Georgia Bulldogs assistant laments gesture
Football is a game filled with energy and passion. But sometimes players, and even coaches, can let their emotions get the best of them. According to University of Georgia head coach Mark Richt, that’s exactly what happened when Todd Grantham, an assistant
coach for the Bulldogs, was caught giving the choke sign to Florida kicker Chas Henry in an overtime match-up on Saturday, 30 October.
Grantham, who serves as Georgia’s defensive coordinator, was seen with one hand on his throat as the Gators’ kicker was readying for what would eventually be the game-winning field goal in Florida’s 34-31 overtime victory. The coach apparently gestured toward
the kicker a total of four times before Henry hit the 37-yarder to seal the Bulldogs’ fate.
“I’m aware of it and I’ll just say that emotions run high and people do things that they probably wish they didn’t do,” Richt said in his assessment of the situation. “I think that was what was being communicated. I don’t think he’s necessarily proud of it.”
Although the defensive coordinator will not be reprimanded with any sort of disciplinary action, Richt hopes that Grantham will move past, and learn from, the incident. After speaking with the head coach and Georgia’s athletic director, Greg McGarity, Gratham
has vowed to put the mess and its backlash behind him.
“As a competitor sometimes you get caught up in the heat of the moment,” Grantham said after the Bulldogs’ practice Tuesday. “I wish the situation hadn’t happened. It was a tough, hard-fought game. They won it. I’m ready to move forward and finish out the year
strong.”
There are several though, including many players on the Bulldogs’ roster, who just don’t seem to think what transpired was a big deal.
“[Grantham] probably, like the rest of us, was just hoping he’d miss the kick or something like that,” Aaron Murray, the Bulldogs’ quarterback, said. “I don’t think it’s anything too much to get worked up about.”
Even though he eventually made the kick that doomed the rival Bulldogs, the Gators’ kicker admitted that he was aware of the taunting. Henry attests that he saw that Georgia coaches “on the sideline were over there giving me a little grief, saying I was going
to choke.”
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