Not meant to be

For those of you pining away in the hopes that a certain currently unemployed former head coach might have Athens as a destination in his near future, it looks like such is not the case…  Hunh?  Who’s talking about Bobby Knight?

I was referring to Willie Martinez’ replacement, Tommy Tuberville.

• For those who asked, former Auburn coach and ex-UM defensive coordinator Tommy Tuberville said he has no interest in being a coordinator again, and UM hasn’t called about its defensive coordinator job. He said he will sit out next season and might take a TV job. . . .

Why do I get this feeling that Tubs is doing a little bit of a vulture act with regard to Randy Shannon?

Advertisement

Recruiting roundup

No, I’m not gonna sit here and give you my predictions on who’s going to sign at the last minute with Georgia – I don’t have any more of a clue on that than you do – but, as you might expect, the internets are full of other kinds of recruiting stories that might be worth a look.  Here are a few:

• Gene Chizik sez that Auburn will go after the bestest players in the country.  I’m not sure if that means the Tigers weren’t doing that before, but it sure seems like most of the guys Chizik’s staff are chasing right now were looking at other schools.  Like Oklahoma State, for instance.  Funny how that works.
• Or maybe not so funny.  As Bruce Feldman puts it, “If you’re playing the game, the game should be playing you, too.”
• All things considered, as a general principle it’s better to recruit well than not.  As the author notes, all 10 BCS title game participants since 2004 have enjoyed average rankings in Rivals top ten for the last five years.  (On the other hand, click on the link to the PDF for the extended list and check out where Air Force and Navy rank.  No, neither will grace a BCS title game any time soon, but they haven’t been too shabby, either.)
• If you’re looking for one of those cranky old geezer “back in my day” recruiting perspective stories, here you go.  Let me predict now that Bill Curry will not exactly be a raging success on the recruiting trail for Georgia State.
• NFL to the spread offense:  Drop dead.

Never ready for prime time?

Far be it from me to rain on Mark Bradley’s “how did Tech manage to win a game against Georgia” parade, but it seems to me that this article in Bradley’s paper is of greater long term import for Paul Johnson’s program, particularly with regard to this:

… Aycock’s decision to visit Auburn (where he is now committed), who is recruiting him as a running back, may have been influenced by his brother Dwight Smith, a safety for the Detroit Lions.

“I think what it came down to is he wants to play in the NFL, and people are influencing him,” Turner said. “They’re telling him if he plays running back, he has a better chance of making it to the NFL.

“We thought he’d be the perfect quarterback in Georgia Tech’s system. We thought Georgia Tech was a great fit for him.

“We think he’s making a mistake, but we’ll support him. With his talent, he would have been a great quarterback there…

That’s his high school coach talking there.  Despite his urging – and Tech’s threat to withdraw its scholarship offer – this kid decided to take a look at another school because he felt that playing quarterback in the triple option would hamper his chances of playing on Sundays more than playing running back in Gus Malzahn’s offense.

Right or wrong, fair or unfair, it doesn’t matter.  Perception is reality.  There are already certain classes of offensive talent that Tech has to write off in recruiting due to its scheme.  When the lure of the NFL starts bleeding down to this level, that’s especially tough, though.

Call Paul Johnson the anti-Lane Kiffin, then.  He’ll have to be as smart as Bradley thinks he is, if not more so, to make up for this.  We’ll see if he is.