Who you gonna believe, me or your lyin’ surveillance tape?

Oy.

A five-star recruiting prospect, accused of felony burglary, watched a University of Georgia athlete while she slept and continues to use the iPhone he denied taking from the dorm room she shared with other female athletes, according to a search warrant released by the Clarke County Clerk’s Office last week.

That’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

Police called Salomon’s high school coach Michael Tunsil, who said Salomon denied doing anything wrong and denied leaving the football players’ suite after they went to sleep at 3 a.m. But video surveillance from Busbee Hall from July 19 shows Salomon looking around on the first floor of Busbee Hall between 5:55-6:42 a.m., according to the warrant.

Just tell me this is no longer true.

Salomon, one of Florida’s top high school receivers for the Class of 2016, has scholarship offers from Georgia, Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Florida State and LSU, among others.  [Emphasis added.]

Surely Georgia is no longer interested.  Besides, this kid’s not sharp enough for college.

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

UPDATE:

UGA stopped recruiting football prospect that a warrant says continues to use iPhone he said he didn't steal on visit http://t.co/evT5DfmoFU

— Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) October 8, 2014

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“All told, it is a significant commitment for all the members of the committee.”

At least we know they’ve got a good excuse to watch a lot of college football on TV.

Boom or bust

You’ve probably heard about the fight involving two Florida players that was serious enough that police were called.  That’s not the best part.

This is.

Willis was rated a five-star prospect out of New Orleans’ Edna Karr High School according to 247Sports, and in two appearances had already recorded four tackles and half a tackle-for-loss. But Goldkamp cited a source in reporting he had already missed the Gators’ games against Kentucky and Alabama for disciplinary reasons.

With Harris suspended and his fellow freshman Will Grier struggling with back spasms,according to the Gainesville Sun, Mornhinweg could be the Gators’ backup behind Jeff Driskel when Florida hosts LSU Saturday. Mornhinweg — the son of New York Jets’ assistant Marty Mornhinweg — started three games and threw for 344 yards in 2013 after starter Driskel and backup Tyler Murphy both went down with injuries.

Maybe the wheels aren’t coming off the wagon quite yet in Gainesville.  But I’d sure take a look to see how much tread is left on the tires.

“We’ve still got enough guys to be two-deep.”

As bad as roster numbers have gotten on occasion, I never thought I’d have to hear Mark Richt offer that as a serious observation.

This, too:  “But we’re in desperate need of a great recruiting class in that area. I’ll say that.”

If you’re a highly rated high school defensive back, you’d be crazy not to consider a Georgia offer right now.

Best news I’ve seen today.

KC Joyner labels Missouri the SEC East favorite.

Grown Todd football

Somebody’s been doing his research during the bye week.

Junior linebacker Kentrell Brothers said stopping Gurley takes on even more importance because, in his opinion, Georgia doesn’t really unleash the passing playbook as much under new quarterback Hutson Mason as it did last year under Aaron Murray: “I don’t know if they trust him as much as they did Aaron Murray, so they’re definitely putting the ball in Todd Gurley’s hands a lot more. Which is smart. They’re going to run the ball downhill. If we stop it, we’re going to win the game. If we don’t, we’re going to have a long night.”

Okay, it’s a day game, but he makes the correct point.  Stopping Gurley is not a concept that’s escaped any of Georgia’s other opponents this season so far, though.  It’s just been something other teams couldn’t do anything about.

A second chance that worked out

As much as we tend to focus on bad behavior and what seems like the inevitable exodus from Athens that follows, it’s worth remembering that sometimes it’s about good kids that screw up and deserve that second chance.  (I know, I sound like Malzahn there.)  Davin Bellamy sounds like one of those kids.

“It was my mistake and, the way I was raised by my mother, if you do something own up to it,” Bellamy said last week. “It was nobody else’s fault. I shouldn’t have put myself in that situation. So whatever punishment happened, I felt like it was something I needed to do without complaining. You usually complain when you think something wasn’t fair or wasn’t right. But I knew it was my mistake and it was going to lead to that. So there was no reason to complain about it.”

Slowly but surely, the 6-foot-5, 235-pound athlete is starting to show the promise his coaches have seen in him since he arrived as a 4-star prospect. As a backup to entrenched starter Jordan Jenkins at the Jack position, Bellamy has recorded six tackles and a tackle for loss in three games.

“It definitely made me appreciate the game more, made me appreciate every snap,” Bellamy said. “I could have been kicked off the team, but Coach Richt decided to give me another chance. So every time I’m out there playing, I’m reminding him and thanking him for giving me that second chance.”

Admittedly, there’s a fine line to tread about when it’s right to give someone that opportunity.  And the line should be more about reading a player’s character than his on the field contributions.

Early thoughts on Missouri

Over at Dawgs247, Jake Rowe posts five things about Missouri football.

The matchup between Missouri’s defensive ends and Georgia’s offensive tackles is scary.  But it sounds like McKenzie may have a decent chance of popping a good punt return.

Both teams are very good with regard to turnover margin, which means it’s something to keep an eye on.  (When is it not?)  But I hardly know what to make of this:

Whether you think you can or can’t run the football effectively against Missouri, you are probably right. The Tigers’ run defense has been up and down all season. In wins against South Dakota State, Central Florida, and South Carolina, the Tiger defense has held the opposition to just 2.8 yards per carry. But in a 49-24 win at Toledo and a 31-27 home loss to Indiana, Mizzou has surrendered just over 4.8 yards per rush. The Tigers gave up six rushing touchdowns in those two games, which is double the total from the other three games.

If Georgia’s running game is held to an average of 2.8 ypr, this game won’t be close.

Georgia’s stats do tell a story.

Tyler does some more digging at cfbstats.com (I always love it when somebody else does the heavy lifting), and uses stats to paint a pretty accurate portrait of Georgia’s defense five games into the season.

Because when you look at the stats, there is nothing in them, besides the points per game, that make me freak out, and that isn’t terrible. We are thoroughly average.

And even the points per game are an improvement over last season.

… We are bend, but don’t break. Then we run out of field. Throw in the four rushing TDs we’ve given up, opponents are scoring touch downs on about one of every four plays from inside our red zone. This is reflected in our S&P defensive ratings being ranked 52nd.

Basically, this is VanGorder ball, without the All-American players.  BVG’s defense worked, like all great defenses do, because it could consistently generate a four-man pass rush.  That’s not something the current defense is capable of providing.

One last thing: we are abysmal, last in the nation, defending the pass when teams are 3rd and 4-6 yards. The line: 11-15, 9 of those for first downs, a 243.60 passer rating, and 5 of our 7 passing plays allowing 30+ yards. All other third down situations and we are average or better. Again, not sure what I can take away from that, but it is something to think about going forward when we see 3rd down and 5.

I think everyone can visualize what’s happening in those situations.  The rush can’t get to the quarterback and there’s probably an ILB in pass coverage.

I don’t want to make this sound overly bleak.  It’s not.  In fact, you can make a good argument that the stats show Georgia is making the best it can out of its talent.  Pruitt’s philosophy makes sense in context.  And that context is (1) Georgia is scoring points at a high clip; (2) Georgia is being extremely careful holding on to the football; and (3) while punting average is mediocre, Georgia’s punt coverage is outstanding.

What that indicates is Mark Richt’s team is doing a fantastic job managing field position.  That’s a sign of good coaching.

But it’s also a sign of how narrow the margins are for Georgia.  Tennessee was close because the Dawgs didn’t have much of a field position advantage throughout the game (consider what they did when Tennessee was pushed back on its side of the field, though).  Georgia enjoyed advantages in field position and turnover margin in Columbia, but inconsistent defensive play, a questionable holding call that reversed a Gurley touchdown and two missed field goals combined for a close loss.

The formula is there for winning ball.  It’s just a matter of whether the Dawgs can hold it together enough when it matters.

Autono-mean

So, we’re now officially in the new era of NCAA autonomy.  The conferences have had two months to put together their proposals for providing greater support for student-athletes – remember, that’s what all the hoo-ha was about.  As John Infante points out, the initial results are less than overwhelming.

This one’s my favorite:

“Ensuring Nutritional Needs of Student-Athletes are Met in a Reasonable Way” (ACC): Virtually unlimited food was already adopted, so my sense is that “in a reasonable way” is the most important phrase in this idea. Remember that the ACC was pitching a need-based cost of attendance proposal, which is now DOA after the O’Bannon injunction. That makes it unlikely the ACC is pushing for even fewer limits on feeding, like removing board from the scholarship calculation and making food truly unlimited. Instead I suspect the ACC wants to roll back some of the changes brought by Proposal 2013–31-B and impose some more defined limits on what schools can provide.

You can just feel the player concern oozing out of those guys.