Who says there are only 24 hours in a day to turn around Georgia’s defense?

New coordinator Todd Grantham is cramming as much into his days as he can before spring practice begins on Thursday.

“The way we structured our meetings is we’re working half days on recruiting and then the other half to three quarters of a day on football,” Grantham said. “So that’s really more than a day, right? So we’re spending a lot of time over here. That’s a day and a half, right? So basically we’re working a day and a half within a day."

Grantham is serious about doing a thorough evaluation of talent-rich prospects in Georgia and getting the Bulldogs players and the defensive staff geared up for the new 3-4 scheme.

Grantham’s family remained back in Texas, where he previously coached for the Dallas Cowboys, while he began tackling his new job. He said they will be visiting this week.

Georgia coach Mark Richt and new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham will be in the house (the Butts-Mehre building that is) to field questions on the start of spring practice.
Check back here for updates starting after 5 p.m.

Richt:
"DeAngelo Tyson will play nose and Geathers is slated to play inside."

Special teams responsibilities:
Tony Ball--kickoff return
John Lilly-punt team
Warren Belin—kickoff coverage team (former Bulldogs assistant Jon Fabris coached previously).
Bryan McClendon—punt return and block (Fabris coached previously).
Lilly--will coordinate all the special teams meeting and practice times.

On the new defensive coaches: "There’s a genuine excitement. I’ve got a great anticipation for this spring and the season to come. ...There's very good chemistry already."

The heavy snow expected to hit the mid-Atlantic region hard today is closing schools, delaying and canceling flights and keeping some people away from work.

It also means that Pulaski County High School in Dublin, Va., won’t retire Todd Grantham’s number like it was scheduled to tonight.

The new Georgia defensive coordinator was slated to have his old football jersey number—53—retired with family in attendance before the school’s varsity basketball game tonight.

“That’s been in the works for about a year,” Grantham said Wednesday after Georgia announced its new signees and before the jersey ceremony was postponed. “I’m going back.”

The event has been postponed to a later date, according to the Pulaski County Patriot. Carolina Panthers tight end Jeff King also is getting his number retired.

Other Friday tidbits:

Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham just came out and did an interview for the Georgia Web site. There are about 60 or so fans at the Butts-Mehre building, but there wasn't any audio coming out of speakers for those on hand.

Grantham was asked about his thoughts on moving rangy players like 6-6, 217-pound T.J. Stripling to outside linebacker from end.

"If you get four or five, two or three may be outside linebackers and two or three may play with their hand in the dirt," Grantham said. "If you're adding guys with length, you want to see where their bodies take them."

Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham just came out and did an interview for the Georgia Web site. There are about 60 or so fans at the Butts-Mehre building, but there wasn't any audio coming out of speakers for those on hand.

Grantham was asked about his thoughts on moving rangy players like 6-6, 217-pound T.J. Stripling to outside linebacker from end.

"If you get four or five, two or three may be outside linebacker and two or three may play with their hand in the dirt," Grantham said. "If you're adding guys with length, you want to see where their bodies take them."

New Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham spent about a half hour answering questions this morning, fielding queries about everything from the intricacies of his 3-4 defense to his brush with Jessica Simpson while he was watching tape as the Cowboys defensive line coach.

“Nice girl,” he said. “Nice girl.”

Grantham’s already been on the road recruiting. He meets with players tonight at 5:30.

He says he’s ready to meet the expectations that fans have for the defense.
“I heard those guys bark in the stands when you make big plays,” he said. “Is that true?”

Here’s some other highlights of what he had to say today.

--On the final hire for the defensive staff: “It’s not etched in stone right now, but it’s probably going to be a linebacker coach. Not etched in stone, but that’s kind of the direction we’re headed right now.”

Georgia defensive players haven’t even met new coordinator Todd Grantham, but they are already imagining how they might fit into the 3-4 scheme he is bringing to Athens.

Defensive tackle Abry Jones was talking today about how he sees himself possibly as a defensive end in the alignment that uses three down linemen and four linebackers.

Safety Bacarri Rambo spoke of pass rushers that played end now getting after the quarterback from the outside linebacker position.

“This 3-4 defense will be a great scheme if that’s what we run because you can do so much out of it,” Rambo said. “We’ve got a lot players that can play all those positions. You’ve got Justin Houston and (Demarcus) Dobbs, they can line up at outside linebacker or end and force pressure to make quarterbacks throw bad passes. We’ve got the secondary to try and go out and make plays this year.”

The school of thought that Georgia wouldn’t spend big to land a defensive coordinator was turned on its head when Todd Grantham got his three-year deal worth $750,000 per year.

That made him the third highest paid assistant in college football. It is more than $425,000 ahead of any other Bulldogs' assistant.

Georgia hasn’t adjusted its salaries for any of its other assistant coaches since Grantham’s hire, athletic director Damon Evans said on Tuesday. Evans didn’t indicate that others are about to get multi-year deals, either.

“Everything in and of itself is unique,” Evans said. “Every situation is different. A lot of things have to do with timing, a lot of things have to do with what you can command as an individual, what’s going on with the climate out there.”

The climate for Georgia is that it pursued three other high-profile targets in its defensive coordinator search: Alabama’s Kirby Smart, Virginia Tech’s Bud Foster and LSU’s John Chavis.

Newly hired defensive coordinator Todd Grantham can leave Georgia to become an NFL or college head coach without paying a buyout, but resigning for any other reason including for another assistant coaching job could come with a hefty price tag.

Grantham would then owe at least $1.125 million if he resigns within the first year of his three-year deal that pays him $750,000 annually. That buyout figure decreases to $112,500 entering the final year of the agreement with the former Dallas Cowboys defensive line coach.

The terms are detailed in a memorandum of understanding obtained Tuesday by the Athens Banner-Herald in an open records request. Grantham signed the six-page memorandum Thursday, one day before Georgia announced his hire. University president Michael Adams and athletic director Damon Evans signed it on Saturday.

Newly hired Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is done with the Dallas Cowboys after the Minesota Vikings 34-3 playoff victory today. The Vikings threw an 11-yard touchdown pass with 1:55 to play for its final score.

Check out this interview with Grantham from the Cowboys' Web site. At about the 2:00 mark, Grantham's asked about the late touchdown. Told he didn't have to be guarded about what he says because the Vikings aren't on Georgia's schedule, Grantham says "I wish they were, though."

Click here:

http://www.dallascowboys.com/multimedia/multimedia_center.cfm?id=3E754B7...