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
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
9:59 pm
Cdpridg
Where do they keep coming from. Is this an indictment of the Ga. Education System???
warrior
July 19th, 2012
10:02 pm
Schultzie owns queendaddy.
Johnny DangerDawg
July 19th, 2012
10:15 pm
Crowell, Ealey, Caleb King: I don’t recall any of these guys having a criminal record in high school. So how was it “risky” for schools to recruit them? None of these guys were a Jason Respert situation.
Well
July 19th, 2012
10:18 pm
“2014 5 star RB Bo Scarborough 6′ 1″ 215lb of Tuscaloosa Ala has officially name UGA as his recruiting leader”
Here’s to 2014! 2014 PRESEASON NATIONAL CHAMPS!
Well
July 19th, 2012
10:19 pm
“Schultzie owns queendaddy.”
IS that the German professor at UGA?
acdc
July 19th, 2012
10:19 pm
How long will Braden Smith and Alex Ogletree be suspended?
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
10:26 pm
We still need a 2013 RB…TOO…
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
10:28 pm
Jeff, my bad, lol…
Contractor
July 19th, 2012
10:28 pm
Don’t blame the drug testing. It is the egos and culture this country is breeding. Everyone now a days has a major sense of entitlement and feels if they can run fast, throw far, and catch a ball that they are above it all and deserve to be treated like princes and get the benefit of the doubt. You can easily tell that by all of these college announcements and how these kids try making a spectacle of the school they choose. We know 95% of the Top 100 recruits don’t care about obtaining a degree, but that they want to sign that dotted line in the NFL. Once the college football culture got away from academics being #1 concern, that’s when the wheels started falling off. Much like the government an all of their entitlement programs. We h e built this monster and just have to make everyone personally responsible. These kids having academic issues qualifying are dumb as rocks. Not only are their qualifications lowered tremendously from the normal applicant, they get all of the perks once they do get in. When a kid has qualifying issues you better beware and back off. As shallow as this is, look at how a guy dresses. A lot can be said about how a man can clean up and how well spoken they are. Call it profiling, call it judging, call it whatever the heck you want, but it works. I don’t know too many successful people out there that had their pants to their ankles, ha issues speaking the English language which is your primary language, or had trouble qualifying academically. The world needs burger flippers and ditch diggers as well. These are the steps needed to be taken, not who can run the 40 the fastest. Though you may win, the other issues are what will nail you in the press.
NCDawg
July 19th, 2012
10:30 pm
Everyone can scream “where are the facts?” so here are the facts.
1> The Teams that offered Crowell: Alabama,Auburn,Clemson,Duke,Florida FL State,LSU,OK ST,Tenn,Texas,USC. (Per ESPN recruiting database).
2> Teams that retracted their scholarship offer : 0
3> What 3 caps were on the table when he committed? UGA, Bama, and Auburn.
4> The great Coach Saban, who can do no wrong, was holding his breath hoping Crowell would pick up the Alabama hat. Does the Great Coach Saban make recruiting mistakes?
The point is and everyone dodges it, EVERYONE recruits the same guys. The young man does not change in 6 months. So what happens? Only someone with total objectivity can tell us for certain. All the “UGA recruits thugs” dimwits need to just stuff a sock in it. It is complete bulldink.
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
10:33 pm
NCDawg
Good point…
GA Banker
July 19th, 2012
10:38 pm
Instead of criticizing Richt for going after “risky” recruits, why don’t you write an article about the integrity of Richt for doing what every major program in the country should be doing? Teaching the players “life lessons” by disciplining his athletes versus sweeping their transgressions under the rug. Allowing these young men to believe they can get away with just about anything because they can help a University win a game will lead to more serious offenses later in life that could find these kids in jail, or even worse, the morgue. Richt should be held up as an example of how programs should be run, versus criticized for making his policies strict and publicizing his reprimands.
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
10:50 pm
Ga. Banker
If we win 11-12 games this year, Jeff will call him Coach of the Year. Fair-weather friends…
Cdpridg
July 19th, 2012
10:53 pm
Kingdaddy……lol I dont know….but I like it! Actually love it…..I love seeing these other fanbases…..beg and grovel at the feet of the Bulldawg Nation looking for help and attention from Dawg fans to help them with their Bulldawg envy! Exciting times!
mgdawg
July 19th, 2012
10:56 pm
yes, uga will be better without crowell. Crowell is talented, but you could never rely on the guy. If he did play, you never knew when he would pull himself out, the over/under was 2 carries. The guy was a game time decision for 2-3 weeks, usually if your a game time decision one week the next week you’re playing. Then throw in the suspensions for off the fied issues. I’ll take a back with less talent that I can rely on, see Richard samuel who played with a separated shoulder, one of the most painful injuries you can have.
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
10:58 pm
Cdpridg
This means whatever we’re doing, it must be working. All the attention is overwhelming, I kinda like it…
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
11:01 pm
Richard Samuel is a DGD!!!
Thursday offseason one-liners | CollegeFootballTalk
July 19th, 2012
11:02 pm
[...] Mark Richt, Georgia have been hurt by too many recruiting risks. [...]
kingdaddy
July 19th, 2012
11:02 pm
Im outa here Doggies…
mgdawg
July 19th, 2012
11:03 pm
As far as recruiting goes, it should be looked at. However, a lot of these are guys that every school in the nation was going after. It’s not like richt is going out of his way to get the worst character guys he can. UGA has one of the toughest drug policies and drug tested after spring break, I would like to see how many colleges do that.
Cdpridg
July 19th, 2012
11:05 pm
Yes..if they are not here….then we are not kickin their tail nearly enough on the field….Richt has truely done a great job no matter what the naysayers try and say.
Contractor
July 19th, 2012
11:12 pm
I would love to slap Rambo’s high school coach in the mouth. After him grilling Georgia over drug testing, he had the audacity to say it was wrong to drug test after Spring Break. Well dumba**, it was wrong for your old player Rambo to dip into drugs, knowing they are illegal by LAW, not just Georgia’s rules and policies. This is the kind of coddling that has gotten these premadona recruits thinking they are above it all and can go break the law without consequence. This guy has access to kids on more of a basis than most of their own parents, and here he is defending a drug user and blaming the University for the suspension and Rambo getting in trouble. This world is becoming so a** backwards that it is almost unbelievable.
Dewayne
July 19th, 2012
11:21 pm
You don’t know what you are getting with any recruit!! Every school has their fair share of problems!!!
Cdpridg
July 19th, 2012
11:24 pm
Fact is UGA does it the right way…Mark Richt does it the right way….and the rest of these people need to just sit back…observe…get out a pen and pad and take some notes!
Rainbow Tide Pride
July 19th, 2012
11:26 pm
Amazing how much time some of you put into these silly blogs.
Btw, you can only play with 11 at a time smart Alice!
Our line and RB’s will surprise the world this season donkey face.
TV Watcher
July 19th, 2012
11:30 pm
Ok how many of these geniuses graduate? Isn’t that what they go to school for. Ok I’ll hire them at my car wash.
gman
July 19th, 2012
11:36 pm
thesportspass.com upload the next generation sports hghlights
GA Banker
July 19th, 2012
11:37 pm
Rainbow Tide Pride, it’s amazing how much time Alabama fans have to look at other school’s posts. While you’re at it, you might want to spend some time and check out LSU’s and ARK posts as they will be the ones keeping you out of the SEC Championship this year…
terry
July 19th, 2012
11:45 pm
I’m not even going to say his name b/c of so many posts but if you are trying to compare UGA’s off field problems w/ LSU’s then this not even a conversation.
While the bar fight & weed thing the 3 players were suspended for last year wasn’t a good thing, Miles has been there for 7 years & they’ve had very, very few off field issues. Heck he even kicked off his starting QB in the summer of 2008 for doing boneheaded things. No arrests, just immature non- leadership stuff. Without Perrilloux, LSU was forced to start freshmen QB’s which resulted in 2 sub par years in 08 & 09. So much for being lax & undisciplined. Do some research & add them up b/f typing.
Mudcatjoe
July 19th, 2012
11:45 pm
Death Penalty!
Old Coach but still Young
July 19th, 2012
11:54 pm
wandering Dog
July 19th, 2012
3:36 pm
I’ve lived in central Alabama, and smack dab in Gainesville, FL. I can tell you, factually, that players do
things at AllBarn, Allybammer and Gaturdville that would have our guys on the front page..there you don’t hear of it after the first day. Not always football, either. Very eye-opening to have lived there.
Meanwhile, everyone has access to Rivals, etc…and knows most everything about most every recruit their team signs on natty signing day. Dog fans were ECSTATIC when we signed Isiah and almost as giddy when Washaun signed. The. those warts pop up, they get kicked off and suddenly Richt signed
a player he should have known better than to sign. Folks, either get on the wagon or get off, but for
Dogs sake, stop the fair weather fan-ness!
Go Dogs, GATA
______________________________________________________________________________
Not sure when you lived in those cities, but as a guy who has worked on both UF, UA campuses in the athletic offices in a high profile position, I can tell you that in the days way back, but during the past 6 years at UF, and the past 4 years at Alabama there is no room for error by ANY athlete in any sport. It sounds like you are making excuses to make yourself feel better about your dawgs, or trying to rationalize the arrest/suspensions/drug test failures.
Lets get something out in the open, the coaches at UF and UA and I am pretty confident that at Auburn have zero clout in the police/sheriff offices in who they arrest. I can tell you for sure that at UF and Alabama the athletes schedules are so regimented they have very little time to stray from the program. Coach Meyer had a ton of issues with players he allowed to walk in the program to their own beat, but he had no power with FDLE/Campus Police/ Gainesville Police to avoid arrest.
I know Nick Saban and his staff demand the players/ coaches and support personnel provide self discipline and those who do not are shown the door or never see the field.
Keep thinking you know something, when as a guy who has been up close and personnel really knows that the problems at UGA start with the leadership and the attitudes of each team.
RHall55
July 20th, 2012
12:07 am
What does Dave VanHalenger do? Director of Player Welfare…..more kids off the Team since he has taken over his position…..became useless as S&C Head Coach to a useless Player Welfare Director…..Dave, where’s your accountability?? Let’s your Grade Card….over 28 gone in last (2) years….isn’t that when you were given that position….a big, fat F!!!
George Stein
July 20th, 2012
12:08 am
Old coach….you are winded…but can u post a resume for us. In this case we do need to see some factual proof from you sir.
Boll Weevil
July 20th, 2012
12:10 am
You are really digging deep for some garbage to publish with this one Jeff. Do you just have a bone to pick with Richt, or are you catering to the Atlanta GT “fans”? In case of the latter – there are none. Everyone recruits the same kids. To say otherwise either means you know nothing about the subject you are writing or you are purposely spewing nonsense just to earn a few cheap clicks. This is some bottom-feeding “journalism”. You are not a good writer and you are also ugly. Go Dawgs…
Old Coach but still Young
July 20th, 2012
12:19 am
Go look at the 2004-2006 Alabama staff then go to the 2007-2010 at UF it is pretty easy to figure out.
7576DAWG
July 20th, 2012
12:31 am
RHall55
If Georgia doesn’t win at least 12 games this year I think you will see McGarity replace at least 3 staff members, maybe 4. I really think it was hard for him to not replace some of them this year but CMR talked him out of it. Richt may not be on the hot seat but I bet a few on his staff are.
Bobo has gone to a few camps on offensive play calling and strategy , I sure hoped he learned something. The good thing is we will know a lot about this team after the Missouri game.
pbt dawg fan
July 20th, 2012
12:39 am
How about this. replace Mcgarity. It seems to me that we didn;t have this drug problem when Damon evans was the AD. arrests happened but to at this rate. know athen -clarke county police have road blocks on campus. something seems fishy in Athens. Mcgarity took away the louisville home and home. and the oregon home and home. some people tell me he trying to get out of the clemson home and home. Mcgrarity has not done a good job to me. Damon evans was working on a new basketball arena not thats gone away. I don’t trust him, he work at florida for sixteen years.
cdpridg
July 20th, 2012
12:47 am
Replace Mcgarity??? According to old coach here Florida runs a clean program and McGarity would have been his boss……he also seems to think he may know alot about Sabans program even though he never worked with him….old coach save your rubbish….we do appreciate your concern for the UGA discipline problem but it looks like we will do just fine now that we have your old boss from Gainesville in town…
cdpridg
July 20th, 2012
12:48 am
PBT Dawg..you dont trust him??? He is a graduate of UGA..lol
Tom
July 20th, 2012
1:00 am
Mark is soft and players know it. Saban is a hard ass and instills fear in his players.No one will upstage Nick in the press except maybe his daughter.
True UGA fan
July 20th, 2012
1:06 am
Jeff,
How many columns did you write about Crowell??? How richt needed him to have a successful recruiting class. How he will save richt’s job. You put Crowell on a pedestal and said how much uga needs him, then you write this column???? Really jeff, really?
wsewell525
July 20th, 2012
1:10 am
They are just 19 year old kids running around having fun. The world got to serious lately…..quit putting all the pressure on them, as if your happiness relies on their success. I love UGA, and I love going to the games. yes I get upset when they lose, but it’s not a death sentence to me. That’s what happens in sports. The ball bounces one way, and some days it bounces in your favor, and sometimes the other guys. Tailgate, support, look at the beautiful women at the games, and be happy.
j-dawg
July 20th, 2012
1:12 am
At least we have Keith Marshall…every bit as good as Crowell. Please everyone remind yourself of this by looking up his high school highlights. He is truly phenomenal
Ole Big Dawg
July 20th, 2012
1:19 am
J dawg Jeff could have wrote a POSITIVE story about the Dawgs and the new top back Marshall who seems to have his head together and is a good kid….but Jeff felt it is better to stay negative and talk about the past and give folks more opportunity to run Crowell in the ground farther,,,Classy Shultz
boykin
July 20th, 2012
1:29 am
GO DAWGS!!!! This is the Yr. we all want.Mark my word.
clisbyjacket
July 20th, 2012
1:33 am
Georgie: UR our Tech boy! Why on a Dawg site?
dawgMacheteRealist
July 20th, 2012
1:35 am
7576: Please..dont be so ignorant…RICHT is on the HOTSEAT….Staff member firing is done!!! Its up to Coach to win an SEC Title!
SEC Fact Finder
July 20th, 2012
1:40 am
I guess some Georgia fans have thin skin. Mr. Schultz did not write anything that was untrue or biased. What Mr. Schultz wrote was pretty much the perception of the Discipline and Attitude of Georgia players across the SEC. It may or may not be true, however the amount of issues of players who have signed with UGA during the past 4 years has reflected a higher than normal rate of ” not finishing the drill”.
No one can totally blame Mark Richt for recruiting players that most other schools are recruiting then signing them. But he can be blamed for being seen as a “relaxed” coach who let some players believe their high school press clippings and high “star’ ratings. Once again that may not be true, it is the perception of many across the south and if players see others getting away with certain behaviors with minor accountablity they will follow those players lead.
Mark Richt had a decent year in 2011, won 9 games but lost to those teams that really mattered in the big picture.
I attended a coaches and officials conference this past spring and one of the coaches( now retired) spoke about how he would come in the first day of reporting and do all the welcome song and dance, the pep talk about how good they good be, THEN he said he beat his players down and berated them, all to show them that He was in charge and laid the law down to them like jr high schoolers are talked to. His point was that he found it easier to start as tough and hard as he could be and once he had their respect and understood he meant business then he could soften up his abrasive demeanor. He said that he made the mistake of coming in soft once and he paid for it dearly in not only in player off the field issues but game issues as well. He went on to say that if the players support system(parents, guardians, relatives) did not believe he would be the disciplinarian that the student athlete would not always make it 3 or 4 years at the school and earn their degree for after football.
Mark Richt is being percieved as being soft, and is now trying to be the strong arm coach. Perception or the real thing? Who knows, I guess time will tell.
Good luck to your teams as they report in the next few weeks.
The coach who gave that speech was Tom Osborne.
Ole Big Dawg
July 20th, 2012
1:45 am
he is probably on a Dawg site the same reason you are yeller jacket. Why would a couple yeller jackets be here is a good question
Ole Big Dawg
July 20th, 2012
1:45 am
he is probably on a Dawg site the same reason you are yeller jacket. Why would a couple yeller jackets be here is a good question