In response to some of the comments generated by yesterday’s post about recruiting, Henry was thoughtful enough to throw together another chart, this one tracking the recruiting numbers and average ratings of Georgia’s offensive line recruits from 2002 onward. Here ’tis (again, using Scout’s data):
Georgia Offensive Line Recruiting
Year Total / Star Avg Top 20 Position Rank Kirby Smart Classes 2017 6 / 4.0 5 (Plus 1 JC Transfer) 2016 3 / 3.3 1 (Plus 1 Grad Transfer) Mark Richt Classes 2015 3 / 3.3 None 2014 4 / 3.75 1 2013 2 / 3.5 1 2012 3 / 3.6 1 2011 4 / 3.5 None 2010 3 / 3.6 2 2009 3 / 3.3 2 2008 3 / 3.6 2 2007 8 / 3.13 4 2006 5 / 3.0 1 2005 1 / 4.0 None 2004 2 / 3.5 None 2003 7 / 2.8 1 2002 5 / 3.2 1
Talk about your sea change in approach. There are more Top 20 commits in the 2017 class than there were Top 20 signees in the last six classes combined.
It may be the understatement of the year to observe that one of those classes is unlike the others. (Although 2007 ain’t bad.) But it’s still worth stating. Wowser.
Get The Picture 
Although with only 2 top 20 recruits in 02-05, we went to 3 SECCGs. Interesting.
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With the redshirting of offensive linemen, it would be interesting to go back and see what Coach Donnan’s classes looked like.
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Donnan’s OL and DL players were absolute killers. Some are still in the NFL I think. I don’t want to beat up CMR but I have been saying for years that CMR had his best seasons with Donnan’s players.
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My orthopedic surgeon played OL for Donnan and in one candid conversation about O line at Georgia he said Donnan wasn’t that trusted by a lot of players, made promises that he had no intention of keeping.
I thought Donnans qb development was fairly mediocre. Bobo was a Golf recruit. Greenie redshirted under Slick Jimmy. Richt didn’t want Quincey “throw it over their heads and point at his chest” Carter.
Yes Richt won SEC with Donnans players. Something Donnan was unable to do. And Richts Ayers were never dehydrated. 😉
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Having 12 OL recruits in 2002 and 2003 probably helped that.
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Having 5 SR OL on the 2002 team that Richt didn’t recruit would temper that a little, no?
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This.
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Absolutely. The 2003 line gave up 47 sacks for 336 yards.
Achilles heel of what otherwise would have been an SEC championship team.
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If Billy Bennett kicks the ball through the goal posts in Baton Rouge in 2003, Saban doesn’t even win the West that year. We would have ended up playing Ole Miss in the SEC championship game and likely successfully defending our title. What if …
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This is a great reason for hope. A fundamental problem at UGA is finally being addressed. I can’t wait until we start pushing UF around again, like we did in the 80’s.
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Agreed.
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Also, we got to the 2005 SECC game with a mobile quarterback. Shock was able to negate any effect, positive or negative, than an OL would have had.
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+1. A very good observation. ’01, ’02, ’03 and ’04 were done with OLs and DLs recruited by Donnan primarily. ’05 deficiencies in the OL were masked by Shock, a very mobile QB. You saw what happened against an inferior FU team in the WLOCP when Shock was injured.
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Hmm, check that ’03 line. I’m not certain about that. Donnan had built that OL, it was in deep trouble behind it if I recall correctly. He was going to have to hit the JC circuit pretty hard.
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Indeed. Let me a bit of a wet blanket: Freshmen OL – no matter how many stars they have – rarely dominate their first year. But you have to start somewhere.
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Been saying that as well.
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Tell that to Cam Robinson and Mitch Hyatt. And Trent Sturdivant for that matter.
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Still pretty rare, and both Cam and Mitch are more like cogs successfully inserted into a seasoned line. I ain’t saying it’s impossible; just trying to be a little realistic.
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Exactly the Bama players walked into a good OL with returning highly rated starters. UGA hasn’t hadn’t a dominant line is a decade or more.
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I love what CMR did for the UGA program; but he didn’t do a very good job of recruiting the Oline and really wasn’t fantastic at recruiting the Dline either. CKS has taken this to a new level with focus on the line of scrimmage. We’ve always been able to recruit the skill position players; but if we can combine that with owning the LOS we’ll be hard to beat. And yes, UF has pushed around at the LOS; hopefully, that’s about to stop.
I’m excited about the future if Kirby can coach them up.
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DL had some studs. The issue was many of them did not show out until the got into the NFL. I think CTR is fixing that issue right now.
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Yep. That’s Auburn’s problem now.
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Amen. One of many Garner is going to bring them.
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DL always had great outside players (DE/OLB types). What was missing for a long time was the big-time disruptive DT/NT folks. Until Trent Thompson I feel like you have to go back to big John Sullivan blowing people up circa 2002 to find a nasty DT at UGA.
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Looks great on paper, something to make me hopeful. However, the dawgs were #33 nationally in scoring in ’11 at ppg. In ’12, 37.8 ppg (#18 nationally), ’13 – 36.7 ppg (#21 nationally) and #8 nationally in ’14 at 41.3 ppg. Game planning, play calling and playing to your strengths matter. Trying to be positive, but I will believe it when I see it…..’16 kinda did that to me..
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There aren’t many offensive adjustments that can made to counter defensive linemen in the backfield.
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Looks like they adjusted pretty well from ’11 thru ’14. Hope to get back to where we were in scoring.
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Unless you have some guy named Gurley
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and Mike Bobo??
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The average fan won’t even realize what Pittman and Kirby were able to accomplish this year but its going to go down as one of the biggest program shifters in the past 15 years. Mark it.
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Rather than the star analysis or the position analysis, I would like to see their claimed offers for the offensive linemen on the roster last year. I think that will typically show we were competing with a lot of high P5 programs for the guys on the roster. I think the bigger issue on the line of scrimmage was strength & conditioning and player development. Even Aulden Bynum (the poster boy for the previous regime’s offensive line recruiting) claimed offers from Auburn, Miami, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Nebraska, North Carolina and South Carolina.
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Recruiting? Meh. UGA has won numerous MNCs on Signing Day. The only wins and losses I’m interested in are on Saturdays in the SEC.
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Actually, they haven’t. I think Goff’s 1990 class is generally considered the best class in the nation that year (obviously before all the recruiting services were around).
Since then, never had #1 ranked recruiting class. 1998 was badass in retrospect, but it still wasn’t #1 class in country that year.
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What do you think, Tri, is it the IPF or better bag men? I know new blood is part of it but it’s not the only reason.
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Honestly, I think they’re just working harder/smarter. I’m sure the beefed up support staff is part of that, but it just seems like Kirby is fanatical about recruiting in a way that Richt was (not that Richt was a bad recruiter–it’s just different.)
I know the speculation over at 247 is that Richt had gotten to where he was delegating far too much to assistants and thus when it came time to close, he just didn’t know enough/have the connection necessary to seal it. Whether that’s true, who knows?
I do know that we’ve never seen a run like this (of course, I’ll believe it when they all actually sign). If they can stack several years of these together, then all excuses go out the window.
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Can’t disagree with any of that. Thanks for the response.
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Other difference I’ve seen mentioned: they’re big on class of 2019 kids already. Richt and Bobo did recruit Watson, but only going into his senior year, and about a year after Clemson offered.
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We’re going to need a bigger bag for the class of 2018 kids
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…AND the 2019 class. It looks like 5 or 6 5star recruits on our target list from the state of Georgia alone from the 2018/2019 classes. I sure hope we close the borders like it appears to be happening.
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“If they can stack several years of these together…”
If we can regularly recruit in the top 5, we should be able to stumble into a playoff, if not coach our way into it. It will be important for us to show great improvement with a class of talent like this to continue to recruit at this level. If the success doesn’t match the talent pool, at some point, recruits will cease to believe. I hope we win early with the new blood and continue the aggressive recruiting style.
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Stop listening to sports talk radio. It is actually Bama, Ohio State and FSU who have won signing day titles a lot in the last 10 years. Lo and behold, they’ve won real ones, too.
The meme that UGA has talent is so dated and uninformed. Of course we have talent, but so does South Carolina. That ours is slightly ahead of the Cocks is an indictment. All teams have some players. The great teams have bunches and bunches of them.
We need more, better players. Plain and simple. We haven’t had enough. In 2013, we started Connor Norman vs. Clemson because of a suspension at safety. That really happened. That’s called recruiting…or lack thereof.
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Yeah and here is another interesting fact. Clemson has never had a top 5 recruiting class and have played for the NC two years in a row. Topping the almighty Saban with his collection of HS superstars and former HC filing roles as assistants.Having the top rated recruiting class is not the only way to win a championship.
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This is awesome. Exactly my point yesterday…much appreciated post and research.
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cant deny that they are focusing more on OL recruiting.
Hopefully that pays off.
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This was always Munson’s take, that we needed to sign as many O lineman as possible. The year we hot Hearst and Hastings, he was asking ‘yeah, but how any lineman did we get?’
This year, as those stats point out, it’s seemingly more than numbers, but size and quality are improved
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Run The Damned Ball. Now, and in the future.
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