The happy talk begins.

It didn’t take long to start talking up strength and conditioning.

“We’re not doing mat drills,” Richt said. “Some people say, ‘Why aren’t you doing mat drills?’ Well, you can ask the boys why we’re not doing mat drills, because they’re getting a taste of that just about every day with ‘Coach T’ and his strength staff. It’s already paying off.”

Richt mentioned that two members of the 2011 signing class who enrolled this semester, wide receiver Chris Conley and quarterback Christian LeMay, already have gained seven and 10 pounds, respectively, through their work in the strength program.

Granted, that’s not as sunny-eyed as the stuff we used to hear out of Van Halanger, but honestly, I wish the coaches would just keep this to themselves at least until we could see the improvement with our own eyes.  Although I have to admit I like hearing the players griping about the new regimen.

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Monkeys just flew out of my butt.

I can’t believe it, but I totally support Paul Johnson on something:

… What I’d like to see happen, but I’m probably by myself: if you have 85 scholarships, and you can sign 25 a year or however many you have. When they commit, they sign the papers and you stop. It would stop all the verbal commitments and all the hats. The guys who weren’t ready wouldn’t commit. You’d call their bluff. They couldn’t make their reservation. We’ll talk to kids all the time, juniors right now, who are committing. We’ll say ‘Are you sure you want to do that?’

“Oh coach, I’m open.”

In my mind that’s not committed. That’s saying I’m going to hold this in my back pocket and I’m going to shop it around.

The only thing I’d add is that would cut off a lot of crap coaches pull, too.

Over 6,000,000 served

 

I have a ways to go here.

 

I see by the old counter on the wall that GTP has crossed the six million hits threshold.  In a little over four years, I’ve gone from averaging about 100 hits a day to about 9,000.

Needless to say, I am humbly appreciative and I hope you’ll keep coming.

SEC recruiting, baby!

Just how dominant was the conference yesterday?  According to Scout, the SEC boasted

• four of the top ten recruiting classes
• seven of the top twenty recruiting classes
• nine of the top twenty-five recruiting classes

As impressive as that all is, here’s what really blows me away – Scout has Vanderbilt with the SEC’s lowest rated class.  The Commodores finished forty-fifth nationally.

I’d say that’s pretty dominant.

Georgia post-NSD roundup

A few things that got my attention from yesterday:

• Ray Drew had this question for his new head coach:  ‘Coach, once I’m on campus, can I keep recruiting for the next year’s class?’
• Yes, the puppy that committed with Isaiah Crowell is named Uga.
• Mark Richt rededicates himself to competition:  “They know they have to earn it. They really feel like they can make an impact at the University of Georgia and that they can do it sooner than later. I think everybody better hook it up and get ready to compete because we are not giving anybody a 100 percent guarantee. Everybody has to make sure that they earn it.”
• David Ching notes that Richt signing seven of the top ten players in the state is unprecedented for him.
• Another sign that Richt is all in with this class:  Jay Rome will get a shot to play at what is arguably the deepest position on the team.
• The coaches are keeping things in perspective: “This hopefully will give us some positive momentum,” Bobo said, “and we need to keep that going.”
• Speaking of Bobo, he’s the subject of my favorite story from the recruiting trail.

… But a couple weeks ago, when Malcolm Mitchell and Jay Rome announced for Georgia, Bobo called that probably the best he’s felt since the day Matt Stafford committed.

Ironically, Bobo had lunch that day with former teammate and old friend Kirby Smart.

“We didn’t talk,” Bobo said with a grin. “We just sort of sat in silence.”

You got to have a mother for me.

The Nuttster’s got a serious thing for Mississippi moms.

Adventures in marketing

About Mitch Mustain’s arrest yesterday – apart from the incredible timing (he was preparing for the NFL draft) of it, what really separates it on the stupidity scale is that he was advertising his services on craigslist.  Epically dumb.

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UPDATE: The story gets even better.  Mustain won’t be charged with a felony because it turns out what he was selling was fake.