It’s hard to get ahead of the recruiting curve when it keeps bending.

Brian McClendon, on Georgia’s accelerated pace of making offers:

Another new thing UGA is trying to do is to evaluate and offer kids at an earlier age. The Bulldogs were traditionally conservative in this area until new defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt arrived in January 2014.

“I think it’s where recruiting has gotten,” McClendon said. “You have to jump out there and really be a year ahead of the evaluation process (compared) to where things used to be. You get those evaluations … and there’s no reason to hold back. In doing that, you’ve got to be more sure on a guy as far as what you think he can be down the road, as far as growth potential. But I think it is where recruiting has gotten.”

I’ve been under the impression this was a reaction to Nick Saban, but if you look at this chart…

An unofficial look at reported football scholarship offers by SEC programs since 2003. pic.twitter.com/O1BJbv1ww5

— Kipp Adams (@KippLAdams) April 9, 2015

… through 2013, Alabama’s been about as conservative as Georgia.  Not anymore, though.  In the case of both schools, it now looks like there’s been a reaction to some of the insane number of offers handed out by schools like Ole Miss (321 for the class of 2013), Kentucky (313 for the class of 2015) and Tennessee (232 for the class of 2016).

But even Georgia currently has six offers out to kids – and kids they truly are – who won’t be able to sign a NLI until 2018.  There was a day not too long ago when I never thought I’d see Mark Richt do business like that.  Weird times.

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The genius and “That Coach”

Proving there’s a first time for everything, here’s a Paul Johnson story I actually enjoyed.

What Southern feared most was a repeat of the man referred to throughout Statesboro as “That Coach,” Brian VanGorder. The current Notre Dame defensive coordinator was GS’ head coach in 2006. He dumped tradition — the triple-option, the buses, etc. — in favor of appealing to top recruits.

The move infuriated Johnson, who wanted his Navy program to schedule Southern so he “could beat ‘That Coach’s’ ass,” as the story goes.

“Oh yeah, it really sounded sexy when someone came in and said they were going to throw the ball all over the field, until they didn’t win any playoff games and started losing five, six times a season,” Johnson said. “Then it wasn’t so much fun.”

If you’re gonna break something that wasn’t broken in the first place, you’d damn sure better fix it.

“None of this is to say that G-Day doesn’t matter.”

Nice try at putting G-Day (“a spring scrimmage with an audience”) in perspective, Bill King.

But a real Dawg fan knows it’s all about the QBR.

Sprucing up the joint

Everybody’s getting ready for Saturday.

Prepping Sanford Stadium for #GDay15! @FootballUGA @UGAFACILITIES pic.twitter.com/XwEQE2URlZ

— UGA Sports Turf (@UGA_Sports_Turf) April 9, 2015

“We aren’t done rotating. We are still learning.”

The upside to a quarterback battle is that competition (hopefully) brings out the best in the competitors.

The other side of that particular coin is that everyone else has to spend a lot of time adjusting.

Not having an official starting quarterback is a challenge for the Georgia football team.

Beyond the endless questions on the competition, as well as the looming sense of panic coming from an anxious fan base, the players on offense have to constantly adjust to different cadences, directions and throws coming from the three quarterback candidates.

Sure, you can argue that’s a feature, not a bug.

The quarterback competition doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon and could dabble on into the regular season. But there is a reason for keeping the competition open and ongoing. The uncertainty at the position forces players to constantly adjust, something that both players and coaches have to do over the course of a game.

But that does make you wonder if it’s been a factor in the less than smooth road the wide receivers group is taking so far in the spring.  And as far as adjusting goes, anybody besides me remember how long into the ’06 season it took the receivers to adjust to Stafford’s arm?

I don’t have a good answer here.  Except run the damned ball, Schottenheimer, maybe.

“You can’t treat people this way.”

We’re getting used to these stories – Urban Meyer does a little roster management with a four-star recruit with a knee injury and the kid’s high school coach vows he won’t forget the treatment.

But honestly, Corch may want to think a little more carefully about what comes out of his mouth the next time he pontificates on the subject of Ohio State’s roster numbers.

“How aware am I of the roster? About as well as you can be,” coach Urban Meyer said on National Signing Day in February. “There’s a couple guys that you’re just not sure can continue playing. You have to just to be aware.

“But there’s also the truth that you don’t know for the next couple weeks, couple months, with these injuries what happens. So you have to prepare.

“But you also can’t do the unthinkable and that’s be stuck with 87 scholarship players come June or July.”

On the other hand, I guess the high school coach can’t say he wasn’t warned.

Making a few bucks saving his strength.

Here’s a little dose of irony for you:  Todd Gurley’s suspension for violating NCAA amateurism rules may have the effect of increasing his professional value.

… One NFL scout told NFL.com Gurley is the best draft prospect at his position since Adrian Peterson.

The stats bear that out. Gurley averaged 6.4 yards per carry at Georgia over parts of three seasons. He also missed time because of a suspension for taking autograph money, but that means a lot of the usual wear on college rushers won’t affect him as much.

I bet that doesn’t feel right to some.  Maybe the Georgia legislature ought to pass a law about that.

“I’m a decision-maker. I make calls. I call plays.”

After reading some of the testimony from the depositions taken in the breach-of-contract lawsuit filed against Texas assistant Joe Wickline by Texas’ Big 12 rival Oklahoma State, it’s easy to see why the Longhorns finished 113th in the country in total offense last season.

And the paltry 43 plays against Arkansas? Who called most of those? For the record, Texas ran 18 times against Arkansas for 2 yards.

“I don’t want to remember that game, we were so bad,” Strong said.

Now that I think about it, it’s kind of surprising any of them want to take credit for the playcalling.