This has been one of them.
Filed under Transfers Are For Coaches.
Patrick Garbin takes a look back at Georgia’s recruiting under Richt and Smart. He breaks their work into five separate parts.
Period 1) In 2002, Georgia’s class ranked No. 3 in the country, but dropped each ensuing year, closing at No. 10 in 2005.
Period 2) The Bulldogs rebounded in 2006 with a team recruiting ranking of No. 4, and averaged over the four-year period a ranking of No. 6½.
Period 3) Over the last two decades, the low point in Georgia recruiting as the Bulldogs finished No. 12 or lower in three of four years from 2010-2013.
Period 4) A resurgence, of sorts, in recruiting as Georgia ranked No. 7, No. 6, and No. 9, respectively, from 2014-2016.
And Period 5) The last three years, with unprecedented success in recruiting at Georgia, finishing ranked No. 3 in 2017 and No. 1 in both 2018 and 2019.
That explains some of the way Richt’s career developed over time (and, to some extent, also contributes to Kirby’s first season). That’s interesting, but it’s what he notes about the offensive line recruiting that really made me think.
Yet, what probably struck me the most while compiling the data emerged prior to when it was assembled into separate time periods—consistency or lack thereof—but when displayed on an annual basis. For example, whereas Georgia averaged 4.3 offensive line signees per year from 2002-2005, or what is about average for the program during the entire 18-year stretch, 13 of those were signed in 2002 and 2003, but only four offensive linemen were signed in 2004 and 2005 combined…
● For each of the first four periods, the average rating of Georgia’s offensive line signees was never higher than 5.75, and as low as 5.69 (twice), or a high-three star. Yet, the average rating of the position group for the latest period was a lofty 5.89, or a mid-four star.
● Finally, when looking at both tables simultaneously, a number of conclusions can be made. For me, one thing seems clear: For a period of seven years from 2010-2016, Georgia lacked in its recruitment of offensive linemen—regarding both the number signed at the position and their average ratings. However, since then, the Bulldogs have undoubtedly made it a priority to sign an ample number along their offensive front—and, overall, sign high-quality upper-tier offensive linemen at that.
It’s been a fairly common criticism to accuse Richt of benign neglect at the position, but the truth is that Georgia really was never that good at evaluating and attracting top talent at the position. As you can see from Patrick’s work, there was a time when Georgia was bringing in sufficient raw numbers. It never amounted to much, though.
Richt’s first mistake was giving Neal Callaway carte blanche and the results were pretty disastrous. But none of Callaway’s successors really distinguished themselves, either. Pittman represents the greatest position coach upgrade at Georgia that I can recall.
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
Brent Key claims he’s going to have an easier time recruiting at Georgia Tech compared to what he had at Alabama.
No, really.
That is the sound of a man trying as hard to convince himself as he is everyone on the recruiting trail.
Filed under Georgia Tech Football, Recruiting
So he’s saying there’s a chance.
With speculation about USC coach Clay Helton’s job security already rampant, Leinart and Bush have already spoken of trying to persuade Meyer to take over if Helton is fired.
Did Meyer have any interest in nipping that in the bud or in opening the crack to the door?
“I learned my lesson long ago,” he said. “All I’m going to say is I believe I’m done (coaching). I think I’m done.”
At least he’s trying to avoid blowback. For now, anyway.
Filed under Urban Meyer Points and Stares
Then, Bowden told the story of how Florida State joined the ACC in the early 1990s instead of the SEC. Bowden’s reasoning was that Florida State would have had a tough time winning a national championship if it had to go through the SEC.
“I felt that it was too difficult to win through the SEC to win a national championship,” Bowden told Finebaum. “I felt like our best route would be to go through the ACC and that did prove out to be correct. I don’t know if we could have made it through the SEC.”
On Friday, tax returns for the five major college conferences were made public. The good news for Florida State is the ACC increased its distribution to member schools by nearly 11 percent from the prior year.
The bad news is that the ACC continues to lag well behind the Big Ten and SEC. What is somewhat surprising is how large the revenue gap has grown as of late. For the 2017-18 fiscal cycle, the SEC is outpacing the ACC by $14.2 million per school, and the gap was a whopping $24.5 million compared to the Big Ten.
In just three years, the difference between the ACC and SEC distributions has more than doubled from $6.5 million to $14.5 million per school…
As a result of these disparities, many of the schools that directly recruit against FSU are gaining a significant financial advantage. Nearby University of Florida and University Georgia, for instance, have racked up an extra $52 million each in distributions since the 2014-15 fiscal year. That was the first full year after FSU signed the long-term grant of rights agreement with the ACC.
These chilling numbers only add to mounting financial concerns that have plagued Seminole athletics as of late. For the last reported financial cycle, the athletics department reported a $3.6 million deficit and a similar deficit is expected for 2018-19.
Maybe you could sell a couple of trophies on eBay to tide you over.
Filed under ACC Football, Bobby Bowden: Over His Dead Body, SEC Football
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