It was a very good year.

Just a reminder, as we learn today of Tim Kimbrough’s departure from the program because, according to him, “Smart said ‘he was going to kick me off the team or I had to transfer.'”, that Kimbrough was another member of the distinguished recruiting class of 2013.

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When you’re a horn dog, it comes with the territory.

Bobby Petrino has to issue a statement after his Twitter account liked a tweet from an adult content providing site.

Saturday scrimmage: QBR alert!

Georgia has its first August scrimmage scheduled for Saturday.  In at least one aspect, Smart isn’t downplaying its importance.

Coach Kirby Smart said Wednesday returning starter Greyson Lambert, junior Brice Ramsey and freshman Jacob Eason are still even in the competition. The coaches are eager to see one of the three emerge, and Smart says being tested Saturday under more game-like conditions could be revealing.

Smart said the scrimmage “is going to be a big indicator of who is going to continue to get more reps after that.”

I’ve made no secret of my preference for some separation to begin taking place sooner rather than later.  There are a lot of new moving parts in Georgia’s offense, from the new coaches to the new wide receivers who are going to become a part of the rotation, and it behooves Smart and Chaney to use every precious rep left this month to build rapport.

So, yeah, I’ll be a little disappointed if the word comes Monday that the competition remains in its current state.  What about you guys?

Doin’ the o-line shuffle

Ordinarily, I’d be concerned if a head coach admitted to uncertainty as to who will start on the offensive line, but Kirby Smart seems to consider it no big deal… at least not yet.

“The good thing is about the O-line is we’ve got three guys who played significant roles last year,” Smart said, referring to Brandon Kublanow, Greg Pyke and Isaiah Wynn. “So that’s good experience, a good piece to have back. But offensive line every year everywhere I’ve been is a puzzle. You’re trying to piece it together and figure out if you move this part, does it make the whole better?”

One big reason for the lack of concern over solving the puzzle would be Sam Pittman.

Bottom line, the Bulldogs are still in a mix-and-match stage. And Pittman, Smart said, is one of the best at figuring out which five make the best whole.

“Sam does that as good as anybody,” Smart said. “He establishes confidence in them; they have confidence in him as a teacher. That unit’s starting to jell. It’s really important that they do so that we can be successful and run the ball. He’s done a great job with them.”

I get that; I really do.  Then again, I had similar expectations for Stacey Searels, and look how that turned out.

I know, I know.  We’re not even half way through August.  It can be a cruel month, though.

Crimson Butt-hurt

With the Maurice Smith news coming out last night, I was curious what the reaction of the Alabama fan base might be in response.

Andy Staples’ Twitter feed from last night is full of ‘Bama folks who nobly profess to be worried about Pandora’s Box being opened on the graduate transfer front (many of whom lay out some version of a “I’m not saying this as an Alabama fan” qualification).  That might carry more weight if they’d have taken the same tack when Chris Brown Black transferred… or when Saban took a graduate transfer from Ole Miss earlier this year.

The whole opening the flood gates thing rings a little false when you consider that the SEC rule doesn’t ban all of them, just inter-conference intra-conference ones.  From that standpoint, even Bert’s “don’t allow ’em, because secret info” justification makes more sense.

Meanwhile, the tone of this thread at the SEC Rant message board seems to be mainly about Tide fans complaining about Saban’s manhood.  Weird.

I point this out not in an attempt to gloat — let’s remember that Smith was competing to be the starting nickle back in Saban’s defense this season, hardly the stuff that first-team All-Americans are made of — but simply because I’m rather amazed that people who support a program that’s had a run of success that’s the envy of every other program in college football can find a topic like this to be heated about.  I guess you could say I’m a little jealous of their attitude.