Recruiting Tightrope

UGA's latest commitment and the suspected small overall recruiting class are noted in this article by AJC's Carter Strickland.


Coach Garner seems a little worried about the number of scholly's that will be available and how many offers that we can make.

Uncle Urban wants YOU.....and YOU......and YOU.....oh, and YOU too

Never fear. The simple solution regarding the number of offers is provided by Urban Meyer. Likewise, Nick Saban is the resident expert on the actual number of players that can sign LOI's.

You guys look smart.......academic schollys are in your future

After all, it's simple math.

Where have I heard that before?

Straight from the Orange and Blue Hue (not on my normal reading menu, but I clicked one too many damn times)

Okay, so UF returns incumbent Heisman winner and part-time superman Tim Tebow. But with that being said, it’s time for Tim to impress the NFL draft scouts. Even with a trophy case of awards, the pros still have some concerns about #15:

* Criticism of Meyer’s system. After all, he did coach a first overall draft pick in Alex Smith, who has yet to reach his potential. And Tebow is cut from the same cloth as Smith.
I've been preaching that for the last 6 months.

* His rushing must drop, but not disappear. NFL teams hit harder, bigger, and faster than in college, and with sixteen games in an NFL regular season compared to twelve in college, scouts are worried that he’ll land in a hospital.Also, they want to see a slightly more elusive running style. Ideally, he’ll be a more athletic Ben Roethlisberger or Donovan McNabb.
Ditto that........the well publicized shoulder boo-boo and the broken hand are the ones that we know about. Those things have a tendency to accumulate.

Oh Oh Oh.....easy on the arm fellas

* His mechanics. Scouts would like to see tighter spirals and a slightly higher release point to take advantage of his height.
Ok, my take on this one has been the he throws alot of ducks....same thing

I call this my "Tim Wakefield" delivery

* Intangibles. Not everyone will view Tebow’s emotional displays after wins or losses as an asset.
I've called it "cryin like a bitch"

If Tim can do all of that, he’ll be in good shape for the draft should he choose to turn pro. But based upon his priority list, I think he’ll stay another year, get his degree, and only then turn pro.

But if he’s not careful, he might wind up switching positions on an NFL roster. Think it’s impossible, Tim?

Ask Antwaan Randle-El.
Ok, dude, you just entered the twilight zone.

That last comment really knocked me out. How in the bloody blue hell does Tebow resemble Randle-El in any way? Teebone's not slow, but he's not NFL caliber WR talent either. Tight end or safety, maybe. Let's keep it real.

******************************UPDATE**********************************

For the record, he'll still be a QB in the NFL

Timing is everything

UGA doesn't have a MNC to show for their efforts during the Richt era. Going into the '08 season as one of the contenders is reason for hope, but there are alot of factors that must go our way just to make it to the dance.

Consider this list of SEC champions and their records for the season in this decade

1. 2000 Florida 10-3
2. 2001 LSU 10-3
3. 2002 UGA 13-1
4. 2003 LSU 13-1 MNC
5. 2004 Auburn 13-0
6. 2005 UGA 10-3
7. 2006 Florida 13-1 MNC
8. 2007 LSU 12-2 MNC

Three MNC's for the SEC this decade for arguably the best conference in cfb, but it also shows that having a great season doesn't necessarily guarantee you a shot at the crystal ball. Hell, winning 'em all doesn't even guarantee it.

The Theory of Evolution

Sometimes.......most of the time.........nope, make it EVERY time a message board gets started involving UGA, the swampdwellers must appear to point out their dominance over the Dawgs.
Let's face the facts, it has been quite ugly. What was once an automatic win has been a pure nightmare for the last 17 years or so. In fact, if you were born after the mid 70's, you probably don't have a recollection of it being any other way. But trust me, once upon a time, it was a different story.

The most common line of reasoning behind this momumental collapse is that Dooley retired and UGA hired a bonehead while UF hired the Evil Genius and a mismatch was formed. Where there's smoke there's fire and those two events happening in the same timeframe didn't help.

But, more importantly, and the largest underlying reason for the trainwreck that has become the UGA / UF rivalry is simply the "Florida Factor". We too often think only of the University of Florida when we recall the recent history of this series. You have to look a little deeper to find the entire story. A history lesson follows.

The State of Florida is home to 3 BCS schools; Florida, Florida St., Miami. A study of the history of their programs, prior to 1980, is a study of futility for the most part. Miami had limited success in the 40's & 50's, Florida was actually a top 10 program in the 60's but struggled otherwise, and FSU didn't have a team prior to 1954.

(OK, technically 4 bcs schools but USF doesn't have a history at all)






Times change and the state's population exploded.

Why does Canada produce more superstars in hockey than the USA ?......it's what they do

Why does everywhere else in the world produce more superstars in soccer than the USA?.....again, it's what they do

Why do inner-cities pump out elite basketball players.........ride thru & count the number of basketball goals vs. baseball fields vs. football fields.........or in simpler terms, it's what they do

What do the best male athletes in Florida do?.......they play football.
Couple that with the population explosion and all of a sudden, you have mucho college eligible talent. Those two roads crossed in the early 80's. Add great coaching to tremendous talent, and the "Florida Factor" is born. Major beatdowns follow shortly thereafter.

The top program and #10 program of the decade are included for comparison.

Hopefully, you can see quickly that it wasn't just UF that has been kickin ass for the last 25 years or so. The 3 big Florida programs made the entire country their personal whippin posts, especially in the 90's. The only joy the rest of the country could garner was when we could watch these 3 beat up on each other.

Thankfully (for everybody else), things seem to have planed out a little. It only takes 20 years or so for the rest of the SEC and the nation to realize that recruiting Florida = success. Based on the numbers provided by the major recruiting services, either Florida or Texas (always very close) provide the highest number of elite college football recruits. California is usually not far behind with Georgia 4th and actually taking the 3rd spot on occasion.

Ok, back to UGA/UF. 15-3 over the last 18 meetings. Pure unadulterated hell. Especially when it follows a period that UGA had gone on a 15-4 run. Those were better times. Then came the 90's. The ol' ballcoach came along and had us outmanned and outcoached. Jacksonville, commonly referred to as "Athens South", now became the Swamp from Hell. Our starting 22 may have compared favorably with theirs, but hell, they had 40 more on the sidelines that were just as talented. In the 90's we won 1 freakin game........ONE!! Six of those losses were absolute behind-the-woodshed ass whuppin's of Biblical proportions.

Times change. We've closed the gap talent-wise to the point of being even, and probably deeper in alot of areas. Our coaching staff stacks up favorably with anyone. The 2-6 record this decade still sux, but 4 of the losses were 7 points or less. A couple of those games we lost due to the fact that our team didn't believe that they could win. Maybe this little gem will change that attitude.

Better days are ahead.

Recruiting 101.........or is it 151?

I'm still waiting for my offer


Ok, so I'm a month behind, but crap like this interests me, so you've gotta suffer through it too.

I was looking through some recruiting numbers and noticed that UGA offered 60 scholarships this year and signed 23. That made me a little curious to see how many scholly's were offered by other schools. Quite an eye-opening experience. Before long, I had poured through the top 25 recruiting classes as listed by Scout.com and found a very wide range from top to bottom.

The most shocking number was the 151 offers made by Florida while signing 23. Are you kiddin' me? Talk about putting out feelers. If a kid has a pulse, he has a UF scholly offer. I'm a little pissed that I didn't get one.

On the flip side, Texas offered only 33 while signing 20. UT definitely has a lock on the State of Texas.

This is not a list that ranks the recruiting classes. It simply shows how many scholarships that the schools offered this year. Also, there's a couple that are not top 25 classes (i.e. North Avenue Trade School & "the other USC"), I was just curious.

1. Florida............................151
2. Nebraska.......................145
3. LSU................................137
4. Tennessee......................125
5. South Carolina...............120
6. Alabama.........................119
7. Auburn...........................113
8. Michigan........................111
9. Oregon...........................110
10. Clemson.......................106
11. Arizona State................104
12. FSU..............................100
13. Miami............................95
13. Arkansas........................95
15. Illinois............................91
16. Georgia Tech.................88
16. Oklahoma......................88
18. Boston College.............. 84
19. Virginia Tech.................68
19. Washington....................68
19. Texas A&M.....................68
22. Georgia...........................60
23. UCLA..............................59
24. PITT...............................58
25. USC................................55
26. Notre Dame................... 53
26. Ohio State......................53
28. Texas..............................33

Looking at the numbers, it seems that there's alot of competition for recruits in the southeast (go figure), with the SEC taking 6 of the top 7 spots. However, it also shows that there is more than one successful recruiting philosophy.

The Florida approach - Throw out a huge net and see what we catch. I don't prefer that method because it seems like they aren't targeting specific needs. However, it seems to be successful for them.

The Texas approach - Identify your needs, interview the prospects, decide their level of interest, make the offer. This method requires an excellent eye for talent by the coaches, and again, has been successful.

The USC method - #### it, we're USC. Make the offer, they will come. Very successful.

The Notre Dame method - Magic. There's no other explanation for a recruit wanting to play there at this point in time.

The Auburn method - Lower your standards because Saban grabbed all of the top local talent. Preach to the media that recruiting services don't know what kind of heart your recruits have.

Different strokes for different folks. There's no 1 "right" way to recruit. The proof is 3-5 years down the road.