Several of you noted the news that Tramel Walthour has elected to move from the class of 2018 to the class of 2019 by taking a grayshirt.
The 2018 signee was rated as a 3-star prospect coming out of Liberty County High School in Hinesville, Ga., according to 247Sports. At 6-foot-4 and 277 pounds, the defensive tackle already possesses the size necessary to succeed in Kirby Smart’s 3-4 hybrid defense. The rest of 2018 could be an opportunity for Walthour to get even bigger and stronger, which will only help his case once he enrolls.
What’s particularly interesting about the news is that the AJ-C links it to another roster move from last week.
The move by the Bulldogs was needed after adding Notre Dame grad transfer Jay Hayes to the roster last week. That created an issue with Georgia’s scholarship numbers. In order to get under the 85-scholarship limit, Walthour was asked to take a grayshirt. His love for Georgia prevailed, and he accepted.
Sounds like the roster numbers may be a little tighter than some of us thought. Good thing Walthour is in love with Georgia. Meanwhile, the sausage making continues apace.
Get The Picture 
Ugh. I love sausage, but this particular batch makes my stomach churn. I didn’t like this practice when Bama, LSU, Tennessee and others were doing it, and I don’t like it now.
Does that mean I’m part of the Georgia Way?
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You admitted it as much as you said it, LOL.
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I like sausage. A meal of champions!
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Actually 85 is not going to be a problem. I think this was more to the idea that someone in the last class is not going to qualify in time.
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I like link sausage. I like patty sausage. I like the way CKS is making sausage. Get over it people, this ain’t Richt’s way anymore.
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Why offer the kid if you know you’re likely to “Process” him before he steps on campus? As I mentioned yesterday and below, if the staff told him this as part of the recruiting process, he signed with full knowledge … OK. If this was an April decision, I think it sucks.
If this was your kid who had been accepted to UGA and filled out the paperwork just to have his/her acceptance decision pulled for no reason other than there are too many students, I don’t think you would think this is just sausage making. You would be calling every person you knew to get the decision reversed.
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Being asked to gray shirt is not the same as being processed. They still want him to join the team on scholarship.
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It’s a branch of the Process. If this were your kid, would you like to be told you can’t start college when you were originally promised? As mentioned ad nauseum, if this were mentioned up front during the process, fine. If not, it ain’t right even if it is within the rules.
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ee Walthour knew this from the jump when he signed. This was not sprung on him last minute. He was fully aware. His family is not angry or upset by this.
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I hope so … have to trust we were transparent. I still don’t really like it if these kids are supposed to be students first.
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Students?!
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Agree …I think his offer was tentative from the get-go, “we like you, but if Sandidge signs we won’t have room”. Otherwise, he woulda signed during early signing period, but he was put on hold by Kirby and Co. to wait-and-see on the Sandidge decision. When he finally did sign on NSD, he was told and knew a grayshirt remained a possibility. This is my speculative opinion, not fact. Kudos to kid for hanging in …wants to be a DGD.
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I haven’t sweated this issue for one second.
I guess that speaks to my confidence in Kirby on this issue.
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^^^ that reads differently than I intended….almost sounds like I’m suggesting others are not confident in Kirbs…. my point is actually that I’m pleasantly surprised I’m not worried at all about roster management.
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… nor should you. We don’t know the whole story behind this move and likely never will. Could be grades, who knows. The simple fact is Kirby is doing what he needs to do to put our program in a position to win SEC East titles, SEC Titles and get us in the Playoff picture. He’s got my confidence.
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Grayshirting has nothing to do with grades or test scores. If Kirby was honest with the kid as part of the recruiting process to say you may have to wait until winter to enroll due to numbers, I have no problem with it. If Kirby made the decision without appropriate up front transparency, I don’t like it and don’t want us to operate this way.
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Amen!
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+1
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I remember there being some suggestion this was in the works on signing day. I think we were over the 25.
I just don’t understand why a kid would agree to this at anytime and definitely not after signing day. Whose to say they’ll be any room for him next year?
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The chance to play for championships, my friend
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If that makes sense then alabama should sign classes of 125 and grey shirt 100.
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With the 23rd pick, the New England Patriots select……
With the 31st pick, the New England Patriots select……
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14th pick was from UTSA. I bet they have room.
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Caveat 1: we don’t know if he was told this would happen prior to committing/signing. One can surmise he was not told, but we won’t know.
I don’t like it. I didn’t like it when alabama did it, tennessee, auburn, lsu, or anyone else. Football is Big Business, but when the coaches have all the power after signature, then I don’t like it. These kids aren’t getting paid. They shouldn’t be treated like chattel.
I said it under Richt as well, if treating kids like trash is what it takes to win a championship, and that is what we are doing at UGA, it will be the beginning of the end of my passion for the sport, assuming the status quo on transfers continues.
Clearly Kirby has it figured out, recruiting wise, I just don’t have to like it. Case in point for me was the RB down in Texas last year that Kirby cut loose a month before signing day and absolutely refused to talk to the player or coach or dad to explain the situation. It may be effective, but it’s not right.
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We really don’t know enough about it to make too harsh of a judgement either way. But if the kid was going to redshirt his freshman year anyway, and possibly his grades were a problem or something else was a problem, it could be a very good thing for him.
But if he is being processed, and next year a couple of four or five star newbies push him back again and he is discouraged to the point of transferring or quitting, it’s awful and wrong.
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Huge difference between a redshirt and gray shirt. He’d be enrolled in school, working out and practicing with the team as a redshirt, all on the schools dollar. Now he’s own his own if he wants to go to school this year, he’ll have to pay for it, and any workouts will be on his own. Some kids are ok with that and if they are, that’s fine. They should know it’s going to happen before they sign their LOI.
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Good clarification. Thanks
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Interesting how when our rivals do it, it is such a black & white issue of bad behavior, but there is all this room for nuance when it comes to our team… Who knows? What if? Maybe?
Right or wrong, good or bad, it is icky.
Nothing is perfect, and it’s OK to bleed red and black while noticing the warts and flaws. It doesn’t make anyone less of a fan when they call out the AD for a PR disaster, or a (seemingly great) coach for a questionable move.
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+1
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What’s the big damn deal if he was told before or after he signed? It’s his decision to accept it or not. He accepted it, so obviously he is OK with it no matter what the reason is. All this I don’t want our program to run like that BS is ridiculous. Far as I know there isn’t a rule saying a team can’t do it, so as long as it’s not breaking any rules who gives a shit. The player is OK with it then as far as I’m concerned that’s all there is to it. Kirby knows what he’s doing far better than any of us when it comes to managing his roster.
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Well said Codie – it is none of our business what transpired between two parties.
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He doesn’t really have any choice but to be OK with it, that’s my main beef. It’s 3 months after he signed his letter of intent, if he transfers, it won’t be to a D-1 school or he sits out. The next problem I have is that there was room for him just last week, until Kirby added another recruit. I agree you manage your roster to put the best people on the field but when it’s this late, you don’t do this to a kid. Kudos to the kid for accepting it, but if it was my kid, I’d have a real problem with the way it appears to have happened.
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Well said … think about if it were your kid. I may accept it, but I guarantee you I wouldn’t like it as a parent or student.
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He knew and agreed to it before he signed. This was not sprung on him 3 months later. He wanted to be a DAWG and was cool with it. It was his choice. It didn’t happen the way you think it did. It was very transparent to him and his family.
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Everyone here always ASSumes the worst has happened….just the nature of some folks.
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Sources?
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Sources? We ain’t got no sources! We don’t need no sources! I don’t have to show you any stinking sources!
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If he decides to enroll somewhere else this fall, it won’t be transferring. He is not being allowed to enroll here until 2019. As I understand it, the NOI is not binding in these situations and he can go somewhere else and be eligible this fall.
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Preach…
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Who is sources directed at?
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I believe DD1318 was directing that to you … what knowledge do you have that’s what happened?
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It was alluded to in February and then confirmed the last two days. Several of the UGA sports guys have confirmed that this was known all along. Believe what you want but the only bitching you are going to here is from self righteous fans who don’t know anything other than it seems unfair to them. You won’t hear anything from HIs coach or family because there is nothing to hear. I imagine they didn’t report it because it was February and things change evidently this didn’t change.
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I don’t think fans are being “self-righteous.” Everyone just trusts that the right amount of transparency is happening between UGA and recruits. If that’s happening and a recruit makes a decision to accept that arrangement, fine. If it doesn’t (like the Toneil Carter situation), we should demand better.
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Accept it happened after his LOInwas accepted. So it affects where he can go next year if told beforehand he could have opened up his recruitment.
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*except not accept.
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Is a grayshirt always bad? It appears that Lyle ‘Butch’ Jones is now a grayshirt on the U A coaching staff. No obvious role. Just glide around, look confused and talk about spiritual victories while pissing on Phat Phil’s trading card… Still getting big dollas from Daddy urnge.
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Whatever happened to Hargrave Academy? Seemed like we used to send at least one guy there every year under CMR. I remember Leonard Pope spending a year there.
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I think you meant Floyd. That was because he was a non-qualifier. He went to Hargrave to get his grades and/or test score up to gain admission to UGA as a full qualifier.
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I’m pretty sure Pope attended Hargrave, too. I agree that it used to be the go-to college prep school.
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Ok – that was so long ago, I just didn’t remember
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Only reason I remember is because he’s from my home town 🙂
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We both grew up in SOWEGA then.
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Does anyone know the rules here? When we crossed 25 signees in February I questioned whether or not Tramel was on the outside looking in then, but again I don’t know the rules.
Can you sign 30 and let 25 into school in June or can you only accept 25 official LOI’s?
My assumption has been that:
1) you sign 25 max to a LOI
2) if you appear to sign 26 or 28 or whatever you either know there’s a non-qualifier or a grey shirt in there who didn’t really sign a LOI, you just made it look that way for public consumption and
3) if you’ve got to process down to 85 you have to do it with the existing roster. In other words you have to get down to 60 before June. You can make 63 60 via processing but you can’t make your incoming freshman class go from 25 to 22 via processing because of the LOI.
Who knows the reality here?
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Rule #1: An FBS team can have no more than 85 scholarship players at any one time.
Rule #2: An FBS team can bring in 25 new (“initial”) scholarship players in one signing class.
Exception #1) if an athlete graduates high school early and enrolls for the spring semester, AND IF the school stayed under a cap of 25 in the previous year, it can assign enrollees to the previous class, up to the 25-man total cap (for the previous year).
Exception #2) If a player delays enrollment until the following spring, he can then be assigned to the following year’s class of 25.
But all players must be attributed to either a prior, current, or future class, and no class can exceed 25.
Rule #3: The SEC has a limit of 28 signees between December and May, which limits how many players a team can enroll early to avoid breaching the 25-man cap.
In short, because of UGA’s large class last year, we didn’t have room form many early enrollees to back count. So to get to the 25 year limit for this class, one person had to get pushed forward to next year. Since the 25 person cap is in place only for “initial” scholarships, I don’t think either the ND grad transfer, or the 85 man limit (Rule #1), has any real impact to this situation. It sounds more like a “25 in any one year” (Rule #2) situation. This makes it much more likely that Smart had prepared Walthour for this scenario in advance of signing day, and that this was the plan all along. Still, the timing of the news and the perception still has the ick factor for me.
Linkage: https://www.sbnation.com/college-football-recruiting/2017/1/31/14348104/college-football-recruiting-class-limits-national-signing-day
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That’s been my assumption. I thought Tramel was a greyshirt in February.
I just don’t think you can call up a LOI signee and say “sorry, no room.” You have to manage those in advance OR wait until they’ve been on scholly for a year.
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You have to hope that this was spelled out as an option.. At least there was some writing on the wall, because he didn’t/couldn’t sign in December. Hope Scholarship should help out, and he’ll get all the same perks as any other player, including scholarship and walk ons. Otherwise, I’m sure he could find a home with a full ride.
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“Hope Scholarship should help out”
Only if he qualifies for it under Georgia law.
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What if he said “no, UGA signed a contract with me, I expect them to hold up their end.” What could Kirby do? Besides be mean to him. I am genuinely asking?
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IF the Kid and UGA are good with this, why should I have an issue?
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Generally I agree. I just hope the first time it came up wasn’t on signing day. If the kid had plenty of warning I’d agree. If I had the talent to play I think I would have sat out to play at UGA. I’m stupid like that. Of course, in my case I would have inherited Goff so that would’ve stunk.
Just don’t do somebody like Bama did with Darius Philon and he finds out that morning and is forced to either sit out or sign with a team he’s never visited. That’s shitty IMHO.
I believe you can treat people right and win and I believe that if you can’t have both you do the right thing and forego winning….unless its a war someone else started in which case, you do what’s gotta be done.
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We’ve all watched Bama do this for years. In most cases, the kids and families seem to be ok with it. Hell they even denied a long time 4star commit from signing his NOI live last signing day because they were out of room. A lot of top programs, including UGA, jumped at the chance to grab the kid. A couple of hours later he announced he would greyshirt at Bama. That’s how bad he wanted to go there. The cases where the families had a problem with this practice are usually well publicized. In some cases the recruit was told he didn’t even have the option to greyshirt, they just released him from his NOI and told him to go somewhere else.
On the early signing day, four of the lower rated commits were not allowed to sign. Soon after, Brule and Wildgoose were informed they would not be a part of the class and to look elsewhere. Unless it comes out otherwise, I’m believing Walthour was told well in advance of the second signing period about this. His school has produced Rokwon McMillan and Richard LeCounte in recent years and is coached by former UGA letterman Kirk Warner. I can’t see Kirby pissing off a former letterman who produces pretty good talent by springing this unexpectedly.
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Damn, I kept using NOI when I meant LOI.
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I’m just a fan, but this would be no issue at all except for artificial rules relating to scholarships. I am old enough to remember when The Bear had as many as he wanted at one time. Arguably, the reason for restricting scholarships that any one school could offer (and there have been many steps to get us to where we are today) was to promote a level playing field and stimulate competition. That hasn’t worked so much – a handful of schools still rule the roost – but it does limit how much a school has to spend on its ‘product’, which pretty much every school is grateful to have.
So, all CKS – and Walthour, for that matter – are doing is working within the rules. It’s a little odd how many of these rules have an economic reason behind them. And just as an aside, as good of a person as CMR is, and as good of a coach as he is, his refusal/disinterest to work within the same rules has a lot to do with why he is not still here.
As just a fan, I believe that CKS recruits because he has good relationships with his players, and you don’t build those relationships by saying one thing and then doing another. I think Walthour knew that unless someone didn’t qualify, this would happen. I’m not worried at all. It also signifies a probability that they will all qualify. So there’s that, too. 🙂
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