February 8, 2012 · 12:02 PM

“Quite simply, Georgia and Georgia Tech can’t grab ‘em all.”

The numbers suggest that at least Georgia’s trying.

19 Comments

Filed under Georgia Football, Georgia Tech Football, Recruiting

19 responses to ““Quite simply, Georgia and Georgia Tech can’t grab ‘em all.””

  1. Robby
    February 8, 2012 at 12:31 PM

    There were flaws in the class IMO, but it also didn’t hurt that we grabbed the number one kid from four other states.

    So for instance, we get Marchall and Gurley and USCe gets Davis. If we had gone the other way people would feel better as we would be at 5 and USCe at 2 in GA.

    The other thing that is quite unique about GA is the proximity of SIX major programs to our borders. UF, FSU, Clemson, USCe, Auburn and Alabama are often closer to kid’s homes than Athens is. Add in UT and we really have 7 quite attractive programs darn close.

    Like

  2. Doug
    February 8, 2012 at 12:56 PM

    It’s kind of stunning how emphatically Georgia Tech has been blown into the weeds in in-state recruiting over the past few years.

    But hey, Paul Johnson has built a fence around the United Kingdom, so there is that.

    Like

  3. charlottedawg
    February 8, 2012 at 1:37 PM

    I’d argue you can’t grab ’em all BUT you can have first dibs to most of the top talent in the state and there is more than enough top talent in the state to fully stock a 25 player class for UGA EVERY year. I don’t care where our talent comes from so long as we get it, but given that we sit on such a fertile recruiting base situations like this year when we only sign 19 while 16 of Georgia’s top 20 players go out of state is unacceptable. I dream of the day when no walk on ever gets another scholarship at UGA and every player on our roster busts his tail knowing that we have the 85 best football players in the state and nation and if he doesn’t bring his A game every game and practice there are at least two guys on the roster more than capable of taking his job. Undersigning leads to this not happening. If Richt doesn’t want to oversign fine but sign the max, you are not going to hang with the Bamas of the world when they get an extra recruiting class every 4 years and we ‘re giving walk ons schollys.

    Like

    • Mayor of Dawgtown
      February 8, 2012 at 2:14 PM

      +1.

      Like

    • The ATH
      February 8, 2012 at 3:42 PM

      This is spot on. What I find funny about this situation is that my friends typically slap the “Disney Dawg” label on me for defending Richt and Bobo’s coaching (for the most part, but that Blair Walsh kick against MSU is another post).

      However, this kind of recruiting shortfall is indefensible. USCw has been penalized scholarships, and they still have more guys on scholarship. Scarcity at O-line is the norm under Richt. I know we won’t beat Bama for every guy, but surely some of these guys going to ACC and lesser SEC schools would’ve come had we shown interest.

      We’re never going to CONSISTENTLY compete with those guys when we allow them to stack the deck in terms of depth. And this canard about how we’re “saving” spots for next year when we won’t be able to fill them up under the current rules borders on willful disillusion – and yes that includes accounting for the EEs.

      Like

      • The ATH
        February 8, 2012 at 3:55 PM

        willful self-delusion* – time for afternoon coffee

        Like

        • Cojones
          February 8, 2012 at 7:11 PM

          “disillusion” has a certain flavor that appeals. If you hyphenate it then you’re against magic acts. It could be a synonym (“sinonym” would be a fortuitous misspell also) for “dissolution” (as in divorce) and would make perfect sense.

          Did you consider those we lost through the continuous cacophony of naysayers against Richt? Several said they hesitated because of it and one “4-star” went to Stanford because he was unsure of Richt’s tenure due to the steady dumbbeat (you see how I left the “r” out and…oh well) of “fans”. He said that he had wanted to commit here earlier. The enemy, dear Brutus, be some of us.

          So, what are we going to do now, accuse him of poor recruiting all through the Spring and Summer? I’m not for that and if you can’t come to a positive conclusion about this class and let your responsibility for part of the recruiting problem just lie in the dust with the rest of the trash, then you can’t be helped. Don’t continue the Pome de Rue into this coming season. If you can’t help with the problem then the least you can do is not to exasperate most of Dawg Nation again.

          Like

          • The ATH
            February 9, 2012 at 8:11 AM

            A) My responsibility? I just stated that I defended Richt & Co. all through last season. There was some negativity out there – but that didn’t stop us from getting a few quality guys. We just didn’t get enough.

            B) Look at this chart: http://uga.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=878&CID=387116. Even before the three disciplinary departures, we had 66 guys on scholarship (including 4 walkons!). For those of you counting at home – that’s 19 open scholarships. Now it’s 22.

            I’m not attempting to go Chicken Little over here, but there seems to be a significant portion of our fan base saying things like “quality over quantity” (as if the two were mutually exclusive) or “we’ll catch up next year” (as if that were numerically possible). I’ll stop bringing up things that make you uncomfortable though – silly things like facts.

            Like

  4. Mayor of Dawgtown
    February 8, 2012 at 2:13 PM

    Senator, the link above doesn’t work.

    Like

    • Senator Blutarsky
      February 8, 2012 at 2:24 PM

      It looks like somebody took the post down at MRSEC.com.

      The gist of it was that of the state’s top 20 recruits, Georgia Tech only signed one. Georgia signed four, including the state’s top recruit.

      Like

  5. NC Dawg
    February 8, 2012 at 2:31 PM

    I dream of the day when no walk on ever gets another scholarship at UGA … Isn’t that a bit much?

    Like

  6. OldDawg55
    February 8, 2012 at 8:21 PM

    Perhaps I’m prejudiced (you think?) having been a walk-on but I grow tired of the constant prejudice towards same. Walk-ons, wherther “preferred” or not are a vital..and I emphasize the word, part of Georgia’s teams. Whether tollings on the scout team or giving up their bodies on special teams, they also serve who toil in every practice and stand ready to help the team in any way. See Harton, KK, Faulougi, et al. So don’t expect to sign just five star recruits..their egos often get in the way. You bitch about those who need to bleed Red and Black…look no further then the walk-on!

    Like

    • Ron James
      February 8, 2012 at 8:55 PM

      Well said.

      Like

    • Dawgfan Will
      February 8, 2012 at 8:58 PM

      Plus 1

      Like

    • CharlotteDawg
      February 8, 2012 at 9:49 PM

      It still doesn’t justify why a walk on should occupy a scholarship that could have gone to a 4 or 5 star guy. As much as I like Blake Sailors he’s going to be on our team regardless of whether or not he’s on scholarship and objectively speaking the chances of him contributing more than a typical 4 or 5 star recruit are about 0.01%. So why are we not recruiting as hard as we can to make sure every one of our precious 85 slots go to the guys who have legitimate chances of helping us compete with our rivals especially when we’re going to have the services of our walk ons in either outcome. When Alabama has 85 SEC caliber athletes and and we have 75 and 10 feel good stories it doesn’t take a math genius to figure who’s going to have an enormous advantage.

      And to your second point about 5 star recruits and egos, you know what goes a long way toward turning prima donna could’ve beens to legit players? Competition. Take our tailbacks, Isaiah can either work hard and get better or he can watch Keith Marshall and Todd Gurley from the sidelines. Brandon Harton would have NEVER been able to do regardless of how much he bled Red and Black.

      Like

  7. Biggus Rickus
    February 9, 2012 at 6:06 AM

    In regards to the most recent recruiting class, wasn’t there a whole hot seat meme that other recruiters were working hard in getting these highly rated kids out of Georgia? Kirby Smart for instance? There have certainly been years under Richt where Georgia got the vast majority of highly rated recruits from Georgia, including JUST LAST YEAR.

    Like