All things Georgia. All things Southern.
Sadly, this offseason has become the offseason of coaching staff (unfortunately) discovering photoshop programs.
Since winning can’t lure recruits in, the Techies have resorted to this very bizarre tactic
Look, convincing players up north to come down south to play is a great plan and all that, but that’s until these players realize that they’re part of the student body at the North Avenue Trade School.
Let’s pretend Texas A&M are pledges in the SEC fraternity.
Rush- We rushed A&M for obvious reasons. Though they don’t fit the E part of the SEC, for all intents and purposes they fit in. They make pretty good sense. Mizzo was, let’s say, that rushee that someone (Arkansas, per se) really saw potential in, so we went along with it. Not bad, but nothing to really strengthen your core. But they won’t hurt our image, right?
So they were given their bids, and now they’re pledging. How would you judge their tenure thus far?
A&M- So far, they’re doing what they’re supposed to. They lost to an older brother, but they held their own. And this wasn’t Vandy, it was arguably the one of the best programs in the nation, but showed enough respect to let them win. They picked on lesser fraternities in two blowout wins. Good job son.
Mizzo- Mizzo has been a bigger disappointment than we thought. They did earn some respect among the older brothers by beating Arizona State, but they’re supposed to do that, so it’s not exactly a job well done. They lost to UGA/SEC, two of the BMOC in the East, by a combined 72-30. And they’ve shown that they like to run their mouth a little bit (Grown Man Football). That’s a no-no while pledging. So far, Mizzo hasn’t done anything that makes me want to let them into my fraternity.
Bottom line, it’s been a rocky start for Mizzo. Not only are they a misfit, but they’ve run their mouth and have shown little to back it up. They can still earn their due respect with several good games coming up, and they’ll have a chance to become Pledge Class President on Nov. 24 in College Station, but they have got to get things right against Vandy and Kentucky. Bama will treat them like the pledges they are, as will Florida I’m sure. The most interesting test they’ll take during this pledge semester will be on Nov. 10 in Knoxville. Mizzo- we’ve given you a golden ticket, don’t make us regret it. You’re a 3 point underdog to UCF, you better win son.
And while we’re at it, I’m kicking their big brother Arkansas out right now. They’re a 13 point dog to a pledge and they don’t know how to act. We’ll give Mizzo a new big brother, LSU maybe, to see if they can right the ship.
Check in at the end of the semester to see if they get initiated.
Welcome aboard, Ray Drew!
This was another HUGE pickup for the Dawgs today. If we’re able to wrap it up with Crowell on Wednesday, this could truly be a special class.
Richt and company are doing what they need to do- wrap up the in-state talent. We’ve literally sealed the borders this year and have a boatload of in-state recruits coming to Athens in the fall. The persistence and drive shown by the entire staff is good medicine to disgruntled fans. The new facilities these guys are stepping into are just icing on the cake.
There has been no shortage of complaints fired Mark Richt’s way in recent months, and rightfully so. 6-7 is simply unacceptable. However, a number of these recruits cite Richt as the reason they chose UGA.
I am unhappy with how the past two seasons have ended, but I also want Richt to have a great year in 2011 and stay on the sidelines. He is the kind of face that, if winning, makes UGA a unique situation in college football. Quite frankly, if he gets UGA back to our winning ways, he is a huge reason why we can be a top 5 program . He’s a great face for the program, recruits and parents love him, and he doesn’t compromise the reputation our university has.
Fans, being the fickle people we are, don’t always see it that way. I’m guilty, you’re guilty, we’re all guilty. But if this “Dream Team” materializes and he’s around long enough to see it play out, many of these same Richt bashers will be singing a different tune. I just hope we do well enough in 2011 to see how this class does for him in 2012.
I have been upset at things, even to go so far as to say I wouldn’t mind if Richt were gone, but I think we can all agree that if Richt can get us back on track that there is no better man to lead our program.
Go Dawgs!
ucheedawg
It’s now official. Five-start defensive end prospect Ray Drew has verbally committed to being a Bulldog.
Drew’s commitment adds yet another star to a recruiting class that could end up being ranked within the top five.
If Mark Richt is on the hot seat, Georgia’s incoming recruits either don’t care or think that Richt is very secure in Athens.
I just finished listening to a Chip Towers interview on 960 the Ref and he brought up some great points I had not considered. UGA has yet to have their number one recruit Isaiah Crowell or Five-Star defensive end Ray Drew make an official visit due to conflicts with their schedules. This week they both have games Friday night and stated that due to the early kickoff they probably will not be able to make it into town. Drew hopes to make it to the Idaho State or Georgia Tech game and will be in the stands for the Florida Game. (Neither UF or UGA can have official recruits due to this being a neutral site) Last week Rodney Gardner touched on this subject and thankfully didn’t sugarcoat his reaction.
“Honestly, it’s a hindrance,” recruiting coordinator Rodney Garner said. “But it’s still self-inflicted. If you don’t want to play at 12 o’clock you should be 4-1 and you’ll be on at 3:30 or 5 o’clock. It is what it is. We’re just glad to be on TV and to get some exposure. It definitely beats the alternative.”
These early kickoffs are making it very difficult for south and west Georgia recruits to come to campus, especially when UGA begins their official recruiting process at 8:30 AM. I think Coach Garner says it best when he puts the blame on early kickoffs on the poor start but should UGA have at least one non-televised game scheduled for a 6:00 PM start in order to get recruits on campus? Before UGA started 2-4 , the first 3 games were scheduled at noon. Damon and the upper administration have all clamored for fewer night games and while this has protected our beautiful campus you have to wonder what it has done for our “brand” and the Athens economy.
You can listen to the 960theREF interview and read Chip’s article in yesterday’s AJC here:
960 Interview Begins at 14:40
Chip’s 10 at 10
Granite
I’m guessing many (some/most?) of you have heard about the shoving match that went on after the Wilcox-Fitzgerald scrimmage last Friday. The AJC did a piece on it, but it was pretty broad.
I’ll recap what happened quickly, then talk about possible outcomes, specifically concerning Marshall.
Fitzgerald, a powerhouse AA school, played Wilcox, an up-and-coming powerhouse in A in a scrimmage. The two communities of Rochelle and Fitzgerald are only a few miles apart and there is a large sense of rivalry between the two schools, even though they don’t play each other every year.
They played what was a pretty close game up until the end. With just a few seconds left in the third quarter (JV was to play the 4th alone), Fitzgerald was up by a couple of scores and decided to throw a long bomb. They scored, essentially running up the score in a scrimmage. It was really no big deal at that point, but it is frustrating to the opposing team when that is done, especially in a scrimmage. A point to note here is that Wilcox has to play its players on both sides of the ball the entire game, and Fitz only has one or two guys who go both ways. Wilcox already had some JV guys in at this point. But I digress.
After the game while shaking hands, Wilcox coach said something to the effect of “Thanks for running up the score”, to which HC Pruitt from Fitzgerald replied with some language I’m not going to repeat. Of course tempers flared, guys went to swinging, and things got ugly. There’s actually a funny part here; one of the bozo officials threw a flag during the mess. I guess he thought that would stop the melee.
That’s a quick recap of what went down. You can hear varying stories, and what I gave you is not very detailed (for a reason), but that’s essentially what caused the brawl.
Now, it is my understanding that the GHSA has reviewed the tape and is taking no further action since it was not a GHSA sanctioned event. However, the individual schools involved have some tough decisions to make. There are many things that have to be considered, such as did any players hit coaches and does that constitute as a student hitting a teacher, are any actions taken towards coaches that were using foul language, and what type of punishment is going to be levied for fighting on school property?
I can say this, officials within both school systems are not happy. They also face tough decisions, because both of these teams are poised to contend for State Championships in their classifications. Furthermore, they both have kids who are going to play ball at the next level in 2011.
So, as far as UGA is concerned, what is going to happen with Nick Marshall? Who knows at this point? It’s my understanding that it is solely in the schools hands right now. Maybe nothing. Maybe a multi-game suspension. It’s not clear. It could be worse, but I hope not. I hope that the situation resolves itself and it can be handled internally in both systems. I also hope that for the coaches involved that nothing major happens, because both coaches are really good guys.
More on Marshall: He really is a good kid. Folks from Wilcox County will tell you that he’s not a trouble maker. However, as we can all relate to, some of his influences have short tempers, and in a situation like this emotions can escalate. I can relate back many years ago when I played HS ball. I was not a great football player by any means, but I know that when things got heated on the field, you get that “teammate first” mentality. It’s hard to show maturity at 17 years old, especially when you have a rivalry and you feed off the emotions of other players and the coaches. I really don’t fault any of the players too much here; it never should have reached that point. The coaches have to show more responsibility.
Which leads to another point: I have a suspicion that if any disciplinary actions are taken, the coaches will be involved to some extent. This whole exchange was started by them, and the players got involved in the aftermath.
It may all blow over, who knows. I simply wanted to put some things out there that maybe helped clear up the subject as well as defend Nick Marshall a little bit. There will be negative things said about him and his involvement in the coming days, but I really feel that it is unjustified at this point. He is a good kid, and will make a great Dawg.
If and when more things come from this, I’ll attempt to clear up the jumble above.
ucheedawg
A few weeks ago, I spent some time talking about Wilcox County and rural recruiting. As you recall, I talked about what a solid basketball team they have this year. UGA is getting one of their studs, Lonnie Outlaw, and our sights are set on da man, Nick Marshall.
If you’re in the midstate this week, Wilcox will be playing in the Macon Centreplex on Wednesday (and if I had to guess, again on Saturday). Wednesday is the state semi-finals. It will be a good chance to see at least one future Dawg display his athletic ability. Game on Wednesday is at 8:30.
ucheedawg
