You may have heard that Georgia has its second commitment from a member of the 2014 class, St. Pius DB Nick Glass. I mention this only because I think it reinforces an impression I have that Richt has shaken up his philosophy about recruiting.
Glass is a high-profile recruit. Tell me if you ever expected to see something like this with that kind of kid:
Glass has the potential to be just as good as Geno Smith, the AJC Super 11 cornerback from St. Pius who signed with Alabama. Glass visited Alabama last week and said the Crimson Tide “was close” to offering. [Emphasis added.]
That’s right – Georgia pulled the trigger on an offer faster than Nick Saban. I don’t know about you, but I find that rather astounding.
Get The Picture 
It is a bit subtle, but it appears to be a major change back to a more aggressive approach to recruiting in particular and program management in general. It also appears to be happening concurrent with the tenure of Coach Grantham. Coach Richt said when he hired Coach Grantham that he got the man he wanted. I think it is more clear now what he meant. He knew he needed to change to a more aggressive style of management and play. I think he has accomplished both and more results will be revealed this Fall and into the near future yielding positive results for the Georgia Dogs. Just my opinion, but the change is pretty clear.
LikeLike
College football is getting closer and closer to the Lane Kiffen model of offering and accepting commitments from 8th graders.
That being said, Glass looks like a bad 16 year old. And I mean that in a good way.
LikeLike
I’m sure it helps that Georgia is currently operating on scholarship levels under those of a few schools currently on NCAA probation, while Saban is busy coming up with ways to convince some of his current signees they’re not actually healthy enough to play. All sarcasm aside, though, it’s good to see Richt both a) playing the long game and b) not being indecisive when he’s got a kid in his sights he knows could be a difference-maker. That’s more of a balancing act than I think we sometimes give him credit for.
LikeLike
How about this quote: “He committed to Georgia because of his love for the program,” said Glass’ uncle, Marcus Woods. “He knows Coach (Mark) Richt is a high character guy and he loves what Coach Grantham is doing with the defense. He also feels that if he and some of the big-name guys can get on board early, then the others will, too, and make Georgia the ‘it’ program.”
LikeLike
A title would also go a long way towards establishing Gerogia as the ‘it” program.
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing, JasonC. The statement has broad aspects of our perception for the future. It doesn’t matter as to relative importance in the sports world who made the statement, but perceptions of that sort on the reruitment trail warms the old cockels of the heart. The few becomes the many that all beats together.
LikeLike
Wonder if Bama’s signing of that St. Pius X db this year figured into the decision to go ahead and offer Glass.
LikeLike
I wonder if Richt’s previous hesitance has to do with 1) the “hold your nose” factor of offering a high school sophomore or 2) the risk of possibly incorrectly evaluating a player with two more seasons of high school to go.
LikeLike
it’s probably closer to #2, although we’ve done it before. I beleive AJ was offered his sophomore year in HS.
LikeLike
Two years ago everyone was bitching at Richt for not evaluating recruits properly (arrests, attitudes, etc.)…so he becomes more deliberate, thorough and takes his time to make offers.
Then Richt gets bitched at for taking too long and not pulling the trigger fast enough on offers and losing out on recruits. So now we’re seeing the needle move back the other way. Maybe you can blame Garner on falling behind, but I doubt it. No appeasing our fanbase sometimes
LikeLike
What Charlotte Dawg said….
LikeLike