If you haven’t heard, unfortunately John Atkins just missed on his ACT qualifying score and so won’t be in Athens this fall. This leaves Mark Richt well under the maximum limit of players on scholarship for the 2012 season. If you’re wondering where Georgia fares in comparison with its SEC peers, here’s your answer:
1. Alabama and Miss St (87) – must eliminate 2 players by August
3. LSU & South Carolina (85)
5. Kentucky & Missouri (81)
7. Arkansas (80)
8. Florida, Texas A&M, & Vanderbilt (79)
11. Ole Miss & Tennessee (78)
13. Auburn (75)
14. Georgia (73) – does not include 5 non-rated walk-ons currently on
scholarship (last season UGA had 11 walk-ons on scholarship)
Ouch.
Grantham, with his NFL background, probably thinks he’s still dealing with an abundance of resources, but between suspensions and potential injuries, count me in with the nervous. Not much of a margin for error there.
Two things to take away from this: first, for all the hand wringing we’ve done about special teams coaching, we ought to be a helluva lot more worried about what the implications of Richt’s “all hands on deck” requirement for special teams personnel are and second, Georgia’s 2013 recruiting class had better kick some righteous ass from a quantity and quality standpoint.
Get The Picture 
Not sure that is accurate. Othe reports differ and 74 and 72 are not possible scores on the ACT.
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Atkins is quoted in the ESPN piece as saying he’s getting with the coaches to figure out his next move. On the other hand, I understand he told Dasher he made his score, so who knows? You may be right.
Even so, I don’t think that takes too much away from the rest of the story.
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True. However, the real number is how many scholarship guys you have in the 70 that dress for SEC games – and if an inordinate amount of them are true freshmen that would be redshirted if you had better depth. While how good your 66th to 85th players are matters, it’s likely very overrated by most fans.
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Very good point, although in this day and age, talented freshmen don’t redshirt like they used to. To me, that means Georgia’s at something of a disadvantage in comparison with other elite SEC squads.
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There is a disadvantage to having less than 85 scholarship players. However, when faced with this issue, you can either mask the problem by signing slightly less talented scholarship players – thereby potentially putting yourself at a disadvantage for 4-5 years, or just not sign players and try to sign more in the next recruiting cycle. The catch to this is you must make it up in the next recruiting cycle or two. I’d bet there is more than one SEC program that has signed less talented players just to get to 85.
Of course, the other alternative is to oversign every year and find a way to get your less talented players to leave the program when you don’t have much attrition.
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Exactly. And it’s a disadvantage we’ve chosen. It’s a harsh and self-imposed penalty.
I’m glad people are starting to pay more attention to this.
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Dawgaholic’s analysis makes sense to me, and I would rather we just not sign people than sign them and then get rid of them when someone better comes down the pike. Just not ethical, IMO.
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That scenario is a false choice and ignores that Richt is already signing plenty of players who aren’t going to contribute
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What a strange point. Do you think he signs them knowing they won’t contribute? Alternatively, do you think he’s telling recruits who he thinks can contribute that UGA doesn’t want them? Every coach signs players who aren’t going to contribute. They just don’t know who the non-contributors are going to be. That’s the whole point of signing full classes. Some hit, some miss. Some players who are misses will live with it and make the best of their college experience, some leave to find opportunities to play elsewhere, and some get cut (except not at UGA).
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Good lord. His point was that it’s false to believe that we only sign guys who contribute and that’s why we’re low. His point was NOT that Richt should bat 1.000 when predicting who will be able to contribute.
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No, it’s not overrated. Having a full squad increases the player pool for the dressing squad. You want to choose you team from the biggest pool possible because it increases your chance of fielding the best team possible.
It’s the whole idea behind punishing teams through scholarship reductions.
A 73-man squad means that Coach Richt has effectively put his team on probation through his roster management.
It’s not overrated; in fact, it’s probably underrated.
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Actually the correct term would be “roster MISmanagement.”
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Dawgaholic,
The NCAA sums, not averages, scores on the 4 sections of the ACT. Each of the sections is scored on a 1-36 scale. Thus the maximum score one can make is 144. In Atkins’ case, he made a 72 (or 50% or a composite score of 18).
Atkins must have earned a 2.325 GPA in the 16 mandatory core courses, thus requiring a 74 out of 144 on the four sections (each one scored on a scale of 1-36) of the ACT (English, Mathematics, Reading, & Science).
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Academics/Division+I/Explanation+of+seamless+eligibility+model
Before a high school student can be eligible to play Division I sports, he or she must meet academic requirements in high school. Those standards include:
The successful completion of 16 core courses.
A sliding-scale combination of grades in high school core courses and standardized-test scores. For example, if a student-athlete earns a 3.0 grade-point average in core courses, that individual must score at least 620 on the SAT or 52 on the ACT. As the GPA increases, the required test score decreases, and vice versa.
The NCAA Eligibility Center uses the sum score of the four ACT tests (perfect score of 144) when determining initial eligibility, not the average of the four tests reported by ACT (perfect score 36).
***
Click to access d1_standards.pdf
DIVISION I
16 Core-Course Rule
4 years of English.
3 years of mathematics (Algebra I or higher).
2 years of natural/physical science (1 year of lab if offered by high school).
1 year of additional English, mathematics or natural/physical science.
2 years of social science.
4 years of additional courses (from any area above, foreign language or nondoctrinal religion/philosophy).
NCAA DIVISION I SLIDING SCALE CORE GRADE-POINT AVERAGE/TEST-SCORE
New Core GPA / Test Score Index
Core GPA ACT
3.550 & above 37
3.525 38
3.500 39
3.475 40
3.450 41
3.425 41
3.400 42
3.375 42
3.350 43
3.325 44
3.300 44
3.275 45
3.250 46
3.225 46
3.200 47
3.175 47
3.150 48
3.125 49
3.100 49
3.075 50
3.050 50
3.025 51
3.000 52
2.975 52
2.950 53
2.925 53
2.900 54
2.875 55
2.850 56
2.825 56
2.800 57
2.775 58
2.750 59
2.725 59
2.700 60
2.675 61
2.650 62
2.625 63
2.600 64
2.575 65
2.550 66
2.525 67
2.500 68
2.475 69
2.450 70
2.425 70
2.400 71
2.375 72
2.350 73
2.325 74
2.300 75
2.275 76
2.250 77
2.225 78
2.200 79
2.175 80
2.150 80
2.125 81
2.100 82
2.075 83
2.050 84
2.025 85
2.000 86
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Sheeee-it. If this had been in place when I was growing up I not only never woulda played any sport in college I wouldn’t have even graduated from HS.
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If we start running out of gas late in the game this fall, I’m going to be so pissed.
Add to the chart above: how many bodies did those folks at the top process to get DOWN to their current numbers.
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This is not a new problem. It’s been in the making for years.
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Absolutely unacceptable. The AD should get involved at this point. We are essentially on self-imposed probation with this scholarship number.
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I’m not sure Greg has any eligibility left.
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Haha thank you for the laugh. That was nice for my breakfast.
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+1
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What’s the AD going to do? Go on recruiting visits to high school players homes? Tell Mark Richt the obvious, that he’s well underneath the scholarship limit?
The AD getting involved would do nothing, because he can do nothing. Recruiting is not his world. Unless he’s going to soften the rules so we don’t have to kick more players off our team as compared to other schools he really can’t do anything.
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Maybe McGarity is happy about all the money Richt is saving the school on scholarships.
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Most profitable college athletic program in the nation.
And that’s another Bulldog point of pride!
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Yes yes, our “non profit” organization is highly profitable
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Just think how much more we’re saving with the McGarity Doctrine of OOC Scheduling. Can we get it to where we don’t leave the state for a whole season (SEC included)? I mean, think of the money…
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Not sure your comment makes sense. I don’t see how we are saving if you take into the fact that we are paying schools about $1 mil to come to Sanford instead of a home & home that costs no money, and the fact that we are losing money for unsold tickets which means less concessions/merchnadise sales on game day.
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Need that sarcasm font, friend.
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I am curious as to how the stipulation in Richt’s updated contract about limiting Junior College recruits related to our current roster woes. Also, how many walk-ons are on scholarship at comparable SEC programs.
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UGA is now the undisputed holder of the title “Walk-On U.”
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Z-Dawg,
On 11 August 2011, CMR awarded scholarships to 8 walk-ons (i.e., John Bodin, Taylor Bradberry, Matthew DeGenova, Eric Elliot, Brandon Harton, Blake Sailors, Wes Van Dyk, and Jason Veal). In addition to these 8 former walk-ons on scholarship, Reuben Faloughi (awarded a scholarship during UGA’s 2010 Football Spring Banquet) and Ty Frix (awarded a scholarship on 10 May 10) were 2 other former walk-ons that were awarded scholarships.
As for your question, here’s the list of former walk-ons currently on scholarship (2012 rosters) at SEC schools:
Georgia (5): Taylor Bradberry, Reuben Faloughi, Ty Frix, Brandon Harton, Blake Sailors
Arkansas (1): Dylan Breeding
Missouri (1): Jared McGriff-Culver
Texas A&M (1): Caleb Russell
Vanderbilt (1): Richard Kent
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Well, I have at least seen each one of those former walk-ons contribute on the field so at least there is that.
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The sky is falling!
The sky is falling!
The sky is falling!
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Who needs the NCAA punishing you with scholarship reductions when you do it to yourself?
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Well, maybe we can break some rules during this next recruiting cycle and take our punishment retroactively.
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Hell, we’ve got free rein to break NCAA rules with impunity if the punishment is loss of 5 schollies per year for 3 years for each major violation and we could go backwards. We got 73 (-12) now. We have been at about that level for CMR’s entire tenure as HC. Let’s see…we are about negative 132 schollies for the last 11 years…so we should be able to commit about NINE major violations and be at break-even. I posted about this problem yesterday before the news on this was released. “When you don’t use all your available scholarships on players who can really contribute what do you get when people leave, flunk out or get injured? You get 165 pound RBs running into a non-existent hole in the line, that’s what.” THIS is the reason why we always have to play guys out of position. THIS is the reason why we had an offensive line made up of all guards last season. THIS is why we were down to playing walk-ons in the SECCG. THIS^^^!!!
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P.S. I wonder if we could sell all our player-signing shortfalls to other schools? Ohio State might give us a lot of dough to buy them from us to use to offset against the NCAA sanctions.
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Don’t give McGarity any bright ideas.
Besides, it would be ‘Bama buying ’em anyway.
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That would actually be a really interesting way of forcing revenue distribution. Smaller schools could “sell” a scholarship to the highest bidder, like carbon trading. If Saban or Kiffen wants one more scholarship, they have to go bid against each other to get the one that Kent State is selling.
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We may have discovered something here. Since we’re not going to use all of them anyway–sell ’em! The Senator’s right, though. Bama would stockpile all they could get and sign classes with 50-60 recruits.
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Save the scholarship money AND raise revenue. Terrific idea.
I will bring it up at the next SEC meeting.
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Saban and Miles may well be better coaches than Richt, but I believe this has played a very big, and very underreported, role in our slip from the top of the league.
But if it takes oversigning to get to Bama and LSU’s numbers, then I’d rather deal with the handicap.
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I may be wrong, but didn’t we sign fewer players than we could have last Feb?
So even before considering inevitable attrition from injuries, academics and discipline, we knew we were going to have a short roster this year. So it is not that we are taking the high ground and avoiding over-signing but rather we are knowingly UNDER-signing.
Makes sense to me…
We are a LONG way from oversigning and i simply don’t understand this penalty we are imposing on ourselves.
Maybe Richt will have the recruiting class to end all recruiting classes in 2013 but somehow i have a feeling we will still be a few bodies short next year too
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The goal was to leave spots open for the 2012 class so the 2013 class has spots to early enroll into. Granted it’s been a problem almost every other year, but this year sounds at least a little calculated.
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Crap, forgot to change my name back and now people might actually think Thomas Brown is a fan of the program!
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I was going to say, that’s the most coherent thing from that monkier I’ve ever seen.
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The briefest by about the power of 100.
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The horrors of over signing have been so overstated its nauseating.
WE LOSE PLAYERS EVERY OFFSEASON.
Preparing for it is not some horrendous thing. Please.
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We don’t even need to “oversign”. We just need to stop undersigning so damn much.
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+1.
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One reason undersignig occurred last Feb was due to slots kept open for at least four players who didn’t sign with us on the last day. Two were “sure things” according to our recruiting fans and the other two were “80-90%”. What would you have done at the last minute, cram 4 bad players on the squad just to hit the numbers? Richt and Co thought it would be better to get better players from this year’s class of good available players. Remember too that the previous summer was spent throwing attitude trash off the team after the previous class had been signed.
It will all work out, boys, and we won’t have to place “blocking dummies” on the team to acquire your golden numbers.
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Running kids off their scholarship for no reason at all, though, IS a horrendous thing.
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Yes, it is. (Weeping softly)
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The good news is that CMR is leading those 73 young men down a righteous path. That is the important thing to remember in the face of injuries in October or when they fall flat in the last 8 minutes of the 4th quarter. Never mind that there has not been a full recruiting class in 3 or 4 years. Depth is not important. Nor does it matter that UGA is 1-11 the past 3 years against ranked teams (CFB Stats). And it matters even less that CMR is under .500 against teams with a winning record in the last 3 years (CFB Stats). At least he is a good person.
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Got it. Can’t you find even one different note to beat on that drum? Your sarcasm and selective choice of the same facts is just plain boring. At least other trolls find new subjects from time to time.
Bring something to the discussion if you’ve got it. Who would you suggest for HC? Why? How would the program improve? How long does the transition take?
Add something informative and maybe even humorous to this discussion, or please just STFU. You hate CMR as HC. Point noted. Move on.
P.S. Hey, Einstein. Not having 85 scholly players doesn’t mean we don’t suit-up the full allotment on game day. So depth is not the issue. Quality of depth is. That’s the coaching staffs call right now, and they could not / did not / would not sign players maybe worse than the walk-on’s already on campus. Pretty sure the coach and AD know the consequences of their decisions.
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Given the stats listed above, I am not convinced that Richt understands the consequences of his actions. And why should he? He was just given a contract extension following seasons with 4 losses, 7 losses and 5 losses. Say what you will, but depth at certain positions has been an issue (QB has been an issue at times, certainly RB, OL definitely) and we have all seen the issues with quality depth. So yeah, CMR is failing on multiple fronts as a HC. And he should have been fired following the 2009 season, if not 2008. The man did great things for the program from 2001-2005. But not so much for 2006-2011. Apparently averaging 4 losses a year is good enough for you. You, and fans like yourself, are part of the problem and are holding this program back.
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I thought you had permanently left after being busted for sock puppetry. Where you go for the last few days? Bluto make you sit in time out?
By the way, Hilton Head Dawg endorses my comment.
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Ahhh….hand you some rope, and you choose to hang yourself. My point, that you completely missed, is that you are clearly incapable of critical thinking and writing. Your response does nothing but refer to (and just repeat!) your previous post which, as I pointed-out, is simply a one-note drum beat against CMR. You either lack the ability to understand the difference in being able to voice an opinion and engage in any debate regarding your chosen position or worse, purposely avoid it.
Bring something either insightful and/or entertaining to this forum if you can. Criticize Richt all you want. But try to do it with intelligence and honest facts, not contrived data to make a very weak point.
You had an interesting “take” when you first started posting here. “Skeptic” was a promising beginning for someone to look at the alternative point of view as a Dawg fan for what can be done to improve the program. But you’ve offered nothing, other than saying “Richt must go!” and acknowledging you don’t like Chick-Fil-A sandwiches. You lost a bet to Cojones about the program’s performance last year, giving Richt his deserved credit for turning things around. But now you seem to forget that. You’ve used multiple names for posting…not for humor as many do…but to try to falsely convey the impression that there are others who agree with your simple-minded position.
I’m sure you won’t leave…you love the reaction. So at least improve your game.
….and have a nice day.
P.S. If “fans like me” had ANY direct influence on the program, I’d be thrilled. I/we do not, thus your attempted insult is pointless.
P.P.S. I still think you are a gator troll. Selective use of historic records is a classic tell. So is hating Chick-Fil-A.
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Dumb point. The walk-one would be there anyway.
Why not sign some competition?
And the suggestion that there weren’t any available squad players to sign is laughable on its face.
Richt’s roster management borders on negligence.
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This really is a strange way to run a team. How do allow your team to have less players than a team on the NCAA ‘s worst probation in years, USCw. Maybe we keep ourselves on perpetual probation so if the real thing comes along we’ll be ok. Surely the AD can tell his HC that this is not acceptable.
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I would certainly hope so!!!
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There are two things that really piss me off concerning our team, the self imposed scholly limits and Head-in-sand aproach to Special Teams(minus the return game). I just don’t get why we have an entire practice squad of scholarships sitting there being unused. Every team needs bodies. And every year we have attrition, every year we have suspensions, every year we have players not meet eligliblity, and most every year we under sign. It just doesn’t make sense. Does anyone know the last year we signed a full class? Signed, not enrolled?
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This is a serious self-inflicted problem and has nothing to do with oversigning. Basic math and 11 years on the job dealing with attrition issues should have taught CMR to recruit enough D-1 kids to fill out the roster – or at least come close. This same scenario plays out year-after-year-after-year. We learn nothing. We change nothing. We only act to placate fans who look around and see other sec programs bringing home championships.
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Mayday… Mayday….. Hello Coach Richt….. can you hear us?
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USC: two years bowl ban, can only operate at 75 players for 3 straight years. Considered a devastating penalty.
Georgia: lost to Central Florida, lost to Michigan State, operating at 75 players for 2 straight years now.
I like Richt a lot, but being 10 players below the limit 2 straight years in one of the hottest recruiting states in the country is criminally negligent.
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Throw our over-aggressive suspension policies into the mix and we are operating well below even the USC-probationary numbers.
And the Georgia sideline looks around after the latest special teams / second half / overtime collapse and wonders “wha…wha…what happened?”
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All of these things operate to place UGA at a disadvantage. I thought the guy woke up because of the “hot seat” business. Some people never learn. And we gave him a contract extension. Is it too late to back out of the extension?
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Mayor, we could follow your advice and, “…get rid of Richt, pay the $1.2 Mil buyout for Mullen and sign him to a 5 year $3 Mil/yr contract ASAP.”
Then we’d have his 87 players to go along with his 9 total SEC wins over the last 3 years. Also note his 3 SEC wins per year have come against teams with a combined winning percentage of 26.4% in the SEC
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Or, we could hire a coach that is mathematically competent. You know, one that understands its better to have 85 players than 73.
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A lot of ya’ll sound like a bunch of damn women. Let’s consume ourselves with worry about the details to the point of losing sight of the bigger picture. The man wins, period. His resume speaks volume and it deserves a little patience… He gets paid to deal with these issues. Let him deal with it if he wins, huh?
Since 2001, the Bulldogs have won the SEC East Championship 4 times. Their record in the conference championship game is 2-2 with Richt as coach. Only LSU (five appearances) has played in the SEC title game more than Georgia since 2001.
This is for you Skeptic dawg, you f-ing parrot-According to ESPN, Richt is 8-12 versus top 10 teams, 30-26 versus top 25 teams and 22-6 versus BCS teams. That’s the kind of winning record against the best teams in the country most coaches not named Saban would be proud to own.
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I don’t wanted the guy fired, I just want him to fix the very obvious problem.
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Understand and can appreciate your point CD. I completely agree it needs to be fixed. I just go a little overboard defending CMR b/c there are so many that want to cherry pick their issue in order to get him fired. Which I don’t understand why- based on his record? I don’t believe the man walks on water but I’m not so short sighted to think he can’t win a MNC.
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+1 this
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PD, by now CMR would have just ridden off into the sunset to open up a halfway house or whatever it is that he really wants to do with his life. What I hoped would happen last season did occur–a season good enough for the guy to leave with dignity, on a high note with the overall program in good shape for his successor. But what did we do? We give the guy a contact EXTENSION for having just slightly better than an average season by UGA standards (71% winning percentage). SD is right. CMR’s losses for the last 3 seasons are 5, 7, 4 with a total record of 24-16 over the last 3 years. UGA rivals who have won the BCSNCG during the BCS era: UT(1), FU(2), LSU(2), Bama(2), Auburn(1). UGA’s BCSNCG wins? 0. We consistently UNDERSIGN–forget about oversigning. Out ST play is terrible (it costs us winning big games) and he refuses to do anything to correct the problem except give it lip service. The guy is mismanaging the program. Thank you CMR for the 2 SEC Championships but the last one was in 2005 and it’s time to give somebody else a chance. Be gone.
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I think it’s pretty well documented by this point that what Coach Richt wants to do with his life is coach Georgia football.
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Mayor, honestly it just amazes me that you and others can speak in such a flippantly disrespct nature about CMR. Where’s the loyalty, man?
“…to open up a halfway house or whatever it is that he really wants to do with his life”
I mean REALLY? The dude stuck with us when times were good and others came calling. And now when the chips are down (I’d argue they aren’t down but rather trending up based on our #6 preseason ranking), we’re throwing him out with the trash? He’s made it abundantly clear time and again he’ll stay in Athens as long as we’ll have them. The guy has the highest winning percentage of any coach in the history of our school, and he’s accomplished this without a single solitary WHIFF of scandal. He’s a great man, a great father, a great husband, a great role model for young kids around Georgia and the rest of the country, a great molder of men, a great ambassador for UGA, a law abiding citizen, and loyal DGD, and one heck of a coach, as evidenced by his resume. Also, he freaking OWNS Georgia Tech. Compare that to other successful coaches of his time:
– Carroll (led USC to worst probation in years)
– Tressel (Tatgate)
– Saban (notorious line skirter, noted mercenary)
– Spurrier (Whitney Hotel among other things)
– Butch Davis (academic scandal, John Blake)
– Chip Kelly (Lylesgate)
– Dana Holgorsen (drunken bebauchery)
– Petrino (Jessica Dorrell)
– Chizik (Camgate)
– Meyer (holy shit too long to list)
– Miles (http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/08/11/les-miles-defends-greyshirting/)
– Bowden (Free Shoes University)
– Paterno (Sandusky)
Richt’s been to Atlanta 4 times in 11 years and is highly favored to make a 5th trip in 12 years. He’s 8 and 3 in bowl games. The dude can coach. He just feel asleep at the wheel and he’s working towards righting the ship. It’ just blows my mind you and others feel it’s ok to speak of someone of his success and clean reputation like he ran over your dog or something. He’s never embarrassed the University. The worst thing he ever did was lead a bunch of sleepwalking 20 year olds to a ugly loss to Central Florida. Come on man, you’re better than that.
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+1000
Thank you. Good lord I was beginning to think there weren’t any of you left.
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You left one off-Lane Kiffin (Took UT job under false pretenses, got them into trouble with the NCAA, deserted after 1 season for greener pastures and then tried to steal players he had recruited there.)
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OK, OK, you and Ginny have shamed me into submission. CMR is a great guy and a good Xs and Os coach plus he represents the program with dignity. I was just pissed off because I thought from previous news accounts that CMR had seen the light and had cured the UNDERsigning problem (i.e. the reason for the shortfall in last year’s signing class was on purpose and that he was going to bring in a lot of early enrollees in January). Now I find out that NO, the problem is not cured and apparently the cover story was not true. EGADS! This is not rocket science. If team A and team B have equally skilled players and team A has more of ’em who has the advantage? Duh!! This is how Saban turned Bama around–by signing more players……I just hate seeing the same mistakes being made over and over and over……….Rant concluded. Back to regular posting.
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Using anywhere close to all 85 scholarships on non-walkons isn’t “the Georgia way”.
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Good Lord, sometimes you folks make my head hurt! Is the shortfall in our scholarship numbers related to CMR’s recent policy of righting the ship? Of getting everyone on the bus, and telling some to get off the bus? If so, then he is damned if he does, and damned if he doesn’t. Some of the whiners on here need to grow a pair, just like the Dawgs are going to have to do until we get these next few classes in.
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This isn’t a new problem. We’ve been way under the limit for several years now.
If your head hurts, imagine how mine feels having to read your writing and respond to you. You’re not even sure that your hypothesis is the reason for the shortfall yet you’re frustrated b/c you think nobody else realizes that it IS the reason for the shortfall.
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+1
I wonder how many recruits have been lost in the last few seasons by our own fan base flaming the fire of CMR’s hot-seat talk!
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+1 was intended for Rebar.
Grissom, get some sleep if your head hurts. We’d all be better off for it.
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All of you…Ibuprophen 200 mg capsules. Take 4 of them (Motrin strength) and call me in the morning.
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🙂
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And for chrissakes, get your batting average up. Damn.
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Jeez Louise, people, it’s not either/or. It’s not as if we can only have Saint Richt OR we can have Sell Your Soul Saban. We can have a coach with demonstrated competence who is willing and able to improve upon the things which are demonstrably sub-par.
“He wins.” Well, great. He’d win more if he did a better job making sure the roster was full and that the players on that roster were developing.
Yes, Saban goes over the top, but he demands excellence from his players and staff, and he consistently gets results. A leader can establish very high expectations and retain their humanity, as well as that of their organization.
I am not one of those agitating for Richt to leave. He’s a good coach and good person. But the 85 cap is called a “cap” for a reason.
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I agree. well stated.
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YOU agree? I’m pretty sure you’re one of the people he’s addressing.
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yes. I agree. Pretty sure he’s addressing everyone of us. Look I’m not saying that this isn’t a problem that doesn’t need addressing. My point is that the man at the helm is capable of addressing it. Hard to argue this point though:
“He wins.” Well, great. He’d win more if he did a better job making sure the roster was full and that the players on that roster were developing.
He needs to fix it. I know it. You know it. we all know it. However, he exceeded all of our expectations last year and that should count for something. Patience, at least while our program is moving in the right direction is all I’m saying. Next year’s class is already looking pretty strong is it not?
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You’re agreeing with him in hopes that it legitimizes what you’ve said, even though what you’ve said is at odds with what he wrote. You’re all over the place.
I agree with him…but I’m not contradicting myself by doing so.
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Do any of you have the actual number of non-walk-on players in each of Richt’s 11 years? If memory serves me correctly it has been 80 plus and close to 85 in all years but this year and last year.
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Grissom, obviously I’m not capable of understanding your superior intellect… now tell me again where I’m contradicting myself by agreeing with him? We both acknowledge a problem and come to the same conclusion…
Always Someone Else’s Fault said… “I am not one of those agitating for Richt to leave. He’s a good coach and good person. But the 85 cap is called a “cap” for a reason.”
If you have followed this blog at any length of time you’d know that I am a fan that believes in CMR and will defend the job he’s doing but unfortunately I’ve never been able to say that he’s got it all figured out. However, perspective is a valuable thing and as an Alumni and lifelong fan with good grasp of our storied history I can promise you he is up there with the best head coaches in the country- certainly in our school’s history!
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Yea, Grissom, you might want to work on some tact there. You aren’t going to have a ton of success establishing your point when every comment is a derogatory poke at someone else. Your batting 1.000 so far. This isn’t the AJC.
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Thanks for your other input to right the Mayor’s course that sometimes he is over the top. Can’t understand how some people can get like that. 🙂
Another point that should be made. I not only blame the hot-seat talk , but also the failure on Richt’s contract this year for setting up a premise used by other schools that Rcht isn’t really appreciated and won’t be here much longer, so don’t sign with the Dawgs. Why can’t anyone see the position we put our coach in for the media and our opponents to openly take shots at concerning longevity and school loyalty to him? I firmly believe that this “contract” fiasco is why players are now decommitting to look around. They have looked around before without decommitting and I believe they want to sign with a Heisman-producing coach who might put them in position to excell. The opening and the Coach’s longevity go a long way towards keeping a player like Derrick Henry and other 5-star players on our squad. Sadly that has been a log now hoisted on Richt’s back that will turn recruits off that are whispered to on a daily basis that Richt has a short life. The buyout clause removal is tantamount to telling recruits that we can let him go somewhere else very easily and won’t stay in the bidding to keep him here.
Shame on us for not protesting loudly and longly while Adams and McGarity pose as outsiders for this predicament. To them I say,” Pome de Rue!”.
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Is this the real problem?? Some of you stat fanatics see if teams with full rosters win more consistently than those with slightly depleted ones. You play 44 players, maybe 50 max each game…if you have full rosters do you have ample players at each position or an excess at WR and equal numbers at S or QB….do you think that all your brillant analyses have been lost on the staff? what a bunch of idiots I have never seen before.
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OD, last season we ran out of RBs mid-season and had a paper-thin O-line all year long made up of guys moved from their true positions to other spots on the line. We didn’t have enough SEC caliber players on the team.
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That was due to disciplining players and getting rid of the trash, not undersigning. If we had known we would have to do that, I’m confident that Richt would have recruited accordingly.
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Ballsy, while it is true that Ealey got runnofft and Caleb Kinf flunked out it is also true that there were not enough SEC caliber RBs on the team. Crowell was a freshman and when he got hurt we had to play walk-ons who were 5’6″ and weighed 165–2 of them. Also, the O-line problem? Make whatever excuses you care to make but both areas were a direct function of not signing full classes–for years.
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You can make statistics fit most argument. The problem with most Monday morning quarterbacks and coaches is the decide what they want to say and find the “facts ” to fit the argument. True looking at the facts and then forming an opinion and make it all the facts.
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Try looking at the facts not true.
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Boise State took over the game with short passes when less than 20 minutes into the season, Georgia was forced to play a walk-on at linebacker and a former walk-on at safety.
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I don’t get the figuring that a walkon is automatically a bad player. Many walkons never got an offer.
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Exactly. They weren’t good enough to get an offer. To their credit some make it and become valuable members of the team but sadly those stories are few and far between. Most become just practice players, except at UGA where we do not have a full roster so the practice players are pressed into service in games–because there is nobody else.
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Lack of depth often shows itself on special teams, where you are forced to make a decision to play slower, less talented walk-ons, former walk-ons. or play fatigued starters.
Opponents took advantage of us on special teams last season.
http://espn.go.com/colleges/georgia/football/story/_/id/7899285/georgia-bulldogs-coaches-plan-preseason-camp-focus-special-teams
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BJ, both of your comments above are spot-on.
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-Update-
Number of Recruited Scholarship Players on Rosters (reflects quality depth) – as of 1 July 2012:
1. LSU, Miss St, & South Carolina (85)
4. Alabama (82)
5. Kentucky & Missouri (81)
7. Arkansas (80)
8. Florida, Texas A&M, & Vanderbilt (79)
11. Ole Miss & Tennessee (78)
13. Auburn (76)
14. Georgia (71) – does not include 5 non-rated walk-ons [Bradberry, Faloughi, Frix, Harton, & Sailors] currently on scholarship (fwiw, last season UGA had 10 walk-ons on scholarship)
Average Stars per Recruited Scholarship Player (Rivals.com scale of 0-5)
1. Alabama (3.77)
2. Florida (3.75)
3. Georgia (3.61)
4. LSU (3.58)
5. Auburn (3.51)
6. Tennessee (3.31)
7. South Carolina (3.25)
8. Texas A&M (3.20)
9. Arkansas & Missouri (3.01)
11. Miss St (2.98)
12. Ole Miss (2.95)
13. Vanderbilt (2.75)
14. Kentucky (2.72)
Normalized Data – Average Stars per Player (i.e., accounts for walk-ons impact on an FBS-team’s maximum 85 scholarship players)
1. Alabama (3.64)
2. LSU (3.58)
3. Florida (3.48)
4. South Carolina (3.25)
5. Auburn (3.14)
6. Tennessee (3.04)
7. Georgia & Texas A&M (3.01)
9. Miss St (2.98)
10. Missouri (2.91)
11. Arkansas (2.87)
12. Ole Miss (2.71)
13. Kentucky (2.59)
14. Vanderbilt (2.55)
***
2012 Roster
1. David Andrews, OL, rising Soph
2. Sterling Bailey, OLB, redshirt Frosh
3. Collin Barber, P, 2012 Frosh
4. Faton Bauta, QB, 2012 Frosh
5. Mark Beard, OL, 2012 JUCO transfer
6. Michael Bennett, WR, redshirt Soph
7. Devin Bowman, DB, rising Soph
8. *Taylor Bradberry, WR, senior (walkon awarded scholly on 11 Aug 11)
9. Marlon Brown, WR, rising Senior
10. Chris Burnette, OL, rising redshirt Junior
11. Brandon Burrows, LB, rising redshirt Soph
12. Sanders Commings, CB, rising Senior
13. Chris Conley, WR, rising Soph
14. Watts Dantzler, OL, rising Soph
15. Josh Dawson, LB, 2012 Frosh
16. Sheldon Dawson, ATH, 2012 Frosh
17. Marc Deas, DB, RS Soph
18. Zach DeBell, OL, redshirt Frosh
19. James Deloach, LB, 2012 Frosh
20. Ray Drew, OLB, rising Soph
21. *Reuben Faloughi, OLB, rising redshirt Junior (walkon awarded scholly during UGA’s 2010 Football Spring Banquet)
22. Ty Flournoy-Smith, TE, 2012 Frosh
23. Leonard Floyd, LB, 2012 Frosh
24. *Ty Frix, LS, rising Senior (walkon awarded scholly on 10 May 10)
25. Kenarious Gates, OL, rising Junior
26. Kwame Geathers, NG, rising redshirt Junior
27. Michael Gilliard, LB, rising Senior
28. Todd Gurley, RB, 2012 Frosh
29. Quintavious Harrow, DB, rising Soph
30. *Brandon Harton, RB, rising redshirt junior (walkon awarded scholly on 11 Aug 11)
31. Joshua Harvey-Clemons, OLB, 2012 Frosh
32. Amarlo Herrera, LB, rising Soph
33. Quayvon Hicks, FB, 2012 Frosh
34. Kolton Houston, OL, rising redshirt Soph
35. John Jenkins, NG, rising Senior
36. Jordan Jenkins, LB, 2012 Frosh
37. Abry Jones, DE, rising Senior
38. Jarvis Jones, OLB, rising redshirt Junior
39. Tavarres King, FLK, rising Senior
40. Dallas Lee, OL, rising redshirt Junior
41. Christian LeMay, QB, redshirt Frosh
42. Austin Long, OL, rising redshirt Junior
43. Hunter Long, OL, rising Sophomore
44. Arthur Lynch, TE, rising redshirt Junior
45. Ken Malcolme, RB, rising redshirt Soph
46. Keith Marshall, RB, 2012 Frosh (enrolled)
47. Hutson Mason, QB, rising Junior (plans to redshirt this season)
48. Malcolm Mitchell, WR, rising Soph
49. Corey Moore, DB, rising Soph
50. Dexter Morant, DE, rising redshirt Soph
51. Marshall Morgan, K, 2012 Frosh
52. Aaron Murray, QB, rising redshirt Junior
53. Alec Ogletree, LB, rising Junior
54. Alexander Ogletree, FB, rising Junior
55. Greg Pyke, OL, 2012 Frosh
56. Bacarri Rambo, FS, rising Senior
57. Christian Robinson, LB, rising Senior
58. Jay Rome, TE, redshirt Frosh
59. *Blake Sailors, CB, rising redshirt Junior (walkon awarded scholly on 11 Aug 11)
60. Richard Samuel IV, RB, rising Senior
61. Justin Scott-Wesley, WR, redshirt Frosh
62. Branden Smith, CB, rising Senior
63. Garrison Smith, DE, rising Junior
64. T.J. Stripling, LB, rising Junior
65. Damian Swann, DB, rising Soph
66. Jonathan Taylor, DL, 2012 Frosh
67. John Theus, OL, 2012 Frosh
68. Nathan Theus, OL, redshirt Frosh
69. Mike Thornton, NG, redshirt Soph
70. Blake Tibbs, WR, 2012 Frosh
71. Chase Vasser, LB, redshirt Junior
72. Xzavier Ward, OL, redshirt Frosh
73. Cornelius Washington, LB, rising Senior
74. Shawn Williams, SS, rising Senior
75. Ramik Wilson, LB, rising Soph
76. Rantavious Wooten, WR, rising Senior
77. TBD
78. TBD
79. TBD
80. TBD
81. TBD
82. TBD
83. TBD
84. TBD
85. TBD
***
UGA football scholarship signee attrition (non-graduation) since 2008:
1. John Atkins – academic non-qualier (didn’t make necessary score on ACT)
2. Xavier Avery – drafted/signed by MLB Baltimore Orioles
3. Demetre Baker – dismissed from team following a DUI arrest, enrolled at South Alabama
4. Brent Benedict – transferred to Va Tech for personal reasons
5. Orson Charles – left UGA early for NFL Draft
6. Isaiah Crowell – dismissed from UGA on 29 June 12 following felony arrest
7. Marcus Dowtin – transferred to North Alabama
8. Washaun Ealey – transferred to Jacksonville St
9. Jalen Fields – failed to qualify at UGA, signed w/ Louisiana-Lafayette
10. A.J. Harmon – transferred to Alabama St
11. Jakar Hamilton – transferred to South Carolina St
12. Dontavius Jackson – transferred from UGA to UAB following DUI
13. Toby Jackson – failed to qualify at UGA, attended Navarro College, now at UCF
14. Caleb King – declared academically ineligible on 8 Jul 11
15. Jeremy Longo – medically disqualified
16. Derrick Lott – transferred to UTC
17. Jordan Love – transferred to Towson
18. Nick Marshall – dismissed from UGA on 3 Feb 12 for a violation of team rules; enrolled at Garden City CC
19. Chris Mayes – failed to qualify at UGA, attending Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
20. Zach Mettenberger – dismissed from UGA following underage consumption & sexual battery charges; transferred to Butler CC then LSU
21. Lonnie Outlaw – failed to qualify at UGA, attending Georgia Military College
22. Derek Owens – reportedly transferring to Cincinnati
23. Jonathan Owens – medically disqualified
24. Makiri Pugh – transferred to Colorado
25. Montez Robinson – dismissed from UGA following his third arrest in 6 months
26. Bryce Ros – medical exemption (degenerative right big toe joint)
27. Chris Sanders – dismissed from UGA on 3 Feb 12 for a violation of team rules
28. Sanford Seay – dismissed from UGA on 3 Feb 12 for a violation of team rules
29. Carlton Thomas – decided to transfer on 20 Mar 12 to make more of an impact on the field
30. Kent Turene – failed to qualify at UGA, attending Fork Union Military Academy
31. Nick Williams – transferred to North Alabama
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