After a long day, here are some excerpts from the Friday evening teleconference with new Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and coach Mark Richt.

Richt opening comment:

I’m just as excited as I could be. I know this process took a little while, but in the end we got the right man for the job. I’m 100 percent certain of that and 100 percent confident in Todd’s ability to get the job done here. Getting to know him a little bit better as this thing has progressed has really given me more confidence that not only is he the right man to lead our defense on the field, but he’s also exactly the kind of man that’s going to help our young men grow. He’s very serious about that. He’s a great family man. He’s got a wonderful wife, Paige, and two children, Corbin and Olivia. He’s got all of his priorities in the right way. We’re very excited about this hire and happy for Todd’s opportunity to continue to be chasing the Super Bowl. I’m sure the Bulldog Nation is going to really enjoy watching the Cowboys this weekend and hopefully weekends to come.

Grantham opening comment:

I would like to thank Coach Mark Richt and Damon Evans again for allowing myself and my family to be a part of this Georgia community. I am aware of the area. It’s a great place to raise a family, a great area to live in, so I’m looking very forward to that. I would like to thank my attorney, Mike Harrison, for the job he did along with Damon and the University of Georgia to get this deal in place so quickly that we could begin to talk today. To the fans and the boosters that are so passionate about this program, I look forward, not only with myself but the people we bring in,, to develop an aggressive style of defense that all Bulldog fans across the country can be excited to watch. I’m excited about the opportunity, and I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead.

Grantham on staying with Cowboys through playoffs:

I signed a contract with the Cowboys two years ago. I committed to Jerry two years ago that I would stay for the length of my contract. Right now, we’re in the process of having probably the most successful season that the Cowboys have had since 1996. We won the NFC East. We won our first playoff game. Things are moving along very well. I’ve always been a big believer that you start what you finish. From that standpoint, I feel like I’m obligated and really because the relationships I have with my players and the other people in the organization, I’m going to follow this thing through and take it as far as we can go because I feel like that’s the right thing to do. If you commit to something, you need to stick it out and do it, so right now, I’m working hard to see if we can beat the Vikings.

Grantham on getting a chance to talk to Georgia recruits by phone:

We have to check on this. I believe you can actually call recruits. We can work on that over the weekend and starting in the early part of next week. That type of stuff can be done along with the preparation for the next opponent.

Richt on how he knew of Grantham:

There were so many names that crossed my desk and people calling from all around recommending people. When Todd’s name came up, I was very interested in pursuing and learning more about him. The more I learned about him, the more excited I got about him. It just so happens that a lot of coaches that I know in the business, know Todd and know what he’s done in the past and know of his football knowledge. I think a lot of people in the college game spend time with Todd in the offseason to continue to grow as coaches. Let’s face it, the NFL is really the cutting edge of football. Coach Grantham is one of the best minds out there. I knew that about him. It also turned out that my brother in law, Brad Johnson, who played quarterback for the Cowboys at the tail end of his career, was there last season and got to know Todd as a coach although he didn’t coach Brad, Brad was able to observe him as a coach and was highly impressed with him, his energy and how he would teach. The respect that players had for him. He also got to know him on a personal level.

Grantham on going to a college job after 11 years in the NFL:

This isn’t the first opportunity to go back to college that’s come up in the last 11 years. There’s been others, which some I didn’t feel was the right timing, others I didn’t feel like there’s no way had the ability to do the things that you can do like you can at the University of Georgia. The thing that excites me about the University of Georgia is I love the passion and the excitement of the fans around the program. You look at the program since 2008, it had averaged 10 ½ wins a year. It actually won 10 or more games six of those eight years. Being that I was in pro football, you’re evaluating talent, OK. I’ve watched a lot of players from the University of Georgia over that time and so I knew about the ability to recruit talent to the program. I know that you can get homegrown talent within the state and within a five hour radius of the school and I know that talent is the type of talent you can be a top-tier program, be one the premier schools in the SEC. That stuff right there interested me. When Mark and I began to talk, I sort of researched it. I really like what Coach Richt has done with the program. It’s obviously headed in the right direction. There is some continuity there and very successful and with that, I think if we can get the defense back to the way it has been in the past, I think we can be very successful.

Grantham on what his scheme will be:

We’ll be a 3-4 structure, which basically means in your base defense you have two outside backers, three D-lineman, two inside backers and your secondary would be the same whether you’re a 3-4 or 4-3. You have two safeties and two corners. Now in saying that, we’re more of an aggressive style of 3-4. We’re going to play one gap defense. We’re going to attack blockers up front and we’re going to rush the passer. Our outside backers are going to be what we call edge setters. They’re going to be aggressive, they’re going to be coming. They’re going to be solid in setting the edge on the run, but we’re going to develop those guys as pass rushers. Inside backers we’re going to call them mike and mo. They’re going to be downhill guys to the ball, but in saying that, we’re going to still be multiple. In other words, we’re always going to match personnel or have the ability match personnel meaning if someone adds a third wideout in the game, we can add an extra DB in the game. We could end up playing multiple fronts out of that nickel package whether it be four down or three down and kind of go that route. The other thing is when you coach in pro football, you take the players that you have and you find a way to make it work. I rally believe the best way to go about it is, you rank your players. You evaluate your players one through 50 and you find a way to get your top players on the field because to be an aggressive attacking style of defense and to make plays, you have got to have playmakers. You’ve got to put those playmakers in position to make plays. I think the most important thing is to evaluate the players, find out what their assets are and what they do well and put them in position so they can make plays.

Grantham on timetable for defensive staff:

Not right now. This deal was basically done last night. Coach Richt and I will be working throughout the weekend and next week to try to iron some of those things out, but anything like that would be premature at this time.

Grantham on deciding to coach the linebackers:

As a coordinator, I think it’s important that you’re tied in to not only the front, but the secondary. I would be working with the linebackers so that way you can be working with both the front and you can be with the back relative to whatever drills that you’re doing.

Grantham on Rodney Garner:

I do not know Rodney. I’ve heard good things about him and I expect to be meeting with him here shortly.

Grantham on difference between college and NFL:

As far as Xs and Os, I think there is a little bit from the standpoint of in college football, a quarterbacks going to run the ball more. In the pro game, they don’t want the quarterback to run it. You’re going to get a few more different style of runs in the college ball, whereas the passing game in pro ball is probably a little bit more complex. Outside of that, it’s basically being fundamentally sound, making sure that you’re gap secure, make sure you’re aggressive and make sure you’re playing with the techniques you need to play with to be successful.

Richt on the search process:

I think the overriding factor throughout through the entire process is that I was very prayerful that in the end that we got the right man for the job and that’s exactly what happened. I’m very thankful for how everything turned out. It was not something I was trying to do at breakneck speed. I was trying to be very deliberate. Sometimes it’s easy just to get a person who’s willing to come at the drop of a hat, but if you’re looking at the quality that we were looking for such as Todd, it doesn’t always happen over night. I’m just thankful that we stayed the course and ended up where we ended up.

Grantham on what he's looking for in defense:

We want big physical aggressive players and we want guys that want to be relentless every play. I do think that is a habit that has to be developed. I think it’s important that you work every day in practice to finish. What you want as a defense, after the game is over, the team you just played are so happy they don’t have to play you anymore. In order to do that I think it takes great conditioning and I think it takes great preparation. You have to have a mindset that no matter what the scoreboard says, I’m playing for 60 minutes and I’m not going to let the last play affect the next play. That is something that can be taught and developed and it’s something that does breed because no one wants to be the weak link.

Richt on defense under Grantham:

I expect them to get after it. At Georgia, we say G-A-T-A. That means get after their you know what. That’s what’s going to happen. Not only are we going to have that effort that we’re looking for, but I feel Coach Grantham’s going to have these boys technically sound and playing together as a unit. You can play as hard as you want, but if you’re not handling your gap responsibilities or if your’e making a bust in the perimeter, you’ve got problems. I know it’s going to be a sound system, a very aggressive system and there’s going to be a bunch of boys excited about turning that thing loose and getting going. I’m sure the Bulldog Nation is going to be fired up to see it, too.