From OnlineAthens.com
September 29th, 2016 04:00 PM
A big football weekend at Georgia will have Mark Fox waiting until Sunday afternoon to get going with his squad.
The Bulldogs will hold their first preseason practice two days after the NCAA permits men’s basketball teams to begin. There can be 30 practices in the 42 days before the season opener at Clemson on Nov. 11.
The offseason already has shown Fox plenty about his eighth Georgia team.
“They’ve worked unbelievably hard,” Fox said. “I’ve been extremely pleased. This might be the most player-driven team we’ve ever had. And player driven teams go a little farther than coach-driven teams.”
Eight of the top 10 scorers from last year’s NIT team that finished 20-14 are back led by guard J.J Frazier and forward Yante Maten, the first and third leading returning scorers in the SEC.
Added to the mix are freshmen guards Jordan Harris from Seminole County and Tyree Crump from Bainbridge and junior college transfer forward Pape Diatta from the College of Southern Idaho.
There are no injury issues to keep anybody from practicing, Fox said. Wing Juwan Parker, who missed last season due to his Achilles’ injury, already played in Georgia’s August exhibition trip to Spain.
“We just have a maturity about us,” Fox said. “We have very good chemistry.”
That chemistry will have more chance to develop on Sunday. First there is Georgia-Tennessee football.
Auburn (Ala.) High four-star power forward Garrison Brooks is visiting this weekend, according to Scout.com’s Evan Daniels.
Georgia has four spots for the 2017 class and no commitments yet.
“We need some home football games for visits,” Fox said. “We’re just waiting for visits, which is obviously important in the process.”
Georgia was away from home for three of its first four football games.
Fox’s own team’s road trip overseas gave it a jump start on 2016-17.
Georgia went 3-0 in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona, but Fox said it didn’t really define roles because everybody got a share of the minutes. Maten and Frazier didn’t play more than a half of any game.
It gave the younger players “a chance to play a bigger role and hopefully get comfortable in it,” Fox said. “We did learn a lot about maybe where we would play guys and not play guys.”
Fox said there is “unbelievable competition for playing time,” after the departures of wings Kenny Gaines and Charles Mann, who averaged 30.1 and 28.5 minutes per game, respectively.
Parker, Diata, Kenny Paul Geno, E’Torrion Wildridge, Harris and Crump will vie to pick up those minutes.
Sophomore forwards Mike Edwards and Derek Ogbeide have had “really good offseasons,” Fox said.
Redshirt senior Houston Kessler is shooting “the ball as good as he ever has.” Point guard Turtle Jackson is back for his sophomore season.
“We’ve got competition,” Fox said. “So it’s going to be a battle but that will ultimately make us better.”
...READ MORE HERE...
September 29th, 2016 04:00 PM
A big football weekend at Georgia will have Mark Fox waiting until Sunday afternoon to get going with his squad.
The Bulldogs will hold their first preseason practice two days after the NCAA permits men’s basketball teams to begin. There can be 30 practices in the 42 days before the season opener at Clemson on Nov. 11.
The offseason already has shown Fox plenty about his eighth Georgia team.
“They’ve worked unbelievably hard,” Fox said. “I’ve been extremely pleased. This might be the most player-driven team we’ve ever had. And player driven teams go a little farther than coach-driven teams.”
Eight of the top 10 scorers from last year’s NIT team that finished 20-14 are back led by guard J.J Frazier and forward Yante Maten, the first and third leading returning scorers in the SEC.
Added to the mix are freshmen guards Jordan Harris from Seminole County and Tyree Crump from Bainbridge and junior college transfer forward Pape Diatta from the College of Southern Idaho.
There are no injury issues to keep anybody from practicing, Fox said. Wing Juwan Parker, who missed last season due to his Achilles’ injury, already played in Georgia’s August exhibition trip to Spain.
“We just have a maturity about us,” Fox said. “We have very good chemistry.”
That chemistry will have more chance to develop on Sunday. First there is Georgia-Tennessee football.
Auburn (Ala.) High four-star power forward Garrison Brooks is visiting this weekend, according to Scout.com’s Evan Daniels.
Georgia has four spots for the 2017 class and no commitments yet.
“We need some home football games for visits,” Fox said. “We’re just waiting for visits, which is obviously important in the process.”
Georgia was away from home for three of its first four football games.
Fox’s own team’s road trip overseas gave it a jump start on 2016-17.
Georgia went 3-0 in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona, but Fox said it didn’t really define roles because everybody got a share of the minutes. Maten and Frazier didn’t play more than a half of any game.
It gave the younger players “a chance to play a bigger role and hopefully get comfortable in it,” Fox said. “We did learn a lot about maybe where we would play guys and not play guys.”
Fox said there is “unbelievable competition for playing time,” after the departures of wings Kenny Gaines and Charles Mann, who averaged 30.1 and 28.5 minutes per game, respectively.
Parker, Diata, Kenny Paul Geno, E’Torrion Wildridge, Harris and Crump will vie to pick up those minutes.
Sophomore forwards Mike Edwards and Derek Ogbeide have had “really good offseasons,” Fox said.
Redshirt senior Houston Kessler is shooting “the ball as good as he ever has.” Point guard Turtle Jackson is back for his sophomore season.
“We’ve got competition,” Fox said. “So it’s going to be a battle but that will ultimately make us better.”
...READ MORE HERE...
