Georgia OLB coach Dan Lanning explains why concerns regarding play calling overblown with Mel Tucker gone
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With Mel Tucker off to Colorado, many fans and media members are curious to see how well Georgia’s defense operates on the field in the Sugar Bowl against Texas without the program’s defensive play caller. For any UGA fans concerned, the team’s outside linebacker coach, Dan Lanning, did his best to quell those worries during his recent media availability.
According to Lanning, Kirby Smart and his defensive staff go into a game so prepared, the actual calling of the plays can be a bit overblown at times.
“I think a lot of people put a lot more into that than is probably the actual case. We make a lot of decisions during the week before you ever get to the game. So, when you look at a specific situation in the game, a lot of those decisions have already been made,” Lanning noted. “But I think the right answer is that everybody is going to be involved in that just like they have been all week.
“You know, a combination of Coach Smart, Coach [Glenn] Schumann, Coach [Tray] Scott, and myself are working really hard to put together a great plan and have a great plan for these guys. But, when we get into the game, a lot of times those decisions have already been made.”
There was speculation that Tucker attempted to hire Lanning on to his new Colorado coaching staff. If that is indeed the case, Lanning did not want to share that information publicly during his press conference.
“I don’t really want to speak to that,” Lanning continued. “Right now our focus is on this game. I have all the respect in the world for Mel Tucker. I love Mel Tucker. He’s been a great mentor and friend in this business. But moving forward right now, our focus is on this game on the 1st.”
In addition to the loss of Tucker, Georgia will be without shutdown cornerback Deandre Baker. Baker initially said he planned to play in the Sugar Bowl but ultimately decided against taking the field against the Longhorns. Baker, instead, plans to sit out to ensure he is fully healthy as he’s a projected top prospect in the upcoming 2019 NFL Draft.
How big of a loss will that be for the Bulldogs against a dangerous set of Texas receivers? Lanning weighed in on that as well.
“We have a lot of guys. We play a lot of personnel groups. We do a lot of different things with a lot of different players in our defense already,” Lanning answered. “We’ve been fortunate enough to be in some situations this year where we’ve been able to play a lot of other players beyond Deandre when it comes to Tyson Campbell, Eric Stokes, Mark Webb that have played a lot of significant snaps for us.
“You don’t replace Deandre Baker. He’s a great player. We’re really, really excited for him as he’s moving forward, but we have a lot of guys that have gotten significant snaps this season. So I think that that piece, that transition will be smooth.”
(Photo by Steven Colquitt; UGA Athletics)
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
