February 13, 2015 · 9:49 AM

This is the nearest you’ll get to closing the borders.

That ain’t too shabby, in my humble opinion.

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UPDATE:  More specifically,

35 Comments

Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting

35 responses to “This is the nearest you’ll get to closing the borders.”

  1. Gravidy
    February 13, 2015 at 9:56 AM

    Please understand that I’m not criticizing this class when I say this, but I have to note that some of the biggest in-state fish that got away are offensive linemen. Maybe one day I’ll figure that out, but it won’t be today.

    Like

    • Doggoned
      February 13, 2015 at 10:17 AM

      It is puzzling why we have such trouble recruiting OL.

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      • BCDawg97
        February 13, 2015 at 10:22 AM

        We do have overall issues getting OL, no question. This year, Hyatt was a Clemson legacy, he was never coming. Edoga was one who wanted to leave the state.

        The way that we’ll get better OL is the only last true meme left – UGA/Richt can’t win a championship anymore.

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      • Irwin R Fletcher
        February 13, 2015 at 11:06 AM

        They do have the #1 OL in the state and #3 in the country verbally committed for 2016. There were 3 OL in the top 20 players in the state…not getting Hyatt or Chuma (although it sounds like they almost flipped him) and Chidi was seriously interested until Friend left. Not to mention depth chart at UGA didn’t help either.

        In 2014, two OL in the top 20 state prospects…UGA signed them both.
        2013, two OL in the top 20 state prospects…UGA signed 1 of 2.

        I think the meme really started in 2010-12 when UGA signed only 1 of 6 Oline prospects that were also top 20 in the state. They lost on Juwan James, Brandon Greene, and Vadal Alexander during that stretch.

        But what’s interesting looking at those lists…Georgia doesn’t seem to produce the top Oline talent the way we produce at other positions. The only Oline that were top 10 players in the state over the past 5-7 years were James, Hyatt, and Chuma. To have two in the top 10 in 2015 and two again in 2016 (Cleveland and Price) is really rare.

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        • Irwin R Fletcher
          February 13, 2015 at 11:13 AM

          Quick addition…looked at Florida over the same period …Green, Theus, Tunsil, McDermot, and Ivey were top 20 state of Florida recruits.

          I’m starting to theorize that if you took a map showing top 10 recruits at each position, you’d get a pretty high concentration in the SE, Texas, and California of most every spot except Oline…top OT seem to come from anywhere (Chicago, Texas, Montana, etc.)

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    • Bazooka Joe
      February 13, 2015 at 4:46 PM

      Actually its easy… CMR has always thought that to win, you do not need a stellar OLine (he is on record as saying that). His scheme is top skill players and a “serviceable” OLine. That is why we are where we are.

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      • Bobby
        February 13, 2015 at 6:13 PM

        While I certainly think we need to make OL a bigger priority, it’s hard to argue that a serviceable OL can’t cut it when the other position groups are pretty top end.

        The only problem is when the OL isn’t serviceable…

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      • Dawgfan Will
        February 13, 2015 at 9:09 PM

        I would say our overall offensive results support this idea (if indeed he did say this). Now if you want to get into results of individual games…weeeellll…

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      • eethomaswfnc
        February 14, 2015 at 8:16 AM

        You thought the o-line last year was serviceable? Gurley, Chubb, and Michel are special players, but you don’t get some of the holes those guys got last year without being more than serviceable. You don’t rush for almost 300 yards a game in our system with a serviceable o-line. Will Friend caught a lot of grief the last few years, but he was a lot better at his job than either Callaway or Searles.

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  2. Derek
    February 13, 2015 at 9:57 AM

    Am I right that at least 2 of the other three went out west? As important as getting them is, not letting them land in orange country or t-town or Columbia is just as big.

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  3. Russ (the first one)
    February 13, 2015 at 10:01 AM

    Great job with recruiting this year, despite what the pundit may say. I feel good times coming to Athens…soon.

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  4. DawgFaithful
    February 13, 2015 at 10:03 AM

    Alert the trolls at the AJC

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  5. Bright Idea
    February 13, 2015 at 10:04 AM

    Just too many prospects in this state and too many schools recruiting this state to ever “close the border.” Heck the guvmunt can’t even do that.

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  6. eethomaswfnc
    February 13, 2015 at 11:03 AM

    Over the next 12 months, I think we’re going to find out Jeremy Pruitt is worth his weight in gold. The guy can recruit, scheme, and teach with the best of them. I’m not predicting a championship in 2015 because we have a couple of really big questions on offense – QB, center, wide receiver depth, and whether CBS can adapt to the college game – and defense – the middle of the defense. Pass another glass of red Kool-Aid, please.

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    • W Cobb Dawg
      February 13, 2015 at 11:38 AM

      Agree. CJP’s fingerprints are all over everything good that’s happened since he arrived. If he’s not HCIW, he ought to be – not that it would be enough to keep him for any length of time. So we should enjoy it while it lasts. No doubt there’ll be a long line of schools with buckets full of money waiting for him by the end of the year.

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      • eethomaswfnc
        February 14, 2015 at 8:22 AM

        WCD, I’m not sure he wants to be a head coach. I think he enjoys the coaching side of the business too much to be on the rubber chicken circuit during the spring and summer. He pretty much has total control over half of the team as opposed to the weasel over in T-town. If you can make $1.4m a year and do what you love, why change?

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  7. Cojones
    February 13, 2015 at 11:04 AM

    When these reportedly 3-star players are finally groomed for play, we can expect a great output after competing with the 4 and 5-star players. It will be more exciting to watch that group than any other aspect of this team.

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  8. AusDawg85
    February 13, 2015 at 11:41 AM

    There’s still “Mark Richt hasn’t won the SEC since 2005” to troll with.

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  9. Cojones
    February 13, 2015 at 12:38 PM

    Does our O-line Coach like cheese? If so, Wisconsin country is a wonderful place to take a summer vacation. That and a few great beers at their small breweries will put him smack dab in OL country to cultivate a few unnoticed O linemen for later recruitment. Their golf courses, upper Great Lakes country and the Dells would be a fine area to vacation and build an OL recruiting machine ( along with an occasional trip down to some Catholic schools in Chicago).

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  10. AntiJorts
    February 13, 2015 at 2:30 PM

    “Saban would have gone 11 for 11 MY ARTICLE:” – AJC

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  11. JAX
    February 13, 2015 at 3:36 PM

    All this time and all this talent………Someone wake me when Mark Richt not only gets to Atlanta, but wins the damn thing.

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    • Big Ones III
      February 13, 2015 at 4:28 PM

      Okay Jax. We get it. You can’t be bothered with the details. We’ll call you some time during the final minutes of championship game so you can start to celebrate. You probably loathe the phrase, “stop and smell the roses”, and I bet you hate the conversation before a good meal, and foreplay with a woman. What’s the point right? Nothing worthwhile is worth it if you actually have to do some hard work huh?

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  12. dawg39
    February 13, 2015 at 6:52 PM

    THE Dawgs went 20 years without an SEC Championship & I had given
    up on ever winning another one until Richt came along. He restored my
    confidence in the Dawgs & i have enjoyed watching all of the teams
    that he has coached except for the one losing season. Go DAWGS.

    Like

  13. Jeff Dantzler says
    February 14, 2015 at 8:14 AM

    Yeah but, we’ve got to sign them all

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