Yes, yes, once again, it’s that time for Athlon to get those quotes from anonymous coaches about their rivals. I still maintain the exercise hasn’t been nearly as catty as when Tuberville was in the conference, but I gotta admit that somebody stepped up this year… with criticism of Mark Richt’s recruiting.
“They’re happy with their top two running backs, but I think they’re really worried about the depth offensively and the number of playmakers they inherited. It’s not like what it was in the past at Georgia. Obviously they need Nick Chubb to come back and be the same player he was, but who knows how he’ll respond after a pretty horrific injury.”
“They’re pretty solid at the No. 1s, but when you dig down the depth chart they don’t have the No. 2s or 3s like Kirby Smart and those guys are used to having at Alabama. The recruiting kind of fell off the last few years under Mark Richt.”
“On defense, Kirby isn’t walking into the same kind of talent he worked with at Alabama. Just one example: They don’t have a linebacker corps; I mean, they just simply don’t have any good linebackers. They’re player deficient right now. I think they’ll probably have some headaches early but Kirby will get it done. He’s really, really, really good, and bringing Mel Tucker with him was huge. Those guys can coach.”
Now that he’s gone, the truth can be told! Sounds like Georgia was saved just in the nick of time. Thanks for letting us know, oh anonymous one.
Wouldn’t it be hilarious if the source was Jeremy Pruitt?
Get The Picture 
I think it’s either Boom or Sgt. Carter who made those comments. Regarding LBs, I’ll take Patrick, Roquan, Bellamy and Zo Carter. They were all blue chip recruits who everyone wanted.
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Agree, LB looks better to me than what I have heard the past week or so. Saving my worry for DL and OL at this point (+kicker).
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Zo Carter = Ray Drew
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Not sure the stats bear that out, but I’m too lazy to look it up.
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no stats required. neither 5* performed to their lofty 5* billing. Hopefully #7 hasn’t peaked
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Sounds like Butch to me. Classic disdain from Mr. Brick By Brick. Has Boom ever been that kind of weasel? He’s nuts, but I don’t know that he’s ever been the kind of smug jerk that Butch has always seemed to be.
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Are you kidding me? Boom is that kind of prick. Did you see what he said about UGA when he was at UF?
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I put a lot of difference in what a coach is expected to say to a room full of boosters vs an anonymous magazine survey.
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The difference is that Muschamp would put his name on it
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Hell, simply what he said at his opening SCU presser….he totally ripped his own UGA degree.
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He is right…. everyone has a top 10 recruiting class these days. Everyone.
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Two problems with Mark Richt’s recruiting. I think the types of players they recruited went against what Kirby is trying to do, particularly on Defense. (Pruitt wanted slimmed dow guys and to be built around speed, not size), and that he didn’t build talented depth. So it wasn’t that he couldn’t recruit, or did a poor job at it, exactly. I just don’t think this defense, in particular, is tailored to Kirby’s liking, top to bottom. It’s got some really good playmakers, but we’re not where we need to be yet. So I don’t exactly disagree with that statement, but it definitely doesn’t take into account what Georgia was before Kirby got there.
Side note, I wonder if Pruitt is going to change his defensive philosophy and try to trim down the players he’s got like he did at Georgia.. or adapt to style Saban and Kirby were running there. I’m betting it’s the latter.
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I’d guess that Pruitt isn’t going to be given the option on if he wants to change his philosophy or not.
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Gosh, just a year ago when Richt was the coach we were absolutely loaded with talent but Richt couldn’t coach worth a damn. Now we find out he wasn’t recruiting worth a crap either so Kirby has inherited a bare cupboard.
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+1
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He picked 3 bad QBs in a row after Murray. That’s poor recruiting. Mason, Ramsey and Park. It’s why he was ultimately fired. His OL recruiting was pathetic. His management of the rosters numbers was a joke. Its not a bare cupboard and Pruitt helped on defense but in terms of numbers we are far short of Bama and the big boys when it comes to juniors and seniors.
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Mason was never truly meant to be a starter. If you want to be critical, throw Lemay into the mix of busts.
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This. That was one costly BJ.
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Folks have been down on Richt’s LOS recruiting for years.
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When somebody tells Lorenzo Carter that third and long isn’t the only down and distance, we’ll have a linebacker.
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He generally only played on passing downs because of Floyd and Jenkins. Floyd would move inside in the 4-2-5 to get Zo on the field. We’ll see this year if he can become a 3-down player.
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Of course you’re right. But he didn’t do much on third down, if I recall. I hope for better in 2016.
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He definitely had a sophomore slump. I wonder if some of that was related to the bogus targeting call he got in the Vandy game.
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… we don’t have linebackers??
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It has to be Butch, and I’m not sure he’s wrong.
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For what it’s worth, Phil Steele has the Georgia LB corps rated 11th best in the country and 5th best in the SEC.
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Athlon = Bozo the clown.
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Georgia’s oline was the talk of preseason strength last year. That didn’t work out to well. I believe the weakness talk of the linebackers this year is over done. No one is as loaded at lb than alabama over the years, but looking at the roster we have some really talented guys.
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Kirby will improve our depth…starting right meow.
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I assumed it was Kirby saying it.
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No other team in the SEC has the talent they have at Bama so I think those comments are obvious without being said.
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In CMR’s defense, UGA recruits itself, so he spent his time and efforts where it really mattered and more pressing issues needed to be addressed. Like the IPF, stench in the concourses of Sanford Stadium, black helmets, kicking game fundamentals, pump up songs for the players like Baba O’Riley, and high diving. Leave the guy alone.
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“I think they’ll probably have some headaches early but Kirby will get it done. He’s really, really, really good, and bringing Mel Tucker with him was huge. Those guys can coach.”
If you were to write something with the intent of helping Kirby Smart, it would be this review.
Poor mouth / challenge current players
Talk up Smart and his staff in a big way
Predict future success for the team
Say that UGA needs playmakers and that the depth chart is favorable for recruits
This is literally our sales pitch to recruits. It’s consistent with how Smart talks about his team to the media and to his players.
If this was Pruitt, it was him doing Kirby a solid.
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Saban’s comments?
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I got the impression that these comments were from several coaches (at least, according to the way the article put space between quotes and several of the other teams comments seemed to come from multiple perspectives.)
Am I wrong?
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If you don’t think failed in a big recruiting the lines of scrimmage over the the last decade then I can help you.
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