If you start with this premise…
Every BCS champion since recruiting rankings could be accurately tracked (2005, or four classes after Scout joined Rivals in rating players) has met a benchmark: it’s recruited more blue-chips (four- and five-star players) than lesser-rated players over its four previous signing classes.
… then Georgia makes a rather exclusive list.
Georgia also just makes the cut. Mark Richt’s squad could make things interesting with new defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, a top recruiter stolen away from Florida State.
Considering the amount of high-quality players the Dawgs bring in, it’s a bit surprising they haven’t won a conference title since 2005…
Yes, it is. Until you notice that there are four SEC teams on his list ranked higher. Tough neighborhood.
Get The Picture 
but David Pollock and Thomas Davis…
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My grandmother’s quality of Moral Hygiene needs to be worth half a star up if ya got some and down if you don’t.
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Unfortunately for us I think the numbers are Gross not Net. Seems we end up cutting the cream out. We are the skimmed milk of the examples.
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🙂
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I just cannot settle for anything but whole these days. You don’t need the quantity, you need the quality.
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UGA is not the only underachiever since 2005. FSU has consistently had top recruiting classes and finally cashed in this past season. Several programs have recruited very well and had to watch someone else play for the BCS Championship. The arguement is whether a BCS bowl game constitutes a great season or not. Are the two teams playing in the BCS Championship game the only ones who finished with excellent seasons?
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a bunch of this
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In the minds of some, only the team that WON the BCS championship had an excellent season.
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If we got to a national championship game and lost it, holy wow. The manifestos coming out of the Fire Richt crowd would be intense and detailed down to the failures of each snap of the game.
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True, everyone else underachieved since the goal for some is always a MNC.
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Now the fun question: If my defense is all blue-chippers and their offense isn’t, how many rule changes do I need before I can defend a HUNH?
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Very interesting list. To me, it underscores two important points that some of us have been making for quite some time. Namely, that Georgia has underachieved on the field for 8 consecutive seasons, and has not reached its potential in recruiting.
We have everything we need at Georgia, now, to both play to our talent level and to take it up another notch to the top level in recruiting. We’ve always had the resources, or at least have for quite some time.
But what we have now, I believe, that we haven’t had in 8 or 9 years and didn’t have until a month ago, is the coaching, the teaching, and the off-the-field activity and influence of that coaching staff that’s required to be elite both on the field and off. With the addition of Pruitt, we now have something like that. And that influence can be contagious, not only to the defensive coaching staff, but to coaching staff and to the team as a whole.
I suspect we’ve had the head coach all along. But half of the equation, which begins and ends with the DC, has been missing. We now have reason to believe that, at least on defense, we will no longer let the little things go. That poor fundamental play is now totally unacceptable. That the culture around Butts-Mehre will be impacted for the better. And so on.
We still have to show that we can prepare consistently at an elite level, that we can be disciplined and mentally and psychologically sound for the course of a season, because we haven’t done that in a very long time.
And that falls on Richt. That aardvark still has to be slain. We have to show that we can be fundamentally sound and be a team that doesn’t beat themselves, because without that you can’t play to your talent level.
Many have wondered whether Richt is up to that task, and more than a few have outright declared that he isn’t. And I have wondered. But throughout these last 8 years of pointing out these same basic flaws, I kept reminding myself that Mark Richt has coached at least 4 Georgia teams that WERE solid. That WERE disciplined. That HAD outstanding special teams. That DIDN’T beat themselves, but more often than not pressured opponents into making mistakes, by being sound and solid. That’s the one thing that has always stuck out and prevented me from completely giving up on Mark Richt.
Since he isn’t a defensive coach, his DC has about as much influence on the team as a whole, and the culture around Butts-Mehre, as anybody, maybe including Richt himself. And the theory here is Richt has coached the last 9 seasons with one hand tied behind his back. BVG was no Erskine Russell, but for the most of his 4-year tenure, we at least played, as a team, like Georgia. And that is no small thing.
So we’ll see. At the very least, the acquisition of Pruitt gives Richt the chance to rest in the notion that his defense will be well-coached. And it gives him the chance to better focus on the things he should be focusing on, such as developing his skill as a psychologist and manager of all things intangible. I would love to see him take that part of it to the next level. If that happens, and we’re right about Pruitt, then we’ll soon become a solid football team, a team that rarely beats itself.
Because, as I’ve said many times, until that happens we’re not going to win anything that really means something, like SEC Titles. And we’ll continue to underachieve. But solid Georgia teams under Mark Richt, that achieve to their talent levels, will win their fair share of EVERYTHING.
So to me, the state of the Georgia football program, compared to a month ago, is like night and day. Pruitt is not THE answer to everything, that is not the point. But he might be the answer for a top SEC defense. And he does solidify the leadership structure under Richt, the importance of which cannot be overstated. Further, Pruitt, along with the promotion of Bryan McClendon to recruiting coordinator, gives us a chance to hop to that elite level of recruiting.
Before Grantham resigned, I had no hope. I was certain we were headed back down the toilet. Now, I’m full of it. Hope, that is. 🙂 As always, there’s a long way to go and a lot of things have to be done right. A lot of things have to go our way. But at least there’s a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
And that’s very refreshing.
~~~
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Regarding the Senator’s comment, “Tough neighborhood” … According to Jim Croce’s song, “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” … Yeah he was badder than old King Kong … And meaner than a Junkyard Dog!
Seriously looking forward to the 2014 season … and I realize that this comment has absolutley nothing to do with it. Just wanted to chime in.
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Mentioning a junkyard dog defense is always appropriate.
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