Alex, what is Todd Monken’s 2020 salary?
More than Coley’s, but less than Jim Chaney was making. (If I’m not mistaken, Monken is still receiving something from the Browns after being canned.)
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UPDATE: And check this out.
A pay cut to come to Athens. For now, anyway.
Filed under Georgia Football
Once again, amateurism is nothing more than what the NCAA says it is.
On the policy front, the NCAA Div. 1 council approved legislation that will allow athletes designated as elite by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and corresponding national governing bodies in other countries to receive additional training expenses, including travel for parents, guardians, coaches and sports experts.
That sound you hear is romantics everywhere clutching their pearls. This will kill college sports, amirite?
Nah, just kidding. Like every other NCAA retreat on player compensation, this one won’t make a dent in public perception. Too bad football isn’t an Olympic event.
Filed under The NCAA
While I don’t think it’s as high-profile as his change of offensive coordinators, here’s another modification of Kirby Smart’s approach to offense that’s significant.
There aren’t as many empty seats in Georgia’s quarterback meeting room as there have been in the past and that’s a very good thing.
When Kirby Smart arrived at Georgia in 2016, he acted quickly and secured the signature of Jacob Eason, giving him three quarterbacks to start his first season as a head coach. The following season, UGA added Jake Fromm in the 2017 class to join Eason and Smart was able to convince Brice Ramsey to stick around after he considered transferring for his final year of eligibility.
When 2018 rolled around, Ramsey was out of eligibility and Stetson Bennett IV, who was offered a scholarship to stay, transferred to Jones County Community College (Ellisville, Miss.). Justin Fields joined the program in January of that year and it gave the Bulldogs just two scholarship signal callers on the roster.
Fields transferred to Ohio State a year later but Smart, once again, didn’t waste any time. He brought Bennett back on scholarship as a redshirt sophomore and flipped D’Wan Mathis from Ohio State to give the Bulldogs three quarterbacks on scholarship.
Now, in January of 2020, Smart has more quarterbacks than he ever has before and he’s clearly hoping to keep that number as high as possible. Fromm left early for the 2020 NFL Draft but the Bulldogs brought on Wake Forest graduate transfer Jamie Newman, the clear favorite to win the starting job, and signed four-star triggerman Carson Beck out of Mandarin High School (Jacksonville, Fla.) [Emphasis added.]
I tend to agree with Rowe’s assessment there. I don’t think Kirby was comfortable with his depth situation at the position last season and, given Newman’s ability to run the ball, it wouldn’t be sensible to play things that close to the vest this season, especially with Mathis’ health remaining in question.
Given transfer trends at the position, that’s likely another reason to carry more depth, but it also puts additional pressure on a staff to run a scheme that’s relatively easy for a college quarterback to master. We’ll see how good Monken is in that regard sooner rather than later, I suspect.
Filed under Georgia Football
Seth Emerson ($$), in the header quote, is referring to Georgia’s cornerbacks for 2020, but to be honest, that line could be applied to every defensive group with the possible exception of free safety.
It’s truly an embarrassment of riches. It’s also the reason the Dawgs should be favored to win the East again.
Filed under Georgia Football
This piece isn’t really much from an Xs-and-Os perspective, but if you want to get a little feel for Jamie Newman’s physical attributes and his ability to work in pressure situations, there’s some stuff worth looking at.
Though I’m not sure how much I buy into this:
Newman isn’t Fromm. Their games, strengths and weaknesses are different. If he’s asked to run the same offense Georgia ran last season, the Dawgs will be setting Newman up for failure.
I don’t know how anyone can safely predict what Georgia’s offensive scheme for 2020 will look like, but Newman’s said he wanted to play in a pro-style attack this season to prepare him better for the NFL. My uneducated guess is that whatever Monken constructs, it’ll look more like Georgia’s 2019 offense than Wake’s.
Filed under Georgia Football
So, Boise State went and did it.
Boise State University has filed a legal complaint against the Mountain West Conference over the new TV contract announced earlier this month.
Boise State claims that the Mountain West breached its contract with the school and “violated, nullified and significantly impaired Boise’s State’s rights” by signing the deal without the Broncos’ approval. The complaint also says that the conference has decided to put an end to two benefits the school negotiated as part of its 2012 deal to stay in the Mountain West, including a $1.8 million annual bonus.
Dan Wolken speculates that the AAC, seeing an opportunity here, may be mulling over a decision to extend an invitation to the Broncos to join that mid-major conference, partly in hopes, I assume, of strengthening its own brand. I have no idea whether he’s right or wrong about that, but I have to say it smacks of some of the same brilliant reasoning that brought geographic outliers like Missouri and Rutgers to their respective conferences.
Of course, this move, were it to become a reality, would dwarf those distances, as the AAC would stretch almost across the entire country. And for what? If these schools were the television draw they’d like to insist they are, they’d be pursued by bigger fish than another mid-major conference.
The other unanswered question is what’s in it for Boise State, other than the enjoyment of taking your ball and going home. It’s unlikely the AAC would give the Broncos preferential treatment when it comes to sharing broadcast revenue. There are also AAC programs which possess name recognition similar to BSU’s, so there goes the big fish in the small pond flavor Boise currently enjoys.
Most likely, this is little more than legal maneuvering over money, just like the big boys play it. It’s only the size of the pot that’s different. College football these days — what are you gonna do?
Filed under It's Not Easy Being A Mid-Major, It's Just Bidness
I’ve noticed a fair amount of chatter suggesting we might ought to be a little concerned about Jamie Newman’s 2019 stats, considering that he had a couple of good wide receivers to work with.
Might I suggest something of a talent rebuttal to that?
Between that, George Pickens and the tandem of running backs he’ll have available to hand off the ball, I suspect Newman’s pretty happy with the change of scenery. What do you think?
Filed under Georgia Football
Like it or not, this story does not paint a pretty picture. That being said, this particular premise seems to be doing a lot of heavy lifting:
Herzog’s research shows U.S. bulldog registration remaining flat for decades and then climbing slowly but steadily from 1986 onward, from a little shy of 7,000 dogs registered to a little more than 20,000 by 2005. A rise like that suggests sustained cultural exposure to the bulldog. “It’s certainly possible,” Herzog says, that college football games on cable provided that exposure and led to the increase in popularity — and in turn the bulldogs’ health problems.
Certainly possible? Well, I’m convinced.
Filed under Georgia Football
In case you were wondering if Gus Malzahn was really going to make that U-turn…
No doubt that will last until Gus needs another scapegoat for a lack of offensive production.
Filed under Auburn's Cast of Thousands
Get The Picture 