I think everyone has seen that iconic picture of Nick Chubb prepping for the 100-meter dash as a high school senior, but did you know who almost beat him in the race?
Hey, you beat Chubb in anything, you’re entitled to make a little smack talk.
Daily Archives: March 29, 2019
It’s a small world.
Filed under Georgia Football
Makin’ havoc
So Kirby Smart said this:
Is that really a thing?
Recall Bill Connelly’s definition of havoc rate: Havoc rate is calculated by tallying the total number of tackles for loss, passes defensed (interceptions and breakups), and forced fumbles and dividing it by total plays.
Bill also separately tracks havoc rate for the front seven and for the defensive backfield. Here’s what all of that looked like for the top seventeen teams in defensive S&P+ last season.
That’s a pretty good snapshot of Georgia’s 2018 defensive identity — great on limiting big plays, not so much on the havoc front, especially in the defensive backfield. The Dawgs only intercepted eight passes last year, a number that was 95th nationally. Coincidentally, 95th is also where the team finished in tackles for loss.
Clearly, when it comes to havoc rate, this was not a dynamic defense in 2018. Kirby seems intent on changing that, so the question is, if there are schematic elements to increasing havoc, what are they and how much do they risk negatively impacting defending explosive plays?
I’m not sure how far this goes. Alabama was far better than Georgia was last year when it came to front seven havoc, but ‘Bama had Quinnen Williams and Georgia… didn’t. That’s why I think this may hint at a more significant development for enhancing havoc:
Coincidence that Smith and Johnson are getting early spring buzz? I think not.
Filed under Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
A rock in Waco has just been turned over.
Who knows what’s going to crawl out?
A federal judge in Texas ruled Thursday that a law firm must turn over thousands of records that lawyers believe will give a fuller accounting of how Baylor University responded to sexual assault allegations made by students.
Judge Robert Pitman said in his order that Philadelphia-based Pepper Hamilton must produce all materials related to its internal review that resulted in a 2016 summary report finding an “institutional failure at every level.”
The firm “must produce all materials” in its control that Baylor either has not produced or doesn’t possess, Pitman determined. He swept aside several objections that Pepper Hamilton had lodged, including that the federal court in Waco, home to the university, did not have jurisdiction in the matter. He ordered that the materials be provided by April 11.
I have no idea myself, but hope it puts Ken Starr in the worst possible light.
Living in an over the table world
Andy Staples ponders a world where Mark Walker’s bill becomes a reality.
First, we have to figure out what players would move the meter enough to justify a national advertising campaign. That list is incredibly short. The highest Q score of any college athlete at the moment belongs to Duke basketball player Zion Williamson, and no one else is even in the same zip code. Williamson raised the profile of an entire sport. There hasn’t been a college basketball player like this in decades. (LeBron James would have been like this had he been forced to go to college.) The only football players of recent vintage who compare are Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton and Tim Tebow. They were more phenomena than people as college athletes, and companies would have fallen all over themselves to hire them as pitchmen.
But, as you can see by that short list of names, that’s rare. The only two college football players at the moment who have the name and face recognition to command a national ad campaign are Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Tagovailoa probably would be courted by a variety of companies, and his ideal match would be something like the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, which could use Tagovailoa to promote tourism for his home state. Lawrence, who didn’t become the starter at Clemson until late September, would be the subject of a bidding war between Pert Plus and Pantene.
Locally, you’d see a lot of players getting paid much smaller amounts. Stars on football teams in SEC and Big Ten markets would be signing the aforementioned autographs, and local stores and restaurants might slide players a few bucks to appear in local TV and radio spots. Car dealerships might work trades instead of paying cash. Let’s say this had been within NCAA rules when Tebow was playing. To get an awkward commercial that features him saying “I got my new Ridgeline at Honda of Gainesville,” the dealership might only need to offer a free lease for the remainder of the college career. When the player returns to the car at the end of the lease, the dealership could then sell the vehicle. It would be a very small cash outlay for the dealership that would support the local team and a key player.
The point I think Dan was trying to get me to make with this question is the dollar figures would not be nearly as big as most people think they would. Even very good players would still be in the five-figure range. Only a select few would command big money. In that way, the money would be similar to the amounts of cash that change hands under the table in college football, only the money would go to the player instead of some shady middleman who may or may not pass along the money to the player.
I’m struggling to understand why that would be an apocalyptic outcome for some of you. Enlighten me as to what I’m missing.
Filed under It's Just Bidness, The NCAA
Get The Picture 
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