Seth Emerson alerted me to a report in Dawgs247 that the coaches have asked John Rhys Plumlee to blueshirt.
“I would come in a couple months later in the summer. It is not a greyshirt. I would have to pay for the summer months, but once I arrive, my scholarship would start. It was kind of a surprise for me. So I am just thinking through it all.”
That’s more of interest to me as a roster management issue than a recruiting one. Sounds like Kirby’s got a lot of balls in the air, maybe both with regard to the 85-scholarship total as well as at the quarterback position itself. Wonder how this all shakes out…
Get The Picture 
Yikes.
I’m sure Kirby has a plan, but I’d hate to lose a kid over a blueshirt. Which is a term I just learned 30 seconds ago.
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As thin as we are there, you’d think we’d be willing to fully commit to whoever they could get to come in.
It’s not like there are a bunch of guys wanting to get behind Fields and Fromm right now.
On the other hand, CKS must think there are some big time recruits about to show up and fill this class out.
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Yep. And Kirby must feel good about Fields sticking around to be blue shirting a 4* QB prospect
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That’s the key point to me. Kirby may not be 100% but he seems to feel he has a 2 deep for next year. Although, Plumlee seems comfortable with how they are dealing with him and isn’t headed for the border so this may work for us. But he does have options with other teams, kid is no slacker, he can be helpful if needed.
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JRP had a monster senior season too and really upped his profile. I was pretty excited about him to be honest. Kirby must be pretty sure Fields is staying.
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Must think that kid from Hawaii is coming too. Dillon Gabriel? Is that right?
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Not sure I understand how a ‘blueshirt’ helps roster management. Sounds like we want a kid on the roster during the summer (while Plumlee waits) who won’t be on it in the fall (then Plumlee joins). If that is correct, why and what is the advantage?
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Not exactly how it works. The blueshirt allows the guy to be part of the team for 2019, but his scholarship wouldn’t count against the 25 limit until next year (2020). So it’s a way to stuff an extra guy in this year, though it will result in one less available scholarship for next year’s signing class.
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thank you
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Typically it’s a way of saying “it’s not you, it’s us” and encouraging a kid to check his options rather than just shutting the door in his face.
Given our QB room, it’s a bit surprising. Either they really like the walk ons they have, they don’t think this kid is “all that” or they have someone lined up for next years class.
I guess the last option is that they think they’re building an offensive line so awesome that they can put anyone in there to just hand it off.
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Worked for Bama. Reckon Kirby picked up on that trying to defending it in practice all those years?
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It did. Never liked it. I think you offer a kid a scholly you stick with it or change your mind before you accept the commitment. I know that’s not the way of the (or our) world anymore but I really, really don’t like fucking with a HS kid like this.
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I’m not so sure how egregious this is when it happens in December. The media is the culprit that has made signing day (and now the early signing day) this fictional drop dead date. The reality is that it is the ABSOLUTE EARLIEST of when a kid can convey an actual acceptance. I’d love to see a handful of five stars just wait until mid-way through April to make their decision—you know, kind of like many seniors in high school used to do, athlete or not.
Now, the early signing window has given kids an opportunity to cull their decision process even earlier. If you don’t get the necessary paperwork to sign and send back in for the December signing, it’s probably pretty clear where you stand. Give the school a call. You may have a shot at February IF you’re interested in waiting…….if not, best of luck. It may even come later than that. I got into law school off the wait list 10 days before classes started, packed my stuff the next day and started 24 hrs of driving to get there.
People have first choices and backups in all aspects of life. 9 months of notice followed by a second notice 7 months out is plenty fair.
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What if that law school told you they had a spot for you a few months out, but a week before you went they asked you to take a gap year?
Not the most ethical thing. Watching the sausage get made isn’t pretty.
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Thus is a gap summer. And he doesn’t even have to come in then. From the Fall on he’s good to go. Probably redshirting anyway/4 games. Not exactly shocking.
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Exactly. I prefer that they just not do crap like this, especially to kids.
Winning isn’t worth it IMHO.
For some reason it seems like the greater the power differential the more excuses we give to the powerful to shit on the weak.
If ESPN announced that we were part of the playoff the day after the SECCG and then announced a week later that they’d decided Oklahoma was better because they had the Heisman winner, would we shrug and so “oh well, shit happens?”
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Of course that analogy isn’t perfect, but this is also 9 months out.
What I would like to know is how many validly issued and populate NLIs get revoked prior to the recruit being eligible to sign ? In other words, they can start issuing written valid offers (in the form of an NLI) on October 1 through a non-profit clearinghouse that all schools have joined–the rules are pretty silent on whether they can go back in before that 12/19 date (the date before which an acceptance is invalid) and issue a revocation ?
If a kid hasn’t even received a populate NLI by 12/1, which he still couldn’t validly accept for 18 more days, I still think it’s time for he and his parents to call and ask and get clarity on the situation. The harsh reality is that these things have moving parts and finite spaces beyond the control of even the two parties in question. More often than not, Alabama and Georgia’s “trash” are like 50 other schools “treasure.” But even those definitions have moving parts. Everyone should understand this by now.
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when Mississippi State sends you that populated NLI on 10/1 at 7am and says “we can’t wait till 12/19” and then calls you every week and comes to your house, perhaps it just means you should consider playing for the Bizarro Bulldogs instead of clicking refresh on your Gmail account to see if Georgia has actually sent one through even though they “offered you” back in August.
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The kid comes or not. He’s not being persecuted by this. He knows the details and chooses to accept or not.
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Maybe they like the kid from Hawaii better? Recruit following ain’t my thang.
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Doubt it. The Hawaiian is not nearly the prospect that this kid is. No way he’s not getting a similar offer or even preferred walk on status. The kid from Hawaii seems like a back up plan to me.
Like a I said above, they’re probably are just prioritizing other spots and don’t think they will ever have to start their class of 2019 QB, if they even get 1.
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I think they actually do prefer the kid from Hawaii. You don’t send Coley across the Pacific ocean 3 times in a 3 week span unless you really want him.
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Or … Hawaii
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Not Kirby’s style.
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Kid broke Mariotta AND Tua’s passing records, so not a piker despite his lower rating.
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State HS records are meant to not matter very much:
Rushing yards, Career
8,844 – Monte Williams (Commerce) 1997 – 2000
7,841 – Robert Toomer (Worth County) 1988 – 91
7,695 – Chris Clay (Randolph – Clay) 2004 – 07
7,322 – Eddie Dixon (Emanuel County Institute) 1980 – 83
6,923 – Brett Millican (Parkview) 1992 – 95
6,920 – Greg Williams (Metter) 1980 – 83
6.915 – Duranta Dunson (Heard County) 2011 – 14
6,903 – Kawon Bryant (North Oconee) 2011 – 2014
6,779 – Dameon Pierce (Bainbridge) 2014 – 2017
6,429 – Micah Andrews (GAC) 1999 – 02
6,385 – Charles Grant (Miller County) 1994 – 97
6,374 – Don Calloway (Miller County) 1996 – 99
6,349 – Audell Grace (Screven County) 1991 – 94
6,338 – Darius Marshall (Baldwin) 2003 – 06
6,279 – Travis Evans (Westside – Macon) 2000 – 03
6,260 – Marteze Waller (Putnam County) 2008 – 11
6,155 – Chris Cole (Brooks County) 1991 – 94
6,137 – Herschel Walker (Johnson County) 1976 – 79
Passing yards, Season
4,741 – Tylan Morton (Griffin) 2016
4,563 – Austin Parker (East Hall) 2017
4,560 – Hutson Mason (Lassiter) 2009
4,311 – Deshaun Watson (Gainesville) 2012
4,218 – Taylor Heinicke (Collins Hill) 2010
4,073 – Jake Fromm (Houston County) 2015
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As someone who saw Robert Toomer play in high school (proud Worth County alum a few years before him), I can tell you the guy was a war horse. Everyone in South Georgia knew he was getting the ball 30x a game, and he would still put up the numbers. He didn’t have the jaw-dropping top end speed that other great high school tailbacks had (like Herschel), but he was as powerful between the tackles as any high school running back I’ve seen.
He did a little at LSU enough to merit attention from the CFL but decided to go into coaching instead. I believe the woman he married became a doctor and he’s a head football coach out in Texas.
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This sounds more like Kirby is trying to make the scholarship numbers work. He could show up for the fall, or he could pay his own way for the summer. I think he was picked as the candidate for the blueshirt since he is almost certainly going to redshirt and his parents are among the ones that could most afford to pay for him to attend class in the summer.
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If im reading those tea leaves correctly….it means we got all the guys we wanted : Dean, Haselwood, Stevenson, ect and maybe recently (at the same time the rumor mill took off with Sanders, Plumlee was rumoring a decommitment) we are getting one more commit than we expected… We’ll see on signing day 🙂
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Senator, has there been a breakthrough in the Great War Against Popup Ads? I only ask because my popup blocker hasn’t been going nuts the last couple of days.
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Last two days I have had to turn off java today I have not.
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Data point: I’ve rarely had pop ups, but when I bought a new phone (pixel 3) during black friday that all changed. After a couple of days the OS updated on my phone, and I haven’t seen a pop up since.
I think wordpress has a fault but it’s being exploited on our end.
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Ugh, hate hearing that news, but I’d far prefer to be in this spot than previous years, where we had 65-70 on scholly, with an upcoming attrition of around 18-22, and we had around 20 or so committed (half of which were 3 star, lightly recruited types).
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Along those same lines, Miami currently is sitting at the 32nd best class in the country, with only 14 recruits. Even more worrisome, with only 1 OL recruit in the fold (a low 3 star recruit who chose UM over Illinois), they now are panicking, and thus just ‘flipped’ a 2 star, 240lb OT from App State. Good hell.
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A little over a year ago Miami looked to be a rising power. Boy has that changed. It is a little sad to see Richt coming completely undone there. The writing is already on the wall. He won’t last another two years IMO.
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Even their 2020 class is evaporating before their eyes, as they’ve had a slew of decommits since Diaz took the Temple job. Kinda shows who carried most of the authority down there.
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The BOR evenspoke to him. Next year is do or die
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It’s amazing to me the mess that P5 college football in the state of Florida is right now. Is Florida really the 10th best team in the country? No way. How has FSU become a dumpster fire in 2 years? A cautionary tale to the Aggies. How has Miami absolutely pissed away their opportunity to dominate the ACC Coastal? Richt seems to have completely mismanaged the QB situation and the OL.
UCF carries the banner for Florida football? Unbelievable.
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I would caution my son not to do it, especially with out of state tuition. That 3 mo’s turns into 9 into 12 etc.
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I don’t think Fields is going anywhere but honestly wouldn’t be too broken up about it as I think Fromm will stay here 2 more years. If Fields waits his turn like Shockley did that will be awesome though .
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Fromm is a first round pick in the 2020 draft. He’s gone after next year.
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He might but let’s see if he makes 2nd team all SEC before we assume he’s going to be a 1st round pick after his junior year.
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Oy vey. Well, no one said having an Alabama type roster would be without ugly moments.
But this is a bad look.
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Making a hire to bring “the Process” to Athens means you get all the parts of “the Process.”
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When do we get the fax machine girls?
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Yup
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That’s how they did it in the old days. Freshmen showed up around August 1 for summer practice before school started early September. The good ole days??????
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I think they are trying to keep him and they must think his family could pay for summer school if they wanted to. But they are also prepared to lose him, which would really make me question (if I were the kid) if I was ever going to see the field. Either way it’s a crappy way to treat a recruit.
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If he is a big baseball player then his family pays the equivalent in Summer tuition over the course of a travel baseball season.
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How SBNation summarizes blueshirting:
Blueshirting wasn’t used until recently, and it still isn’t common, but it’s essentially another loophole to get around oversigning.
The blueshirt rule allows schools to put “unrecruited” athletes on scholarship once they arrive on campus, but count them against the next year’s scholarship total, as long as they don’t play. Here’s what it means to be “recruited,” according to the NCAA:
Coaches can contact players and have them on campus for unofficial visits — when the recruits pay their ways — without technically recruiting them. Essentially, as long as a recruit doesn’t take an official visit or host one of that school’s coaches, he wasn’t “recruited” by that school.
Tennessee has popularized the practice, which was first developed by New Mexico State.
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Came for a running joke on redshits. Saw no blueshit was given.
Leaving disappointed…
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LOL. I have seen redshits, even before this comment group invented it, but have to admit blueshits could be very troubling medically.
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I wonder why they would get this guy to blue shirt when they are talking to a 2* QB from Hawaii. I thought he was supposed to be a stud.
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My understanding is UGA want’s an early enrollee on the roster for spring in case anything happens with one of the QB’s on scholarship. It gives the QB time to develop and be prepared if someone were to get injured. My understanding is Plumlee is also a baseball prospect and wanted to play baseball his senior year in HS. Thus we would not have a 3rd string QB on campus for spring getting reps. The blueshirt is a way to still take Plumlee and bring in the kid from Hawaii when we are up against it numbers wise on scholarship. Would love to see both QB’s come as we are razor thin at the position from a depth perspective.
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You pretty much nailed it. If Plumlee wasn’t a baseball prospect and wanted to enroll early this wouldn’t be an issue.
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Why not get him some “short term” financial aid until the scholly kicks in. Wasn’t that the way Roquan came in by signing financialai d papers with UGA?
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No, R didn’t want to sign the NLI. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Thanks. Good explanation.
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Agreed – good explanation. But one more question: why offer the blueshirt to an out-of-state kid if you still truly want the kid and are not trying to send a message? Since position matters not toward roster numbers, Why not give the blueshirt offer to a GA-resident kid so that summer tuition would be far less for the parents? (Yes, I am a Dad currently paying out-of-state tuition, so it’s a topical topic…)
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I’m pretty shirt I’ve heard the term “blueshirt” as a sort of British political slur somewhere…
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I can’t wait until they run out of colors and have to use “plaidshirts” or “paisleyshirts” to describe some scholarship chicanery.
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Chartreuseshirt.
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Best color worm for fishing! Lol
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He’s a great dual threat QB.
I hope we can hang on to him.
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Gus has probably already dispatched a bag man.
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Red Shirt,
Blue Shirt,
Grey Shirt,
________?
We need another color shirt to have a good Dr. Seuss book title. Whaddaya got? Maybe green shirt for all the money involved? 🙂
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It’s gotta rhyme. I suggest “Poo Shirt” for the kids that get treated like crap.
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The term Greenshirt is already used to denote early enrollees.
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He won’t agree to greenshirt, so we offered him a blueshirt, thankfully not a greyshirt, because we believe he will redshirt and we’ll use our non-scholly 3rd stringer if the worst case scenario happens.
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Once in Athens, he could take the R.E.M. option…
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spits on ground
You can’t blue shirt a blue shirter
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Did we really wait this late to pull this? Damn.
Better stop choking away championships if we want to keep having a waiting line of 4 and 5 stars like this. Bama is the only program that can do it year after year because they win titles.
Bold move, Cotton….
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