Barrett Sallee rewrites Georgia football history.

Look, I know how it goes sometimes.  You’re blogging, you get this clever idea about a topic – in this case, mixing the lemons of Georgia’s current indecision over whom to start at quarterback into the lemonade of turning that into some sort of multi-quarterback system, whatever the hell that might be – and the next thing you know, you’re churning out something like this:

The last time Georgia used a two-quarterback system prior to last year—when Lambert and Ramsey rotated early before Lambert took over full time—was in 2006, when Matthew Stafford was a true freshman in the Classic City.

In that season, Joe Tereshinski opened the season vs. Western Kentucky as the starter, with Stafford and Joe Cox rotating in throughout the first half of the season before Stafford took over as the full-time starter on Oct. 21 vs. Mississippi State…

I know that’s ten years ago, I’m old and my brain doesn’t function as smoothly as it used to, but I sure don’t remember that being a season when Mark Richt trotted out some sort of organized blueprint of how to use his three quarterbacks.  It was more like a scramble to buy time in transitioning from DJ Shockley to the incoming stud Matthew Stafford.  Let’s relive the actual moments of the first half of that 2006 season for a moment, shall we?

• Georgia 48 Western Kentucky 12.  Tereshinski started, Cox came in during the second quarter when the game was 24-0 and Stafford played mop up in the fourth.  What a coach would normally do in any blowout of a cupcake opponent, in other words.
• Georgia 18 South Carolina 0.  Tereshinski hurt his ankle on the first series of the game and Stafford – not Cox – played the rest of the way in his stead.
• Georgia 34 UAB 0.  JTIII missed the game because of his ankle and Stafford started in his place.  Joe Cox did not appear.
• Georgia 14 Colorado 13.  With Tereshinski still MIA, Stafford started, wet the bed and was yanked.  Joe Cox, in one of his career highlights, entered the game in the latter part of the third quarter and rallied the Dawgs to a last minute win.
• Georgia 14 Ole Miss 9.  Again, no Tereshinski.  Cox, rewarded for his heroics against Colorado, started and was ineffective.  He was replaced by Stafford, who was also ineffective.
• Tennessee 51 Georgia 33.  The UT game marked Tereshinski’s return, which was anything but triumphant.
• Vanderbilt 24 Georgia 22.  Tereshinski started; Stafford finished.  No Ginger Ninja.
• Georgia 27 Mississippi State 24.  Tereshinski was benched and Stafford was named the starter for this game.  That turned out to be the case for the rest of the season and Cox would not start another game until Stafford left.

Is that a system?  If by “system” you mean randomly throwing shit up against a wall until something sticks, you may be on to something, but the reality there is that Richt was forced to work on the fly because of an injury to Tereshinski and inconsistent play from the backups.  He went to Stafford full time when it became apparent that it was time to look to getting the true freshman plenty of reps in order to prepare for the 2007 season.  So, yes, while there was some rotating, there wasn’t any rhyme or reason to it and it wasn’t part of some purposeful plan of Richt’s.

I only mention this because if Kirby Smart perceives what happened that season as some sort of useful template in the way Sallee does, 2016 is gonna be a longer year in Athens than we’re hoping for.  But 2017 will be awesome, right?

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Envy and jealousy, holier than thou edition

After reading this lengthy, thorough walk through of Ken Starr’s stewardship of Baylor in the Dallas Morning News,  I was ready to post some snark about coverups and maybe the need for a special prosecutor, but why read what an amateur has to say on the subject when you can turn to the stylings of a pro like Mr. Charles P. Pierce?

The whole thing is a smart-ass’ joy to read, but there’s no doubt about my favorite part.  Here ’tis:

With the help of Robert Griffin III, Starr used Baylor football to help save the Big 12 Conference. This is what this pious fraud said about that:

“During this seminal moment in Baylor’s athletic history,” Starr wrote in a letter, “by God’s grace, we have prevailed.”

God saved the Big 12 Conference? Bad move, God, The Big 12 is a monstrosity that has denied us our godgiven right to a Nebraska-Oklahoma game every Thanksgiving. Thanks a lot, God.

Amen to that, Brother Pierce.  There’s no way Gawd is that cruel.

I think I’m kidding when I ask this.

Given Sally Jenkins’ theory of the crime…

The NCAA has become a black market. At some point, Laremy Tunsil’s petty, common, under-the-table transactions as a college football player at Mississippi metastasized into something else, something that looks suspiciously like a smear campaign and a blackmail attempt. This is the ultimate ill of an old-world system that earns millions for everyone but the players: It left a 21-year-old vulnerable to a vengeful shyster operating in an underworld…

The worst part of this subterranean economy is the way it criminalizes the wrong people for perfectly trivial behavior…

There’s not a person in the pro or college football worlds who doesn’t have a pretty good idea of what happened: how Tunsil probably grew sick of having to grovel to the assistant, who made him feel like a thief for even asking; the growing awareness of the future awaiting him in the NFL coupled with the need-it-now frustration; the peekaboo teasers of wealth to come and overtures from the “runners” for agents trolling for clients, offering to front him what he needed in exchange for the ability to steer him come draft time; followed by the rage and the threats of exposure when the mutual use fell apart with the arrival of Sexton in Tunsil’s life.

… would it be much of a stretch for some prosecutor to go after the NCAA under Todd’s Law the next a Georgia player runs afoul of the unlawful benefits rule?

Before you laugh, let’s not forget the passionate rationale behind the bill, folks.

“That’s what really got most peoples’ dander up,” said Fleming, a rabid Bulldogs fan with undergraduate and law degrees from UGA. “I was disappointed when it happened. But I understand the young man comes from a very humble background. His mother didn’t have funds to properly repair the roof on the trailer she raised him in.”

The law has two possible penalties, one criminal, one civil, Fleming said.

“We plugged it into a law about alumni being overzealous,” he said. “Now it’s a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature. It can be up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

“On the civil side, the university can sue the person who does this for any damages sustained, like losing a TV contract, not going to bowl games.”

Or being shut out of a national playoff game because of a star player’s sudden suspension or ineligibility, maybe?

Like I said, yeah, I think I’m kidding.  But I can’t quite bring myself to say it would totally surprise me, either.  If enough people were pissed off… er, uh, got their dander up about that, it would be good politics, if nothing else – and it’s not like our fair state doesn’t have a track record of going after the NCAA when there’s enough money involved.

Pretty funny, hunh?

“What does a fullback do?”

At Georgia, the short answer is that he doesn’t get a scholarship.

Don’t mess with Texas.

If things are the way this report indicates,

Big 12 leaders have been in talks about essentially converting the Longhorn Network into the Big 12 Network, sources said. In return, Texas would still make more money from the network than any other school.

The Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference are the only the so-called Power 5 conferences that do not have their own TV networks.

It’s believed seven of the 10 schools favor expansion. But Big 12 bylaws call for a super majority vote of 75 percent (so at least eight schools) to make a major change. Texas is believed to be influencing Texas Tech’s and Texas Christian’s decisions to also be reluctant to expansion.

Texas Tech has long fallen in line with Texas. Both are public universities that have been in the same league together since 1956, when they were in the Southwest Conference. Texas and Texas Tech were founding members of the Big 12 in 1996.

TCU is believed to be following Texas’ lead because the conference’s power broker reportedly helped the Horned Frogs get into the Big 12 four years ago.

… Bob Bowlsby can’t make up enough data to jump start Big 12 expansion.  And why would Texas cooperate, anyway?

Austin American-Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls recently shared his thoughts:

I still see no willingness on Texas’ part to fold the Longhorn Network into a Big 12 network, even if the league gives the Longhorns an extra $15 million share to cover its LHN income, because, the Texas source said, “we would get the same money, but lose our branding and having our own channel? Not very compelling. If we get rid of LHN, it will be to change conferences, in my opinion.”

Branding is a sensitive topic in Austin.  Just ask Steve Patterson.

Corch is such a kidder.

Your amusing recruiting story of the day:

That was highlighted for Judson on his next and last trip to Ohio State. While walking with four-star safety Richard LeCounte III, now a Georgia commit, Judson explains how Meyer approached both recruits and initially didn’t know who Judson was:

“Long story short, I was walking in the hallway about to go to the indoor field and work out. He was like, ‘Hey.’ I looked around. ‘Come here.’ He was like, ‘How you doing, you like your visit?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ Then he’s like, ‘What up Richard LeCounte? Are you showing this guy (Judson) around?’ I was like, ‘Coach, I’m showing him around.’ He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ I told him Bruce. He said, ‘Oh, Bruce Judson from Florida. The speedy guy.’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘I’m glad that you’re on board and glad you got up here.’ After that, I knew I was de-committing.”

LeCounte corroborated Judson’s story to SEC Country, though he thought it might have been a joke and Meyer purposefully didn’t recognize Judson because he had on a dark blue shirt (Michigan colors). But Judson claims this was no laughing matter, and it’s hard for anyone to miss his trademark mustache.

“We had met face-to-face before at a satellite camp,” Judson said, “so he should have known who I was, especially with me being a commit.”

Two things here.  One, it looks like Urban Meyer has his Paul Johnson-ish moments of not reading recruits very well.  And, two, never disrespect another man’s mustache.

Don’t make him come after you, now.

So Kevin Sherrer used a lengthy day of fishing to build a bond with Tyler Clark, who is a member of this year’s recruiting class.  The other Georgia coach who was involved with Clark’s recruiting was Tracy Rocker, but Rocker doesn’t fish.

Clark would end up committing to Georgia, and is due to join the team in June. He had two main recruiters at Georgia: Sherrer and defensive line coach Tracy Rocker, the lone two assistants who were retained by new head coach Kirby Smart.

While Sherrer got to spend time in the great outdoors on his visit, Rocker chose not to, according to Clark.

“Coach Rocker, he doesn’t fish,” Clark said. “Coach Rocker likes to stay fresh. He likes to stay clean.”

Funny, I figured the way Rocker fishes would be to stand up in the boat and tell the fish they’d better get their asses in the net or else.  How dirty can you get doing that?

Nick Saban has to make time for this shit.

Boy, is this begrudging, or what?

Alabama’s Nick Saban has criticized these camps in the past and was vocal about Harbaugh’s excursion through the South last summer. Just last month he said he wasn’t sure if the camps  had “much value.” But Thursday, Saban said his staff will participate “on a limited basis.” He also said he was “not allowed” to say where Alabama is going when asked where the Crimson Tide would be traveling outside of the state…

Yeah, he ain’t thrilled.  Although I can’t tell if it’s due more to the inconvenience or that Harbaugh got his way with the NCAA.

Kirby Smart sweats the small stuff.

On one level this sounds almost silly – okay, not silly on the level of being cited for emerging from an alley, but still…

Briscoe was arrested for driving without a valid driver’s license on April 23 by University of Georgia police. Briscoe was pulled over after an officer noticed he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. It was then discovered Briscoe wasn’t licensed to drive in any state.

Apparently, according to Smart, Briscoe wasn’t the only Georgia player who did not have a license.

“We had some other guys on the team who didn’t have driver’s licenses and we got it corrected,” Smart said.

… but on another, it’s a relief to see somebody paying attention to the fine print like this.  If nothing else, it lowers the chances of Jimmy Williamson’s finest getting their work in the press.

I wonder who’s responsible for checking on the players’ middle names.  Kirby’s on the mother, right?

Just when you thought you were out…

Ugh.

A new bombshell dropped in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal Thursday.

It came in the form of a single line in a court order on a related insurance coverage case involving Penn State, and its full ramifications can’t immediately be gauged.

But that line was eye-popping in itself.

The line in question states that one of Penn State’s insurers has claimed “in 1976, a child allegedly reported to PSU’s Head Coach Joseph Paterno that he (the child) was sexually molested by Sandusky.”

The order also cites separate references in 1987 and 1988 in which unnamed assistant coaches witnessed inappropriate contact between Sandusky and unidentified children, and a 1988 case that was supposedly referred to Penn State’s athletic director at the time.

Naturally everyone on the Penn State side – there’s almost $60 million at stake in insurance proceeds, remember – as well as Paterno’s family is quick to caution that this pronouncement shouldn’t be taken at face value.  And you know what?  They have the luxury to do so because…

First, it’s unlikely that corroborating or disproving information about the allegation will surface. According to Penn Live, the record containing the deposition transcript is sealed. Also, the victim who made the allegation against Paterno has apparently reached a confidential settlement with Penn State. Odds are this victim will not make his identity known or ever talk about his claim about Paterno.

Well, that’s certainly convenient.

Throw in that Jerry Sandusky is getting his day in appellate court and it’s all just a reminder that there are no heroes in this mess, only shitheads, enablers and victims.  I’ll leave you to decide who is what.