Richt’s ‘Dream Team’ could provide the spark UGA badly needs
Malcolm Mitchell (left) and Jay Rome committing to Georgia is a major coup for Mark Richt. (Chip Towers / AJC)
Georgia landing a verbal commitment from Valdosta’s Jay Rome was huge.
It’s not that the five-star player, rated the nation’s top tight end prospect by ESPNU, likely will be needed to make a big impact immediately on the field for “Tight End U,” as he called it. Rome certainly will be given the chance to play early, but the Dogs are well stocked at the position with Orson Charles, Aron White and Artie Lynch, even if Bruce Figgins switches to fullback.
No, Rome’s biggest immediate impact might come before he ever even signs on the dotted line with UGA, by giving momentum to Mark Richt’s alternately praised and derided concept of a signing an in-state “Dream Team.”
After making his announcement on national TV, Rome was on hand Thursday night as Valdosta teammate Malcolm Mitchell, a Top 30 prospect at wide receiver and/or cornerback, also put on a cap with the Georgia “G.”
Both picked Georgia over Nick Saban and Alabama, which has to rank as a major recruiting coup for Richt. “I believe Mark Richt is a great coach,” Rome said. “I don’t feel like he’s going anywhere anytime soon. If we can get a couple of more guys to come in with me in this class, we’ll have everything we need at Georgia, and I believe we’ll start winning football games.”
Rome used his national media platform to try and get more prospects to climb on board the Dream Team train. Along with junior college defensive nose guard John Jenkins, Georgia badly needs Columbus running back Isaiah Crowell and Thomas County defensive end Ray Drew, who reportedly was present at Mitchell’s announcement in Valdosta.
“Isaiah, Ray, come be a Dawg,” Rome said on his broadcast. “We can have the dream team and we’re going to do it. Be a Dawg, baby!”
There are no guarantees in any of this, of course. The verbal commitments aren’t binding. And high school prospects don’t always pan out exactly as planned.
But Richt needs to restore some glamour and prestige to a program that’s been sadly lacking in momentum the past couple of years. Making his Dream Team a reality would provide some of that offseason momentum the Dogs need as they get ready for their national showcase game in Atlanta against Boise State to open the most important season in Richt’s coaching career.
Find me on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter.
— Bill King, Junkyard Blawg
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
480 comments Add your comment
cmac
January 21st, 2011
12:58 pm
Signing a “dream team” is just on paper. The problem at UGH is that then they have to be coached up & made better. Instead, UGH now seems to lack the coaches to coach them up & the head man keeps getting out-coached! In 2010, he got schooled by Spurrier, Petrino, Hawkins!!, Mullen, Mayer, chisik!! & a woefully inferior team led by o’leary! Keep hopin & prayin UGH fans!
DAWG258
January 21st, 2011
12:58 pm
I hate to sound like a homer but if we get these last 3 in Crowell, Drew, and Jenkins based off where there numbers are, it would be hard not to have it at the #1 class.
BTW 4 out of the last 5 against Auburn and 3 out of the last 4 against Bama. Snap out the dreams if you think the recent rough stretch can’t be turn around in 1 year; USC did it didn’t they?
The next SEC title we get will contain a NC with it as well. it obvious! stop hating on UGA and root for the SEC to continue the Domination!
DC
January 21st, 2011
12:58 pm
AthDawg,
UGA has to win the East. Period. Fans expect more and they should..you guys have USCe win the East…dang that has to suck…
Gary
January 21st, 2011
1:00 pm
If McGarity can’t commit to Richt for 4 years, how can he ask recruits to commit to Georgia for 4 years?
He’s not leading by example.
he’s saying I’m not committed to Richt for 4, but I need you guys to know that you need to commit to Georgia for 4 years.
It’s leadership 101.
YoungDawg
January 21st, 2011
1:00 pm
In the NFL the TE’s & FB’s can also line up as H-backs, in fact many teams use TE’s as the FB when they need one. Since we run a pro style attack our TE’s should be trained to be H-Back’s & FB’s too. Our FB’s should be able to line up as H-Backs as well. This would really help if we go back to a fastbreak style attack. CMR wants to be “cutting edge” so let’s run our O at the pace of Oregon’s but use the power elements like Oklahoma’s does in there no huddle attack. The Sooners FB & TE’s can line up all over the field so they don’t have to sub them in & out so much. Also running this kind of O we’d go with a certain package for a series then call plays from that. Instead of just seemingly randomly calling plays.
Gary
January 21st, 2011
1:01 pm
Only 2 recruits that would get on the field in 2011 are Crowell & Jenkins. If you don’t get those 2, there ain’t no dream team, and neither have committed to play for LAME DUCK coach Richt.
Gary
January 21st, 2011
1:04 pm
The ONLY WAY Georgia even has a SHOT at actually landing Crowell & Jenkins, is for Richt’s job to become more stable within the next few days.
Otherwise, they’ll both head to a more stable program like Florida, or Alabama or AUburn, and you can’t blame them, it’s the right move.
Tiger Mania
January 21st, 2011
1:04 pm
ncaa critic:
NICE! AND WELL PUT.
IT reminds me of one of these Trailer Park Families that WINS the Lottery. Everyone puts their best clothes on the day of the press conference to announce they won the money, they all polish their tooth, and they say this is going to change their lives.
Flash forward 8 months, bought a nice house in a nice neighborhood, all have new pickup trucks, all wearing 24k gold, but you open the door to their house and they brought their old furniture with them, the yard is beat to hell with old littered cars, their power is off and they are stealing power and cable from the neighbor, they use that cement pond for drinking water and baths, but their refrigerator is full of beer and all of their cousins have moved into a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house.
That is UGA AND RECRUITING IN A NUTSHELL. All pretty on commitment day and signing day, but you come back in 7 months and the dog is pregnant and the trash can is turned over.
Oconeedawg
January 21st, 2011
1:05 pm
Dream team reality: All we need now is Crowell & Drew! GO DAWGS!!!!
80 Dawg
January 21st, 2011
1:06 pm
Gary, How long is Satan ,i mean Saban committed to. And why are you commenting on the Uga blog …oh i know, Ala. has over committed AGAIN and nothing is going on over there . Try to find a woman with some teeth ….. that should take you a while .
Logan Booker
January 21st, 2011
1:09 pm
Has anyone noticed the lack of white players recruited by ga lately? What’s Richt’s rationale behind that move?
WIN WITH RICHT
January 21st, 2011
1:09 pm
Tiger Mania
That stench coming from Auburn ain’t roses. Flash forward to probation time. All the gawdy trophies have to be returned to the pawn shop.
80 Dawg
January 21st, 2011
1:10 pm
Hey Tiger you to go find something exciting on a War eagle blog … i mean Tiger . oh hell what ever you call yourselves.. What are you going to do when your football team is dismantled.. Oh i know go with the football team to Shorter at the track and gamble and get paid for it What a system Dye has put together.
Milz Thicke
January 21st, 2011
1:11 pm
Enter your comments here
Tiger Mania
January 21st, 2011
1:11 pm
Win with Richt,
You have to admit that was funny? and true?
as for probation, if we get it, I WILL LINE Up AND Perp walk anyone involved.
CLTdawg
January 21st, 2011
1:11 pm
i think whats lost in all of this is the fact that Christian LeMay is in Athens. he seems to be an afterthought since nobody saw him play this fall but he is a stud too.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
January 21st, 2011
1:11 pm
People
Hello anyone there
We have had a decade
I reapeat a decade of top 10 classes and what do we have to show for this
2-8 vs FL
13-12 in the East since 2005
1-4 against top 5 teams
3-8 against top 10 teams
Please people get off the kool-aid
If you cant win an EAST title with Stafford, Moreno, Maseqoui, and Green on the same team this staff will not get it done with the NFL pro-bowl team
80 Dawg
January 21st, 2011
1:13 pm
Booker
im white as snow Y do you want to go there for ? Take your white sheet off your head and stop living in the past
Gold Dawg
January 21st, 2011
1:13 pm
Antonio Richardson will also be in Athens this weekend with Crowell, Jenkins, Harrow and that LB with verbal to USC. They’ll be at the bball game Saturday. We may be offering AJ Johnson as well. Drew still going to announce next Friday. Monday could be big from what I’ve heard. Bigger than last night.
Tiger Mania
January 21st, 2011
1:14 pm
LeMay is going to be another Cam Newton scenario, not on the field but all the drama surrounding his daddy. Just wait and see, that is one thing I hated all year was the DADDY stuff and Lemay has it written all over him.
DAWG4LIFE
January 21st, 2011
1:14 pm
What kills me is people like Tiger Mania comes on here to put the Dawgs down when we have good news.Yea Dawg fans have heard all of this before ,Who will coach up this players?Etc…Etc…Go back to Alabama and enjoy your bought title ,it will be gone soon enough..P.S. If you are a Dawg fan and come on here and say negative things about the Dawgs !!!! Find another team please!!! Go Dawgs!!! I will always support my team and coach no matter what..
JAWJeRDAWG
January 21st, 2011
1:15 pm
Good to see a more positive blog from you, Bill! As were many of us Bulldawg faithful, you’ve seemed a little down in your writing since the UCF loss. With Jay Rome and Malcom Mitchell verbally commiting last night and the others already commited, our hopes for signing a ‘Dream Team’ this year have certainly gotten closer to a reality. I know verbal commitments aren’t binding, but I truly feel both Ray and Malcolm WANT to be Dawgs, and wouldn’t have committed otherwise. It’s good to see that Rome is really working on the other recruits we have on our wish-list.
Isaiah Crowell would be a nice pickup, but even if we don’t, I believe Boo Malcome will be that power back we’ve been missing. And hopefully, a new OL coach will work our OL players into the pass blocking and hole-opening linemen we’ve also been missing for particularly the past three years.
Our defense should be much better having had a year of experience to better learn CTG’s 3-4, but in order to be successful, we’ve REALLY got to get John Jenkins at NG. We could hardly keep any team from running through our DL. With Jenkins in the middle and Jarvis Jones and Richard Samuel as our ILBs behind him, our D could be devastating and playing like the Junkyard Dawgs of the Erk era.
Hope we continue our recruiting by signing Crowell, Drew, Jenkins and maybe a few other surprise commits. If we do, UGA could truly get back to being the team that others in the SEC don’t want to play. This might not be a quick transition, but, I’m hopeful. Go Dawgs in 2011 and start your way back to prominance in the SEC!
From Where I Sit
January 21st, 2011
1:17 pm
Dream Team?
Give me a Freakin break!!
Florida still rules the East!
Enough Said!!!!!
80 Dawg
January 21st, 2011
1:17 pm
Stafford and Moreno where very good players but they were cancers on the team , They got special treatment … Yes i know this for sure! YES thats Richts fault ! Our whole offensive line were freshman and we had willie wonka as our DC
Call IT
January 21st, 2011
1:17 pm
Amen, From Where I Sit, Amen!!!!
Alabama Mayor
January 21st, 2011
1:17 pm
Who Cares, When Thuga or Tech can win it all then talk losers
Joey
January 21st, 2011
1:18 pm
“4. Win back the Ga fanbase”
____________________
AthDawg, Richt could get about half of the fanbase back with one move – demote Bobo back to QB coach and hire a credible OC.
gt4ever
January 21st, 2011
1:19 pm
good for you dawg4life,
Just don’t expect to see a MNC or SEC championship…..
JB
January 21st, 2011
1:19 pm
with the cloud hanging over this coach and program, just look at this class.#9 and could go to top 5. Just imagine if we had our Ducks in a row in Athens. The brand is still strong and 2-3 new assit coach’s away from being a force again. This NG ( Jenkins) is a big big deal if we can get him. The success of this D is nose guard who can disrupt the middle every play. We got last year up the middle.
DC
January 21st, 2011
1:20 pm
only UGA put downs are “bought title” and “it will be taken away..i dont know how..but uhhh it helps with us being such a crappy university at the moment…just go with it..”
Nothing has been linked to AU…nothing..so you idiots who keep on sayinig returning title..paper champs..have not grounds to stand on..but it makes you feel better doesn’t it? Like saying you all will win the SEC this year and have #1 recruiting class…all pipe dreams but it makes you feel better.
Tiger Mania
January 21st, 2011
1:20 pm
dawglife,
as a guy who lives in atlanta and has to tolerate the barking, the g stickers, the sports talk all about georgia, and recently all the complaining and bickering about your Dawgs, then yeah I have the right to blast a coach and a program that SHOULD be in the top 10 every year with the talent around the state. But you and your fans every year talk all this smack about these recruits and how good they are going to be and they all turn out to be many drunks, idiots, and sellers of jerseys. And the end result is still no BCS title.
THE FOUR STATES AHEAD OF GEORGIA IN HIGH SCHOOL TALENT HAVE ALL WON BCS Titles, skip down to Louisiana and Alabama and still UGA has no title.
California-USC
Texas-UT
Florida, FSU, Florida
Ohio- OSU.
Down here
Louisiana -LSU twice
Alabama- Auburn and Alabama.
Just stating the facts you homer.
Gary
January 21st, 2011
1:20 pm
Saban’s contract is good until 2017.
http://blog.al.com/bamabeat/2009/08/nick_saban_agrees_to_threeyear.html
JB
January 21st, 2011
1:20 pm
s/b….we got killed up the middle last year.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
January 21st, 2011
1:21 pm
DAWG4LIFE
So if you worked at ENRON you would support your leaders who just took your 401k and job down the tubes right
I guess if you ran your company and people were not doing their jobs and stealing from you, you would give them a contract extension am I correct?
Mark
January 21st, 2011
1:22 pm
Sure would love to see Jenkins, Drew, and Crowell commit!!! So far it’s been a good month for the Dawgs. Come on guys and commit you know you want to! Help bring the Dawgs back to prominence!
JB
January 21st, 2011
1:22 pm
Tiger Mania…. If you’re a Aubbie, as bad as the Dawgs have been, we’ve owned you lately up to this year when you guys went pro.
Milz Thicke
January 21st, 2011
1:22 pm
1) RTR – You’re a class guy !
2) Great recruits ! … Now come on coaches, Do what Saban does and “Coach them up to be great” !
3) I’m glad Searals is gone ! … O-line was the “over-all” biggest disappointment last year ! Searals had 4 and 5 star recruits and they embarrassed the whole Bulldawg Nation ! … Don’t know what Texas is thinking ?
4) Go Dawgs !
P.S. – Sandman 053 – It’s 93,000 screaming fans … not 80.
DC
January 21st, 2011
1:23 pm
LSU plays florida for SEC title. LSU wins. Goes to sugar bowl. SEC doesn’t go to bcs championship this year…next year we will.
Gary
January 21st, 2011
1:24 pm
Miami’s coach is brand new with a nice long term contract. Jenkins knows this.
Saban also has a 6 year contract. Crowell knows this.
Georgia is not competing with the other schools here.
That’s why lose out on guys like Jenkins & Crowell. They’re smart enough to know if McGarity won’t sign Richt to a long term contract, and if Richt’s contract if 50% less years than Saban’s, there’s probably a reason.
Logan Booker
January 21st, 2011
1:24 pm
you don’t have to be mean about it. I was just wondering when schools talk about diversity you think they’d be able to field a team that was a good mix of race. It was only a question. I am hoping that our running game steps it up a little more this year. 3-4 should also be better in year 2.
Go dawgs!
Gbal
January 21st, 2011
1:24 pm
Anyone else notice….We have an obvioius opportunity to write something positive regarding UGA and neither Bradley or Shultz care to seize the opportunity.
Bradley had to spew his negative BS on the 1 for 148 pro teams today.
JB
January 21st, 2011
1:26 pm
From where i sit……………………I think you clowns lost 5 games last year with a roster FULL of 5 star players and one of the greatest coach’s (sic) to ever wear a whistle around his neck….LOL
Tiger Mania
January 21st, 2011
1:26 pm
see Mark Richt has learned something from the coaches at Auburn and Alabama, you go out and get a big JC DL to clog the middle. But CMR does not get is we had others surrounding him.
Jim Donnan left CMR with a boat load of talent on the OL and DL when he got there, but CMR likes the old FSU way of getting all these skill people first then building a team around them, that system does not work. LINEMEN, LINEMEN, LINEMEN, BIG BOYS BIG BOYS BIG BOYS..someone send mark and email with that listed in the topic or title area.
Gary
January 21st, 2011
1:26 pm
Georgia couldn’t stop the run, and couldn’t run the ball.
No recruits on the so called “Dream Team” have addressed those 2 issues so far.
So basically, you got the same problems as Georgia has in 2010.
DAWG4LIFE
January 21st, 2011
1:27 pm
I will support my team no matter what….. Unlike most bandwagon fan……Last year you see alabama banging their chest now this year War Eagle…The universe will all line up again real soon…Go Dawgs!!!!!
DC
January 21st, 2011
1:27 pm
why write something positive? Is it signing day? Are these verbal commits written in stone? We have been down that road…just b/c you guys want a pat on the back for some verbals..wait till signing day and when everything is in place…then you guys can discuss and have articles by big boys writing about you.
Heck bama has some verbals that are headed our way to AU…am i going to hold my breath? No..I’m going to wait till signing day. Just relax
Tiger Mania
January 21st, 2011
1:28 pm
SMACK TALK ME ALL YOU WANT:
Where is UGA’s BCS TITLE? YOU HAVE THE 5TH BEST RATED HIGH SCHOOL TALENT IN THE NATION AND THE 4 ABOVE YOU ALL GOT TITLES AND 3 WAY WAY BELOW YOU GOT TITLES…..
What is your Malfunction?
JB
January 21st, 2011
1:29 pm
Gary@1;24….. The SEC is a meat grinder….There are 75 players at Florida, mostly 4 & 5 star, who gazed in Urban Meyers twinkling eyes and were told,”I’m here for you. It’s gonna be great, we’ll win it all. Go to the promise land”…….He lied…He’s gone…..Will Who they say? Georgia will just get a better coach…….you point is baseless.
Gary
January 21st, 2011
1:29 pm
i’M SURE JOHN JENKINS KNOWS, AL GOLDEN AT MIAMI HAS A 5 YEAR CONTRACT THAT ENDS IN 2015.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/12/al-golden-miami-hurricanes_n_795612.html
JTH
January 21st, 2011
1:30 pm
So let me get this straight – in ‘10, UGA didn’t beat a single winning team, lost to a terrible Colorado, lost to UCF, now loses 3 of its best 4 playmakers to the NFL (AJ, Durham, Houston), and some of you think that the very coaches who coached UGA to two field goals vs SC, 12 points vs MSU, and two FGs in the bowl game are gonna win more games than they lose next year?
Richt will have another successful recruiting year, but so what? What does he accomplish with these NFL bound players?