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closeATHENS — At first, the award was little more than a nice sign of recognition following a season of hard work. But when Montez Robinson told his foster father he won the SEC’s defensive lineman of the week honors after a two-sack performance against Tennessee Tech, the weight of the award suddenly hit home.
“My dad, he was crying because he was just overwhelmed,” Robinson said. “Everybody was just congratulating me, but I was just like, it’s just an award. But it really does mean something to me, and it obviously means a lot to other people in their eyes.”
Robinson isn’t the first Georgia player to win the award this season, but when he took notice of the other Bulldogs to earn the honor, it put into perspective just how far he had come in a short period of time.
“The more and more I think about it, I see how prestigious it is,” Robinson said. “Geno Atkins and Justin (Houston) have been in the game a couple of years, and I get it as a freshman. I’m just thinking that’s pretty good.”
Robinson finished the game with five tackles — 2.5 for a loss — in his first extended action of the season. He said he hoped the performance had earned him more playing time going forward, but at the very least, it has caught the eye of some of his teammates.
“He has worked hard, earned the coaches trust and finally got that playing time,” linebacker Rennie Curran said. “I was in the same position when I came in my freshman year. It took me a little while for the light to come on and for me to earn the trust of my teammates and my coaches, but I always believed in myself and I feel like he is the same way. He believes in his ability and what he can do, and we need all the player makers that we can get on defense, especially at defensive end.”
JUMP AND SHOUT
Before last week’s game, Richt decided any player flagged for a penalty would leave the game for the remainder of that series. As it turned out, he had to pull a player from action 11 times.
Six times an offensive lineman was flagged for a false start, and Cox said the infractions should have gone the other way.
Tennessee Tech’s defensive linemen were routinely mimicking Cox’s cadence at the line of scrimmage — an infraction according to NCAA rules — causing Georgia’s linemen to flinch.
For whatever reason, the referees didn’t take notice, but Georgia line coach Stacy Searels did. This week in practice, Searels has been doing his best to recreate the situation, hoping to keep Georgia’s linemen steady, even if the other team offers a distraction.
“We’ll focus on it more in practice because they’re not the only team that shifts and has somebody say, ‘Move,’ when they shift,” Cox said. “Coach Searels made it a point (in practice) that every single time we ran a play that he would just start yelling stuff while I was in the middle of my snap count, trying to see if anybody would jump, and nobody did.”
NO PROMISES FOR GRAY
After Mark Richt announced Joe Cox would remain his starting quarterback last week, he also promised a series early in the game for backup Logan Gray. As it turned out, it took six drives before Gray got his taste of action, and that ended with an interception.
Richt said he still had confidence in Gray, but against a more formidable opponent this week, there won’t be any further assurances of playing time for the sophomore quarterback.
“I wouldn’t sit here and promise it right now publicly, although we would like to continue to help him grow as a quarterback,” Richt said. “I wouldn’t say going into this game we are going to nail it down, at least not publicly.”
FEELING BETTER
Richt said defensive end Justin Houston was expected to return to action this week after sitting out against Tennessee Tech with an elbow injury.
Receiver A.J. Green also missed last week’s game with a bruised lung, but returned to full practice Sunday and said he’s completely healthy.
“I’m 100 percent. I’m rested, I’m ready to go,” Green said. “I felt it like the first day or so, and then it just went away.”
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