Georgia Bulldogs

ATHENS, Ga. -- Christian Robinson wasn’t unemployed for long.

Only a day after learning that the St. Louis Rams did not plan to keep him as a rookie free agent, Robinson accepted Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s offer to serve as one of the Bulldogs’ defensive graduate assistants this fall.

“I decided last night with my family and called and told my agent I was hanging up the helmet and that I wanted to pursue this job,” Robinson said Tuesday afternoon. “I called Coach Grantham this morning and before I could even say anything, he told me I was hired. So yeah, I was pretty excited.”

Grantham sat down with Robinson before the 2012 senior left for the Rams’ rookie camp and discussed the idea of a grad assistant position if he didn’t make the cut in the NFL. Robinson felt good about his performance in a couple of practices with the Rams and the speed with which he picked up their defensive scheme -- he even lined up alongside former Georgia teammate and first-round draft pick Alec Ogletree in some alignments -- but the team signed several other linebackers and informed him Monday that he wasn’t in their plans.

Robinson had a decision to make, but it didn’t take long for him to inform his agent, Adam Sattler, that he felt the smart move was to begin pursuing his long-term career goal of becoming a coach.

“I called my agent and talked to him and I said, ‘I have this position open to go back and be a GA and I really think that I don’t want to sit around and wait for somebody to call me to make a 90-man roster when I’m not even on their radar right now and the likelihood of making it is very low,’ ” Robinson said. “So my agent talked to me and said, ‘You’re not like a lot of guys.’ A lot of guys, this is their only option and they don’t have a slot like I do to go back and be a GA so quickly. He said, ‘It would be hard for me to tell you not to do that at this point.’ ”

Robinson still must pass the GRE to be admitted to a UGA graduate school program -- he plans to take the test next Tuesday -- and then he can jump into the responsibilities in his new position. He will replace Mike Kelly, who recently accepted a defensive line coaching position in Mississippi, in working as an on-field assistant, assembling scouting reports and scout-team preparation among the many behind-the-scenes tasks that grad assistants typically handle.

Having played for the Bulldogs so recently, Robinson knows this is a rare opportunity. But his knowledge of Grantham’s defensive scheme and terminology will also help him hit the ground running as an instructor, which should come in handy in working with the four true freshmen who will play his former position, inside linebacker, this season.

“That’s one thing my dad’s reminding me -- not a lot of guys have this opportunity, how easily it was kind of handed to me by the coaching staff,” Robinson said. “I really appreciate it. It’s definitely my dream position if I’m not playing professional football.”

With four players selected in Saturday's final rounds of the NFL draft, Georgia concluded the three-day event with eight players picked -- matching the program's record for most players picked in one year.

Last year the Bulldogs nearly tied the previous program record, eight in 2002, by having seven players selected. They reached the record this year when safety Bacarri Rambo went to the Washington Redskins in the sixth round -- although several players who hoped to hear their names called Saturday went undrafted, including nose guard Kwame Geathers, who opted to skip his senior season in college to enter the draft.

Georgia players halted a conspicuous trend Thursday when outside linebacker Jarvis Jones (17th overall to Pittsburgh) and inside linebacker Alec Ogletree (30th to St. Louis) were both picked in the first round. It had been eight years since Georgia had a defensive player picked in the first round, dating to when David Pollack and Thomas Davis were both first-rounders in 2005.

Defensive players dominated this draft class for Georgia, with seven of the eight picks having played under defensive coordinator Todd Grantham last season. Along with Jones, Ogletree and Rambo, nose guard John Jenkins (third round, New Orleans), safety Shawn Williams (third round, Cincinnati), cornerback Sanders Commings (fifth round, Arizona) and defensive end Cornelius Washington (sixth round, Chicago) were picked this year.

Receiver Tavarres King (fifth round, Denver) was Georgia's only offensive draft pick.

Shortly after the draft concluded, defensive end Abry Jones tweeted that he had signed as an undrafted free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Meanwhile, several other former Georgia players became available to sign with teams as undrafted free agents. In the next few days, Geathers, receiver Marlon Brown, cornerback Branden Smith and linebackers Christian Robinson and Michael Gilliard could sign with teams via free agency.

ATHENS, Ga. -- This won’t be the most crucial offseason of Todd Grantham’s relatively brief time at Georgia -- that honor goes to 2010, when he started installing his 3-4 scheme shortly after joining Mark Richt’s staff in January -- but it might be the one with the most roster uncertainty.

The Bulldogs will lose 11 key players off its 2012 defense, and that number could grow to 12 if junior nose guard Kwame Geathers declares for the NFL draft, so spring practice will feature major competition within every defensive position group.

“I kind of put them up on the board the other day and we’ve got some talented guys. It’s just a matter of developing them and working them and filtering it,” Grantham said. “Our depth is going to be better than it’s been the last couple of years, but it’s going to be young. So there’s a little bit at every spot.”

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ATHENS, Ga. -- Stats don’t lie -- and in this case, the stats say that Georgia has not defended the run well this season.

After surrendering 300-plus rushing yards in each of the last three games, Georgia (11-2) dropped to 77^th nationally in run defense with an average of 177.8 yards per game. But while they can’t dispute that Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech and Alabama all topped the 300-yard mark, the Bulldogs insist that those numbers are somewhat deceptive.

Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech, after all, typically run the ball on nearly every down in their option offensive sets. And Alabama also boasts a particularly powerful running game with a veteran offensive line and two star tailbacks in Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon. So some Georgia defenders are quick to discount any notion that the Bulldogs are weak against the run.

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Editor’s note: Each day between now and Georgia’s Capital One Bowl date with Nebraska, we will review the season for a key Bulldogs player and attempt to project what’s next. Today we’ll look at linebacker Amarlo Herrera.

No. 52 Amarlo Herrera
Sophomore/Inside linebacker
67 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 INT

Role in 2012: After playing considerably as a freshman, Herrera ranked among the Bulldogs’ best run-stoppers from his inside linebacker spot as a sophomore.

The good: A sure and physical tackler, Herrera played a key role throughout the season, but was particularly valuable early in the fall when starter Alec Ogletree was serving a four-game suspension. Herrera started four more times after Ogletree’s return and ranked fourth on the team in tackles -- including a season-high 11 against South Carolina.

The bad: Herrera was inconsistent at times in pass coverage -- although yes, he had the team's only interception return for a touchdown (against Florida Atlantic) -- which cleared the way for Christian Robinson to take the field on third downs and in other passing situations. The sophomore was fairly quiet down the stretch, totaling just six tackles in the final four games after ranking near the top of the team’s tackles list for most of the fall.

Crystal ball: With seniors Robinson and Mike Gilliard -- and most likely draft-eligible junior Ogletree -- departing after the season, Herrera immediately moves into a leadership role in a couple of weeks. He will be the only inside linebacker with significant experience and Georgia’s coaches will certainly count on him in the coming months to help a group of newcomers make the adjustment from high school to college football.

Editor’s note: Each day between now and Georgia’s Capital One Bowl date with Nebraska, we will review the season for a key Bulldogs player and attempt to project what’s next. Today we’ll look at linebacker Christian Robinson.

No. 45 Christian Robinson
Senior/Inside linebacker
44 tackles, 6.5 TFL

Role in 2012: Robinson mostly contributed in third-down situations -- although he played a much greater role in defending the option offenses of Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech at the end of the season.

The good: The senior mostly had a quiet season until the final two weeks against Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech. He tallied half of his season total for tackles (44) in those two games alone -- 13 against Georgia Tech and nine against Georgia Southern -- and four tackles for a loss. Otherwise, he typically played on third downs while Amarlo Herrera and Michael Gilliard alternated alongside Alec Ogletree on first and second downs.

The bad: Robinson is the first to admit that he isn’t Georgia’s most physically gifted linebacker -- and that was a key reason why he lost playing time to Herrera and Gilliard after opening 2011 as a starter -- instead having to rely on smarts and preparation to get his job done. There were times where opponents exploited that shortcoming with quicker receivers or backs, but by and large he played his role effectively.

Crystal ball: Although he plans to eventually become a football coach just like his father, Robinson hasn’t given up on the idea of playing professional football. He was invited to participate in a postseason all-star game -- the Raycom Bowl in Montgomery, Ala. -- along with teammates Gilliard, Cornelius Washington and Abry Jones. One way or another, he has a promising future in the sport, whether it’s on the field or on the sidelines coaching.