All quiet on the western front

According to Chip Towers, the media hasn’t heard a peep from Ken Blankenship since Kirby started bringing in every kicker he bumped into on the street.

Either the man’s learning he’s holding the weak hand in all this, or he’s so enraged he can’t type coherently.

Is that good?

Gridiron Now writer refers to Tennessee’s 2017 recruiting class as “a Derek Dooley-level recruiting class”.

One last recruiting post

I promised you one last Henry post about recruiting after signing day, and it’s time I delivered.

This one is a direct comparison of Richt’s recruiting rankings and Smart’s, both based on Scout’s numbers.

Here’s how they look:

Mark Richt Recruiting Classes

Year	National Rank	SEC Rank	SEC East Rank	Total Signed	Top 100	Avg. Stars
2002	9	2	2	29	4	3.24
2003	11	4	3	24	4	3.08
2004	6	2	1	19	5	3.32
2005	4	2	2	19	5	3.84
2006	4	2	2	27	7	3.63
2007	17	6	4	23	1	3.39
2008	5	2	1	23	4	3.70
2009	4	3	1	20	7	3.85
2010	21	7	3	19	4	3.47
2011	4	2	1	26	5	3.54
2012	14	6	3	19	5	3.68
2013	8	4	2	33	3	3.42
2014	12	7	3	20	3	3.70
2015	4	3	1	29	5	3.59

And…

Kirby Smart Recruiting Classes

Year	National Rank	SEC Rank	SEC East Rank	Total Signed	Top 100	Avg. Stars
2016	10	5	1	20	5	3.90
2017	2	2	1	26	7	3.96

There are a lot of interesting contrasts and comparisons to be made there, but the general impression is that, in his first two tries, Smart has indeed upped the ante on the quality of Georgia’s recruiting classes.  Smart’s gone back to back with the best classes in the division; Richt, to his credit, did that several times, but didn’t first pull that off until after his third season in Athens.

As far as star rankings go, Richt never achieved a class that averaged 3.9 or better.  His fourteen years listed there averaged 3.53 stars, which is certainly commendable, but a far cry from Smart’s 3.93.

Richt’s best class came in 2009.  It’s fair to argue it was better than Smart’s 2016 class.  The five stars from that season included Aaron Murray, Orson Charles, Marlon Brown and Branden Smith.  That class was the backbone of the team that brought the program back from the poor 2009 and 2010 seasons and came close to delivering an SEC title in 2012.

As the 2013 class reminds us constantly, it’s still a matter of keeping them enrolled and coaching them up along the way, but in terms of raw material, the numbers speak for themselves.

Ladies man

Junior appears to be adapting quite well to life in Boca Raton.

@Andrew_Ferrelli BOOM CONFIRMATION lmao😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/5AkP5llvTC

— #Gatornation🐊🐊 (@GatorSinceDay1) February 4, 2017

Maybe they were discussing signing day.

It’s Pittman Time.

It sounds like Jim Chaney’s heart isn’t in HUNH-land.

“I think I’d like to see us ultimately block better,” Chaney said on National Signing Day. “I think that blocking is a lost art sometimes. We play fast and we do things like that and that’s how we strategically attack defenses nowadays and in a lot of today’s college football but inevitably you have to line up and block somebody. I’d love to leave spring feeling like we’re a much better blocking football team.”

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, and, as the article points out, Georgia did show some improvement along those lines as the season progressed.

That was something that appeared to get better as the season wore on a year ago. With a third offensive coordinator and line coach in as many years, the Bulldogs averaged just 4.1 yards per carry and 167.5 yards per game for the first eight games of the season. The final five games of 2016 saw UGA rush for over 5.2 yards per carry and 219 yards per game. The Bulldogs also had a 100-yard rusher in each of those final five games.

Pass protection also improved. After allowing 19 sacks in the first eight games, the Sam Pittman’s crew allowed just five sacks in the final five games.

Good news:  no changeover at offensive coordinator or offensive line coach for the first time in four seasons.

Bad news:  Georgia has to replace three starters on the offensive line.

Good news:  The 2017 schedule isn’t exactly what you’d call front-loaded in terms of formidable defenses.  Before Florida, the offensive line will face one team that was in the top 20 in total defense last season, Appalachian State.

With the size that’s been recruited in Georgia’s last two classes, there appears to be help on the way.  Can it get on the field and contribute fast enough?

False economy

The state of amateurism in a nutshell — you can’t pay student-athletes, so you sink $30 million into an indoor practice facility to give recruits goosebumps instead.

“The indoor facility being finished when it did, timed up just right for some recruiting momentum. We had 10-12 guys in over the last couple of weekends (on visits). The ‘oh’s’ and ‘ah’s’ for getting to see that space? And utilize that space? It’s been really a big advantage for us, that we were able to sell.”

I’d say only in America, but in reality, in any other sector of the American economy, the free market would be doing its usual efficient thing of getting resources directly into the hands of the people whose services were being used.

At least that frees up more money to hire support staff.  So there’s that.