Be still, my heart.

#UGA starts fall practice 24 hours from now. Mark Richt and selected players to meet with the media at noon tomorrow.

— Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) July 31, 2013

And, there was much rejoicing.

Steve Spurrier recognizes an Evil Richt when he hears one.

The OBC isn’t on board with Mark Richt’s high praise for Jadeveon Clowney.  In fact, it sounds like he’s downright displeased with it.

“That was a little strong right there,” Spurrier said. “Obviously, Jadeveon is probably the best defensive lineman in college football. I think everyone agrees with that. But when you start putting linemen in there with quarterbacks, receivers and running backs, I don’t know what he’s trying to say. If he’s trying to fatten up Jadeveon’s thinking, I hope it doesn’t work.

“Jadeveon has had a lot of praise, a lot of attention the entire offseason. I think he’s handled it pretty well. He tries to stay out of the limelight. He doesn’t go to the clubs. He’s not out in public much, except when he has to go to class and so forth. I think he’s handled it well.”

I tell you what, between this and the schedule quip, I’d have to say Evil Richt is besting the Evil Genius in this year’s mental game battle so far.

(h/t SB Nation)

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Regrets, he’s had a few.

Tell us something we didn’t already know, Corch.

Urban Meyer told @LeBatardShow today that he felt like he compromised his core values at the end of his Florida tenure to win.

— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) July 31, 2013

I guess that means he was settling for the top 2% of the top 1%.

Professionalism, for the win

A.J. Green doesn’t look back in sorrow.

Green also said he doesn’t worry anymore about the only blot on his resume: The jersey-selling incident, which cost him the first four games of his junior year. One can’t help overlooking that Green’s No. 18 Bengals jersey is now all over Cincinnati.

“No matter what, I can get paid for anything I do,” Green said, with a smile.

That’s how it should be and good for him.  I’m sure I’ll still see plenty of people sporting Number 8 jerseys this fall in Athens and they won’t be doing that solely out of Georgia pride.

But I’d still like those four games back.

Wild ride in Lexington

Speaking of that 2008 game at Kentucky…

What a crazy, crazy game.  Special teams were horrid and the defense struggled.  But those two big throws and catches on the last scoring drive were something else.  It was a great game to watch as long as you weren’t pissed off about how the season had gotten to that point.

2013 = 2008?

If you can skip past Jerry Hinnen’s SEC predicted order of finish for a sec and look at something specific he writes about Georgia:

Georgia: It feels like we’ve seen this movie before, haven’t we? Mark Richt leads a team into the season with a Heisman candidate at quarterback, an embarrassment of riches at the skill positions, one of the nation’s most experienced offensive lines, and the attendant national championship hype … and winds up, say, 9-3. The problem with the hype is that it conveniently ignores some major holes on defense, starting with a front seven that gave up an average of 200 yards in five games against ranked competition last season and just said good-bye to four different draft picks. The young Bulldogs have talent — keep an eye on true freshman safety Tray Matthews and sophomore pass rusher Jordan Jenkins — but they won’t have any time to learn on the job, given that three of Georgia’s first four games come against Clemson, South Carolina and LSU. Aaron Murray and Co. will keep lighting up scoreboards, but it remains to be seen if that will be enough.

… it looks like he’s referring to this bunch.  And as much as I’d like to brush off the comparison as being a little too facile, I can’t dismiss it entirely.

The defense came out that season playing decently, but got shredded by Alabama and was never the same after that.  Stafford tried to carry the team on his shoulders as the defense broke down over the second half and sometimes that worked – he was magnificent in the Kentucky game – and sometimes, as was the case in Jacksonville, trying too hard blew up in his face.  That’s a path I can see Murray traveling if this year’s inexperienced defense buckles a time or two.

Maybe it’s good that 2013 starts out tough.  The 2008 squad opened with a couple of cupcake games that let it rest on its laurels a bit.  This year’s team won’t have that luxury.  Hopefully that, plus Richt perhaps learning something from the 2008 experience, will help guard against early season complacency.

********************************************************************

UPDATE:  Tyler Dawgden adds some thoughts on this here.

“I don’t think this is a good way of doing business.’’

Make way, make way… Tennessee recruitin’ is back, y’all!

Jones arrived from Cincinnati without anything close to a national championship on his resume. He was best known as the guy who followed Brian Kelly.

He was a Michigander with no Tennessee or even SEC connections. But he has sold Tennessee as though he were a direct descendant of Davy Crockett.

Granted, commitments don’t equate to signees. National Signing Day is months away, and there’s a daunting 2013 season in between. But if Jones and his staff were capable of convincing so many sought-after recruits to commit, they’re capable of holding on to most of them.

Assuming they want to hold on to them, that is.

Just remember, it’s the kids changing their minds and decommitting who are the real scourge of college recruiting these days.