A revealing quote from Mr. Kirby Smart ($$):
“I don’t know this for certain — but I don’t think a lot of teams do the evaluation process as deep as others,” Smart said. “Some people fall in love with a player because of a play and they just go recruit him, but we don’t do that here. We watch a lot of tape. I’m on my coaches all the time that the tape and the camp is what speaks volumes to who they are. Trust your evaluation and we worry about the ones we get and not the ones we don’t. It’s helped us.”
And roster tweaks the NCAA is proposing to bail out coaches who don’t do their recruiting due diligence like the Smarts and Sabans do, like the temporary expansion of the 2022 recruiting class, are going to be of more benefit as a weapon for the evaluators than a crutch for the ones who don’t put the work in.
You can’t game slack.
Get The Picture 
It’s kinda like everything, the proposed “help” will help everyone, in an exponential manner. It won’t hurt the coaches who recruit better than everyone else. That’s what the Sideshow Dan the Clowns of the world would want, but it’s awfully difficult to make specific rules that hurt the coaches that outwork everyone else in recruiting without hurting everyone else who don’t.
So the rule helps everyone, and yeah, Cousin Eddie and those like him will get some relief from it, but the coaches like Saban and Kirby and Lane Train who are willing to give up their lake time to work harder than everyone else will benefit even more.
Many people continue to try to find one, but there will never be a substitute for hard work.
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Absolutely gotdam right, Corch. I admire Kirby’s diligence.
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Nice to see him take a little credit for evaluating and developing:
Couple of examples:
McConkey according to 247:
As a Prospect
247SPORTS COMPOSITE®
0.8485
NATL.
1161 – was his over-all rank
History
WR
169 – ranked
GA
121 – ranked in the state of Georgia
Eric Stokes according to 247:
As a Prospect
247SPORTS COMPOSITE®
0.8578
NATL.
668 – overall rank
History
CB
63 – position rank
GA
65 – in the state of Georgia
#1 draft choice – starting for the Green Bay Packers and they love him.
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What was Jordan Davis’s recruiting rankings? I know he was not highly ranked as a prospect and the coaches, combined with the player’s effort, created a first rounder.
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3*, 424 National, 29 DT
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Thanks. Another “development ” success.
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I’m glad he’s on our side.
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I trust this staff to get player evaluations right a whole lot more than they miss.
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And if they miss, Brenton Cox, they move on quickly.
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A miss like Cox is often hard to predict. Most of these 5* players are super confident bordering on cocky since they have enjoyed success throughout their career. How they handle not starting or other difficulties is unknown until it happens. When someone like Cox doesn’t respond well, they are recruited over and now they can hit the portal.
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Those being evaluated also have to buy what CKS is selling, a miss is to be anticipated from cycle to cycle…will still wonder how many recruits go to university of the best education or the best HC (taking future employment opportunities into consideration)…
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So true. What must be going through Clemson’s QB’s head this week?
he has never failed at anything football-related. Even if not his fault, he’s at the wheel of a very proud institution’s pride and joy sitting upside down in the ditch.
They probably have a whole team of sports psychologists following him home at night.
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I remember quotes from Miami when they went down hill that the coaches just used the star ratings and didn’t bother with watching tape etc. They relied completely on recruiting web sites. It is easier that way… Anyone who questions Smart being the coach at UGA should have their fan card pulled. He’s not perfect, but he’s as close as just about anyone gets to it.
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This is the main thing with Kirby you won’t out work him^^^^^.
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Also about Miami, I remember reading in the 80’s that they recruited speed on defense, then Miami being Miami they juiced them up to size. So, they were already fast and the steroids made them mean and angry; the Miami recipe.
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Richt brought that with him to Athens. So many highly rated guys, dream team stuff, but soooo much attrition with guys that never made it on campus, criminals, and bad character/work ethics. I love CMR, but this is a fact.
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BLUF is that Kirby is among the 4-5 best coaches in the game. It’s probably closer to 2-3 best. I remember a post a couple weeks ago and there were some doubters who stated that if we don’t get to a NC game soon he should legitimately be replaced because of it. Someone else came back and said….”Who are you gonna go get?”
And, when you really start to consider who could be found, you quickly come to the realization that there just isn’t anyone of his caliber to be had. I don’t see any of the 4-5 top tier schools letting their coaches go anytime soon.
There truly is no better coach for the Georgia job. None!
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Love his approach.
Back when I took NCAA12 far too seriously, I was in a competitive league. I used Vandy. I won a natty with a bunch of 2 and 3* recruits.. because I downloaded the full spreadsheets of their ability scores, and located the ones who had out-sized abilities that didn’t show up in the recruiting analysis on the game (basically akin to highlight reels and star ratings).
I found a RB who was a 3* with something like 96 break tackle, 93 trucking stats – but only like 86 speed.
The Ohio States and Georgias and everyone else in the league didn’t need or want that little three star.
He won the Heisman and a national title. You don’t have to outrun guys who can’t tackle you.
Kirby and his squad go DEEP on players… I love it.
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That’s some solid Al Bundy “I scored four 4 TD’s in one game” talk right there.
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Nah, if I wanted to do that I’d talk about my days blocking punts on UGA’s scout team. 😉
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