Newcomer Dawg porn

A few noteworthy observations from Jake Rowe’s updated offensive depth chart projections:

• “We’ve already heard a little positive buzz about McIntosh, who is silky smooth in the passing game and especially for a 6-foot, 220-pound back.”
• “Holding off Pickens, however, won’t be easy. The former five-star prospect is another player who has created some buzz in his short time on campus and he’s going to get opportunities early on in the year to show what he can do.”
• “Based on what we heard over the weekend, Cager is going to be able to help this team and maybe a lot. The former Miami wide receiver is a really smooth athlete with a ton of experience under his belt.”
• “We’re sticking with our May projection here but keep an eye on Blaylock as the year goes on. Robertson and Jackson are extremely talented players and will factor prominently into the offense, but based on what we’ve heard about Blaylock thus far, he has the goods. A lightning quick athlete who plays the game the right way, Blaylock has impressed those who’ve interacted with him with his maturity and focus. He’s going to get better with more reps.”

I’m feeling a little lightheaded now.  If you don’t mind excusing me…

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Can’t get no respect.

Man, if you can’t use this to motivate your team…

Bovada’s current national futures odds have Kentucky at 750-1 to win the playoff. Yes, it’s a bit far-fetched to believe Kentucky is far enough along as a program to seriously contend for a national championship while playing in the SEC.

But here are some of the teams (with 2018 records) that Bovada’s odds have as more likely than Kentucky to do it in 2019:

• Kansas (3-9)
• Louisville (2-10)
• New Mexico (3-9)
• Northern Illinois (8-6)
• Tulsa (3-9)

Kentucky hosts Louisville on 11/30.  I doubt either team’s national title hopes will be riding on that game, but still…

Steele’s SEC bowl projections

Still waiting on the preview mag, but stuff is already dribbling out like this:

It always feels like Christmas when the @philsteele042 preseason magazine finally hits newsstands.

Here are his bowl game projections for the 2019 season including 10 teams from the SEC making the postseason.

Tell us what you think & grab a copy! pic.twitter.com/qzCqUyb9YR

— Saturday Down South (@SDS) June 17, 2019

Tennessee becoming bowl eligible is a bit of a bummer, but Florida in Memphis for the holidays?  Man, Dan Mullen’s genius rep would take a hit over that one.

Lessons learned… from MSU?

Several of us noted that Clemson appeared to take a few plays out of Georgia’s offensive playbook from the SECCG in routing Alabama for the national title.  Ian Boyd writes that the Tigers may have done much the same with regard to how Mississippi State defensed Tua and the Tide’s offense during their regular season meeting.

His conclusion —

Alabama embraced the RPO spread offense as a best practice for doing what they’ve always wanted to do, run the dang ball. They tried to dabble with the spread in hopes it would allow them to maintain their formula, but in reality it’s steadily pushing the game in the very direction Saban has been trying to avoid.

— is interesting to me in that, by most accounts, in bringing Sarkisian back to run the offense, Saban wants to get away from over-reliance on the RPO spread offense and back towards more of a pro-style approach.  The question for me is whether that move is best suited for Tagovailoa’s skill set.  Given that Alabama’s receiving corps is ridiculously talented, I may be overthinking that.  But, nevertheless, I am curious.

Summer of George

Gawd help me, but I have to say the Gator message boards have become more entertaining than StingTalk.  Which is really saying something, when you think about it.

Take this thread posted in response to CBS ranking Kirby higher than Mullen in a list of SEC coaches.  You’ve actually got people making inspired arguments that recruiting is an overrated aspect of college coaching.

I just feel like Kirby’s getting the benefit of the doubt because his roster is SO stacked that there’s no reason he shouldn’t be in position to keep having his team right there in the thick of the playoff hunt. Maybe he continually proves that he’s an inept in-game coach and never actually ends up breaking through. With Mullen, I think you still wonder a little bit more exactly how much more he has to do to get UF back in the playoff hunt so he has the same shot to break through that Kirby has.

It’s like a bizarro Dawg Vent from a couple of decades ago.  They’ve become what they once (rightfully) mocked.

Welcome to the club

I wanted to highlight a couple of comments from whb209 that you may not have seen, regarding an experience with his Georgia-Florida tickets.

Here’s the first:

A strange call from the UGa ticket office last Friday. They asked if I would like
to exchange 4 of my tickets to the GA-Fl game for 4 Club level seats. Has the game lost interest or are people and Corps. just not buying the expensive
Club level tickets (maybe the same thing). When the Gator bowl was repaired in 1996 (I think that was the year), I was in the Club level for 2 years and was then kicked out because I would not pay a dumbass amount to remain in club seats and now they are calling me asking if I would please go back to that level without an increase in payment.. Interesting…

And, in response to a question for me about why they reached out like that, the second:

I called the ticket office and they called me back today (6/14/19). This was there statement: We have cut the number of Club tickets to each person or corp. from 8 to 4. This gives more Club tickets that can go to a greater number of people, therefore if you have 60,000+ points you are given the opportunity to purchase 4 Club tickets for $40.00 per ticket when you exchange 4 of your off club tickets. The total number of tickets (club + off club) is set at 8. Only 4 maybe on club.

I have a hard time believing this is exactly true because I am sure that a few individuals and a few Corps. have paid a shit load of money and they will not be bothered by this new 4 Club limit. This is still what they told me and it is all I know about the new GA-FL Club seat deal.

My reaction to that is it seems to run counter to what they did when Georgia went to Notre Dame and the Magill Society folks were allowed to load up on tickets.  So I found it interesting to see this Q&A in yesterday’s Bill King column.

My wife and I have been contributors to the Hartman Fund since we returned to Georgia in 1987. … Our seats have gone from the attic to the lower club end zone, which we prefer. In 2018, we suffered a double shafting, the IRS changed the rules on deductions for college teams from 80% to 0, and UGA implemented UGA Magill Society privileges. At Georgia-Florida we went from eight seats together in club in 2017 to eight in club two by two, behind each other, in 2018, to only allowed four in club and four elsewhere. Parking went from near the stadium to a location … far away. We are a middle-income family living on our retirement here in Athens and the one real pleasure outside of our kids and grandkids is being slowly eroded.

— Armand L. Chapeau

I’ve heard quite a few stories like yours concerning game parking and Florida tickets. I also know it’s the big donors who largely fund Georgia’s participation in the facility arms race, so I understand the emphasis on attracting and keeping them. Still, I hope UGA’s athletics brain trust doesn’t wait until attendance starts falling before they begin thinking more about the average fan.

My first impression is that it sounds like Butts-Mehre is trying to clear space to let newer Magill Society contributors gain access to club level seating for the Cocktail Party, but whb209 doesn’t sound like somebody who’s making a MS contribution — which makes the offer to him a bit curious.  I’m sure it’s got something to do with the money, because that’s how Butts-Mehre rolls these days.  Anybody out there have a clue what’s going on here?

When Irish eyes are leaving

Man, Notre Dame’s got a few key bodies to replace this season.

The Irish have some big shoes to fill when it comes to the offensive skill positions. Leading rusher Dexter Williams is no longer around after falling just short of 1,000 yards a year ago. He averaged 6.3 yards per carry and scored 12 touchdowns.

Notre Dame also has to replace two of its top four pass catchers from a season ago, a problem UGA is familiar with. The team’s leading receiver, Miles Boykin, was taken in the third round by the Baltimore Ravens and showed the NFL Combine that he’s a tremendous talent at 6-foot-4 220 pounds. Athletic tight end Alize Jones is also gone.

The Fighting Irish return four starters on the offensive line from a year ago. Last year’s right guard, Trevor Ruhland, will likely move over to center to replace Sam Mustipher.

There are also some major losses on the defensive side, where Notre Dame loses two of its most active linebackers, it’s best cornerback, and its best defensive tackle.

Te’Von Coney was the Irish’s leading tackler in 2018 with 123 stops. He also had 9.5 tackles for a loss and was one of the unit’s biggest leaders. Drue Tranquill, the team’s third-leading tackler, was also a key performer. He had an interception against Georgia in 2017 and racked up 86 stops in his final season with the program. He was taken in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Chargers.

Cornerback Julian Love, who was a finalist for the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award, elected to forego his senior season and enter the NFL Draft after a strong junior campaign. He was taken in the fourth round of the draft by New York where he’ll join Georgia cornerback Deandre Baker, the winner of the Jim Thorpe Award and first-round pick.’

Maybe Notre Dame’s biggest loss on either side of the ball, however, is defensive tackle Jerry Tillery. The Los Angeles Chargers took him with the No. 28 overall pick in the draft and the 6-foot-6 295-pound defender was almost unblockable in his final college season. He had 30 total tackles, 10.5 tackles for a loss, eight sacks, five quarterback hurries, and three forced fumbles while consistently fighting double-team blocks.

Notre Dame also has to replace punter Tyler Newsome and place-kicker Justin Yoon.

Ian Book is back at quarterback, and so is most of his o-line, so it’s not all gloom and doom for the Irish.  But that’s a lot of talent gone, at almost every level.

“Coach, that’s entrapment.”

What do you wanna bet that Kliff Kingsbury wasn’t the only college head coach who’s done this?

New Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury made a lot of eyes roll when it was revealed this spring that he plans on giving his players regular “cell phone breaks” so they check in with family and friends or scour their favorite social media sites.

It’s something he allowed back in college when he was the head coach at Texas Tech and he said it not only helped break up the monotony of team meetings, it served as a way to improve his players’ attention.

Well, maybe there’s a secret reason why he’s letting his NFL players have the same privilege.

During an August 2016 appearance on “The HawkCast” podcast with then-Atlanta Falcons linebacker A.J. Hawk, Kingsbury openly revealed he and his Texas Tech coaches would set up fake social media accounts using “cute girls” as avatars to spy on their players.

That’s right, spy.

“We have fake accounts with cute girls that they add right now so we can see what’s going on, who’s tweeting what,” Kingsbury said at the time. “Those are heavily monitored, for sure.”

… When asked if he thought his players at Texas Tech might have been aware of the spying, Kingsbury told Hawk, “I think they do, but they can’t resist that. Friend requests from cute girls are an automatic follow.”

As the saying goes, it’s undefeated.

Musical palate cleanser, and there was much rejoicing edition

Look who’s back.

“Roots music visionary” (Rolling Stone) Delbert McClinton returns with a swaggering and swingin’ new album, Tall, Dark & Handsome, on July 26 via Hot Shot Records/Thirty Tigers. Featuring 14 new, original new songs – all written or co-written by Delbert the album dives deep into the blues, Americana and beyond, bursting with horns, fiddle, accordion, blazing guitar work, back-up singers and McClinton’s charismatic rasp, proving Lyle Lovett’s claim that “if we could all sing like we want to, we’d all sound like Delbert McClinton.”

Honestly, I’ve lost count of how many albums that makes for him… not that it matters.  And how ’bout this as a resume?

With over 60 years of recording and touring to his credit, McClinton is a true musical zelig: he toured with the Beatles, backed Bo Diddley and Howlin’ Wolf, helped to inspire The Blues Brothers, and performed everywhere from SNL to Austin City Limits (both multiple times) along the way.

There are two pre-release singles, so here you go to start your Monday morning: