All kinds of interesting news turning up on Twitter this afternoon.
Tennessee with updated football roster: DE Martaze Jackson, QB Nash Nance, LB Robert Nelson, DT Arthur Jeffery no longer on team.—
Josh Ward (@Josh_Ward) January 13, 2012
Nash Nance, useful idiot.
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange, Recruiting
Mark Richt’s got reason to feel that way. All of his rising juniors, Orson Charles excepted, have opted to stay for their senior year.
Some terrific quotes from the presser:
Sanders Commings: "Every man in this room came to Georgia with dreams of winning championships. That's the reason I stayed."—
AJC UGA (@ajcuga) January 13, 2012
Abry Jones: "Today shows a lot of guys put aside personal dreams to come together as a team."—
AJC UGA (@ajcuga) January 13, 2012
Bacarri Rambo: "I felt like we had unfinished business to attend to." Said that includes winning SEC and national championship.—
AJC UGA (@ajcuga) January 13, 2012
OLB Cornelius Washington: "These guys are a lot of the reason that I decided to stay. …We want to do something big next year."—
Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) January 13, 2012
I think it’s okay to get a little excited, Dawgnation.
Filed under Georgia Football
Tennessee lures Sal Sunseri away from Alabama with a three-year, $2.4 million contract to become the Vols’ new defensive coordinator. (Every single assistant coach that’s signed on at UT in the last month has gotten a multi-year deal, which makes you wonder what AD Dave Hart will be doing if SOD doesn’t turn in a respectable 2012 season.)
Anyway, about Sunseri’s numbers:
Sunseri’s $800,000 salary makes him the third highest-paid assistant in the SEC behind Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and newly hired Auburn defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, although several guys are in line to get raises.
Several guys like the ones who coached the second-best and fifth-best defenses in the country. It’s a profitable time to be a good DC in the SEC. Didn’t we just go through this with Auburn and Tennessee a few years ago?
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange
Hate to say I told you so (“I bet Obama knows when the title game is scheduled”), but I told you so.
Filed under Political Wankery
They’re from the NCAA and they’re here to help.
In its presentation to the NCAA Board next month(warning: PDF link), the Resource Allocation Working Group – chaired by University of Georgia President Michael Adams – will recommend cuts to the number of athletic scholarships that a school can offer in both college football and college basketball. Here’s a breakdown of the reductions:
- FBS football scholarships from 85 to 80.
- FCS football scholarships from 63 to 60.
- Men’s basketball scholarships from 13 to 12.
- Women’s basketball scholarships from 15 to 13. (Note: These scholarships will be reapportioned to other women’s sports.)
Look out world, the Grand Poobah is in charge! Like all good leaders, the man knows you need a crisis before you can exploit it.
Michael Adams, Georgia president and chair of working group looking to cut scholarships: "We're a runaway train in Division I."—
Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) January 13, 2012
Spoken like a man whose athletic department is losing money hand over fi… wait, what?
I’m guessing this is Mikey’s brilliant idea on how to pay for those $2000 stipends Emmert is pushing. And if that proposal doesn’t go through, so what? He can always spend the extra money on a bowl party. But for the have-nots, this is little more than a drop in the bucket, as least as far as the money goes.
As for runaway trains, wait ’til Adams gets feedback from the big football schools.
Filed under Michael Adams Wants To Rule The World, The NCAA
Seth Emerson takes a stab at predicting next season’s two-deep on offense here. My overall impression? Georgia looks to be fine at the skill positions and anywhere from a work in progress to downright scarifying on the line.
The good news is that if Gurley verbals today, the backfield looks pretty stout – stout enough that Emerson predicts a few more offseason departures may be in the works. And it’s gratifying to see the depth that’s been developed at wide receiver. Tight end won’t be the strength it was this past year, but it will still be important.
And that’s because the line still looks shaky (how many years in a row have I said that now?). I think Theus is close to a lock to start, simply because I don’t think there’s anyone else ready to play the position competently. And if Beard turns out to be ready to play, my bet is that Burnette moves to center, because I’m not sure Andrews is big enough to handle the position. Right tackle makes me a little nervous, too.
Thoughts?
Filed under Georgia Football
Not that his opinion matters one whit more than does mine, but Mark Emmert is a fan of the plus-one.
NCAA President Mark Emmert would support a four-team playoff in college football — as long as the field doesn’t grow.
After giving his annual state of the association speech Thursday in Indianapolis, Emmert acknowledged he would back a small playoff if that’s what Bowl Championship Series officials decide to adopt.
The reason he doesn’t want the field to grow? It’s because D-1 players are a bunch of pussies.
… He gave a thumbs-down to a full-blown playoff, which the conferences likewise largely reject.
“I’ve always said trying to move toward an eight-team playoff, (to a) 16-team or whatever permutation, I think is highly problematic,” he said. “Simply because, in my opinion, that’s too much to ask a young man’s body to do in an extended period of time like that. It adds too many games. It intrudes into the school year. It’s just too high a burden, I think.”
His concern is touching. His logic not so much. Why isn’t it too high a burden for the five-round FCS tournament?
I bet I know what would change his mind.
… Emmert has long said he expected changes to the BCS system and has repeatedly offered to help the BCS debate if they want it. The NCAA licenses bowl games, but does not run them. It also has no direct authority over the BCS system.
Give the NCAA control over the football playoffs and Emmert will have those kids whipped into shape in no time at all… well, in the time it’ll take to renegotiate the TV contracts.
Filed under BCS/Playoffs, The NCAA
It’s no big thang, mane.
Former ESPN college football analyst Craig James, jumping into the fray of Texas’ Senate race Thursday, said he accepted “an insignificant amount” of gifts from Southern Methodist University supporters when he was a star running back at the Dallas school three decades ago.
Asked at a news conference whether he’d taken money or valuables from boosters, James said, “It was an insignificant amount that I had when I was at SMU. It was wrong. And I was 18, 19 years old.”
James declined to specify what gifts he accepted and how much money, or from whom.
“It was insignificant. It was never,” he said, halting in mid-sentence. “I said in my book that if someone came up and shook my hand and there were a $20 bill in it, I didn’t have the maturity at that time to turn it away.”
I guess that means a mere twenty bucks wouldn’t turn his head now.
Filed under It's Just Bidness, Political Wankery
Damn, this is just too bizarre for words.
I’d blame it on a college football-related head injury, except he didn’t play enough for that to be a factor.
Filed under Mustained
… When receiving prospects worry that Georgia Tech’s run-first approach could cause them to get ignored by NFL scouts, Preston need only point to the fact that Thomas got drafted in the first round.
“It doesn’t matter what offense you’re in,” Preston said. “If you have that goal and are willing to pay the price and be a great teammate, you work hard, don’t worry about your individual stats and if you have the ability, you’re going to make it big.”
… Hill’s departure and the end of wide receiver Tyler Melton’s career leave an experience vacuum at that position. No returning receiver caught a pass this season.
Which would make this guy’s friends… um… right.
“My friends were all saying things like, ‘You’re not going to get any catches, you’re not going to have any stats’ and blah-blah-blah,” said Georgia Tech wide receiver Darren Waller, who just completed his freshman season.
And this is just a shame.
… Georgia Tech’s current coaching staff can’t take credit for Calvin Johnson, who won the 2006 Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top collegiate receiver while playing in a more conventional offense under former Yellow Jackets coach Chan Gailey.
But they can point to Thomas as evidence that Georgia Tech’s option attack doesn’t necessarily preclude a wide receiver from a pro career.
Thomas was a Gailey recruit, too. Stephen Hill is Paul Johnson’s first home-grown receiving product being offered to the pros. Let’s see if he kicks ass in the draft. His college stats in comparison to Thomas’ would suggest otherwise.
DELIVERING ON THEIR OPPORTUNITIES Although Georgia Tech averages roughly a dozen passes per game during Paul Johnson‘s four years running the program, at least one Yellow Jacket has accumulated over 600 receiving yards in three of those seasons. Here’s a look at Georgia Tech’s top receiver in each year of Johnson’s tenure. Year Player Rec. Yards Avg. TD 2008 Demaryius Thomas 39 627 16.1 3 2009 Demaryius Thomas 46 1,154 25.1 8 2010 Stephen Hill 15 291 19.4 3 2011 Stephen Hill 28 820 29.3 5
That’s right – Thomas caught more passes in his last year at Tech than Hill did in his last two. That’s not exactly an encouraging trend (especially since Tech didn’t have a lot of other receiving options last season). Still, I bet the Tech coaches will be taking out their laptops and waiving that Rivals article in recruits’ faces, at least until they get tired of the blank stares…
Filed under Georgia Tech Football, Recruiting
