Richt goes in-depth at Monday's Media Day

Coach Mark Richt shared his thoughts on several subjects Monday, which was Miami’s media day.

One area many are keeping an eye on is backup QB behind Malik Rosier.

And Richt said that battle “is wide open" and that it's "a close competition" to the point that the No. 2 job could remain open through the season.

“Cade Weldon has really had a great camp,” Richt said when asked about the battle there. “From Day 1 of the scrimmage, probably graded out the best, most accurate throws, things of that nature. This particular scrimmage N’Kosi (Perry) really had a nice day. Cade a solid day. Jarren (Williams) again, he’s the guy that’s not quite sure what to do."

Richt also said he was "frustrated" about the QB position when it came to their maturity level ... but not so much anymore.

“That group has really changed their mentality," Richt said. "I think they’ve all turned the corner on what it takes to be the leader of the team, what it takes to prepare.

"Jon (Richt) and I have been hard on them, every one of them has turned the corner."

Richt added that “One game I might have Weldon as No. 2, the next game I might have N’Kosi as No. 2. I’ve done the bat in the past. Because of the redshirt rule you can probably throw Jarren in there, let him play. He can play up to four games and still be redshirted. You learn about guys when you throw them in the game.”

Richt also said he’s pleased with Rosier, who led an opening 75-yard TD drive vs. the second team defense in Saturday night’s scrimmage. That drive included a couple of third down conversions.

"Malik has been in a lot of big games, made a lot of big plays - he was responsible for 31 touchdowns last year," Richt said. "Everybody knows it's Malik, agree it's Malik (that's the choice as starter)."

* Backup OT George Brown has a knee injury coming off the scrimmage and didn't practice.

“He’s a concern, we’ll find out here pretty quick what he’s able to do or not,” Richt said. "We're just waiting on results, just don't know yet."

With Brown out, the first team offensive line today remained Tyree St. Louis, Jahair Jones, Tyler Gauthier, Hayden Mahoney and Navaughn Donaldson.

The second team?

LT DJ Scaife, LG Venzell Boulware, C Corey Gaynor, RG Cleveland Reed and RT Kai-Leon Herbert.

"We moved Scaife to left tackle, moved Venzell to left guard (from right) and Reed at right guard," Richt said.

Richt said he thinks Boulware can "push" Jones a little bit for the starting role.

"We're still functioning with three lines, which is good," Richt said, adding that he thinks the first team offensive line is ready to play a game "right now."

And Richt said he’s happy with the first team offensive line.

“The one unit’s had a really good camp,” Richt said. “A lot of time to throw the ball.”

* The update with some of the newer players?

Richt said he has confidence that freshman WR Brian Hightower is ready to play in games.

"I know he knows what to do, is a physical blocker," Richt said.

He added that "A guy like (Dee) Wiggins is getting there. (Marquez) Ezzard, when Ezzard figures it out he's going to be a really good player. Is he ready today? Probably not. Lorenzo (Lingard) really struggled early on pass protection learning who to block, then learning how to do it. He was getting knocked around a bunch. Then he picked up a blitz or two, ran with more power.

"Defensively guys like (Gregory) Rousseau, when it's pass rush and you see him come off the line so fast and he's long and athletic. He still has to learn to play the run plays. Jordan Miller, Nesta Silvera, Tito (Odenigbo) have to be ready because of our depth. I see some of our young linebacker corps starting to (be ready). I feel better about BJ Jennings, (Waynmon) Steed, those guys."

* Today's practice was delayed by lightning.

"I thought we practiced better before the horn blew, went back out and were sluggish on offense, lost our focus a bit throwing and catching," Richt said.

He said there's a certificate of occupancy for the IPF and that the field should be installed this week and that it "looks really good" that the team could get work done in there before the week's over.

* Travis Homer and Deejay Dallas are sharing first team reps at running back.

And coming off the scrimmage Trayone Gray was back working at tailback after spending the first week of drills with the fullbacks. Freshman Realus George was elevated to first team fullback.

"The guy who helped himself maybe more than anybody this camp is Gray - he's not done playing tailback here for us," Richt said.

The first team tailback depth chart based on early practice drills was first Travis Homer, second team Deejay Dallas, third team Trayone Gray, fourth team Robert Burns and then freshmen Lorenzo Lingard and Cam Davis were switching off behind those four.

* Richt said Lawrence Cager’s “doing a great job” and that Jeff Thomas can be in the slot with Mike Harley also there “sometimes.”

* Richt said freshman TE Brevin Jordan is getting most of the first team reps at tight end.

"When Michael (Irvin) got hurt, Brevin got a lot of work at the position (Chris) Herndon was at last year - Mallory's more where (David) Njoku was (position-wise)," Richt said. "They're talented, will be making plays. They're going to be good. ... A year or two from now they'll be much more physical when it comes to blocking."

* Of the linebacker group, Richt said, “(Mike) Pinckney and Shaq (Quarterman), those guys are really, really good.”

* Richt said of safety Jaquan Johnson that “Half the time he’s playing in the box, being unblocked into the run game.”

* Richt said freshman kicker Bubba Baxa "had a really good day today" after struggling in Saturday's scrimmage.

* Of Jarren Williams, Richt said, "He's a typical freshman, doesn't quite know what to do on every play. And of every position quarterback is the one where you need to process the most.

"The one thing i do love about him is he seems pretty fearless in the pocket. When he does get his sights on a target he's fundamentally very sound and hits his target more times than not. He's made some bad decisions like freshmen do, but that's why you practice. But very optimistic about his future."

* Asked about Al Blades, Richt said, he's "a super competitor."

"There's something about those guys, you don't have to motivate those guys any day of the week," Richt said. "They can't wait to practice, can't wait to play. We have local guys playing corner, playing receiver, a lot of hometown brawls going on.

"We like his skillset. He has a competitive spirit, the family name is being honored by how he's practicing."

Opening statement…

“It’s nice to be in the cool [air]. We did have a lightning strike today, nearby – close enough to force us off the field. We got off the field. We weren’t quite ready to go in the indoor [facility]. We’re within days. We have a certificate of occupancy right now. When the field turf [workers] finishes their job of getting the field just right, we’ll be able to use it. It’ll probably be this week, more than likely, but we’ll see. I don’t want to make any wild predictions, but it looks really good to be in there before the week is over. As I was mentioning earlier, the lightning prediction system thought it might be coming. The horn went off, we went in and I don’t know, we might have been in there 10 minutes, 15 minutes. The all clear horn came, so we went back out and got everybody warmed up again and got to practice. I thought we practiced better before the horn blew. When we went back out, we were a little sluggish, I thought – at least offensively. Defense, it didn’t seem to bother them much. But I think we lost our focus, a little bit, throwing and catching. In our seven-on-seven drill, we had guys open and might have missed a guy by an inch or threw it to an open guy and he drops it. Not every time, but just too many times. We’re not going to be great unless we can consistently throw and catch. Little bothersome there. But overall it was a good practice. We got it in and that was nice.”

On George Brown, Jr., who suffered an injury in Saturday’s scrimmage…

“I’m still waiting for [head trainer] Vinny [Scavo] to tell me the final deal, but he did not practice today. He hurt his knee. I don’t even know which knee it was, to be honest with you. But we’re just waiting on results. I would say pretty soon we’ll be able to say what’s going on with him. We just don’t know yet. But he did not go today.”

On how Brown’s injury affects the offensive line rotation…

“We moved DJ Scaife outside. We put DJ outside. We took [Venzell] Boulware and flipped him to left guard. We moved up Cleveland Reed to right guard with the ‘two’ unit [second string]. It might have been nice to keep Venzell there, but for Cleveland being a brand new freshman, trying to learn what to do – to flip him over there [to left guard] might have been a little tough, assignment-wise. Boulware, he actually played a little left guard in college. Venzell is a graduate transfer who played a lot of ball, so he can probably adjust a little better and maybe push Jahair [Jones] a little bit. So then [Zach] Dykstra ended up being Cleveland Reed on ‘three’ unit. I think we had Kai-Leon [Herbert] on the right, we had [John] Campbell on the left, we had Bar [Milo] at center…we’re still functioning with three lines, which is good. But you get one or two more [players] out, and it gets tough to give everybody the work they need.”

On building an offensive line as a head coach…

“Offensive line play takes time. It is, by far, the biggest developmental position on the football field. In other words, guys rarely show up ready to go physically. To learn what you have to learn, it’s very, very difficult. Next to quarterback play, it’s the most difficult thing to learn. And they have to learn it in tandem. It’s not just, ‘hey, I know my job.’”

On how the team approaches the season goals-wise after losing last year’s bowl game…

“I don’t think guys are thinking much about last year and how we finished. We’ll talk about it sometimes, but really, especially in the middle of camp, they’re focusing on ‘every day, every play’ mentality. It’s hot. It’s testing them physically. It’s testing them mentally. The practices are at a high tempo. That’s what they’re focused on – trying to do their job and do it well, prove that they deserve to play, prove that they might deserve to start, prove that they might deserve to be on the plane when we take off here in a couple of weeks. Everyone is kind of at a different level. But there are moments that we’ll talk as a team and we’ll talk about the way we need to finish. If you remember two years ago, my first season here, we lost a lot of really close games. Then that was kind of the big focus – we have to do what it takes to win those close games. Then we did win close games last year, but we didn’t quite finish. We finished some games, but we didn’t quite finish the season. Part of it was due to the lack of depth on our football team, to be real with it. Hopefully we’re developing more depth now where that won’t be as big of a problem.”

On the development of the special teams units …

“First of all, Todd Hartley heads up all of our special teams and he does a spectacular job. If he only coached tight ends, I think he would be so bored he would make himself crazy. Because he needs to be busy. He’s one of those guys that can handle the load of a lot – all the tight end stuff, all the special teams stuff. There are six special teams [units]. There’s a lot on his plate, but he just has one of those brains that can handle it. I think he really enjoys it. He’s getting everybody organized. He’s doing the drill work. He has coaches helping him do everything, but he’s leading the way. It starts with him.”

On if anybody moved up the depth chart after their performance in Saturday’s scrimmage…

“I don’t know if we moved somebody from a backup to a starter at this point, but guys are just beginning to prove that they’re game-ready. I’ve got a lot of faith and confidence in [Brian] Hightower that he’s ready. He might not have even caught a ball [Saturday], I don’t even know…I don’t remember. But when I watch him practice every day, I know he knows what to do and I know he’s a physical blocker. He will catch the tough ball in traffic. I feel good about it. A guy like [Dee] Wiggins is getting there. Is he there yet? Maybe not. Of course Hightower was here in the spring - that helped him out. When [Marquez] Ezzard figures it out, he’s going to be a really good player. Is he ready today? Probably not. But he’s getting there – that’s why we practice.

“Lorenzo [Lingard] really struggled early in pass protection - learning who to block, because it’s not that easy, and learning how to do it. He was getting knocked around a bunch, quite frankly. Then I saw him start to pick up a blitz or two. It was physical. He ran the ball with more power and finishing the runs like we finish. He did a couple of runs like he probably did in high school – where it didn’t look good and he wanted to spin around and run over there and out-run everybody, and you can’t do that in college. If you stop and spin around, you’re going to get a seven-yard loss. He is starting to learn to stick it in there, drive his feet and those types of things. The guy who has probably helped himself more than anybody this camp is Trayone Gray, as a fullback and he got some tailback reps, too. He’s not done playing tailback here for us.

“Defensively, guys like [Greg] Rousseau we talk so much about. What excites you about Rousseau is, that when you do your drill work and it’s a pass-rush, and you just see him come off the line so fast and long and athletic and you see the potential. But he still has to learn to play the run downs and that kind of stuff. He’s getting better as he goes. All those young defensive linemen. Nesta Silvera has got to be ready. Jordan Miller has got to be better. Tito [Odenigbo] has got to be better. They kind of don’t have a choice because of our depth right now. Those are some of the names.”