Why Mark Richt can’t have nice things.

Progress, of a sort…

McGarity wouldn’t say that Georgia will have an indoor facility in five years, but Richt and McGarity have talked about the subject recently when the Bulldogs had to go indoors. McGarity said he would look further into it.

They’re talking!  That’s nice.

Of course, as you might expect, the real problem will be who pays for such a thing.  You can be damned sure it ain’t coming out of the reserve fund.  In fact, McGarity’s got just the idea for coming up with the jack – you people support Mark Richt, you pay for it.

“I know a lot of people say they would love to contribute,” McGarity said. “If we do that, let’s see who will step up (for an indoor facility). Everybody says there are thousands that would love to, but when it comes time to write the check or to make that happen … I think the perception is that we print money around here and that’s not really the case. We do have a healthy reserve (around $70 million), but I think what people have to understand is we have $120 million in debt.”

Maybe they could have GPB host a telethon.  Operators are standing by to take your calls, Dawgnation!

Sun Belt Conference, don’t say you weren’t warned.

Although if Steve Shaw’s first move is to transfer Penn Wagers and his crew to the SBC, I’ll take back every cruel thing I’ve ever said about Mike Slive.

The most NCAA thing the NCAA has ever said.

Well, at least until the next court filing:

“The NCAA denies that it has a legal duty to protect student-athletes,” the court filing stated, which was obtained by The Washington Times. “But [the NCAA] admits that it was ‘founded to protect young people from the dangerous and exploitative athletic practices of the time.’”

Honestly, I don’t know how Mark Emmert keeps a straight face some days.

“You always have your fair share of injuries, but this year seems a little bit abnormal.”

Mike Bobo, crayon and all, wins the 247Sports Offensive Coordinator of the Year Award for the 2013 season.  Aaron Murray puts the season in perspective:

“Our stats this year are just the same if not better than last season,” said senior quarterback Aaron Murray, lost for the season to an ACL tear in the first half of game No. 11. “Last year was unbelievable, and you look at the amount of injuries we’ve had this year, and we’ve still been to put up those types of numbers. I don’t think fans really realize the type of offense we had this year. It’s been pretty unbelievable the things we’ve been able to do really with only half the amount of guys we usually have.”

I think this best sums up the 2013 offense:

With Bobo having to check to see who was in the game and figure out plays that substitutes would be able to run, Georgia managed to beat Tennessee in overtime. It came after a game-tying drive in the final minutes where, other than Murray, the five players who touched the ball included three true freshmen, a former walk-on receiver and a senior receiver in Rantavious Wooten – who caught a touchdown yet hadn’t caught more than 15 passes in any season before this one.

Just like they drew it up in practice.  It’s amazing to hear people bitch about how close that game was, but Bobo’s right, “At the end of the day, it’s about winning and losing,” Bobo said. “You’ve got to score one more point than the other team.”

More on the Tramel Terry move

Sure doesn’t sound like it was a spur of the moment decision.

Needless to say, it seemed like a surprise move when Terry practiced with the safeties this week, but Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said it had been a long time coming. While Terry practiced at receiver along with the other scout team members, the defensive coaches started to take notice of what looked like an excellent defensive back in the making.

“I just think that the defensive coaches were kind of keeping an eye on him and kind of coveting him and kind of playfully recruiting him a little bit,” Richt said. “Sometimes if a guy’s on your scout team, they hang around the defensive coaches more than the offensive coaches when it comes to practice time. And they liked what they saw and thought it might be a good move for the defense.”

At 6-foot, Terry certainly has a body type that fits the average NFL safety instead of the rangier pro receiver. That was one of the arguments defensive coordinator Todd Grantham could make in proposing a change to Terry and the offensive coaches.

“I think Coach Grantham’s background in the NFL and just how he sees prospects and things of that nature, he really sees him as a great-looking safety prospect,” Richt said. “It was something that the defensive staff was all for, and actually kind of started it off, started the whole conversation.”

So what does the decision indicate?

• It says something about how the coaching staff feels the medium-term depth at receiver and in the secondary shapes up now.  Terry isn’t going to be a contributor at the position next season, because he’s very green.  (“Terry played some defensive back in high school, but has a long way to go to be a proficient college defensive back.”)  But he’s clearly a good enough athlete that they want to get him on the field as soon as they can, and no doubt Terry is anxious to play as well.
• For a guy who supposedly – and I use that word in the “I heard it on the Internet, so it must be true” sense – has been at odds with his head coach this past season, Todd Grantham still seems to have the ear of Mark Richt when it comes to talent evaluation, no?
• Malcolm Mitchell, there’s no looking back now.  Not that you were, anyway.
• Terry may not be ready to play much as a safety in 2014, but I expect that will make him more of a likely candidate to nab one of the return jobs next season.  If he’s as good an athlete as the buzz about him indicates, they’ll want to get him involved in one form or fashion.

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UPDATE:  Seth Emerson has a timely summary of the projected depth charts at receiver and defensive backs here.

Patience may be a virtue, but even with Mark Richt, there are limits.

This sort of came out of the blue.

The competition is ongoing but Richt indicated junior walkon Adam Erickson remains the No. 1 punter ahead of sophomore Collin Barber.

“He’s won the punting job,” Richt said. “They’re still competing for it on a weekly basis, but he’s outright won the job. Collin’s got his work cut out for him to beat him out.”

Erickson, a graduate of Athens’ Clarke Central High, started against Georgia Tech and has punted sporadically throughout the season. He enters the bowl game averaging 41.8 yards on nine punts.

Given that Richt rather famously tends to give his kickers every chance in the world to work their way out of slumps, Barber getting the hook like that speaks volumes about what his coach is willing to tolerate.  The question is whether that solely relates to Barber, or if it’s an indication of a broader change in attitude about special teams play.  Maybe it’s worth noting that Richt is throwing the return jobs up for grabs in the spring.

Uncle Verne has a way with the laydeez.

I may have to start referring to him as V-Smoove.

We met in a bar, and I hasten to add it was an upscale bar in Dallas. It was a place called Arthur’s. I walked in after I did the 10 o’clock news (at WFAA-TV in Dallas) and I didn’t want to go home. Nancy and her date were at the bar and her date recognized me from local television and invited me over to have a drink. He introduced me to his date and her name was Nancy Miller. It was their first date, a blind date. So we sat and chatted and her date, Raymond Willie, said to me, “Listen, I know you are single. I’m going to fix you up with a friend of mine and we can all go to dinner.” He looked at Nancy and asked her, “What are you doing Thursday night?” She said, “Nothing.” He said, “Good, you’ll be my date and we’ll fix Verne up with this schoolteacher friend of mine and we’ll go to dinner.” Meanwhile, I’m looking at Nancy thinking she is the prettiest thing I have ever seen in my life. So, Raymond finally left to take care of his business and I asked Nancy, “So, how involved are you with Raymond? She said, “Oh, this is our first date and it’s a blind date.” So I said, “Well, forget what he is talking about on Thursday night. What are you doing on Saturday night?” She said, “I think I am doing whatever you are doing.”
— CBS Sports announcer Verne Lundquist, on how he met his wife, Nancy, in 1980.

Musical palate cleanser, living well is the best revenge edition

Somehow, and in defiance of medical science and everything our mothers told us not to do, Keith Richards turns 70.  Remarkable.

As far as attitude, this clip may be the most Keef thing ever.

As Nils Lofgren once famously wrote, Keith don’t go.