“Everybody’s talking about Jacob Eason,” he said of the Bulldogs’ sophomore and incumbent starter. “Seems like a nice guy. All you heard about him when Mark Richt brought him in is, ‘ah, he’s 6-foot-5, 240 pounds, he’s got a cannon arm, he can throw it 100 yards down the field. [Emphasis added.]
The weakest part of Eason’s game is that Richt recruited him.
It’s stuff like this that almost makes me sympathize with Greg McGarity. Almost.
Filed under Georgia Football
Marshall, at 6-foot-3 and 274 pounds, used his athleticism to his advantage as a freshman. During the past year, however, Marshall said he has honed in on the fundamentals to improve his performance as a defensive end.
“When I first got here I wasn’t playing with much technique,” Marshall said. “I was playing to get off the ball faster than the O-lineman. I’ve pretty much learned technique.”
I thought you could.
Filed under Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
Have no fear, critics of the Florida football program. Sure, this isn’t a good look.
Miller, a freshman, is one of seven Gator football players suspended for the opener against Michigan. This incident is unrelated to that suspension.
On the other side, this is Robinson’s second brush with the law involving weed this year.
Robinson was arrested for a pot possession offense during an official visit to Ohio State in late January. As a result of his arrest, Florida was set to keep McElwain from adding Robinson to their 2017 recruiting class. However, he did end up signing with the Gators this past February and was the team’s second-highest-rated recruit, behind only offensive lineman Tedarrell Slaton.
Earlier this month, he was finally cleared academically and enrolled at the university.
So many screw ups, so little time. But now, it’ll be different.
Promise. Cross his heart.
Filed under Gators, Gators...
The NCAA’s investigation of Ole Miss is turning out to be quite the story.
Now officially on the record that August, Sheridan asked if Lewis understood that immunity would only cover past events, not any potential future violations, and that if he was found to have provided false or misleading information, he could still lose his grant.
“Yes sir,” Lewis replied.
Finally, Lewis’ lawyer, John Brady, stepped in to clarify how far his client could go.
“I just want to make sure we’re clear that the immunity extends to everything that you may ask Leo today, is that correct?” Brady asked.
“That is correct,” Sheridan replied.
Then Lewis started talking. About money. About free hotels, free rides to visit college campuses, hundred-dollar handshakes, free apparel, and even more money, bags of cash he says he received from multiple SEC programs totaling over $21,000 during the final week before National Signing Day in February 2015.
“Multiple SEC programs”? Please, continue.
Additionally, new documentation submitted to the Committee on Infractions by attorneys for Ole Miss claims Lewis told NCAA enforcement he took $11,000 in benefits from his current school, Mississippi State. Unlike Lewis, Mississippi State cannot receive conditional immunity for any former, current, or future statements its current player makes.
11 grand? Pfffft. Loose change.
… an audio tape of an alleged conversation between Farrar and Lewis’ mother, Tina Henderson, was submitted by Farrar’s counsel after the November interview. In the audio tape, recorded on Feb. 2, 2015, a day before Lewis says Allen paid him $10,000 to sign with Ole Miss, Henderson allegedly told Farrar that she had received multiple cash offers for Lewis, including $650,000 from LSU and $80,000 from Mississippi State.
In the third meeting, Lewis confirmed his identity in the Snapchat video submitted by Ole Miss. Sheridan asked Brady and Lewis to listen to the tape alleging cash offers from LSU and Mississippi State and asked Leo, “were you personally offered any money from a school other than Ole Miss?”
At that moment, Brady requested to go off the record. When the meeting resumed, Lewis confirmed the questions.
“Yes sir,” he told Sheridan.
Lewis confirmed his mother was offered and received money as well, at which point the NCAA requested to go off the record. [Emphasis added.]
That’s called not wanting to show your hole card.
I have no idea where this is going, but if Greg Sankey’s not already shitting bricks, he will be soon.
By the way, for those of you who continue to wonder how would schools figure out what to pay players in a post-amateurism world, it seems like they’ve already done their prep work on that.
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UPDATE:
Filed under Freeze!, It's Just Bidness, Recruiting, SEC Football, The NCAA
Reading between the lines from what Smart said on yesterday’s radio show, it sounds like he’s growing pretty settled with his starting 22, but not so comfortable with the depth behind them. Yeah, that’s what regular seasons are for, but I find myself hoping that Georgia can stay reasonably healthy in the first half of the year.
Smart also touched on the injury to senior Malkom Parrish, a two-year starter at cornerback who underwent surgery on a broken bone in his foot. Parrish is not expected to be ready for the season opener on Sept. 2, and his status for Week 2 at Notre Dame is also in doubt.
“We hope to get him back as soon as possible,” Smart said. “He’s certainly got a great attitude about things … It’s really sad because he was having a great camp.”
Filed under Georgia Football
When I blather about how playoff expansion dilutes the importance of the regular season at college football’s peril, this is exactly what I’m talking about.
If there’s a downside, however, it’s the perception that all the focus in college football is now on the Playoff. It has added pressure to coaches and athletics directors, and it has diminished games like the Rose Bowl when it’s not hosting the semifinals, not to mention the dozens of minor bowls that don’t involve playoff teams.
“That’s tough for a lot of people, and the pressure aspect isn’t going to slow down,” Livengood said. “It’s trite to say this, but if you’re not one of the four that doesn’t mean you didn’t have a good year. But a lot of things now seem to be measured on, are you one of the four in the playoff? And that’s kind of sad, but from a media standpoint you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. That’s done.”
The use of the word “if” in the first line should tell you that Wolken is an unabashed fan of the CFP, and more power to him for that. But even as he spends much of his time in the article making the case for the current format, he leaves you with awkward explanations like this:
Now we talk about committees more than polls. Games aren’t just games, they’re “data points.” While the regular season has strengthened, rank-and-file bowl games have been weakened. Strength of schedule is a fact of life. The separation between Power Five and everyone else has become codified in both revenue and in the NCAA’s “autonomy” rules, largely based on the CFP’s existence. And conferences — at least in the Big 12’s case — have gone through existential crises born out of its failure to make the playoff in two out of three years.
Be still, my heart. Just think what somebody will be able to write ten years from now when the discussion has moved on to eight versus sixteen in the playoffs.
Filed under BCS/Playoffs
Someone thought that the surrounding context of what Gary Danielson said about Jacob Eason and his surrounding talent might make the one-liner I posted yesterday come off a little less harsh.
During a conference call Thursday, Danielson backed the sophomore, saying that he thinks improvements are needed elsewhere in order to help him better thrive.
“I was shocked at the lack of talent surrounding Jacob Eason last year,” Danielson said. “I’ve been doing Georgia football for 10 years and it was the worst set of combined talent at receiver. Their run blocking and pass blocking was below standards that I’ve seen for any Georgia team. (Offensive coordinator Jim) Chaney and (coach) Kirby (Smart) did not want to say it publicly, but they were shocked with what they had to deal with. Too many people were worrying about a true freshman quarterback and not noticing that he didn’t have anybody to throw to.”
Sounds like the worst thing Danielson’s guilty of is slight exaggeration. Although I’d love to hear from Chaney and Smart about what they really thought of last year’s offensive talent.
Filed under Georgia Football
Get The Picture 