Richt, Georgia have been hurt by too many recruiting risks
Mark Richt has seen several players arrested and suspended this offseason, including former tailback Isaiah Crowell. (AP photo)
HOOVER, Ala. – Mark Richt ignored the red flags and was among the nation’s coaches who lined up around the block for Isaiah Crowell.
He already has seen seven members from his vaunted 2011 recruiting class either kicked out, flunked out or never academically qualified to begin with (“Dream Team”? Anybody?).
Arrests and suspensions likely will lead to four defensive starters missing games next season.
There is a problem again at Georgia — and it matters little that it’s a different one from the past.
Richt, to his credit, no longer responds to players’ criminal or just plain stupid actions by merely making them run stadium steps or suspending their dessert privileges. He has come a long way from enabling Odell Thurman. He suspends players. He kicks them out. He tries to make them understand that getting four or five stars stamped on your forehead by a recruiting site and the ego trip of a signing-day news conference shouldn’t be accompanied by a sense of entitlement (even if it too often does).
The problem now is that too many of the players Georgia is recruiting should be red-lined. The line of risk needs to be pulled back.
Obviously, Richt and his staff are getting a lot right. The Bulldogs are favored to win the SEC East. They’re projected to open the season as a top-10 team.
But imagine if they actually had everybody there.
“We’re not recruiting bad kids,” Richt said in a private media session with local writers Thursday at SEC Media Days. “We’re recruiting a lot of great kids. Other schools are recruiting the same guys.”
Have the negative headlines of this offseason given him reason to pay closer attention to a recruit’s personal blemishes?
“We do find out as much as we possibly can,” he said. “There are rules on how many times we can call a kid and see him in person. We try to maximize those things.”
Sorry. But losing seven of 26 kids from one recruiting class in one year screams that there’s a need for a better filter.
Richt was accurate when he said, “To say that issues aren’t happening around the country isn’t really realistic.”
But losing at least five starters (Crowell plus four on defense suspended) is significant.
Crowell, after multiple suspensions and missteps his freshman season, was bounced following his arrest on felony gun charges. Cornerback Sanders Commings is gone for two games following an arrest for domestic violence. Safety Baccari Rambo (possibly four games), cornerback Branden Smith and linebacker Alec Ogletree all reportedly tested positive for marijuana. Three other freshmen (Nick Marshall, Chris Sanders, Sanford Seay) were kicked out for their reported involvement in a campus theft.
Some of Georgia’s problems can be attributed to having a tougher drug-and-alcohol policy than other schools. But that doesn’t explain everything. The recruiting mistakes will hurt.
The we’ll-be-better-off-without-him rallying cries regarding Crowell makes for a nice locker-room speech. But it’s just not factual. He was Georgia’s best running back — by a long shot — and the Dogs’ potential issues on the offensive line don’t suggest just anybody can be productive.
This will be a team that must rely on its defense and its resolve. The Dogs’ ability to rebound from a 0-2 start with 10 consecutive wins last season said something about the character of the players who aren’t getting arrested (even if that was followed by two more losses to LSU and Michigan State). It’s a team with a solid quarterback (Aaron Murray), strong leadership and several players who bypassed the NFL draft last season to come back for another season. But the suspensions and player losses will hurt.
“There’s been more attrition the last couple of years than there has been since we’ve been at Georgia,” Richt said. “But sometimes that happens. We’ll still have plenty of guys to field a team.”
Then again, if just having enough players was the criteria, there would be celebrations in Toledo and Ole Miss. The question now is whether the Dogs’ chances for a special season have been undone before they’ve even played a game.
By Jeff Schultz
Previous SEC Media Days blogs
• Arkansas living with deserved humiliation after Petrino firing
• Muschamp getting heat but deserves some time at Florida
• Slive: SEC needs to be vigilant to avoid Penn State situation
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779 comments Add your comment
shankit
July 19th, 2012
6:56 pm
Well: Professors and AD’s don’t count.
Predictor
July 19th, 2012
7:01 pm
The proof is in the pudding.
shankit
July 19th, 2012
7:02 pm
Predictor: Is that butterscotch, tapioca or chocolate pudding?
shankit
July 19th, 2012
7:04 pm
Predictor: Make that “Is it vanilla or chocolate pudding”?
Columbus
July 19th, 2012
7:04 pm
Nice positive article on UGA’s media day Schultz you killjoy. Things were nicer when you were playing hide and seek….
All colleges recruit the players. Richt has made it clear to the new ones coming in they will not play and lose their scholarship. Everything is fine. First time head coach is still learning. Sure wish you were still learning Schultz….
By the way UGA is stricter on their athletes in EVERY way than most ALL colleges and so are the Athens police! You think Bama tested their athletes after spring break?! If other schools and police depts were as strict on players as UGA and Athens, UGA would likely be the measuring stick for having the least discipline issues. All variables in this equation are NOT close to equal and will NOT be until there is uniformity on process across the board….Let all other SEC schools drug test like UGA, keep tabs like UGA and discipline for the same things UGA does instead of overlook it and let other cities police force have a zero tolerance for football players like the APD and see who is under the radar big time while UGA takes a bad rap…..All things are not equal in at each university AD nor are the police depts….Auburn and Bama police? ROFL! It better be a felony! Marijuana? The only reason Crowell should have went to Bama is so he could have smoked away without worry if he got busted…..you think cops would have busted him in Auburn for having a gun under the seat since there was no incident? They might have took it and told him to go to his dorm….and the world would have never known…
you better not jaywalk in Athens or you will be held accountable and most likely in public media….!!! You grow up and put away childish things or you get sent home in Athens GA….
Rotate on all that….
shankit
July 19th, 2012
7:05 pm
Tiger likes Red on Sunday. AD’s like red also.
Tuscaloosa and Auburn Police Chiefs
July 19th, 2012
7:15 pm
Columbus: The Illustrious State of Alabama, and Trooper have
authorized all of our officers to only issue
warning tickets for 1st time offenders, unless they are Freshmen or Seniors
at one of our greater than your universities.
Freshmen are given two warnings, Sophomores three warnings, and on and on.
We believe in forgiveness, depending on your stats.
Minute Maid... just as refreshing as Kool-Aid
July 19th, 2012
7:23 pm
“We’re not recruiting bad kids,” Richt said…
Sorry about the loud noise, folks. My bullsh*t detector just exploded.
GTBob
July 19th, 2012
7:23 pm
By the way UGA is stricter on their athletes in EVERY way than most ALL colleges and so are the Athens police!
UGA fans keep spouting this nonsense. Can you give any proof that the Athens police department acts any differently then any other police department? Are you really insinuating that the police department in Atlanta or Gainesville wouldn’t have done anything if they pulled over a football player who smelled like pot and had an illegal firearm in his possession?
Brainiac(Dawg For Life) / (CMR fan for life)
July 19th, 2012
7:23 pm
Kerry B is correct!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeff did not just ask if UGA was guilty on all counts. He stated what he wanted said. Go back and read the title of his article. It is not ASKING a damn thing. It is a hatchet job although he got around to mentioning UGA’s harsher rules and penalties for infractions. In almost 100% of D-1 Football teams the ONLY violation that would have been publicized if the weapon charge against Crowell and in a lot of schools even that could have been swept under the rug.
We have a coach with impeccable character and will never get UGA suspended by the NCAA. He is the 3rd winningest active coach in America, has won 2 SEC titles and half dozen SEC East titles in 11 seasons and I am greatly disappointed in the number of “so-called” dawg fans that are falling for this BS. Every one of you make me puke!!!!!!!!!!!
It is a sad day when total idiots who profess to be Dawg Fans(but turn out to be DFINO) join in on such absolute BS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The ONLY way you bunch of idiots and the rest of the world will ever know if ANY of Jeff’s hatchet job is justified is for EVERY TEAM play by precisely the same rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For the first time ever I am more disgusted with you DFINO fools and Jeff than with any troller of ANY school. I would hope like hell none of our military ever needs one of you or Schultzy to have their backs when they need help!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gene
July 19th, 2012
7:24 pm
Richt did not bounce Crowell. The University kicked him out for two federal felonies. Most campuses have an immediate expulsion policy for handgun violations, for obvious reasons. Richt sucked up to Crowell with the “missing man” drama, then coddled him after multiple drug violations. Certainly Adams and McGarity have squeezed Richt, and if it appears Richt is getting tough, it is because of the ongoing embarrassment to the University that Richt has brought with his sloppy recruiting and lack of control of his players. Richt is either unable or unwilling to “nip it in the bud.”
Wilson Pickett
July 19th, 2012
7:24 pm
Yep…another day and the UGA losers blame the T-town police for allowing Nick’s players to do any and everything bad. Grow up! Your coach can’t manage his team and it shows and has for 1o years but by all means continue to blame others. Pitiful
Minute Maid... just as refreshing as Kool-Aid
July 19th, 2012
7:24 pm
“We’re not recruiting bad kids,” Richt said…
Sorry about the loud noise, folks. My bullsh!t detector just exploded.
shankit
July 19th, 2012
7:31 pm
kingdaddy: A sex offender has just made justice in Pennsylvania.
Not condoning, but in somewhat of defense of Mettenberger, he was
a young’n in a pub in Remerton, a surburb of Valdosta, (sad to say cause
I am from Dosta), visiting a friend at VSU, at a pub where cute chicks
hang out, all there drinking, 18 to 21 year olds, all single, cute, and
perhaps in a moment of weakness or a little high, let his move on this
chick get a little out of hand. probably not the first time this chick had
this move put on her. Anyway, the police chief in Remerton drives around
with a “Gator” tag on his front bumper. Don’t really know all the circumstances,
but it got “Over Publicized and blown out of proportion, and because of the times
he put his AD and coach in a position they had to respond to make a point.
I wish him luck, and wish he were still at UGA, but he crossed the line, which
in these modern social media time you can’t get away with, like Namath did
at Alabama decades ago. Hope he doesn’t make Playboy like Namath did bragging
on the number of chicks he —— well, you can look it up for yourself.
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
7:35 pm
Love how the trolls insist on posting about UGA all the time. We must be on their minds 24/7 and that’s good. You need to think about everything we do. You need to worry all the time. Dont eat, don’t sleep. Just wonder what the Doggies are doing now, lol…
shankit
July 19th, 2012
7:41 pm
kingdaddy: You would think the AJC should be the BJC (Birmingham Journal Constitution)
They have a bigger audience in Bama than they do in Georgia.
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
7:49 pm
Shank
I wonder if even half of the bama fans, really are “Bama” fans???
what a bunch of loons
July 19th, 2012
7:49 pm
kingdaddy/brainiac combo takes the cake. the epitome of idiocy. shankit, you are right there with them. enjoy your time in stupidville.
Cdpridg
July 19th, 2012
8:07 pm
Bunch of loons….they are just rabid Dawgs…..watch yourself…
Brainiac(Dawg For Life) / (CMR fan for life)
July 19th, 2012
8:09 pm
@ Falcon 34:
The last big game UGA won was the one that gave them the SEC East title. I believe this important event occurred towards the end of the 2011 season unless you have better information.
BTW. You are no Dawg Fan so please leave off the “we” when refering to ANYTHING UGA!!!!!!!!
You are one of the DFINO that I refered to early!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Apostle
July 19th, 2012
8:14 pm
Sadly Jeff you are spot on.Things are not as rosy in Athens as it appears.If the Dawgs don’t win the SEC Richt should be on the hot seat again.
Brainiac(Dawg For Life) / (CMR fan for life)
July 19th, 2012
8:17 pm
@ Kingdaddy:
How many Bammy fans did you hear from before Saban came to T-town(That includes the Louisiana Monroe Red Elephant castration in T-town).
That may give you an approximate idea of “How many real Bammy fans are the real thing” You know who they are. Blackout, Bear, Crimson Crush just to name a few of the CLASSY Bama fans.
A large number will revert back to Awbarn if they think Bammy may be slipping!!!!!
God
July 19th, 2012
8:18 pm
Jeff, I refuse to read all of the other drivel on this message board because it is a waste of time. Here is the bottom line: if UGA messes up their great opportunity this season Rambo, Ogletree and Smith are to blame. Self-centered, egotistical and babied since the crib. They make me sick despite their talent. They are LOSERS.
Brainiac(Dawg For Life) / (CMR fan for life)
July 19th, 2012
8:20 pm
@ Minute Maid:
My BS detector explodes with every post you send!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh really?
July 19th, 2012
8:21 pm
“We’re not recruiting bad kids,” Richt said. Oh, really? I beg to differ! Other than the fact that these thugs who have gotten in trouble may be incredibly gifted atheletes, they are coddled, academically and ethically challenged young adults. Football as a system is broken and we all know it. The vast majority of college students do not commit sexual assault, DUI, felony theft, assault and battery, and drive around at 3:30 in the morning with a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Young kids make mistakes- heck, we all do. But the incidents at UGA and other institutions of higher learning (yes, that’s what they are, not the NFL training grounds) indicate that college athletics has degraded to something none of us should be proud of. The problems begins long before college- we kiss these kids’ butts, tell them how great they are, make them acountable to no one, and let them run wild with no preprecussions whatsoever. Just talk to any teacher at Carver Columbus.
Delbert D.
July 19th, 2012
8:22 pm
I listened to the interview with Jarvis Jones on 680theFan today, and he sounds like he has it pretty well together. Same high school as Crowell, seemingly a different kind of person.
shankit
July 19th, 2012
8:22 pm
what a bunch of loons – Hey, glad you have joined our group.
As for me, I am just retired, just got home from playing golf, get on here
to have a good time and join the new generation of social media bunch
of loons and see how many loons like you we can recruit to our site.
Welcome aboard.
Brainiac(Dawg For Life) / (CMR fan for life)
July 19th, 2012
8:24 pm
Jeff:
Thanks for not rejecting my posts. I can tolerate you and the trolls but I am still very upset with the DFINO mental cases!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
shankit
July 19th, 2012
8:29 pm
Jeff:
And for the bunch of loons group, thank you for not rejecting our posts.
We luv you and all your trolls, especially the high intellect group like the
Paul Finebaum disciples.
Knox Culpepper
July 19th, 2012
8:30 pm
Delbert, I too heard Jarvis Jones’ interview on the radio today and he was very polite and contrite. And, like you said, from the same high school as Crowell. I realize fully that Richt has been somewhat lax in his discipline in the past but for the last year or two he has been as dictatorial as virtually any other coach. The fact that Crowell was/is an idiot and Jones has his act together isn’t Richt’s fault. It’s the kids fault. And, as I’m sure has been broadcast previously, EVERY other school in the nation wanted both of them. You just don’t know what you’re going to end up with.
Finish The Drill
July 19th, 2012
8:32 pm
Georgia Recruiting
has been good to Alabama State, LSU and Jacksonville State.
what a bunch of loons
July 19th, 2012
8:33 pm
don’t forget the ucf game dummies..another time uga embarrassed the SEC. what a proud tradition you have.
what a bunch of loons
July 19th, 2012
8:34 pm
good job by rent-a-dawg today.
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
8:40 pm
Brain
One day AJC/sports will do the one original name per e-mail add. This will stop a lot of the juviniles from ruining the regular posters day. Also maybe some kind of icon of a troll besides the tools, lol that would save you the time of reading their post…:)
shankit
July 19th, 2012
8:46 pm
Congratulations to UCF for beating a 6-6 SEC team.
Dawg-Gawn
July 19th, 2012
8:51 pm
2014 5 star RB Bo Scarborough 6′ 1″ 215lb of Tuscaloosa Ala has officially name UGA as his recruiting leader, knocking Bama out of the #1 spot. This happened after Scarborough visited UA camp last weekend including a long personal visit from Nick Saban.
Moultrie Packer
July 19th, 2012
8:52 pm
Jeff the other side of the coin is what if Richt refused to recruit Crowell? Then the whole Bulldog nation would have been in an uproar because UGA not recruiting the best athletes. Richt was in a no win situation with Crowell and athletes like Crowell. The best Richt can hope for is to land these recruits and try his best to try and help these kids and try to keep them out of trouble. The bottom line is UGA is not playing on a level playing field versus other schools in the SEC. Darn if he does and darn if he doesn’t. No win situation with those kids!
Reality
July 19th, 2012
8:56 pm
Jeff just speaks the truth my friends, and the truth hurts.
what a bunch of loons
July 19th, 2012
8:58 pm
the “trolls” generate alot more hits than you mouth-breathing homers do..trolls = $$..homers = lots of redudant quotes..I love coach richt…i love the dawgs..i love uga…i love herschel…
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
July 19th, 2012
9:02 pm
Georgia Recruiting
has been good to Alabama State, LSU and Jacksonville State.
LOL
Isnt that the truth
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
9:10 pm
Reality
Let him speak the “whole” truth, not just the part that makes UGA look bad. He mentioned UGAs lost to LSU, but not LSUs new starting QB, (the Mettenrapist). Plenty of other truths convieniently left out, but you get my drift…
Wilson Pickett
July 19th, 2012
9:11 pm
UGA fans can’t handle the truth….1980….one and done.
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
9:14 pm
What a bunch of losers, you are nothing without UGA. You would have no reason to live without something to whine like a little girl about. We’re here for you…
F. Sinkwich
July 19th, 2012
9:19 pm
I have it on excellent authority that local gendarmes from T-town to Columbia have been instructed by high guvmint officials to apply black electrical tape to their cruiser-cam lenses and to accidently forget to wear their shoulder mics when stopping any car which might remotely be construed as one owned or operated by a football athlete.
Except for Athens, GA.
There, a pool exists whereby the local brownshirts are rewarded for harassing, intimidating, or, best case, arresting a member of the UGA football team. Rewards are $25 for a traffic ticket, $50 for a misdemeanor, and $100 for a felony arrest.
When asked why the city of Athens chose to be so much more harsh on student athletes than other SEC towns, the chief of police denied any intent to target anyone for “special attention.”
He said he has close ties with the police chiefs in the other SEC cities, keeps in close communication, and marvels at their new bass boats, golf memberships, and VIP passes to the Cheetah when in Atlanta for the SEC championship and such.
Off the record (don’t tell anyone…please), the chief called UGA boosters, “cheap ba$tards.”
I think we need an outreach program to deal with this problem.
Cdpridg
July 19th, 2012
9:25 pm
Loons….I warned you…..several rabid Dawgs on here at the moment….keep agitating a Dawg and you are going to wind up bit….pinky finger bit off and possibly your ar mangled….dont say I didnt warn you
warrior
July 19th, 2012
9:44 pm
Georgia fans cry more than any fans in the game. I will never understand…….where does this come from? You suck!
BobDawg
July 19th, 2012
9:44 pm
… some good thoughtful posts and the column brings a reaction which is what the columnists want. I would love to have 11 Jarvis Jones/David Pollack types on D and 11 David Greene/Malcom Mitchells on offense BUT what do you do in the Mettenburger case? Here is a kid from a 2 parent family who lived and grew up in Athens; Mom works in the Athletic office and all signs should point to no problems; fighting for a spot along with Murray and BOOM gets in trouble in Valdosta on SB and we have to let him go. I would rather have 70 kids who want to play at UGA and maybe they do have to work a little harder and play Special Teams…. But I like the way we are going with the Mitchells; Gurleys; Theuses and recent recruits….
sid
July 19th, 2012
9:50 pm
Just a lazy article. And I’m one of JS’s biggest fans. His work is usually decent.
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
9:54 pm
Rainbow warrior, lmaoff
@9:44, that was probably the whinest most asinine post I have ever, ever read. How old are you, 14-15??? Stick a binky in it. BTW, a binky is a pacifier, lol…
SecFan
July 19th, 2012
9:56 pm
Schultzie has all the answers for all the problems, I bet he’s one hell of a back seat driver.