This could be the start of something small.

Over at Dawg Sports, Brooks Tilley, who was a defensive student assistant for a couple of years under both Todd Grantham and Jeremy Pruitt, shares this warm story that ought to wrap up every dark thought you’ve ever had about Georgia’s 2013 signing class:

Nowadays, if you don’t have a deep list of freshman contributors, you’re missing a major piece of an elite team. Redshirts are a thing of the past. Don’t listen to a coach that tells you they are still evaluating their freshman players well into fall camp. The first day the pads come on, the coaching staff knows what they’ve got. They know if a dude is a contributor at an SEC level or if he is a recruiting evaluation bust.

In 2013 we knew almost immediately when fall camp started that the class would be a major bust and would negatively affect the program for a few years.[Emphasis added.]

Ain’t that special.

It also makes you think about Grantham’s and Bobo’s departures in a different light, no?

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“Trying to put a stop to his favoritism for athletes once and for all.”

How ugly is this New York Times story on purported academic favoritism for football players at Florida State?  Put it this way:  that the academics in question were “online hospitality courses on coffee, tea and wine” is the most benign part of the story.  There’s plenty of sleaze to go around, in other words.  Sad, but hardly shocking.

Given the NCAA’s current face off with North Carolina over alleged academic improprieties there, you have to wonder if they’ll jump in on this one.

Blame Jim Chaney all you want…

… but this strikes me as a big factor in the constipation of Georgia’s offense last season.

“Last year was more about understanding the offense versus reading the defense and checking and making a better play,” Eason said. “That was a big, big focus this offseason, was getting my mind right, and being able to see something and check into something.”

Chubb thinks that flexibility will offer a “better possibility, a better avenue,” to find holes to run through when Georgia won’t be outnumbered in the tackle box.

“It puts us in better position,” he said. “I think last year we kind of stuck with what we had no matter what, and I think we didn’t have the right numbers to run the play. That kind of hurt us sometimes. I think this year more freedom, allows us to get a better look for us, and to execute it.”

Call it last year’s perfect storm:  a substandard offensive line, a head coach who favored an offensive philosophy that maybe his personnel weren’t ideally suited for and a quarterback lacking the experience to take advantage of what opposing defenses were giving him.

Remember, it’s just happy talk until they do it, but with that being said, how much improvement in those areas do you anticipate seeing in 2017?  And how much smarter will that make Chaney look?

At least he didn’t raise his hand to ask.

If you weren’t tuned in to ESPN’s MegaCast last night, you missed one of the great debut moments in broadcast history.

Les Miles, natch.

Keeping the mic live all the way to the head is what really elevates the whole deal.

(h/t)

What do 224 people know that you don’t?

This is your last reminder to sign up for the Fabris Pool pick ’em.  Games in this week’s pool start tomorrow.

Here’s the invite link.  What are you waiting for?

Smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em.

Kirby Smart says “probably 15 to 20 freshmen” are likely to play in the opener.

If you signed the third best recruiting class in the country, you might as well use it, especially since what would be left of your 2013 class now has essentially vaporized.

I do expect to see a noticeable improvement in special teams as a result.  What about you?

The Laner alone can solve it.

Would the last national title game have turned out differently had Junior been manning the Alabama sideline?  You bet.  Just ask him.

It is one thing for Kiffin to feel his absence cost Alabama in that moment. What about now, eight months removed? If Saban hadn’t removed him, does he think Alabama would have won?

“I do,” Kiffin said. “It’s no disrespect to Steve. No matter who it was, you’ve been there all year long. You’ve been there for the quarterback. You’re all he knew. You were undefeated together. We’ve won [26] straight games together. You feel like, okay, it’s different. As great as Sark is, it’s just different. Again, if it had been 14 points either way . . . when it’s one play here or there, you think if those guys had the person they were used to, it would have made a difference.”

Lane Kiffin is the Donald Trump of college football.

Today, west end zone concessions. Tomorrow, the world.

Is this a sign that somebody in Butts-Mehre is actually aware of fans bitching about the in-game experience?

Brooks adds that since the west end zone’s restroom, concession and first-aid facilities have been removed due to the construction, everything in that area will be portable in 2017.

“The concessions will match the Augusta National style of grab-and-go,” he said. “You go through a line, grab your items and then check out. We’ve done that to get people through … as fast as possible.”

The proof is in the pudding, of course.  But you’ll never hear me mock any Masters aspirations coming from the folks managing Sanford Stadium.  There are certainly worse standards to try to emulate.

Now, if only they’d match Augusta National prices.  (I keed, I keed.  Sort of.)

“No one wants to be that team…”

Is the Michigan upset a blessing or a curse for Appalachian State?

Well, put it this way.

“Well, I think the fact that the Michigan thing always gets thrown up every year we play a Power 5 school, and the fact that we did what did at Tennessee last year, their kids are not going to overlook us,” App state coach Scott Satterfield said. “Kirby’s also telling them about it every day. So they’re not going to overlook us. I know it’s a big game for them. They want to start the season off on a good note.”

They’re gonna get Georgia’s best shot, alright.

Best knee game in the business

UConn had to scramble to come back in the fourth quarter to beat Holy Cross last night, but don’t let it be said that Randy Edsall isn’t a master at preparation.  Here’s what he had his guys working on late in the game:

It's been awhile for UCONN pic.twitter.com/ndQD013k61

— Chris Hassel (@Hassel_Chris) September 1, 2017

Evidently it worked.  They managed to run the clock out from there.

Let’s face it:  Edsall is a tactical genius.