Is Richt giving a "warning" about the defense or just tempering expectations?

There was (and still is) some serious gaps in the defense, and special teams play. Anyone who thinks this will all be solved before the 2014 season arrives is just living in a dream world. I've said this several times...I think the Pruitt hire, along with his assistant coaches was spot on. Now, having said that, does anyone here think Coach Pruitt is going to get this defense SECC ready in just a few months? I think UGA can win maybe 10 games this season, but ONLY with ALL THE RIGHT BREAKS. But, 7-5/8-4 is a very real possibility. My guess is 9-3 regular season.

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Neither, he just acknowledges the lack of experience in the secondary.

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I was thinking this, too. But at the same time I can see it as a "warning" (for lack of better word) for fans not to get their hopes up.

Yeah, hopefully our offense can help them out a bit. But, I just don't have a lot of faith in Mason yet.

I feel bad for Pruitt. It's going to be tough for us to be very good for the next 2 years. We always struggle during transition phases between QBs.

The worst was the Stafford to Joe Cox for a year to Aaron Murray as a freshmen. That really wiped out 2 seasons. The only time we've made a smooth transition was from Greene to DJ.

If Mason is more Joe Cox than DJ, we could be looking at a tough road to hoe this year under Mason and another tough one next year under a young QB and it won't matter a whole lot how good the defense is.

If we end up with a good enough line, these running backs may make the QB job a lot easier than Cox had it...

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these running backs may make the QB job a lot easier than Cox had it...

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Absolutely. I made a long post about Gurley a few months back, and hit on the point you just made. I'll C&P it below

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I'll also add somewhat of a hybrid point here regarding Mason. People want to compare him to Joe Cox...so let's put Todd Gurley on that 09 team and see what we get. We went 7-5 regular season, I'll skip the wins and look at the 5 losses.

OSU- It was a 10-17 game midway through the 4th (before the refs threw an indescribably bad PF on reshad jones and OSU scored again). Our leading rusher had 87 yards. If I'm not mistaken he also lost a fumble (could have branden smith, not positive). Knowing that it was a 1 TD game with about 8 minutes left to go, does anyone really think we would have been the same in that game with Gurley in the backfield instead of Samuel? Call this a wash if you must, but you could easily turn this into a win.
LSU- Our 2 leading rushers COMBINED for 44 yards and 0 touchdowns. Despite that, we were winning with 1 minute left. This is a win with Gurley.
UT- we got shellacked, gurley wouldnt' have made much difference
UF- same. They were simply much better than us.
UK- leading rusher had 77 yards and 0 TDs. Ealey also had a critical fumble. We were winning in the 4th, tied late, and lost by 7 late. You can't tell me Todd wouldn't have made the difference.

So even with Joe Cox and our crappy 09 defense, you're talking about 7-5 regular season turning into 10-2 with Gurley. Let that sink in.

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Let that sink in.

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And then add in KM, Chubb, and Michel...

Not to mention our D will be better up front..

I see only one or two loses in the regular season.

Maybe less if we're all healthy and HM is the real deal.

I think you're right on the money!I think the interior linemen will rotate as often as possible to stay fresh and Floyd and Jenkins will have their tongues dragging from chasing qb's all game.

Yeah I can't wait to see our "version of Clowney" in action as well.

Lo 'C'!