I know it’s a pretty popular perception that the program has underachieved over the past few seasons, in part because there’s never been a shortage of talent in Athens. But I’ve got to tell you that based on the scuttlebutt I’ve heard from more than one source, it’s not a perception that’s shared by the coaching staff, at least not since the transition from Grantham to Pruitt. Instead, there’s a feeling that Georgia wasn’t playing at the same talent level as some of its SEC peers, particularly on defense.
If so, it’s certainly good timing that the program is in the midst of its best run of recruiting since Richt arrived. The 2014 class helped shore things up at running back (how many programs go seamlessly from a Gurley to a Chubb?) and special teams. And the 2015 class… well, let Jeremy Pruitt tell you something about that in a low-key way.
No, they’re not going to overpromise. But I do think they’re pleased with where things are heading on the talent front. And it’ll be worth watching where that pays off this season. We should see a fairly immediate impact on special teams, something that’s already been hinted at by Richt. But I also will be watching the evolution of Georgia’s two deep as the season progresses. I expect things will be far from static in that department, on both sides of the ball.
Get The Picture 
The only team that’s won an SEC championship or national championship in the past decade that we’ve recruted as well as is Auburn. The others have all consistently put together top 5 recruiting classes at least in two of their previous four years leading up to their national title. We get a top 5 recruiting class about as often as we end up outside the top ten. The rest of the time we’re in the 7, 8, 9 range. Our talent is very good, but still overrated when people say it’s on the same level as Bama, LSU, Florida (Urban years) , FSU, OSU, etc.
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That is a point many simply miss, we get grouped with the very top, but we rarely are. Then you come to those who feel we don’t get enough in-state by saying we are in a talent rich area…..but so are many others because of proximity. Recruits don’t care a lot about where some old politician placed a hypothetical/imaginary line 250 years ago. Reality is: what are my chances to play early, followed by, how far for my homies and family to drive to the games? The geographies of Texas, California, and Florida provide some protection for the big power house programs, protection that does not exist for the state of Georgia.
States (and states rights) do not matter any more. I am just glad the staff gets as many out of the area recruits that we do because we are surrounded by sharp shooters in every direction. Truth is we are usually around 3rd or 4th in our own conference in recruiting ratings, and we are usually that in conference power rankings, or higher. And no, we don’t have any better facilities than those guys do.
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This times a million. A top 10 class is only good for maybe 4th best in the sec. That combined with our chronic undersigning and overzealous punishment policy means we’ve effectively put ourselves on probation for years. Let this sink in for a second the 2011 dream team has produced ONE draft pick, job Jenkins in the third round. We’ve managed to produce 2 first round picks in the last 6 drafts. We have not been funneling enough talent through Athens. We should expect to compete for championships but for that to happen roster management needs to improve. A lot.
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I agree but AU did add Laptop Cammy to one of those classes and kind of kicked it over the top, it seems we are always that one or two SuperStar player away. Hopefully that it changing.
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This is a fair point. But – and I write this as a staunch CMR supporter – it’s the coach’s job in a top-tier SEC program to recruit to rational expectations and to do slightly more with those recruits than his opposition.
If you believe UGA ought to be running with Alabama, Florida, and FSU – and I don’t know if we should or not – then CMR ought to be recruiting better.
(I know he has been lately – your point is about what’s happened in the past and that’s what I’m addressing)
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Since 2006, the defense has underachieved. If that’s on Richt, fine, but the rest of this meme is tiring.
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It’s on Richt. He is head coach of the WHOLE team.
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unless we’re successful, then it’s on Pruitt
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I’d say the biggest miss had been at DT. I think after the switch to a 3-4, Jenkins was the only DT make any kind of presence in the NFL or show up on draft boards. A far cry from watching Sullivan destroy the center of opposing team’s OLines freeing up the edge for Pollack to go nuts 10+ years ago.
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I’m not by the way saying that recruiting is not Richt’s fault. He has arguably the third best recruiting area in the country and he has no instate rival like UF has to challenge him. The largest talent base area within the rich state of Georgia is 60 to 90 minutes away from Athens. So, we should definitely finish higher in recruiting than we have. They say nice guys finish last. Top ten is not last, but I’d say in recruiting it’s very hard for nice guys to finish first.
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And don’t forget that Richt exacerbated things with a run of serial undersigning.
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Did Jere Moorehead’s comment on “getting Lambert in school” or something to that effect, not give you a hint about at least some of the reasons for the serial undersigning?
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Not really, no.
Lambert comes way after Richt changed his ways on that front.
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When is the last time a signed recruit was deemed unworthy becoming a student at Georgia? That’s the key to at least part of the undersigning. Adams “directed”, or so I am told, the evaluators worthiness for admission to be tougher on athletes, who was the linebacker from Atlanta we signed, then refused admittance?
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And yet Richt was able to sign large classes before Morehead became president.
I’m no Adams fan, but I don’t think you can lay Richt’s undersigning problem on Adams.
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I don’t mean to say that ALL of the problem was the administration, but, to paraphrase…a linebacker here, a db there, and pretty soon you are talking about big numbers. I don’t really know what all of the problem was, the reasons for it, but I agree that issue seems to have been addressed.
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And, when was the change on taking JUCO players? There was some change fairly recently about JUCOs, was that, if you know, Richt’s idea, the no JUCOs, or was that an administrative rule?
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Jamar Chaney is the guy you’re thinking of, I think. Ended up going to Miss St. and then on to the NFL. Wasn’t the story similar with that OL Chester Brown? The details on that one are kind of fuzzy to me.
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The Brown situation had to do with the state law requiring students accepted by all state colleges to be legally documented. That was even out of Adams’ and admissions’ hands.
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Scorp, I remember a few years back, CMR making a comment about a problem with signing JUCOs at UGA. CMR wanted to sign a JUCO but couldn’t due to some technical requirement (Sorry I don’t remember the exact details). It seemed that he wanted the powers-to-be to revisit the acceptance of JUCOs. Even now it seems that we can only accept JUCOs from just a couple of schools.
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Scorp, are you thinking of Grant, who after the summer and start of fall practice , was rejected by the Student Council for getting a blow job when he was a Jr in HS and if it hadn’t been for a call by Richt to Nutt at Ark, he wouldn’t have played that year? He became a starter and had a good career at Ark.
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I would really like to ask CMR why he held on to some scholarships during that period of undersigning. Was there no talent left at signing day? Did he hold them to reward walk-ons? Saving the school $$$. Stupidity? Apparently he got burned by the gamble. The attrition caught up to him, especially the class of 2006. Does anyone know why CMR would take a risk with his job by creating a void in talent/bodies?
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This is one of the great mysteries of this program, yet somehow he survived it.
I am sure the CYA, skimming, and country club cultures at Georgia all came into play in the low numbers, but I believe it was the head coach’s loyalty to his existing players and families (walk-ons included) which was the biggest factor.
This loyalty was portrayed as a recruiting differentiator for Georgia. However, some of the players took advantage of it and did not put forth the amount of effort players in other programs were putting forth, both on the field and off the field.
A healthy amount of tension is required for an organization to perform at a championship level. We didn’t have enough of it.
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Just spitballing here, but I wonder if some of the character issues/off field issues came into play with his thinking. Perhaps he got a little too tight about extending offers to kids that he had character concerns with? And perhaps the ones with no concerns were committed elsewhere?
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Which going back to your other post, is another thing that has changed since Pruitt arrived. So again, the question might seem weird, but I can see why it’s asked.
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And the numbers even further reduced by those “asked to leave”. Funny how that hasn’t happened recently.
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speaking of special teams, Richt said yesterday the only qb meetings he misses are those that are held at the same time as special teams meetings. squib kick avoidance, please.
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Seems like everyone has always confused the talent in the state of georgia with the talent playing football at UGA.
The undersigning combined with the over-signing by other teams created a very large gap in talent.
UGA is definitely recruiting better, but still needs to take another step up in recruiting to get to the elite talent level.
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I find so many of us live in the past and not very willing to accept change, I guess it’s something were born with or maybe the difference between a glass half full or half empty. Granted and I agree Georgia sports teams have all given us a cause not to believe! Seeing is believing and when I look at how the money is now being spent on the Georgia football program from this new administration, I believe it is going to pay off. You can see it from additional coaches being hired and the money being expended to get good coaching, the budget for recruiting being expanded by two, and the new facilities to be built, will all pay off! Everything from recruiting, to the off season conditioning programs have changed in a great way and it’s showing in the attitudes of our football players. Go Dogs!!
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Agree.
The quality of players recruited was good, but it was undermined by the lack of numbers recruited and the number of recruited players who didn’t make it to the field on game day.
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Senator – I believe you are spot on with your assessment.
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A shortage of Defensive Coaching talent dating from the departure of Van Gorder more likely.
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The “Georgia recruits as well as anybody but underachieves with the talent” is a popular take everywhere now. I hear it over and over again on the radio and this is the primary fuel for the fire Richt crowd. This is quickly followed by the “look how many UGA players are in the NFL” statement.
This annoys me NOT because it is criticism of Richt but that it is the WRONG criticism of Richt. Its just lazy hearsay. Georgia has recruited well in particular areas, but has not put together across the board top notch classes that match with LSU and Alabama. And those recruiting gaps have come back to bite us in the ass every year with one of our “inexplicable” losses.
So if you are gonna call up a talk radio show or write an article and pull out the “Richt has underachieved” card, at least get your frickin facts straight and say that he needs to recruit better and deeper on the offensive line and defensive side of the ball. And acknowledge that even though his classes are better than most in the nation and are good enough to kick ass in the Big 10 or ACC, they are just above average in the SEC.
My fingers are crossed that Richt has turned a corner with Pruit and Rocker. Rant over.
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Good post. Just guessing to Richt’s under signing philosophy / woes: He kept a couple of scollies in his pocket to stack the next class instead of taking marginal talent in the current cycle. He got burned with the high amount of dismissals / injuries / transfers but those character issues also made him gun shy to change this philosophy. After a few seasons the impact of this became clear and with the addition of Pruitt was able to get the administration to provide more recruiting resources. The quality was not the problem, but combining quality with quantity surely was.
My 2 cents.
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Spot on. I think you nailed it. This is the conversation that never really made its way to a broader audience. Just easier to say “Richt recruits as well as anyone, but somehow he manages to lose these games.” and leave it at that.
Example is the Florida game last year. The common perception was that Richt didn’t get the kids motivated again. Perhaps, but if you look deeper, you can trace it to recruiting. The D line was banged up and not very deep. And now as the Senator points out, the staff felt that we were thin on talent on defense. Florida exposed a gap in our recruiting.
So the criticism of Richt should be there for these losses, but I am less inclined to blame it solely on deficiencies in Richt’s motivational/gameday coaching abilities and more on his recruiting deficiencies. Its fair to say its a combination of all three, but just don’t leave out the misses on the recruiting trail.
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This also goes to the heart of the “we haven’t won a championship in 10 years” rant which focuses on a single measuring point but ignores our SECE titles and losing to LSU and Bama who held the clear quality & quantity talent over us. No question Richt was a victim of his roster management decisions, but it’s not like he sent the program into a tailspin as the rant likes to imply.
If CMR continued to demonstrate no awareness of this problem, then discussing how it’s time to move on would be valid. But the entire program is making significant adjustments…under Richt’s leadership…so it’s really hard to get on board with the notion that changing horses midstream now is the right move for the program. That’s not blind love for the coach, it’s thoughtfully and rationally thinking through what is best for the program right now. I just can’t see how bringing a Patterson, Dantonio, Briles, etc. moves the needle any faster or further right now. Most of us are excited about what the next 2 – 3 years will bring.
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Yes. Around these parts, people that want Richt gone see him as someone who has hit the ceiling They point to his perceived motivational deficiencies and gameday gaffs. The only way we are going to take a step toward that ‘single measuring point’ is to roll the dice and hope for a Saban, Meyer like hire with the knowledge that anything less will set the program back, maybe even Tennessee or Texas back…
But I see a coach who is learning from his mistakes and trying different things. Would I prefer he do this much faster? Heck yea I wish he would of figured out roster management and jettisoned some staff much faster than he did. But he’s learned from his mistakes like most of us do. I know some will say he gets paid too much to make these mistakes. I get it, but never the less, it seems like all the pieces are coming together I’m on board with seeing this thing through. I’m exited. I like the staff hires. I like the administrative support. I love our offensive style of play. GATA…wait how many days until kickoff?
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Re recruiting, didn’t UGA bring in over 30 the last year CTG was here, so the change there can’t be tied to Pruitt. CMR realized the error in his ways, IMHO.
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I am confused…I thought Georgia always had a significant talent advantage over SC. This year is no different right?
Every year I read on this message board about how Georgia should beat SC because they are more talented. Every year I see either freshman DB’s or LB’s and a mediocre group of receivers. SC wins and everyone blames the coaches for underachieving (Grantham was terrible and deserved blame). This year it is the D line, Secondary, and QB that will probably cost Georgia some games.
Richt loses a couple games per year against equally matched competition because that’s what happens when you play football. Georgia doesn’t underachieve. They have had a lot of good seasons in a competitive league. I am sure they will break though soon enough.
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Carolina has an excellent game day Coach…be thankful.
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Um, for a significant portion of South Carolina’s recent run, the talent level leaned the Cock’s way. The state of South Carolina was uniquely blessed at some key positions in that stretch. Spurrier signed 4 straight Mr. Footballs from SC from 2009-2012 (Gilmore, Lattimore, Clowney, Roland). Two of those were once in a generation type players, and UGA never beat South Carolina while Lattimore and Clowney were on the same team. In those years, South Carolina simply had better talent at some very key positions.
In 2010, we had no RB in Lattimore’s league. In 2011, Clowney and Lattimore owned the game. In 2012, Clowney dominated the line of scrimmage from the first series and was the best player on the field (but we started a 5-star LT who got a taste in 2012 of blocking Clowney). In 2013, that 5-star LT (Theus) owned Clowney the whole game, and South Carolina didn’t have an answer for Gurley and Marshall, who were both healthy and way better than any RB South Carolina had.
2014 was a toss-up, and those UGA had the best player on the field (Gurley), the home crowd and excellent play by Dylan Thompson left the came to come down to a quarter of an inch. That’s football.
But the reason the Cock’s owned the series of late was mostly because of Mr. Lattimore and Mr. Clowney. And those two owned a lot of teams. But I, for one, believe Spurrier’s recruting has dropped waaaaay off in recent years, as UGA has signed 2 of the last 3 Mr. Footballs out of SC.
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I can’t argue with too much of what you said. I thought the credit for the 2013 game should all go to Murray. The UGA offense was clicking and Murray was quick and accurate throwing the ball. The SC D had no answer for his arm. I think he will always be underappreciated as a Georgia QB.
As for the recruiting, we have had some playmakers over the past few years but so do all teams. Is Lattimore significantly better than Gurley? Even with these 5 star recruits our recruiting rankings have not changed over the past 5 years. I looked back at Rivals team rankings up to 2010 and SC is remarkably consistent in its recruiting ranking and it continued last year. I do not believe you can find any objective evidence that SC recruiting has dropped off.
How did those Mr. Football’s from SC work for you? Will either ever see the field? I think Terry is now on Defense and Park has already transferred. Maybe Spurrier is a better talent evaluator than the Georgia coaches.
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Jeepers you are starting to annoy me with your sleepy, we friends, love the blog, style trolling.
Terry came to Georgia with a bum knee. Terry has already moved to D and played and has an int. K? Clemson, Auburn,LSU, Florida and… wait for it… uSC offered Terry. Plus a bunch of others.
Park was recruited and offered by Alabama, Auburn and Florida but by the time Stevie Jr got around to recruited him he had committed to Georgia. Funny thing is that he moved from NY to SC to play ball in a state that bettered his chances to play college ball. Now does Mr Evaulator really recruit?
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Let me clear things up for you. I do enjoy reading this blog. It is the best in college football. That doesn’t mean I like Georgia football or many of the comments. Most of the time I let it go because this is a Uga blog and I don’t get my kicks by trolling rival fans. I typically only comment when the subject is about SC football.
I didn’t think signing these Mr. Football’s from SC were a big deal. It doesn’t show SC recruiting has fallen off. These two players are probably not living up to their recruiting stars for UGA.
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Oh for the love of pete. Put a sock in it will ta?
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They have had a lot of good seasons in a competitive league. I am sure they will break though soon enough.
Shit, I guess anything is possible. Didn’t the Cocks lose 3 SEC games including one to Kentucky and still found themselves in the Dome as the the East Champion representative? Of course losing by 40 to the Barn will take a little sunshine away from a 9-5 season. You’ll get your SEC championship ring one day. I’m just sure of it. 😉
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They did lose 3 games…good thing they won the tiebreaker against UGA.
Hopefully someone from the east can win the SEC. I don’t know how long its been but our division is a joke. If UGA can’t win it over Missouri than maybe SC will.
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Such a significantly myopic view Sides. The season for SC fans, and Spurrier, may revolve around winning one game against UGA, but any team can beat another on a given day. In no way does that make SC superior to UGA as a team that particular year. You would think some of you would have realized that by now. And by the way, how is that working for you? Isn’t your one East title flag getting lonely by now? And isn’t an unpleasant reminder of what happened to you when you ventured into the title arena? You, and your coach, may want to think bigger, you will note that few of our comments revolve around the SC game. You will likely get another tail kicking this year. I admit to still being pissed about that give away game in 2011.
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Missouri agrees that high recruiting rankings equal success on the field.
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Yeps and they have all those SEC championships to show for it.
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Yeps and they have all those Big 12 championships to show for it, too.
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Georgia’s recruiting disadvantage is simply a fact base on 5 (now 6) items. 1) Academics- Ole Miss, UT, Bama, AU, Miss St, etc will accept a SA that UGA won’t. 2) Drug & other violation penalties- no explanation needed re where you can walk the fence & stay eligible. 3) Moral character rules- High school oral sex, abuse a woman & plan to go elsewhere because UGA won’t accept u. 4) Pay for play/bagmen/repair you local church/employ your mom or HS coach-Go see AU, etc. 5) Roster management/greyshirts/medical disquals- Name me another sec school that would have supported/carried/used a scholly like UGA did for Houston. & 6) COA supplements. Not saying UGA is perfect & does not push the rules, but there are many lines UGA will not cross that others will. UGA is just not a “win at all cost of personal integrity/values” place as others seem to be. Not asking for UGA to change; very proud to “do it the right way”. Just wish for something to level things out. Just hard to believe that winning & the $ would make so many willing to do these things equivalent to pimping out a sister to a recruit to get him to play for your school.
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Christian LeMay begs to differ with you.
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That bj must have been something cause he never recovered his legs afterwards.
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