Nick Saban just signed a quarterback who couldn’t crack the starting lineup at FSU and you’d think it was the second coming of Tebow. Seriously, check out the early gushing.
You know you’re on to something when Danny Sheridan concurs.
Matt Hayes is even more breathless.
Allow me to retort.
Seriously, how many great college quarterbacks has Nick Saban signed?
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UPDATE: One out of nine ain’t bad?
Filed under Media Punditry/Foibles
I did a good bit of surfing on the Interwebs yesterday after learning that Tracy Rocker was joining the Georgia staff as the new defensive line coach. If I had to sum up the consensus of what I saw in five words or less, it would be first-rate position coach, indifferent recruiter.
But you know what? I’m not sure Richt cares about the latter too much. Consider this:
… As it turned out, he said Georgia’s need for a defensive line coach made for the perfect opportunity at the perfect time. He interviewed with the Bulldogs late this week and “finalized everything” on Saturday.
“Life is funny sometimes,” Rocker said. “Things work out sometimes. The Titans decided to go in a different direction and all of the sudden the Georgia job came open.”
Rocker said the Bulldogs did not press him to get to Athens in a hurry. He’ll remain in Nashville to wrap up his affairs and pack up his belongings “until the middle of the week.”
The hire came quickly, so obviously Georgia wanted the man, but here we are bearing down on signing day and nobody’s rushing to get Rocker on the road face to face with some high school seniors? (Remember, Richt took it upon himself to lock down Gaillard’s Georgia commitment by delivering the news of Rocker’s hire personally, and not having Rocker do it himself.) It’s not like Richt has a problem getting newbies out on the recruiting trail as soon as possible, either. Heck, judging by the speed with which Pruitt hit the road, I’m almost surprised he didn’t whip out his new cell phone at the introductory presser and call a couple of kids from there.
Maybe that’s an indication about how much esteem they hold for Rocker’s coaching talents. If so, it’s a helluva compliment. I’m looking forward to seeing how the defensive line play shapes up this year, that’s for sure.
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
You guys know I don’t follow recruiting all that closely – I know, a weird admission on my part on a day when all my posts touch on the subject – but I have to admit there’s a recruiting topic I will be tracking for a while. Here’s a bit from Mark Ennis, a Louisville blogging guru, about a certain new member of Bobby Petrino’s staff:
SI: The Grantham move was a head-scratcher at first, if only because of how much Georgia struggled defensively last season. A million dollars for an assistant most Bulldogs fans wanted out anyway? What’s the rationale there? Pay more to draw away a respected SEC coordinator?
ME: Well, in his introductory press conference, Petrino said he really liked Grantham because he found him challenging to scheme against from the time he was at Arkansas. So I think that was the draw. As for the big bump in pay, I think Louisville badly wants to project stability and the idea that these coaches will be here for a long time. So I think the raise was to get Grantham to commit to multiple years. People forget that while Georgia fans didn’t necessarily love him, he was sought after by the NFL every offseason.
SI: And he’s an SEC guy with current high school contacts, which should help a great deal in the transition to the ACC and recruiting in the area.
ME: Yeah, I’m not sure people appreciate just how big of a talent producer the state of Georgia is now. It’s better than Pennsylvania and Ohio. So to be plugged in there is only a good thing…
Grantham wasn’t bad at all at recruiting while at Georgia. So it’s only to be expected that he’d continue trying to mine the area he’s familiar with and made contacts. But he’ll be selling a different product to area recruits than he was pushing before. Not to mention that the competition hasn’t exactly slacked off with the hire of Jeremy Pruitt.
In fact, it sounds like there might be an early test by which to judge that.
UGA shipped out a last-minute offer to safety T.J. Harrell of Tampa, and he hopped on a plane in a hurry for an official visit with the Bulldogs this weekend. Harrell also has an offer from Louisville and could commit by the end of the weekend if allowed. He looked like he was enjoying his UGA trip, based on his tweets.
The Varsity? Man, Georgia’s pulling out all the stops for this kid. Seriously, if Georgia can jump in late and pull Harrell, it should mark a starting point for fun times on the recruiting trail. And while I’m sure they’ll never admit it publicly, it’ll probably be good for a few quiet high-fives in the bowels of Butts-Mehre.
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
Michael Carvell, for the Sunday morning win:
https://twitter.com/RecruitingAJC/status/427458603776094208
I’m not saying he’s painted his masterpiece there, but it does look nice, framed and mounted on the wall.
Filed under Media Punditry/Foibles, Recruiting
If there’s one mistake I can safely predict Mark Richt will never make again, it’s (barring injury) making somebody as talented as Knowshon Moreno wait a year before seeing the field.
“I don’t know if you can ever have enough backs, and certainly injury is an issue,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “Guys that are talented enough to possibly have a three-year career instead of a four-year career, you’ve got to plan for all of those things. I don’t know what decisions guys will make down the road, but certainly we’ve got some very talented backs that will have some decisions to make, as well. That’s all part of the reason to continue to recruit great players.”
I don’t think that what happened last year did anything but reinforce what he’d come to realize. I just hope the football gods realize Richt gets it already and leave the man alone on that front.
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
No, he’s not breaking any rules, but, man, it’s something else watching James Franklin cannibalize the once proud Vanderbilt recruiting class. The best part of it is the utter shamelessness with which he’s gone about his business.
The better fit for most of the former Commodores commitments apparently has been Franklin himself, with six jumping from Vanderbilt’s commitment list to that of Penn State. Tight end Chance Sorrell of Ohio and defensive end Lloyd Tubman of Kentucky told Rivals.com that they received calls from Franklin just hours after he took over the Nittany Lions.
Those calls contained scholarship offers.
“He didn’t push me or anything,” Tubman told Rivals.com. “I told him that I was with him 100 percent. He was a major reason I committed to Vanderbilt.”
Again, all’s fair and all that. It’s the punchline that kills it for me.
Tubman added that after he committed to the Nittany Lions, Franklin asked him to shut down his recruitment.
Filed under James Franklin Is Ready To Rumble, Recruiting
Get The Picture 