As an old fart myself, I know just where Rodney Garner is coming from.
When Rodney Garner became Georgia’s recruiting coordinator in 1998, video clips of high school football prospects were not readily available on the Internet.
There were no comprehensive online recruiting sites such as Rivals.com and Scout.com, nor were players announcing their decisions by wearing various hats. Garner has evolved with these publicity-driven avenues in the recruiting process, but now Facebook.com and Twitter.com have entered the mix.
“I know you’ve got to embrace some of these things, but my job is already encompassing enough,” Garner said. “I’m not going down certain roads right now until I have to.”
Some of us don’t seem to have that problem, no matter where it may lead.
“A lot of things do get out of control,” Richt said. “I talked to a guy at lunch the other day who has a plane that looks like ours or has a ‘G’ on it, and he said every time he takes off and does business, there is a report that we’re going to get a certain coach or a certain player. He took some trips to Tuscaloosa and to Knoxville, and it was craziness.”
If Jakar Hamilton is right, though, it sounds like Garner is going to have to adapt.
“Facebook is like another life,” Hamilton said. “People spend at least three or four hours a day on it, probably more than that, and a lot of recruiting gets done through that. There will be a player that coaches are trying to get, and I will go and tell them, ‘Coach is trying to get in touch with you.’ Facebook really helps a lot if you’re trying to reach out to a player.”
Three or four hours a day? I guess I don’t feel so guilty about the time I spend on GTP now.
Three or four hours a day of facebook, three or four hours a day of Call of Duty or Madden . . . ?
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So that’s where all my time went…
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Guess we don’t have to wonder why they don’t study game tapes anymore.
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Before there was rivals or scout there was the borderwars website on recruiting (I believe it was the precursor to rivals), it dates back to at least 96′. It was pretty comprehensive but there definately wasn’t the hat thing or many video clips that is for sure, I’m an old fogey at heart as well but all this crap is reality for the coaches and if they want to stay competitive they’ve got to embrace it (hey I remember when I didn’t live and die with my blackberry too, but such is life)
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I’m starting to ❤ Jakar Hamilton. It seems like Georgia is already a part of his soul, and he hasn't even played a down.
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Amen, brotha. I’m anxious to see what he can do on G-day.
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Damn, I must be old.
What, exactly, do you do on facebook that takes 3-4 hours a day? I check in on mine two or three times a week for about 15 minutes.
Are they playing the farm game?
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Mafia Wars. It’s just business, baby.
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Same here. Takes time to run a successful Mafia.
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I do not care about your farm, your pets, or your mafia. LOL.
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Garner said, “I’m not going down certain roads right now until I have to.”
“A lot of things do get out of control,” Richt said.
“Facebook is like another life,” Hamilton said.
All of which leads to another typical day in the internet life of Rodney, Mark and Jakar…
http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs13/f/2007/077/2/e/Animator_vs__Animation_by_alanbecker.swf
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It’s time Coach. You have to. It’s bigger than you think.
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Kid is wrong. They don’t spend 3 hours on FB; they are busy texting.
THAT will be three hours, easy.
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