Friday morning buffet

Eh, what the hell… dig in.

• When did Auburn fans start sounding as bitter as Georgia Tech fans?  And more importantly, why?
• Oversigning.com matches up the SEC’s class sizes against the Big Ten’s.  A little context would help there;  traditional undersigners Tennessee and Georgia pulled this year’s conference average up, while LSU and ‘Bama pulled in classes smaller than the conference’s average.
• On the other hand:  Saban, please.
• He gets results, though.
• In terms of competing for a national title, Mark Richt is in the prime of his life.
• Matt Hinton posts that Richt’s bought himself a happy offseason with the Dream Team.
• Scott Michaux writes that it’s more like a day.
• Mike Slive’s office can’t figure out how to crack down on Cecil Newton, but this they’ve got a handle on.  Nice set of priorities, SEC.

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As the coaches turn…

And here I was worried about a boring offseason.  I’ve gotten a few questions by e-mail and in person about what I think is coming.  Honestly, your guess is as good as mine in some ways, especially with regard to Belin, whose decision I gather came as a surprise (not that I blame him for taking the opportunity, as well as what is likely to be a big raise).

Anyway, a few thoughts:

• All of those people who were mocking Richt a month or so ago for having a lightweight staff because none of his assistants were fielding job offers sound pretty stupid now.  With his move to Texas, Searels becomes the highest paid offensive line coach in college football.  Belin is probably looking at a $100K bump in annual salary and will of course be coaching on Sundays.  Not too shabby.
• I feel fairly confident in saying that whomever Richt hires as Searels’ replacement, it won’t be Ralph Friedgen.  Forget the cost, forget that OL is a position that he hasn’t coached in a very long time and forget the problems with sorting out the pecking order between the Fridge and Bobo.  I don’t see it happening for two other reasons.  One, Friedgen is 64.  Two, he’s a poor recruiter.  Neither of those are attractive attributes to Richt right now.
• If you’re looking for a list of OL coaching candidates, Chris Low’s is as good as any.  Plus, it sounds like he’s been talking to someone in the program.
• Belin will be missed.  I thought he and Bobo were the two best position coaches on the staff last season.  And there’s no denying what a fantastic job he did coaching the kickoff coverage team – granted, Fabris was a low bar to hurdle, but Belin’s unit finished first in the conference.
• That being said, it was some combination of Richt and Grantham that came up with Belin last year, so I’ll trust the track record there as they hunt for a replacement.  (Before you ask, Jancek was a BVG recommendation.)

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UPDATE: Things may be coming to a head on the OL coach hire.

Sources tell me that Georgia's OL about to get a little Friendly (hint, hint)

— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) February 4, 2011

Tech’s recruiting is not Chantastic.

Wait three years or whenever, if you’re a Georgia Tech fan, the breakdown of where the state’s top 25 players went Wednesday can’t be good news:

Here’s who mined the state’s Top 25 players for signatures:

12… Georgia
3… Auburn
2… Alabama
2… Tennessee
1… California
1… Florida State
1… Georgia Tech
1… Notre Dame
1… Stanford
1… Junior College

And that, mind you, is in a year when the state produced a bumper crop of talent.

I don’t care how much of a genius Paul Johnson is, there’s no way Tech prospers over the long haul signing the same number of top in state players as Cal.

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UPDATE: John Pennington makes an interesting point in a follow up post about where this year’s SEC signees hailed from.

For the second year in a row, Georgia produced more SEC signees than any other state despite the larger talent pool in Florida.  So what gives?  In Georgia, SEC schools are recruiting only against UGA and Georgia Tech.  In the state of Florida, recruits have the option of staying clost to home to play for FBS teams: Florida, Florida State, Miami, South Florida, UCF, Florida Atlantic and Florida International.