Tennessee defensive coordinator: ‘Best Georgia team I’ve seen’
By Keith Farner
Published:
Bob Shoop is no stranger to facing Georgia as an opponent. In fact, he may be more familiar with the Bulldogs than most other coaches around.
The Tennessee defensive coordinator has faced Georgia as a coach at Vanderbilt, Penn State and even Boston College when they met in the Music City Bowl in 2001.
After practice on Tuesday, Shoops declared, “I think it’s the best Georgia team I’ve seen — which doesn’t mean we can’t win the game.”
Shoop added that he had a difficult time finding Georgia players who could help the Vols, meaning they showed weaknesses or made mistakes.
Shoop was asked if his secondary has been tested vertically thus far this season, and he admitted that it was “scary” entering the Georgia game.
“This team has really tall and fast wide receivers,” he said. “They have three guys who average over 20 yards a catch, and they’re really good players. (Riley) Ridley, (Javon) Mims and (Terry) Godwin and (quarterback Jake) Fromm sure doesn’t look like a freshman. We anticipate them trying to throw the ball deep on us.”
Speaking of Fromm, Shoop made a comparison to former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray, who Shoop described as “smooth and could do it all. They’re a different type of athlete, I get. But I saw it was 11. I said, ‘Damn.’ (Fromm) finds the right receivers. He makes good decisions.
“What we really need to do is we need to get these guys into third-and-long and then try to create some confusion and chaos in his mind, and get the 12th man going in Neyland Stadium.”
The coordinator went on to add that the Bulldogs have as much depth at running back as any team he’s seen, led by Nick Chubb and Sony Michel.
“They can throw Chubb, Sony Michel, (Brian) Herrien, (Elijah) Holyfield and the freshman, D’Andre Swift, out there and barely skip a beat,” Shoop said. “And they’ve tried creative ways to get two, sometimes even three of those guys in at the same time, so you’ve got to be able to stop the run.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
