Caleb King’s loss no big deal for Dogs — it’s Crowell’s show
Washaun Ealey (left) and Caleb King blew their opportunities at Georgia. (Brant Sanderlin/AJC)
(Last update: 4:50 p.m.)
We saw what Washaun Ealey brought to the table for Georgia. It wasn’t good enough.
We saw what Caleb King brought to the table for Georgia. It wasn’t good enough.
So sorry if I’m not all bent out of shape about the sudden news that King has been declared academically ineligible for the Bulldogs in the fall. Nothing against the young man personally, but in terms of how this impacts the fortunes of the football team, it’s close enough to zero. Fact is, the Dogs were going to rise or fall next season on the strength of freshman Isaiah Crowell, any way.
Coach Mark Richt has certainly let it be known on occasion that Crowell was the only running back he really cared about. How often does a college coach say on national letter of intent day something remotely close to this on a recruit: “ I wouldn’t be shocked to see him running that rock in the Dome against Boise State on the opening play if he does what he’s supposed to do”?
Richt was talking about Crowell. He had pretty much had it with Ealey, who a week later was suspended, eventually was granted his release and transferred to Jacksonville State.
Having King for depth purposes might’ve been nice. But what in the last three seasons — given injuries, a lack of production and his own off-field issues — would lead you to believe he could be counted on?
Scouting services had him as one of the top running backs in the nation and the first overall player in Georgia back in 2006. Either they were wrong or he figured he would just let the resume do the work for him in Athens. He had one great game in three years (166 yards against Georgia Tech in 2009). He was injured too often. He was arrested last year for failing to appear in court for a speeding ticket (which came to be something of an epidemic in Athens).
King is 23 years old and would have been a fifth-year senior. How can a fifth-year senior with everything to play for not stay academically eligible? This was not somebody whom Richt could count on.
Some Georgia fans will belabor the lack of experience behind Crowell. That’s a legitimate concern. But in three seasons over four years, King offered no guarantees.
Richt said in a statement, “We wish him the best in whatever he decides to do. However, we have to move forward and this will provide more opportunities for others to step up.”
Others won’t have to step up too much.
Success next season was always going to hinge on Crowell, and certainly the offensive line in front of him. Caleb King was just a name on the depth chart.
By Jeff Schultz
♦
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627 comments Add your comment
ray goff
July 8th, 2011
4:43 pm
miss me yet???
McDawg
July 8th, 2011
4:43 pm
Booooooooooo
Jim Donnan
July 8th, 2011
4:44 pm
Ray,
Can you call me? I am looking for some financial advice.
Treb1982
July 8th, 2011
4:44 pm
What a stupid article why don’t we let Crowell run one play before we anoint him the next Walker. Crowell may very well turn out to be a really good player but the fact that UGA lost both main contributing running backs from last year on top of their best overall player in Green is a big deal.
12 CRIMINAL CHARGES, 6 wins 7 LOSSES
July 8th, 2011
4:45 pm
Must be hard keeping those crayons between the lines….and weaving baskets. It’s so hard to do!!
McDawg
July 8th, 2011
4:45 pm
either these guys step up or they don’t-most of them have been playing football all of their lives-its not that complicated
jim
July 8th, 2011
4:46 pm
When are people going to wake up and demand more from all of our universities? Why do we continue to bring people into college programs who academically have zero business being there? I say shame on the schools and the coaches for going through this continuous charade . How about looking at students who may be less talented but can actually pass classes? We do these kids no favors when they are allowed in to a school and then fail to get the job done in class. Why put them in that position in the first place? I am aware that nothing will change but it is still a shame and any thinking person can see this one a mile away.
We RUIN this state
July 8th, 2011
4:46 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
ray goff
July 8th, 2011
4:46 pm
Sure Jim,
I can’t believe most people still think I was the dumb one.
To Ealey and King
July 8th, 2011
4:48 pm
Ok, fill in the blank……C_T.
murray county mystic
July 8th, 2011
4:48 pm
the Orlando Sentinal is @ #38 in its preseason football rankings (S. Miss)…no UGA yet; but they may want to re-think this after the loss of “the king”…just 94 yds., ATL Sports Fan…vs a 2a school…really???
Jerry80
July 8th, 2011
4:49 pm
There was a post on the Georgia boards that read fear the “T”. You guys are in for a world of pain!! TN is going to kick the S#$% out of you! Your beloved Crowell is going to get buried, if not before TN game. How many players have you guys lost this year because of grades and trouble? You had better relish last seasons win, because its your last for at least a couple of years if not more. Do you hear that train coming? Its the BIG ORANGE TRAIN coming to roll right over your butt sniffing a!@es!!! Go VOLS!!!!
I'm just saying
July 8th, 2011
4:49 pm
Caleb failed?…dadgum that subtraction is trickier than it looks.
Academically ineligible...
July 8th, 2011
4:51 pm
At GA????? Dayum! You mean that’s possible???? LOL!
I'm just saying
July 8th, 2011
4:51 pm
Well it is probably for the best…lord knows how he would have faired when he got in to the advanced math…I hear tell that in the fractions classes they don’t even let you use your fingers.
Nikoli Volkov
July 8th, 2011
4:54 pm
if i ever see Hacksaw Jim Duggan again, he’s gonna experience the Russian sickle!
Dr. Courson
July 8th, 2011
4:56 pm
King is a very fortunate man. Have you seen what we have left on our offensive line?
Paddy
July 8th, 2011
4:56 pm
King said”this was out of his control)?????? Your academic progress is not under your control????? We MUST sign smarter players in the future!!!!!!!!! This kid is a senior at a major university and has no idea how to maintain his own progress to graduate. PLEASE! Can anyone say lazy????????????????????????????????????
Delbert D.
July 8th, 2011
4:57 pm
Ealey…problem…gone. King…problem…gone. Now it’s in the hands of a guy who was suspended for his entire senior year in high school? Maybe Malcome can carry the load.
meh
July 8th, 2011
4:57 pm
I think between Carlton Thomas, Ken Malcome, and Isaiah Crowell we still have a pretty good back field. Not as much experience as Ealy and King but I think they’re just as talented and maybe more so.
Vince Lombardi
July 8th, 2011
4:58 pm
Name the freshman UGA running back that already has 20 unpaid parking tickets, has missed or was late for at least 2 weeks worth of summer workouts and needs an (recently resigned) assistant coach to babysit him??
trackside
July 8th, 2011
4:59 pm
Ray GUMP would be saying right now ” I ain’t got no players” and when asked why he didnt dump king before say ” I ain’t got togive you no reason”. ACTUALQUOTES. NO i dont miss you – stephanie
Carlton Thomas
July 8th, 2011
4:59 pm
Thanks meh,
Coach knows I am always ready on second and long.
ray goff
July 8th, 2011
5:02 pm
When I ain’t got no players, I run the wishbone.
I ain’t got to give you no reason. Just ask Hines.
THE MAJOR
July 8th, 2011
5:02 pm
Reports out of Columbus say someone had a breaking and entering episode disappear after some well connected alums asked the homeowner to drop the charges……….
Oconeedawg
July 8th, 2011
5:03 pm
SEE “C” KING IS A LOW-LIFE! ALWAYS HAS BEEN AND FOR EVER WILL BE! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A TROUBLE MAKER, FIRST ALL YOUR SUSPENSIONS FROM THE DAWG TEAM TO FINALLY FLUNKING OUT AT UGA. GO HOME YOU LOOSER, WHIMP, AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST “LOW LIFE” GOOD BYE GET OF DAWG CAMPUS. NOT GOOD.
Saywhut
July 8th, 2011
5:04 pm
Maybe Caleb King will transfer to Ohio State. Then we can argue who is the more disgusting.
UGA Student
July 8th, 2011
5:06 pm
Malcome will end up as the starting RB if Richt and Bobo are smart.
puppydawg
July 8th, 2011
5:08 pm
Good riddance to bad rubbish. Doesn’t matter anyway because BooBoo disdains the run except for when it’s 3rd and 19. Then, he calls a draw play to Carlton Thomas
please, dawgs, beat boise st
July 8th, 2011
5:08 pm
i hope all of the positivity transfers to the field: uga has a great sec schedule and should make a decent run at the east title. BUT, if the dawgs choke it up to boise st early, the non-bcs folks will have a FIELD DAY when the dawgs play well in the sec schedule. for heaven’s sake, crowell, be the salvation that richt and company so desperately need. i never was a caleb king fan – i still remember how he hosed his parkview team his senior year – and i certainly like the karma that has come his way, but MAN would he have been an asset if he had stepped up this fall. RTR!!!
murray county mystic
July 8th, 2011
5:09 pm
looks like Vince Lombardi and THE MAJOR may be on the trail of some Crowell stinkiness…Vegas has the over/under on IC first suspension date @ August 5th; i’m takin the under…
BFS
July 8th, 2011
5:09 pm
@Big Ten Champs Nebraska
I’ll bet that Nebraska is not recruiting from the inner cities and South Georgia either. The football factories in the south produce players who otherwise would not be able to hold down a job as a bag boy at the grocery store, much less grasp college level studies.
As collge football fans, we will gladly overlook stupid players and criminal behavior in order to field a great team on Saturday.
Ever wonder why they don’t let many college atheletes do radio interviews? It’s because most are inarticulate idiots.
St. Richt
July 8th, 2011
5:15 pm
John- thanks for the laugh. Sounds like another Rhodes scholar candidate that Richt has recruited.
Its really hard to get over the “so what?” title of this article. What an idiotic response.
brandonb-low
July 8th, 2011
5:15 pm
This is CMR last year in Athens!!!!!! The closer it gets to kickoff the more players are leaving and getting into trouble!!! It never fails, i had very high hopes for 2011 but if we win 7 games that will be a good year.(CMR gone)
Bitter "dawg reporter------aka---Chip Towers."
July 8th, 2011
5:16 pm
i had to shut down my blog————-f—– yaaaw and all the rudd comment’s—
=———— but really i think king and eally were both scared of the next making of hershall walker
———————-ole #34 will be razor wreck-edd —with new #1——crowell baby
———————–ps———-walker spelled backerr’s is crowell——hahahahahahah—go dawgs#1
Bulldog's Bob
July 8th, 2011
5:17 pm
What’s this we hear about Crowell already showing up late and having to have a babysitter appointed to drag him to class and lifting and all of those parking tickets he’s supposedly already started to rack up?
Les Miles
July 8th, 2011
5:17 pm
I ran off Ryan Perrileaux, and it probably cost me at least another natiional championship. But, it also let these players know, I’m in charge, not you. Not alot of mess at LSU. I hope you keep CMR. Have a nice day.
P. Bull Terrier
July 8th, 2011
5:17 pm
I thought King was overrated since he was a junior at Parkview. I never understood the high national recruiting rankings. Cameron Smith over at Brookwood was a much more impressive RB at the time (though academic issues reportedly cost him a chance to go to UGA or USC). It didn’t surprise me that King never became anything special at UGA.
Still, it will hurt UGA a little to lose his experience and have to push Crowell or Malcom into the starting role. One, or both, might be ready to handle the job, but it would have been better to hold them back a little until one of them stepped up and took the job away from King.
Even though I questioned King’s ability at RB, I hope he is able to finish his education somewhere else and find success away from the football field.
"CaneDawg": That's it, enough is enuff....
July 8th, 2011
5:18 pm
Georgia was my favorite SEC team and I split time pulling for them and the “U”. The SEC is the top football conference and the ACC wishes it was as good so I went to the Dawgs, because the ‘Canes have an equally mutual hate for UF. But that’s it for me, enough is really enough. I’m hauling arse back to UM, where Al Golden is stressing and basing his offense on a devastating power running attack to take pressure off the QB. Golden will use the run to set up the pass. Sure UM knows how it feels to lose a highly recruited RB, when it lost Storm Davis, but Golden has forged ahead with a “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger mentality at UM”. And he will live or die with a power running game at Miami. UGa has been slowly dying on the pass first mentality of its head coach and will have no choice but to rely on what he believes in to save his job this year. No WE3, No CK, No O-linemen that can run block, No depth there and at RB …..No problem. The only thing todays news means is that true freshman has to step up and master in one month in college that he didn’t do in four years of high school: learn how to pass block. Good Luck to you Dawgs, looks like the plane is about to crash and I’m bailing out only to land in beautiful South Beach. Po’ Dawgs. Go ‘Canes !!
Beverly Hall
July 8th, 2011
5:18 pm
Put me in charge of academic counseling at UGA and King would be eligible again in no time.
murray county mystic
July 8th, 2011
5:21 pm
i second the Beverly Hall hire…
MountainDawg
July 8th, 2011
5:22 pm
Not suprised he couldn’t cut the academic mustard, as he didn’t get it done on the gridiron either. I hope Crowell isn’t another overhyped bust (ala Jasper Sanks). If Crowell can’t cut it, our offense is gonna struggle (w/ no running game)…unless someone else steps up at TB (from “no where”…ala Robert Edwards).
Ricky 4
July 8th, 2011
5:24 pm
Kirby Smart…come on down. You’re the next contestant on Can you beat the University of Florida!
Pardon Me
July 8th, 2011
5:25 pm
I love academic mustard. It’s my favorite kind.
$5 Dawg
July 8th, 2011
5:25 pm
Sheesh… last year we were worried because we didn’t have any quarterback depth.
Mike
July 8th, 2011
5:27 pm
This is somehow Nick Fairley’s fault.
Lars
July 8th, 2011
5:27 pm
poor Isaiah… with Ealey and King gone, who is going to show him the ropes on how to hit and run, get arrested, miss court dates, skip class, and not show up to workouts??? Guess the kid will have to learn the Georgia way on his own…
tide fans need to shower (river does not count)
July 8th, 2011
5:28 pm
bama sucks
Own the State
July 8th, 2011
5:28 pm
Crowell steps up big—he’ll be the best young RB in the SEC. Ga beats SC and Fla and wins the SEC east and blows out tech again.
1eyedJack
July 8th, 2011
5:29 pm
Well, we didn’t recruit Crowell for the debate team. I don’t feel as bad as if we had lost another O lineman. Put Justin Scott-Wesley back there and give him some reps. He’s big and fast.