For those of you bitching about Richt electing to leave some of the upcoming bowl practices on the table, it turns out there’s something of a tough choice facing him of which you probably weren’t aware.
As a result of a recent rule change for FBS programs, many staffs could face a choice in the coming days between time spent recruiting future players or coaching current ones.
(Photo by Philip Williams/UGA Sports Communications) Georgia has chosen recruiting.
The Bulldogs will not use their full allotment of 15 allowable bowl practices this year, according to UGA coach Mark Richt, and one of the reasons is the NCAA’s move to recently extend the postseason recruiting dead period to a full month.
The upcoming dead period (during which no in-person contact with recruits is allowed) will coincide with winter holidays, bowl season and the AFCA coaches convention, lasting from Dec. 16, 2013 through Jan 15, 2014. (View the NCAA’s full FBS recruiting calendar here)
So after the regular season concluded Saturday, Richt wasted little time, meeting Monday with assistants and “Making sure that we’re going to get everybody in the right spots that they need to be in between now and the dead period.”
UGA coaches have been on the road recruiting this week and it should largely stay that way next week as well, even though the Bulldogs will have learned their bowl opponent by Sunday at the latest.
Basically, new recruiting restrictions in January means Georgia’s staff will spend the coming week making up that time. So formal bowl preparation in Athens will be on hold while that happens.
So, a couple of questions for those of you who previously objected to Richt not utilizing the full number of bowl practices: (1) which of bowl practice or recruiting would you prioritize and why and (2) if you picked recruiting, why does that have a higher priority for you than the players’ preparation for finals?