You're about one year late, CRob...

We have heard a bunch so far this off-season about new leaders stepping up on the defense after last year’s cancerous “leaders” who were me-first guys. Linebacker Christian Robinson seems to have taken on the most vocal “leader” role, which is fine as he started last year, but I guess I have to ask one simple question: what took so long?

If last season really was so leaderless and me-first, why didn’t Robinson set up one calendar year ago? I would disagree with anyone that said, “oh he was too young last year and there were pre-established leaders already in place.”

B.S. Last year was the first year that Georgia was in Todd Grantham’s new 3-4 defense, which means EVERYONE was in essence a rookie/freshman. Nearly the entire defensive coaching staff was brand new to Georgia so the entire team had a chance to make an impression on the staff. Fifth-year seniors and true freshmen were all learning the brand new system. In fact, younger players probably had an advantage in they weren’t trying to forget one system before moving to the new one. The younger players also were being loyal to the previous staff that was let go before the Independence Bowl following the 2009 season. Robinson stepped up and into the starting lineup, so he would have been perfect to be a leader last year. He didn’t need to defer to older players such as Justin Houston, who left with one year of eligibility left to enter the NFL draft.

It seems like now the defense is playing better as various outlets run stories about Richt saying the defense is more comfortable with the scheme. Other outlets have run quotes from players saying the defense is improving thanks to the change in the strength and conditioning program. And now we hear from Robinson that the team has new leaders in place that are team-first and not me-first. This is good news considering the past three seasons have been disappointing to say the least. New leadership? Cool. Something needed to change. The Bulldog Nation hopes these leaders can bring back a bit of the glory from not so long ago (2002, 2005, 2007) and from several decades ago (1980)….