I got a wry chuckle out of this.
“There are a lot of kids in the 2021 class who are already fed up with it,” Smart said Thursday on the Paul Finebaum Show. “Because when you think about it, Paul, the recruiting has ramped up because we’re not really spending any time with our players because they’re not on campus. You talk to a 2021 prospect right now, he’s averaging about 10 to 15 calls a day and he’s about fed up with it. So a lot of those kids are going to make their decisions maybe a little sooner than anticipated.”
Sure, I can see some recruits make a commitment to get the phone calling to stop, or at least slow, but I wonder if a few recruits simply walk away from coaches who are too intense chasing them.
Filed under Recruiting
I couldn’t agree more with Andy Staples ($$) on whether there’s going to be some sort of 2020 college football season when he writes,
… a school year without a football season would wreak all manner of havoc. Departments have spent decades trying to spend every penny they make (so they don’t have to give more to the players or any to Uncle Sam), and most aren’t equipped to handle a year with no football season ticket revenue, no football booster donations and no football TV money.
Employees would get furloughed — or outright laid off — and sports would get cut. Some of those non-revenue sports wouldn’t come back. Football would come back, but not without considerable damage to each athletic department and a constriction in the number of available jobs.
Because of this, the people who run college sports will do everything within their power to get this season played. If it means moving the season to start in October, November, December or January, they’ll do it. If it isn’t safe at any point between now and next April to have huge crowds gather, they’ll play in front of no fans to get the TV money. That still would require massive budget cuts, but it probably would at least keep Power 5 programs afloat. They would have to find a way to play a season between September and the end of April 2021. The economic model they’ve created simply cannot function without a football season.
It’s the world they’ve made and they don’t know another way.
Which is why we’re bound to see all sorts of suggestions to reboot the season, including plenty that would never see the light of day, or at least polite conversation, if we were still in normal times.
Here’s a sampler:
In this scenario, the student-athletes — only if cleared by health and safety officials — would be allowed on campus to take online classes and, yes, compete in athletics. They could be tested daily to guarantee they don’t have the virus (if we’re still at that point) and would play their games in empty stadiums.
“We’ve actually had discussions about this possibility,” a Power Five AD said.
It’s a war, doncha know?
On the broader financial picture, McMillen said: “Folks are torn between the mission of college sports — providing as many broad-based opportunities to participate as possible — and the business side, relative to making budgets balance. Some of them are saying, ‘Sixteen sports — can’t we have a break on that for a while?’ Everything is dependent on football.”
There are always casualties in a war.
Filed under College Football, It's Just Bidness
Here’s something Smart told Finebaum yesterday:
Overcoming the current situation…
“It’s not overcoming as much as it is making the best out of it you can. We’re trying to visit with more staffs, it’s been really unique because professional development is a big part of football so you want to see what other people are doing and visit with other people. I’ve actually found that we’ve had it wrong all along. We were flying to go see USC or we would go visit another program whether it be Miami … and learn football and learn what they’re doing. Well now, we’re able to visit everybody just by way of Zoom. We’ve probably averaged 3-4 NFL teams, a couple colleges per day just going in the afternoons after we do the work that we need to do. That’s been unique for me and I’m able to sit in because I’ve got a laptop, I’ve got a phone, you can be in the 2-3 different Zooms at once kinda watching what’s going on.”
That’s what going stir crazy will do for a guy. As for what he’s been able to glean from Zooming,
What UGA picks up from other programs and organizations…
“Well, how do you get more explosive plays? How do you have more tackles for a loss? Some teams lead the country in turnovers, maybe they did it a unique way. Maybe they got a little more out of it than maybe we did. So we’re just trying to get one little bit of knowledge out of somebody… and we share. We did some good things this year so you have to share ideas and you give and take. As long as you’re taking more than you’re giving, you’re usually coming out on the upward end of that. We visited with some scouting departments in the NFL just for criteria. What are they looking for? How do they evaluate? Because the minute you think you’ve got it figured out, you’re probably going to get passed by. So we’re always looking for a little bit of an edge.”
Always be coachin’.
Filed under Georgia Football
“UF will need to continue their wait for 5-star RB Zachary Evans” is the new “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead!” Discuss.
Filed under Gators, Gators...
Really, I find Nick Saban’s take on what would be most beneficial in terms of getting college players ready for football in a truncated offseason interesting.
Alabama coach Nick Saban doesn’t believe extending preseason camp for college football teams around the country is necessarily the best way to get them ready for the season.
Saban said Thursday that he would prefer some “teaching sessions on the field” over the summer to prepare for camp, even if it is in shorts and T-shirts. The coronavirus pandemic led to the cancellation of spring sports, including football practices, across the nation.
Saban isn’t sold on the idea of extending preseason camp.
“If you look at statistics historically on concussions, injuries the most concentrated time that you practice and not play is in fall camp,” Saban said on a conference call with reporters. “You have more practices, you have to spend more time on the field. So I don’t know that increasing that is going to be beneficial in getting people ready to play.
“I think if you could do simulated training programs in the summertime that wouldn’t involve that much contact, or even any contact, that would be just as beneficial at that point.”
Sure beats yesterday’s “hey, let’s use college players as lab rats to see if we can start making money sooner” approach.
Filed under Nick Saban Rules, The Body Is A Temple
One of the interesting aspects of evaluating Jamie Newman’s transition from Wake Forest to Georgia is trying to figure out whether the net rise in talent level between the schools for which he’s suited up outweighs that of the competition he’s facing.
Here’s one element to factor in.
Honestly, in that regard, Wake wasn’t too bad allowing 23 sacks in 2019, ranking fourth in the conference. (How much of that could be chalked up to Newman’s mobility?) Still, by comparison, Georgia was 5th nationally in sacks allowed per game, while Wake was 44th. He’s clearly getting a boost, protection-wise.
Filed under ACC Football, Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
You know, for a smart guy, Mike Leach sure does step in it a lot.
The Mississippi State football coach posts a photo with a funny caption more days than not. He said one of his favorites was a picture of a fenced field with a sign on it that said, “Do not cross this field unless you can do it in 9 seconds because the bull can do it in 10.”
Wednesday night’s meme was not as universally amusing.
The picture depicted an elderly woman with knitting sticks in her hands. The caption said, “After 2 weeks of quarantine with her husband, Gertrude decided to knit him a scarf..”
The lady was not knitting a scarf, but rather a noose. The hangman’s knot was already tied. Multiple Mississippi State football players and a Mississippi State University professor took exception to the tweet, which has been deleted from Leach’s account.
Senior linebacker Erroll Thompson, who was a captain on last year’s team, retweeted the original post with a hand-on-the-chin, eyebrow-raised thinking emoji. Defensive lineman Fabien Lovett responded to the tweet with “Wtf.” Senior defensive end Kobe Jones responded to Lovett with “Facts. He tripping.” with a hand-on-the-face ashamed emoji.
Yeah, not exactly the team-building exercise you want there.
Think Junior will make any hay with this on the recruiting trail?
Filed under General Idiocy, Mike Leach. Yar!
Get The Picture 