Red zone discussion

Who was our last fullback, anyway? Christian Payne?

ETA - Seth Emerson was on the mother, back before the season began.

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It was a little more than two years ago that Kirby Smart, having recently become the Georgia football coach, proclaimed that he was “not a fullback guy.” During the next two years, however, Smart gradually did become a Christian Payne guy.

But now Payne is gone. And the fullback position might continue to be phased out of the Georgia roster.

Oh, there technically still are fullbacks on the roster. Nick Moore, a senior and a former Boston Red Sox farmhand, was Payne’s backup the last two years. Frank Sinkwich IV, who as the name indicates is the great-grandson of the former Georgia back, is also listed as a fullback on the spring roster. Sinkwich is a redshirt freshman.

But those are the only two expressly listed as fullbacks. The Bulldogs have not signed one since Quayvon Hicks in 2012 and have no plans to do so.

As for using the fullback position, evidently it’s not an emphasis this spring.

“Right now we’re not really working anything with fullbacks right now. We’re more just focusing on different run plays without fullbacks,” tight end Charlie Woerner said. “We’ll see in summer and fall camp if we incorporate the tight ends in that.”

Woerner was asked about it because the fullback role – at least in specific plays – instead could go to the tight ends. Sometimes that was the case last season, but not often, Woerner added.

“Christian was really good at what he did,” Woerner said.

Payne, a walk-on from Prince Avenue Christian School in Athens, was an undersized but physical and hard-nosed presence. When he operated as the lead back he tended to open big holes for Nick Chubb and Sony Michel.

And while blocking was his main emphasis, Payne was handed the ball a few times, fullback dives to convert short-yardage plays. He only had 5 rushes for 18 yards last year, but they usually were crucial yards, including a 7-yard run to convert a first down at Notre Dame. Payne didn’t catch a pass last season, but he did have 12 catches for 119 yards, including a touchdown, over his sophomore and junior seasons.

But Georgia has seen that fullback is not necessarily an indispensable position: Payne missed the SEC Championship Game with a concussion, and Georgia’s offense still rolled to a 28-7 victory.

When Smart was asked about using the fullback this season, now that Payne is gone, he pointed more toward the tight ends. The thinking is pretty simple. As players get bigger but also more athletic, those traditional fullback plays can be taken up by tight ends, and Georgia continues to sign very good ones.

‘’In most traditional fullback offenses, you use tight ends in that role as a backup, because you only get to travel 70 [with 70 players]. So we’ll keep those portions of our offense,” Smart said. “We think those are good weapons to have, but it’ll be done by committee. It’ll be done by Jackson [Harris], [Isaac] Nauta, all those guys … Charlie. We’ll also have guys coming in the fall who can help with that.”

By that he meant the two tight ends who signed with the Bulldogs: John FitzPatrick and Luke Ford. He didn’t mean a fullback. Now that Payne is gone, Smart again appears not to be a fullback guy.

Then again, if another Christian Payne comes along, perhaps there will be a place for him in the offense. But maybe not a huge place.

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I know we don't have a scholarshipped FB on the roster today. Doesn't mean we couldn't convert someone or use someone out of position, but just from a pure "have done it before" doesn't seem like we have that today, and Smart has gone on record as saying he doesn't want to use a scholarship on one...

With that said, I think a bigger issue in our RZ offense (aside from false starts/penalties) is the general approach we seem to take when trying to run it between the tackles.

We have spent the last 2 years racking up exceptional talent on the OL... and while I get that we are a little cobbled together right now, we are still really good on the OL... Instead of letting those guys win 1-1 or 1-2 matchups enough to create a crease, we are going tight splits, stacking them right up against each other and bringing in tight ends... this allows the defense to essentially overwhelm with numbers roughly 9:7. With all of the bodies compiled in a small area, you basically have no where for the RB to go... 16 bodies to try and run through/around... and it's not working.

It would seemingly be smarter to line them up with wider splits and give the RB (I would assume Holyfield) more possible options to run to.

Also, I think our snap count seems a little too predictable.

Put 3-4 WRs on the field to unstack the box and then run between the tackles. If the defense doesn't respect the WRs being on the field, start passing.

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Put 3-4 WRs on the field to unstack the box and then run between the tackles. If the defense doesn't respect the WRs being on the field, start passing.

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Hell.. no need to even use that many wide outs... we have very capable TEs that are already in the goal line sets... Line them up and then flex them out... see what the defense presents... the matchups should be beneficial for us one way or the other.

Do what Clemson is doing. Line up a DT and LB to run the short yardage.

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Or try a PA with Fromm.

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Would be wide open. That’s too easy for either Qb. Kirby wants our guys to prove they are man enough, even if they can’t do it.

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Teach them to jump

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That is a hard Dawg to take after Broncothor. Plays like that (Herschel) are not too common anymore. He was an original badass RB for a reason.

Get a midget to walk onto the team as a situational RB, and then have Ben Cleveland and I. Wilson throw him into the end zone when we’re knocking on the door.

Jump!