Georgia Football: Shawn Williams rips into teammates for 'playing soft'

Georgia safety Shawn Williams doesn't believe all of his teammates on defense are putting out a maximum effort or playing with the necessary toughness. He said so after Monday's practice, that the Bulldogs had to stop playing soft on defense from each and every position to the line, to the linebackers and secondary.

This is how he opened Monday's meeting with the media:

"We've gotta stop playing soft. We're playing too soft defensively. That goes for D-line, linebackers, corners, safeties. I don't know, we're not playing with the same attitude we played with last year. I don't know what it is."

Williams' beef stems from the fact that the Dawgs have allowed inferior teams to move the ball against them, most recently the Kentucky Wildcats, who Georgia just barely beat over the weekend. Williams said he feels like he's out there giving his best effort, while most of his teammates are not.

It's perplexing for a defensive unit that returns nine starters from a 2011 team that ranked fifth nationally in yards allowed. Williams indicated that perhaps the Georgia defense is a bit distracted:

"I don't know what it is, we've just gotta quit playing soft and worrying about every other thing besides football, and just go out and play football and everything else will take care of itself."

The SEC East title is on the line when the Dawgs take on Florida this week.