Poor football performance evokes Donnan’s wrath at practice
April 3, 1998 by The Red and Black Archives
Filed under Undefined Section
By CAL POWELL
Staff Writer
There was no question what was on Georgia head coach Jim Donnan’s mind toward the end of Thursday’s second spring practice.
After his Bulldogs had completed more than two hours of drills in shorts and helmets, Donnan huddled the team together and delivered a 15-minute sermon on the evils of poor special teams play.
At the conclusion of Donnan’s speech, Georgia spent the final 15 minutes working exclusively on its placekicking. Hap Hines was the kicker, and LaBrone Mitchell and Kirby Smart held, while Jeremy Lewis and Bruce Sills did most of the snapping. Defensive ends coach Pat Watson instructed several players, including Marcus Stroud and Chris Terry, on blocking technique.
"We’re working extremely hard on our kicking game," Donnan said. "It’s always a concern when you lose dependable guys (Matt Rabon at snapper and holder Drew Cronic) that had been doing it for several years. But we’ll be all right."
In other special teams news, former Clarke Central High School standout Wynn Kopp is working with the team at punter. The left-footed Kopp spent last year at Air Force prep school and should compete with quarterback Jon England for the starting job this fall.
Other newsworthy happenings at practice:
n Sophomore Jermaine Phillips impressed Donnan with his play at receiver. Phillips practiced with the team last year but couldn’t play in games since he was a partial qualifier.
"We really can’t measure what he can or can’t do because he hasn’t got a lot of work with us," Donnan said. "But he did well in our scrimmages in the practices we had prior to the bowl game before he injured his finger. We’re really excited about his potential."
n Junior Robert Arnaud worked with the first team at strong safety Thursday after making the switch from linebacker. Donnan said Arnaud, who was switched to linebacker from running back last season, also may see some time on offense this season.
"It’s been a pretty smooth transition," Arnaud said. "Right now I’m still in a learning mode. The biggest difference (from linebacker to safety) is the footing. Everything else is just about the same."
n Senior tight end Larry Brown underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee Thursday morning and won’t be available for practice this spring.
Georgia will practice in full pads today and again Saturday afternoon.
"We’re limited in the amount of 11-on-11 we can do," Donnan said. "We can only have three full scrimmages. So we’ll be doing a lot of drill work (today) and some seven-on-seven. We’ll have limited contact."
