind of busy with that whole quarterback-competition thing – but he sat down with 680 The Fan’s Buck Belue for a one-on-one interview that aired on the Atlanta sports talk radio station earlier today.
It’s funny because Belue, who is a friend and a person I work with regularly in my association with 680, has been pining all year for a chance for a sit-down with Schotty. And finally, the Bulldogs’ legendary quarterback got his wish.
You can listen to the whole interview BY CLICKING HERE.
But here are a few excerpts I found particularly enlightening:
On biggest differences in coaching college quarterbacks …
“The transition there hasn’t been a big deal for me. Obviously we’re teaching a lot of the same fundamentals and things that we believe in and that I’ve learned through the course of my years in the NFL. These guys are hungry. They want to learn. They want get coached. And it’s been fun to go out there and watch them improve.
“The biggest difference is the amount of time you can spend with the players here because obviously they’ve got a lot of other things on their plate with school and the academic side of it. That’s the biggest change for me.”
On not having a starter named yet …
“That’s why it’s taking so long, because we’ve got three of what we think are good players. We’re trying to figure out the best one for Georgia and I think we’re getting closer. But we’ve got another big scrimmage coming up that will play a big part in that.”
On Brice Ramsey’s attributes …
“Brice obviously has a ton of natural ability. Very raw. Coming into the spring he was a little behind just because now he’s in a new system and a guy coming from a Wing-T offense and stuff. He’s had some really terrific performances. He had a scrimmage a couple of weeks ago where he was just lights out and did a terrific job. But, again, what we’ve got to get him to do is make sure he makes the same consistent decisions day in and day out. He can’t have a great performance one day and then take a step back the next day. That’s something he and I have talked a lot about and that he’s working very hard on. But, again, he’s a guy with tremendous, tremendous up side.”
On Greyson Lambert’s attributes …
“It is quite amazing what he’s been able to do only being on campus since mid-July and truly having as good a grasp on the playbook as the other guys. That’s saying a whole lot about him. Certainly being able to graduate from Virginia in a three-year period of time is a pretty impressive accolade as well. He’s a guy who certainly has intelligence, he gets the game, he understands football. It kind of makes sense to him, if you will. We certainly like the fact that he’s got some experience. He started nine games up at Virginia and has been under that fire.”
On Faton Bauta’s attributes …
“Probably one of the hardest workers we have on the team. He’s one of those guys that every second he can spend in this building he does. He’s either working on the playbook and mastering the offense or just doing something to take care of his body or to work on something fundamental. So hard work just jumps off of him. He does a good job of getting us in and out of bad plays to good plays. He’s also had those days where he’s done a great job throwing it around and hitting big plays and taking advantage of one-on-one matchups. Definitely a guy that we don’t overlook. He knows he’s got to do what he does well.”
On wanting the best “play-maker” at the position …
“There’s going to come a time where somebody’s going to slow down the run or certainly say we’re not going to let Nick Chubb beat us or even just to play in a game, whether it’s a third down or a redzone play where the quarterback’s going to have to make a big-time throw. We want a guy who can do that on a consistent basis. That’s an important part of this process.”
On the Georgia offense he inherited …
“The philosophy doesn’t change. I have tremendous respect for Mike Bobo. He and I are from the same kind of era, if you will, and I followed Mike’s career for a long time. I think the world of him. The things that they were doing, we’ve kept. A lot of it we probably just call it something different. The biggest part for a play-caller when you’re calling a game and the play clock’s clicking down, it’s a crazy situation. You don’t want to be hemming and hawing about what we call this or that. But, again, most Georgia fans will recognize a lot of the stuff that they see. They’ll certainly be some new wrinkles that we’ve added that we’re excited about. But I certainly was not coming into a situation where the cupboard was bare. Truly I came into a situation with some really talented players and a very solid scheme in place.”
On leaving the NFL to come to Georgia …
“I wasn’t going to leave the NFL for any job. That’s really being truly honest and very up front. That’s really all that I’ve known for the last long while. So it was going to take a special place with special people. I certainly feel like I found that.”
“Those first couple of weeks, there was a lot of adjusting and learning, coming in and jumping into recruiting and stuff like that. But when you come to work every day and you work with Mark Richt and you work around the people that I work with … and the fans of Dawg Nation, they’ve made it very special for me and my family.”
