This is too, too rich.
Cry me a river, Jimbo.
Daily Archives: December 22, 2022
The hits just keep on coming.
Georgia’s not staying out of the transfer portal this year.
Thomas is Mississippi State’s leading receiver this season.
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UPDATE:Ā Ā Boom squared.
Georgia’s receiving room is going to have a very different look next season.
Filed under Georgia Football, Transfers Are For Coaches.
“We actually got a bit of a curveball thrown at us with the NCAA guidance.”
You know, this seems like a no-brainer to me:Ā use NIL to encourage players not to opt out of bowl games.Ā No, it wouldn’t work in all circumstances — some bowls might not be able to swing the money, some players might not feel like there’s sufficient compensation to take the risk — but it seems like it would help.
Except the NCAA is… well, being the NCAA.
The NCAA published new guidelines in October in an attempt to clarify what NIL activities are allowed and what falls on the wrong side of the sparse rules. The final bullet point of the four-page document said players could not be paid “directly or indirectly for promoting an athletics competition in which they participate.”
Well, that’s certainly clear as mud.
Lynda Tealer, who chaired the NCAA working group that wrote the October guidelines and works as an administrator in the University of Florida athletic department, said it was up to the NCAA enforcement staff to make decisions on what crosses a vague line into prohibited payments. The NCAA declined ESPN’s request to speak with enforcement staff.
Toby Baldwin, who oversees NIL activities for the Oklahoma athletic department, said earlier this week that he didn’t yet know which, if any, of the hypothetical scenarios could potentially land a player or the school in trouble with the NCAA. He said he would likely review the player’s script before he records the promotional video and determine then how best to make sure the player isn’t crossing the blurry line between promoting a product and promoting a game sponsored by that product.
Needless to say, the end result is confusion.Ā Which, again, is incredibly stupid, considering.
“It just seems like there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit for some of those opportunities that would help the bowl games, help their sponsors and help the athletes,” he said.
I swear, these people could screw up a one-car funeral procession.
Filed under The NCAA
Your Daily Gator despairs mightily.
My friends, this is it.Ā This is the saddest Gator message board thread I’ve ever read.
I mean, start with the header, “Is this the least amount of hope since Meyer?” and read until you cap with this:
And this is after Napier pulled in Florida’s best recruiting class in a decade!Ā These folks are losing it.
Filed under Gators, Gators...
The two most amazing things about yesterday’s signing class
First of all, it’s how utterly normal it now seems for Georgia to land the second-best class in the country.Ā Ho-hum, routine, whatever you want to call it, but it’s wild for a class to be that loaded on the one hand and for it to arrive with as little drama as it did on the other.
Second, this…
Can anyone point to a class ranked this highly that didn’t contain a quarterback?Ā I couldn’t come up with one when I pondered Smart’s comment last night.Ā The confidence is notable and I have no doubt he meant it.Ā Nobody better be half-assing it in the spring, in other words.
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
The pupil learneth from the master.
ShotĀ ($$).
After the game, Georgia coach Kirby Smart said, āHeāll never say it, but he knows weāve got better players.ā
Chaser.
Looks like he heard the man.
Filed under Pac-12 Football, Recruiting
A Buckeye state of mind
It’s a little weird, frankly.Ā Ohio State is in the CFP field.Ā It emerged yesterday with the fifth-best recruiting class in the country.Ā And yet, here’s the question Ryan Day was asked at his signing day presser:
Murphy:Ā When we deal with fans, the people that read our stuff, there’s the side that is Ohio State has lost to Michigan twice in a row and lost some guys in classes. That’s theĀ negative side. Then there’s the other side that views it as you went 11-1, you’re in the College Football Playoff and you’re close to a national championship. From your perspective ā thisĀ building’s perspective ā how do you view things at the moment?
And here’s Day’s answer.
We’re not gonna overreact. As much that loss hurts, we’re not gonna overreact on it. It’s not worth it. We have a game against Georgia ahead of us that we’re focusing on. We’re hammering recruiting and looking to adapt to what’s going on across the country. And I know that the program is in a great place even though we did lose that game and it hurts. I mean, that’s our goal every year, you can’t walk away from it. But at the end of the day, we have some really good people in this program. We have really good talent, really good coaches and recruit really good people.
I’m not pretending this isn’t a very talented team Georgia will face in a couple of Saturdays.Ā But I am starting to wonder what OSU will do at the first sign of adversity in the Peach Bowl.
Filed under Big Ten Football
Arik Gilbert goes into the portal.
It’s a sad story, but this particular shoe has been going to drop for a while now.Ā As Seth Emerson reported, Gilbert hasn’t been with the team for a few weeks.Ā The situation is disappointing for the team, for Gilbert’s football future and, most importantly, for Gilbert as a person.
There’s no point in delving into the details (and I’d ask that you avoid speculating about those should you comment), but I’ll just say that he had all the support he could have asked for at UGA and I only hope that wherever he goes from here, he finds a similar level of that and uses it to get to a better place for himself.
But, yeah, as someone who was legitimately excited about his potential after he flashed at G-Day, it’s disappointing, for sure.
Filed under Georgia Football, Transfers Are For Coaches.
“All in all, this has been a fun time.”
JT Daniels is just a good dude.
The night before this year’s National Signing Day, quarterbackĀ JT DanielsĀ committed to play at Rice.
Daniels, who’ll turn 23 in February and is on the cusp of joining his fourth college program, couldn’t resist a joke.
“Mine was back in 1997,” he told ESPN of his high school signing day. “I’ll use that joke like 40 times this year.”
Daniels has already played at USC, Georgia and West Virginia. Rice will mark his fourth school in six years. There’s even the possibility of a seventh season if needed, as he could apply for a medical redshirt from his 2019 injury in the season opener at USC.
In an interview Wednesday, Daniels reflected — both lightheartedly and seriously — on his circuitous path and why he thinks that Rice could be the situation that helps unlock his talent. Daniels won National High School Player of the Year in 2017 and in 2018 became just the second freshman to ever start a season opener for USC.
A torn ACL in the first game of the 2019 season began his winding path, which included a national title at Georgia and a season of early promise at West Virginia ended with him losing the job after 10 starts. Over the three schools, he’s 17-12 as a starter. Now he’ll be leading Rice into its inaugural season in the American Athletic Conference in 2023. That will be the fourth league he’s played in, joining the Pac-12, SEC and Big 12.
“That’s probably the coolest part of it,” he said. “Has anyone else ever done that?”
Self-deprecating humor aside, he sounds like somebody who’s very comfortable in his own skin.
“I got a [bachelor’s] in psychology from Georgia. I’m starting my masters at Rice. Of course, you want everything to go perfect and smoother and exactly the way you want it. I don’t feel like I’ve been wronged by a university or a group of people. I have great relationships with USC and UGA and great relationships at West Virginia. It’s all just been a part of process.”
Can’t help but root for him, but you get the feeling a guy who’s that grounded is going to find the right path for himself.
Filed under Transfers Are For Coaches.
The Right Rev. Dabo
What do you get when you cross a televangelist and a head football coach?
There are times when it amazes me he’s got a couple of national championship trophies in his display case.Ā More power to him, I guess.
Filed under Clemson: Auburn With A Lake
Get The Picture 
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