Georgia Bulldogs Hire Will Friend as Offensive Line Coach in Late Night 'Dawg Bites

Bulldog Nation is a busy place, and, sometimes, it’s tough to keep up, which is why we like to take a pause every now and again to bring you up to speed on a few topics of interest in rapid fashion. Here now are your late night ‘Dawg bites:

• This no longer qualifies as news, but Will Friend is Georgia’s new offensive line coach. On the minus side, he is a former Bulldog graduate assistant with ties to Neil Callaway who has spent the last four years at UAB and whose last name does not inspire confidence that he will be a stern taskmaster whose internal amp is always on eleven and whose vocabulary would cause blushes below deck on a troop ship. On the plus side, he has strong ties to Alabama---both the state and the university (including playing days under Junction Boy Gene Stallings)---and a good track record with the Blazers. Personally, I’d feel better about this hire if UAB had ranked higher than 58th nationally in rushing offense last year, but, since the Bulldogs ranked 73rd in that category, this theoretically represents an improvement. My bottom line is that, if Watts Dantzler likes the hire, I like the hire. Welcome, Coach Friend!
• Isaiah Crowell is even cooler than you think.
• The Red and Black have produced a mixed bag of results in a variety of sports lately. On the tennis court, the women’s team defeated Georgia Tech and the men’s team was defeated by Ohio State. Andy Landers’s Lady Dogs improved to 18-5 with a weekend win over Alabama, while the Georgia equestrian team fell to South Carolina in a clash of top six teams.
• Naturally, we extend our congratulations to former Georgia player Jarius Wynn on the birth of his son and the Green Bay Packers’ victory in the Super Bowl. Keith Richards (not his real name) sent me an interesting item regarding the oval "G" worn by Green Bay, Georgia, and Grambling: Doug Williams said on ESPN Radio that Vince Lombardi claimed the G stood not for "Green Bay," but for "greatness." That was what motivated Vince Dooley and Eddie Robinson to incorporate the sentiment into the helmets at Georgia and Grambling, respectively.
• According to kleph, it’s not just me.
• Since we’re gearing up for baseball season, I wanted to report on an upcoming event taking place at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville on Wednesday, March 9: Georgia and Alabama will play the second game of a doubleheader in the inaugural Gwinnett Baseball Classic at 7:00 that evening, following the afternoon high school game between Brookwood and Mill Creek. The event will benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. For more information, please visit the Children’s Healthcare website or contact Renee Fraley by telephone at (404) 785-7315 or by e-mail here.
• A couple of basketball notes warrant inclusion, as well. First of all, it’s gratifying to know that Xavier considers Tuesday night’s game against Georgia as big a game as we do. Secondly, Bulldog Nation will want to pay close attention to Wednesday night’s battle between the Florida Gators and the South Carolina Gamecocks at 8:00 p.m. on the SEC Network. We want the Palmetto State Poultry to upset the Sunshine State Saurians, for three reasons. First of all, the Gators lead the division. Secondly, a Florida loss is, by definition, a good thing. Finally, Georgia faces South Carolina on Saturday, and I’d much rather the Gamecocks weren’t in a "must win" situation when facing the Bulldogs.

That should fill in most of the blanks for you as you get ready to bring down the curtain on your evening and prepare for the day ahead. Now go get some sleep, and prepare yourself to cheer on Mark Fox’s Georgia Bulldogs as they host the Xavier Musketeers. The comment thread is scheduled to appear shortly before the close of the business day on Tuesday.

Go ‘Dawgs!