From Seth Emerson’s Georgia Beat Blog:
“We’re pissed off,” Charles said Wednesday. “That’s our thing right now. We’re pissed off right now. We’re 1-4. We’ve got a lot of fans saying this, a lot of fans saying that. And I mean, we just want to make everybody happy. We want to be happy.
“We’re tired of walking around the locker room, quiet, coaches yelling at us all the time for no reason, because we’re losing. So we’re just going out there and to get our respect back. We’re pissed off right now.”
And just to be clear:
“I’m speaking for everyone at Georgia,” Charles said.
There hasn’t been a singular fiery speech by one player, the tight end added, because everyone feels the same way.
“We can’t change the past,” Charles said. “We’ve gotta move forward. The main thing is we’ve gotta stick together.”
Charles said he has also detected a difference in head coach Mark Richt, who on Wednesday night had to answer a question of whether he was fighting for his job. Publicly, Richt has remained rather even-keel, but in practice it’s apparently been a different story.
“I noticed he was kind of hyped when it came down on Monday, and everybody started hitting,” Charles said. “He was a little jumpy. We started getting hyped. And coach was in it. That was what we really needed.”
Richt called a full-pads practice on Monday, the first time he had done so two days after a game in his 10 years at Georgia. Charles said the players approved.
“I felt like we needed it,” Charles said. “Like coach Richt said, camp was a little lighter than usual. To tell the truth, it put a lot of energy around the locker room. Everybody was ready to go. Everybody when in the training room and got taped. So you knew everyone was really excited.”
So people felt like it was about time, and that it was needed?
“Oh yeah,” Charles said. “Oh yeah.”
I don’t know if this is a clear sign that the players are feeling pressure, too. But I hope so. Like the old saying: ‘If life hands you a crap filled sandwich…” Hopefully they are all fed up with this nonsense and will come out cranked up and hopefully find some leadership…
On a personal note, I really think this is gutsy as hell for Orson to say. And he should be pissed, as few times as he has been targeted this year. This is the kinda stuff that will help the team. Sorry Richt, praying won’t help right the ship, God could give 3 lesser craps about if we win/lose/draw. Maybe a few cuss words in the locker room would help, too.
-Inspector G