Tucker always in the middle of Georgia's defense

ATHENS -- It's not hard to find Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker on the practice field.

Just look right in the middle of the defensive drill.

On Tuesday, the media-viewing portion of practice began with a ball-pursuit drill where all 11 defensive players were supposed to move to the ball on a screen pass. Right in the center -- or, more appropriately, under center -- was Tucker, simulating the quarterback.

Tucker held the ball as he yelled out instructions to the defense. Then, just as the yelling and shuffling of players into position reached a still, Tucker pulled the ball up to his ear, pump-faked to one side, and then yelled "screen," at the top of his lungs.

This went on for several reps until the horn signaling the end of the period rang out. When it did, Tucker yelled out "DBs over here," corralling his group and running over to the sideline on one of the practice fields at the Club Sports Complex, where he again coached his guys up, then got on one knee and started throwing passes in a defensive back footwork drill.

"He's very hands on," senior safety Quincy Mauger said. "He knows exactly what he's doing. He's a great coach, and we're trying to do the best job we can as to trying to soak it all in."

The yelling isn't a new addition to the defensive side of the practice field, as former defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt had a way of making his presence known, too. But the hands-on coaching and the tone of the yelling are a stark contrast.

With Pruitt, it was never a secret when a player made a mistake in a drill. Tucker, on the other hand, tends to take a positive approach with his criticism, and most of the yelling is encouraging, with "finish" being a quasi-motto for Tucker.

His coaching style is also much more animated. When he's talking, he's often jumping around and waving his arms around and he does a lot more showing players how to do things than telling them.

"I really like how he breaks down everything," Mauger said. "He's real patient with us and we're just all ready to learn."

That's not to say that players disliked Pruitt or his approach, but the contrast has been obvious thus far. Of course, none of that matters if the results don't come on the field. Pruitt coached the Georgia defense for two seasons and was never ranked outside of the top 20 nationally in total defense.

Head coach Kirby Smart has expressed confidence in Tucker's ability as a "great developer of DBs," which will be critical as Georgia balances a younger group mixing in with players like Mauger, Dominick Sanders and Aaron Davis. That patience Mauger mentioned will be critical in the development of the defensive backfield as they go through the process of learning a new defense.

"It's going," Mauger said. "It's one of those things that we just have to really pay attention to the minor details and just trying to attack the day. If we mess up, we want to mess up full speed and try to get better every day."

Early indications are that the defensive development will be slow and steady. Smart praised the performance of the quarterbacks and passing game after the first scrimmage, which says something about the secondary as well. Mauger also side-stepped a question about the performance of the secondary in the scrimmage and noted that they "aren't where they need to be" yet.

"We've talked about a lot of things," Mauger said. "We're just focused on reading our keys and just trying to play faster."

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 10:08 PM with the headline "Tucker always in the middle of Georgia's defense ."