Vaya con Dios, Chris Barnes.
The sausage making continues.
Daily Archives: May 3, 2018
“The SEC commissioner’s legal background shines through whenever he’s pressed…”
Well, if by “legal background shines through”, you mean rambling nonsensically off-topic until the interviewer gives up, I suppose you have a point.
Filed under It's All Just Made Up And Flagellant, SEC Football, The NCAA
2018 Phil Steele’s Spring Guide
He posted it yesterday. It’s a free download you can access here and contains the following information:
• Phil Steele’s 2018 Projected AP Preseason Top 10 (available by 5/21/18).
• All FBS & FCS Coaching changes.
• Returning starters and last years stats with rankings.
• Find out who is back and who is not with Phil Steele’s 2017 Postseason All-Conf Teams.
• All FBS 2018 Schedules.
• Toughest Opponent Records for 2018.
(And, yes, I see the typo about Roquan Smith returning. Sigh. I wish.)
Filed under Phil Steele Makes My Eyes Water
Georgia Way, meet Jimmy Sexton.
It sounds like Kirby’s about to make bank today. I bet there’s been a fair amount of blinking over the dollar amount, but resistance is futile.
What’s your best guess on where his new salary winds up? It should be the result of what you get when you whip earlier-than-expected results, the ego-driven need to prove to recruits and competitors that your program is serious about winning and (of course) Sexton’s unparalleled ability to manipulate athletic directors together into one heady sauce. Stay tuned.
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UPDATE: If you had $7 million a year in the Kirby Smart salary pool, congrats.
That’s gonna be one mother of a buyout. Hope they never need to pay it.
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UPDATE #2: The new normal.
Filed under Georgia Football, It's Just Bidness
Chicken Little hits the recruiting trail.
You know, I would have thought that in the wake of Kirby’s unprecedented recruiting success, at least Dawgnation would stop sweating the twists and turns on the road to signing day, but upon seeing the anguished gnashing of teeth on the Intertubes yesterday after the four kids from Grayson High School all elected to take their respective acts on the road, it seems I was a bit optimistic about that. Lots of muttering about nefarious intentions abound, because that’s what we do when Georgia doesn’t get a commitment from every four- and five-star kid in the state.
I don’t seem to be the only one who noticed, either, judging by this Jeff Sentell piece with the clickbait-y title “UGA recruiting: Does Grayson High School steer its players from Athens?” Hey, inquiring minds and all that…
Anyway, if you read it (and you probably will), you’ll probably detect the same methinks thou doth protest too much odor I found wafting from it. Is there fire to the smoke there? I have absolutely no idea, but I will say that I found it strange at the time to see one of the most accomplished high school football coaches in the state coach one season at Grayson, win a AAAAAAA state football championship and promptly depart. Still do, for that matter. Eh, maybe it was just a coincidence.
It’s the bigger picture that matters most, though. Kirby’s done fine without much flowing through that particular pipeline and regardless of how it plays out, I doubt that will change any time soon. Chill, folks.
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
Just stop.
Honestly, there is no more tiresome question about Georgia football than “Will Georgia ever target its tight ends more on offense?”.
Filed under Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
The mystery of amateurism
You always like to hear a commission chairwoman sound like she knows her subject.
A National Collegiate Athletic Association special commission on reforming college basketball recently ducked the issue of athletes being paid for their name, image or likeness — currently banned under the association’s rules.
But Condoleezza Rice, the former U.S. secretary of state and Stanford University provost, and the panel’s chairwoman, last week underscored the confusion some athletics experts felt when a University of Notre Dame women’s basketball player who is still eligible to compete at the college level was allowed to go on Dancing With the Stars, a deal that required the NCAA to make an exception.
“For the life of me, I don’t understand the difference between Olympic payments and participation in Dancing with the Stars, which are allowed, and what can’t be allowed,” Rice said during a press briefing, urging the NCAA to act once lawsuits around the issue had been decided.
You’d think that would tell you something, but that wasn’t in the cards for Condi, I suppose.
Filed under The NCAA
Thursday morning buffet
Grab a plate, campers!
- “In the past 10 years, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville has seen the termination or resignation of two athletic directors, four football or basketball coaches and two chancellors, and buyouts totaling more than $24 million.” Oh, and “The $24 million total does not include buyouts for assistant coaching staffs.”
- Athlon looks at which SEC East team is most likely to challenge Georgia this season. They try hard, but don’t sound very convincing.
- John Infante argues that the impetus behind the NCAA’s transfer rule change that just benefited Shea Patterson was to avoid negative media attention.
- “I have a bone to pick with Georgia.“
- Ugh: “Larry Nassar sexually assaulted at least 25 MSU student-athletes, but there were no NCAA violations, the university has told the college athletics governing body.”
- Ian Boyd looks at switching on defense and sees similarities with… the NBA?
- Bill Belichick picked two Georgia players in the first round of the draft. That’s not unusual for him.
- Mark Emmert’s gonna Mark Emmert.
- It’s never too early to arrange your bowl season schedule.
Ours is bigger’n yourn’s.
Based on what we’ve found in looking at past lineups in the football media guide, Georgia’s potential starting offensive line for 2018 will be the largest (in regard to total weight) that the Bulldogs have ever fielded, with all five starters over 300 pounds, three at 320 pounds or greater.
We’re just a few years removed from the last time Georgia boasted the biggest offensive line, not just in college, but on all levels of football. It didn’t work out as well as we hoped, as I recall.
So, what about now? Well, for one thing, Sam Pittman likes ’em big. He’s gotten results, too. As that linked piece noted, “One thing the above offensive lines have in common – they led the SEC in sacks allowed per game.”
The Dawgs aren’t quite there yet. They finished third in the conference in sacks allowed per game last season. But you have to think Pittman’s track record suggests he knows what to do with the beef once he gets it.
Filed under Georgia Football
Get The Picture 