The AP Preseason Poll has made its annual appearance and — shockingly! — Georgia occupies the same spot, 15th, that it does in the preseason Coaches Poll. Group hug, everyone.
For what it’s worth, Georgia is the highest ranked SEC East team in the poll (Florida is 17th and Tennessee just scrapes in at number 25). Auburn, at twelve, is the only other ranked opponent on Georgia’s schedule this season.
Filed under Georgia Football
Filed under SEC Football
Don’t be thinking that the Star position is sort of an afterthought on Kirby Smart’s defense. It’s definitely not.
Filed under Strategery And Mechanics
If Andrew Thomas grabs that starting right tackle job, it sounds like that would make him pretty special in the scheme of things.
Since 2010, Georgia has started one true freshman offensive lineman in its season opener: John Theus in 2012. Theus, who started at right tackle that season, was just the third true freshman to start at tackle in a season opener for the Bulldogs since freshmen became eligible in 1973.
Thomas wasn’t the most heralded member of this year’s offensive line signees, not that he was anything close to an afterthought. He’s just turning out to be the one most ready to contribute out of the gate. I’ll be watching to see how many other of his classmates crack the two-deep for the opener.
Filed under Georgia Football
Bud Elliott’s back with his Blue-Chip Ratio/National Title Contenders projection for 2017.
It boils down to teams that sign more four- and five-star recruits than two- and three-stars, over the previous four recruiting classes. That’s an exclusive club, usually consisting of the top 10 percent of FBS programs. All of the national champs over the last decade-plus have accomplished it, and often, the team taking home the trophy has signed many more elite players.
Clemson took home the title in 2016 after signing 52 percent blue chips in the 2013-16 classes. In 2015, it was Alabama with a 77 percent mark. In 2014, it was Ohio State at 68 percent. In 2013, it was Florida State at 53. And on and on.
As my colleague Bill Connelly has said, winning in college football takes talent acquisition, development, and deployment. I agree. But Gene Chizik has a national title, while Mark Dantonio and Gary Patterson do not; acquisition is by far the most important element. By NCAA rule, coaches get just 20 hours per week with their players. Only so much development can be done.
At 63%, Georgia is fifth on Bud’s list.
It’s no surprise to those of us who have been tracking the program since Smart’s arrival that he’s been laser-focused on talent acquisition and in that regard has been a step up from his predecessor.
Kirby Smart inherited a good Georgia roster from Mark Richt, but his first two classes are humming at 74 percent, while Richt’s final two were at 53.
That would seem to bode well, although I can’t help but feel a little overwhelmed by the fact that Alabama’s four-year percentage is six points higher than Kirby’s pulled in his two-year run. It would seem that he and his staff are going to have to coach a little to win an SEC title or two.
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
Those of you who argue that the Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry isn’t overly relevant have some support from a most unlikely source.
“When I played for the legendary Bobby Dodd, our biggest game of the year at Georgia Tech was not the University of Georgia,” former Yellow Jackets center and head coach Bill Curry said. “Our biggest game was the Vols, and you could just feel that from him. It was a very big game, and it was a very big rivalry.”
Yeah, the Georgia Tech-Tennessee rivalry, a 43-game series interrupted by a 35-year hiatus and another 30-year one, is something you can just feel. Bill Curry sounds righteous about that.
Of course, he could just be full of shit. Then again, maybe that’s the real reason he left Tech for Alabama. At least ‘Bama manages to keep playing Tennessee.
Filed under Georgia Football, Georgia Tech Football
One thing about college football — winning seems to bring out the worst in some people.
Mark Lanier, Briles’ attorney, said schools have contacted his client about coaching again, and he expects Briles to be coaching in 2018. Briles was fired in May 2016 amid the school’s sexual assault scandal.
“There’s no question this is one step toward him getting back into coaching,” Lanier said. “He did not want to get back into coaching until he finished through the legal system.”
Yeah, who needs the distraction, amirite? Any athletic director worth his salt wants a coach who’s fully focused on the job. And if that’s what you’re looking for, Briles is your kind of football coach.
“It was definitely eye-opening because I think there were people in the room that didn’t want to fire Art Briles, but they also felt like they had to have somebody in charge who could fix the problems and it was pretty clear the guy was nothing but a football coach,” Schlabach said. “It just felt like it was the end of the game where he made a bad play call and said, ‘It won’t happen again.’ I don’t think he really understood the gravity of the problems and really just wouldn’t admit to what had happened under his watch.”
Oh, but he’s learned his lesson.
Lanier said Hernandez dropped the suit against Briles and did not request money or an apology from him.
Lanier said Briles feels “a measure of vindication” by Tuesday’s filing.
“He does feel bad for anybody who was hurt at all,” Lanier said of Briles. “Whether through Baylor or otherwise, he’s still got a soft heart for a victim of any crime at all. He’s cognizant of that.”
That we live in a world where Briles feels vindication and some school is prepared to enable that is pretty depressing.
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