Shoot like a pro, indeed.

Here’s a story to trot out the next time a Yellow Jacket fan tries to assert the intellectual superiority of his school’s graduates.

Market correction

It’s Dink NeSmith’s worst nightmare:

Georgia football coach Mark Richt will get a raise and contract extension Thursday during a special meeting of the executive committee of the Georgia Athletic Association board of directors, according to a source within the athletics department.

Richt currently makes $2.2 million a year. His existing contract runs through 2013. He is the sixth-highest paid coach in the SEC.

I bet Richt doesn’t have to shave his head, either.

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UPDATE:   A nice raise, but no contract extension (six years left).  Ching has the details.

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A fiendish plot unfolds.

Orson at EDSBS has the details.

Love the Moreno clip, by the way.

That didn’t take long.

The AAFL, another victim of the subprime mortgage crisis?

The Gators must be thin on the offensive line.

Why say that?

James Wilson wants to transfer to Wake Forest. Urban Meyer thinks the redshirt freshman offensive lineman might be better off remaining at Florida.

Meyer said during his pre-spring news conference Wednesday that he has not given up on trying to talk Wilson out of his decision to leave. Wilson asked UF for his release last week, but Meyer isn’t ready to grant it yet.

Hey, Coach Meyer knows best.

“All young people go through issues,” Meyer said. “We’re not going to stop trying to get him to come back because he’s a quality guy. I think he could be a heck of a player.

“He’s not practiced once at the University of Florida (due to injuries). He’s going through a funk like a lot of young people do. At the end of the day, I’m going to do what’s best for him because he’s a good person…”

True, he didn’t say which day.

There’s a lot of talk in the article about quitting. But that’s not what the kid’s up to here. He wants to keep playing football, just not at Florida.

There’s a lot of effort going on here for an offensive lineman who hasn’t played in a game and won’t practice this spring because of knee problems. He must be a really, really good person.

I’m Urban Meyer and I approved this gesture.

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UPDATE: Evidently Meyer has a lot of juniors who are good persons, too.

(h/t The Wizard of Odds)

Pushing the freshmen

Not that it’s any big surprise at this point, but it seems clear that the coaches expect some of the incoming freshmen to vie for starting roles, or at least be significant contributors, right off the bat.

Ben Jones at center, for one.   A. J. Green, who won’t be available until fall practice, is another.

He might not be on campus yet, but 6-4 incoming freshman wide receiver A.J. Green is already causing a lot of buzz, and Richt appears to be adding to it.

“We will give him every opportunity to [play],” Richt said. “My guess is he will make a contribution to the team. How big will depend on how well he does.

“We will give him a really good crack at it,” he said.

These aren’t dire situations as the offensive line was last year – when the coaches were talking about Sturdivant playing, they really had little choice.  The only kid coming into a similar void this season is Blair Walsh.

No, these guys are fighting for jobs where there is existing, valid talent and the fact that the coaches are talking up kids like Jones and Green should tell us something about the quality of these incoming freshmen.  I don’t recall Richt talking about Curran last year before the season started the way he’s mentioned Green, for example.

It’s enough to get me a little excited.

Trying to make a Dent

With the advent of the spread offense and its reliance on standard three and four wide receivers sets, will the strongside linebacker become an endangered species?

After reading this piece in today’s AJ-C, it’s something to ponder.

Akeem Dent’s position is in danger of becoming obsolete.

And he is not alone. More and more strongside linebackers are being pushed out of the game because of the increased three- and four-wide-receiver sets in college offenses these days. So Georgia has decided to try to do something about it.

Dent is being cross trained at the inside ‘backer position.  Justin Houston was moved from linebacker to defensive end – and is grateful for the opportunity.

“The last couple of games last season, we only used one [strongside], and he barely played,” said Justin Houston.

Houston was at strongside linebacker last season. But for various factors, including less of a need for strongside linebackers, Houston was moved to defensive end.

“I see now the [strongside] that we did have playing [Dent], he is working more at inside, so I am happy that I made the decision to move,” Houston said.

All of which makes you wonder how far this trend will go.  If you configure your defense for small, speedy types who can keep up with these spread sets, it would seem to open you up to other problems.  In the land of the dime package, the power running game is king, so to speak.