I hate to admit it, but this is a good move by Dan Mullen.
Brewster’s a mediocre coach, but he can flat out recruit.
Daily Archives: February 6, 2020
“Constant movement, constant growth.”
So, we heard from Kirby yesterday, for the first time since he hired Todd Monken and watched James Coley leave for Texas A&M. What we got was an obvious series of questions and a polite dodge.
Kirby Smart stood at the podium late Wednesday morning in the Georgia football team meeting room for a signing day press conference.
It was the first time he met with the media since since the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans so that meant that recruiting certainly wasn‘t the only topic to come up.
The Bulldogs coach was asked about new offensive coordinator Todd Monken and the philosophy change that may come with him. Monken’s offenses at Oklahoma State and in the NFL with Tampa Bay piled up the passing yards.
“I can’t honestly say that right now,” Smart said. “I think everyone wants to hear some grand speech of opening this up and doing that. That’s not necessarily what you need. What you need is to be productive, score points, and do the explosive plays which we’ve talked about consistently.”
Monken replaced James Coley as offensive coordinator after one season. Coley was moved to assistant head coach but left after four seasons on staff to be tight ends coach at Texas A&M.
When Smart was asked about how different the offense will look under Monken, he pointed to the remaining opening on his coaching staff.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” he said. “I think the roles on our 2020 staff still aren’t complete with our assistant coach spot open. I think that will develop out as we go along. Certainly excited, I know the kids are excited for the opportunity but we’ll have to see where that goes.”
That wasn’t the question I wish had been asked, unfortunately. What I much would have rather heard was how much autonomy in the offensive design Smart intends to give Monken, in comparison to whatever restraints Coley was expected to operate within.
Yeah, we still probably wouldn’t have gotten a detailed answer, but I have a feeling the dodge would have been more informative. Oh, well.
Filed under Georgia Football
There’s still a gap.
Part of what Fulmer was crowing about in that clip in my last post was Tennessee cracking the top ten in the Sports247 Composite for 2020.
That’s nice, but not a complete picture. UT’s tenth overall is also seventh in the conference — and third in the division. It’s a tough neighborhood, Phil.
To put that in perspective, the Vols’ point total is closer to 30th-place Arkansas than it is to Georgia and the Urnge average point score is closer to Georgia Tech than it is to Georgia.
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange, Recruiting
TFW you’ve had November
Look who’s feeling salty.
Man, those one-point wins over Indiana are the stuff dreams are made of.
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange
If Larry Scott actually had a set…
It’s funny, but this exact same thought posted at The Banner Society crossed my mind when I read Jon Wilner’s piece about the Pac-12’s severe revenue gap with the SEC:
We got here because Larry Scott considers himself an innovator who sees non-traditional angles. And Scott should lean even harder into that now to give the conference an advantage greater than all that television money the SEC and Big Ten are about to soak up: The Pac-12 should reverse course and fully embrace California’s new name, image, and likeness law.
Let’s say Scott gets the schools on board and convinces the state governments of Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah to fast-track legislation mimicking California’s. The Pac-12 gets to put on its best forward-thinking face and proclaim they’re the conference that puts athletes first, the vanguard bold enough to abandon the old, unfair model of amateurism.
They also give their schools a powerful recruiting weapon the rest of the Power 5 won’t have: the promise of actual, legal money. Sure, indoor practice facilities and fancy dining halls are great. But they’re not money! Five of the 10 best players in California this recruiting cycle committed to schools outside the Pac-12. Doesn’t it seem more likely they’d stay in the conference given the chance to make money off themselves right away?
The best thing about this recruiting tool: it costs schools almost nothing. Yes, there will be some administrative oversight required to make sure players are staying within the bounds of California’s law, but the actual money these would get wouldn’t come from an athletic department budget. It takes the revenue gap the Pac-12 is staring down and gives schools an increased ability to compete with their SEC and Big Ten counterparts without forcing the conference to find new revenue.
As far as NCAA objections go, Ryan Nanni goes on to point out there’s a lot of intertwining that would be difficult to unwind quickly… or maybe even at all.
No, the NCAA’s not going to like it. But the Pac-12 should paint the Association into a corner. Eight Power 5 schools have a non-conference game with the Pac-12 in 2020. Many more will want to schedule Pac-12 teams in basketball. The men’s and women’s basketball tournaments regularly feature a regional played on the West Coast. The Rose Bowl insists they must play on New Year’s Day, even if that screws the Playoff schedule up, so imagine how they’ll react when you tell them they don’t get a Pac-12 participant. Six other bowls have a deal securing them a Pac-12 participant. And then there’s the fact that all of these games are tied to … lucrative TV contracts.
No, it’s not gonna happen, not because it wouldn’t work, but because Larry Scott isn’t the bold genius he’s convinced his school presidents he is. Too bad; as a strategy, it certainly beats selling a piece of your conference off to a hedge fund.
Filed under Pac-12 Football
Your Daily Gator is philosophical.
The Portal Master shares his approach to recruiting.
And sometimes you approach the way your staff recruits in the same way Mark Richt approached retaining Willie Martinez.
I’m totally cool with that, Dan. On you, it looks good.
Filed under Gators, Gators..., Recruiting
The unsung hero of Georgia’s 2020 recruiting class…
… has to be this guy.
When Sam Pittman left to become the head coach at Arkansas, many Georgia fans feared what his departure would mean for the status of the five offensive linemen who were committed to the program.
Thanks largely to new offensive line coach Matt Luke, they need not have worried.
With the exception of Florida four-star Joshua Braun, Kirby Smart was able to keep his impressive collection of offensive line recruits totally intact. Wednesday Georgia signed four-star Sedrick Van Pran, five-star Broderick Jones, and three-star Cameron Kinnie. It’s a group of signees that helped Georgia wrap up the nation’s top class in Rivals for the third straight year.
“Coach Luke is a big part of that energy. Getting him on staff fast was probably one of the critical roles to that transition. It wasn’t a long-time process where they had to sit on the unknown,” Smart said. “Two days, three days after Coach Pittman left kids, we had somebody new to meet, and we began to meet them before the middle dead period, the Christmas dead period. It was critical so that he could communicate with them throughout that period and keep a relationship. He’s got a lot of energy. He’s been a blessing for us. In addition, it helps me from a head coach standpoint. It did help a lot on the offensive line.”
It was only natural to be concerned about how the staff would hold together the kids Pittman obtained commitments from before his departure. Luke did a phenomenal job of that in a relatively short period of time. Hopefully, he can coach a little, too, but that’s good work in the meantime.
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
Another one of those recruiting stories
Don’t know all the details on this yet, but I expect the ending’s gonna be a little sad.
Either the kid is scamming, or had a scam pulled on him. As he apparently had a legit offer from another school, I tend to think it’s the latter, and if that’s the case and he’s lost it, I hope they find whoever pulled that and expose them for being a shit heel.
Filed under Recruiting
TFW you don’t want to make the effort
I can’t get over the contrast between this Randy Edsall quote about the transfer portal…
… and Kirby’s comment about Jamie Newman’s transfer.
“I know Jamie has been very mature about the process,” Smart said. “These grad transfers, No. 1 the fact that they graduated college, the fact he graduated from Wake Forest, these kids understand what they want. And they’re very driven in what they want. They’re really not into the whole recruiting process. So he handled it that way, and was very professional about it. We’re looking forward to putting him to work and letting him go out and compete this spring.”
I don’t know what’s sadder, Edsall’s mindless take on kids’ mindset, or that UConn is sold on a guy like Edsall as its head coach.
Filed under Randy Edsall Is A Dick, Transfers Are For Coaches.
Georgia’s recruiting is on a multi-year roll.
Just ask Bill Connelly.
Or Bruce Feldman.
Perhaps the most stunning recruiting stat I saw yesterday is this one:
Did you ever think you’d see a day when Georgia would sign as many California blue chippers as Southern Cal? I sure didn’t.
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
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