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?
Get The Picture 
Are you saying…you blame Bobo?
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Thinks Lecounte gonna be a special player….”Prime Time”!!…Hopes he has a little dance to go along with his first TD.
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So your hoping our kickoff guy can get to kick from the 15 yard line after the celebration penalty. Team player all the way.
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Refs need to quit taking all of the fun out of the game….get on the bus..
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Exactly right. Several “somebodys” contributed to his success on every play, celebrate with your team and don’t think you are doing a solo in the choir. Discipline them and sit them for going off on their own. We have lost more than one game for this playground silliness.
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Never saw a penalty called on a player who does a dance on the sideline after the TD.
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This is part of the whole roster management problem you’re always referring to right? Hopefully Kirby can do a better job of it.
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Soooo…. if, say for instance, Georgia Wins a NC under Kirby then the 2013 Disaster might actually end up being the best thing that could have happened for Georgia Football….because it was really the impetus for change in the final analysis…. hmmmmm
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So what this guy is saying is that coaching has nothing to do with college football since once the class is signed they can’t improve or become better than the are right out of high school. This is pure unadulterated bull hockey. It is a cop out, pure and simple.
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Of course coaching matters, but talent (skill, athleticism, etc.) matters too.
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I don’t think that is what he is saying. I think they know whether or not they have the talent/make up to become SEC caliber players. I think physical talent, attitude, and football acumen are all part of this.
I don’t think he means they can’t improve and develop as they mature. It just means that what they can develop into will be good enough to make a positive contribution and impact.
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The problem with this is that a lot of those players did play in the SEC and ACC. Maybe he just meant that once they were in school they knew that they had a bunch of dope crazed hippies who carried guns and didn’t know their middle names. sarcasm
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A few. Not a lot. Out of what, 30 something?
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“dope crazed hippies”
Chuckle. Me thinks you are telling your age 😉
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Yep. “They were all high on goofballs.” Give me a break. If I could have Quincy Carter’s blow all here in front of me for resale, y’all would never hear from me again, ’cause I’ve bought my own private island with the proceeds and “gone off the grid.”
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“Hippies?” Seeing as the youngest living “Hippie” would be about 55 years old when the 2013 signing class was recruited the drugs that “crazied” them would be for diabetes, heart problems and erectile dysfunction.
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He didn’t say that at all.
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Poppycock! Mike Bobo is an innovator, he nearly beat the Idaho Vandals in his very first try last year for god sakes. He could’ve used the mythical zone blocking scheme to turn the offensive line into a juggernaut and Tyler Catalina an All American. Faton Bauta would’ve been a legend if used properly. Nick Chubb would’ve never gotten hurt. Hurricane Harvey would’ve spun off into the Atlantic without making landfall.
Mark Richt let Grantham walk out the door because he was an overrated, overpaid, insufferable jerk. Mike Bobo, on the other hand, was probably leaving no matter what because he knew his stock was about to take a major hit when 2015 kicked off if he stayed and he’d look like the missing linchpin at UGA if he left. It was the right career move.
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I got nothing… carry on.
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Tyler Catalina is in the NFL right now.
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@Cpark58: Exactly.
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But I thought the 4 and 5 stars according to whomever were always legit.
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It was a class of 34 that ranked only 12th nationally. There weren’t many 4 or 5 stars to begin with.
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A class of 34 bodies trying to make up for the unforgivable 2012 class of 16 or so. Richt’s self imposed scholarship restrictions were more severe than USC had to endure from the NCAA. In 2013, Richt signed pretty much anyone with a reflection in a mirror that would come. The roster management record alone was reason enough to fire Richt.
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Preach!
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15 4 star recruits in 2013 according to 24/7
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Out of 34 that’s not many for Georgia. 44.1% is very bad. Point is it was a poor class ranking at 12 to begin with, but with that many kids that means the average quality, per the recruiting services, was very very low. This wasn’t some hyped class the services were wrong about.
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Although I will say top to bottom this was an extremely “busty” class, regardless of transfers and whatnot.
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15 4stars according to Dawgs247 but they appear to be on the lower end of the scoring. Of course a few players, (Floyd and Bellamy) were quality. In any case the vacancy of so many left a hole. If I’m remember correctly it seems the 2006 class ended up small by the senior year as well. Classes that deplete themselves like these puts strain on the program and it may take a couple of good recruiting classes to catch up.
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And it came on the heels of already being way under the scholarship limit in 2012.
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The 2013 class represented the final results from recruiting coordinator Rodney Garner, who left in late 2012. Looking back it’s hard to fathom why CMR kept Garner around.
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He held on to a few people longer than he should have. In addition to roster management, it seems that staff evaluation was one of his weaknesses as well. I’ll never know what he saw in Schottenheimer.
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Distinguishing between “shiny objects” and those guys that will actually put in the work and be assets is very important.
Mark Ingram, Todd gurley, thomas Davis, David pollock, are the kind of guys that may not be flashy but have a mentality that meshes with the college game.
People probably don’t remember but Keith marshall was the number one back in the country. Far too soft for sec play. Every game where the opponent would hit him he folded. Every big game he had was against a weak defense.
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Keith Marshall “soft”??……injury-prone maybe. Dude had a tough time after his freshman year, which was a good one….only in 8 games the next couple of years, never was the same after that. Hard to believe he still made the pros. To say & believe he was soft is harebrained….DGD!
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I agree, Keith Marshall was never going to be a bell cow with 35 carries. He was a Percy Harvin/Reggie Bush type guy. Had he not fell victim to SOD’s sod like so many others, he would’ve been very dangerous and put up monster numbers as a change of pace back to Gurley.
Sony Michel and Chubb are very much the same duo except Chubb was the one taken out by Tennessee’s 12th man.
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I hate this mentality. His skills didn’t translate as well as expected to college despite his speed, and he had some bad injury luck on top of it. To say he folded because he was soft is bullshit tough guy talk.
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6.5 YPC his freshman year, got over 100 against UT, Auburn & GT….despite splitting carries with Gurley (almost twice less). More of a speed back. Injuries changed his game, to say he was soft is just ridiculous.
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Good grief. Marshall was unbelievable as a freshman as a running back and receiver out of the backfield. He stepped into the LSU game in 2013 when Gurley sprained his ankle and played great. He was ripping Tennessee to shreds until a dirty hit and the cow pasture turf got him the next week. Injury-prone / bad luck? Yes. Soft? No way.
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That class has almost been exorcised from the program. The last remnants are a few redshirt seniors. John Atkins, who finished high school in 2012, then went to prep school, then redshirted, must be about 35 by now. He, along with Davin Bellamy and Reggie Carter, has been a solid contributor. The others are Jordan Davis and Aulden Bynum. We’re not seeing Saban’s full process, because I don’t think two fifth year seniors buried on the depth chart would have been welcomed back this year.
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Exorcism is a marathon at UGA and some will ride this horse for decades to make a point. UGA isn’t the only program who has a bust year at recruiting, or find out too late the evaluation wasn’t accurate. Hard to project how an 18 year old kid playing against weak competition will react over the next five years when they face equals that smack them in the face, or they get distracted by growing up in a college atmosphere.
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Thats got some truth. 5th year seniors that dont contribute would not be around.
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Can remember when Nebraska use to make a living out of 5th year seniors on the OL….
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Doh! I forgot to include Ramsey. DGD for sticking around and helping with QB depth. Really hope to see him hold for kicks this year and in some special punt team packages.
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The 2013 class is no longer an excuse … it’s a crutch.
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