UGA to Penn State players: Come on down!
Mark Richt was unusually open about his interest in Penn State players. (David Tulis / AJC special)
While Mark Richt has perhaps been the most up-front about his interest in picking up some of the Penn State players who are free to leave the NCAA-hammered program and play immediately elsewhere, Georgia certainly isn’t the only SEC school looking at that possibility.
In terms of players currently on the Nittany Lions roster, this is likely to play out rather quickly, as most schools will be starting preseason camp soon — UGA on Aug. 2 — and in order to have a realistic shot at anything close to immediate playing time a transfer would need to be on campus by then.
It’s not surprising that Richt is interested, but what did widen a few eyes among college football observers was how he wasn’t at all coy about it when addressing the subject at Monday night’s UGA Day fan gathering. In fact, he volunteered the news that as soon as they heard about the NCAA sanctions against PSU, the Georgia coaching staff went over Penn State’s two-deep roster to identify players the Bulldogs might be interested in.
The fact that Richt offered that tidbit up in public is an indication that, yes, Georgia is really interested. And why not, the Dogs have a depleted roster that numbers less than Southern Cal, which is on probation!
Penn State players apparently would be welcomed by the UGA team as well. All-American Jarvis Jones tweeted: “Penn State players feel free to b a Part of BullDogs Nation!!!”
While you can bet Nick Saban and other SEC coaches are moving just as quickly as Richt, if more quietly, Georgia does have what appears to be a couple of built-in advantages: Georgia has plenty of room on its roster and also has on staff John Thomas, who until recently was Penn State’s strength and conditioning coordinator for 20 years.
As for which players Georgia might talk with, early speculation has centered on defensive end Deion Barnes and linebacker Khairi Fortt, both of whom considered Georgia out of high school and reportedly took recruiting visits to Athens. And UGA has at least somewhat of a relationship with two Penn State commitments — defensive end Garrett Sickels and tight end Adam Breneman — since both were offered scholarships by Georgia.
Beyond that, the most obvious need the Dogs have is experienced offensive linemen, so I imagine that’s where the Georgia coaches looked hardest when they examined the PSU roster at their retreat Monday. But the Dogs also are in need of additional depth in the defensive secondary.
Of course, we don’t know that Penn State players will bail on the program en masse, though it certainly would be understandable if they did, and Georgia may wind up not picking up any of the school’s current players.
It’s quite likely, however, that Pennsylvania — which proved very fruitful territory for the Bulldogs in past generations with names like Sinkwich, Trippi and Rissmiller — is likely to get increased recruiting attention in the future from a lot of schools, including Georgia. And in addition to Thomas, secondary coach Scott Lakatos is very familiar with the area.
Aunt Pittypat might have been aghast at more Yankees in Georgia, but this is one case where they’re entirely welcome!
Got something you want to discuss concerning UGA athletics or a question for the Junkyard Blawg? Send it to junkyardblawg@gmail.com.
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258 comments Add your comment
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
July 24th, 2012
1:21 pm
LA Monroe
Utah
Since then, more national champions than UGAs history.
Faithful Dawg 86
July 24th, 2012
1:22 pm
Doug Dawg: I agree!! Personally, I can’t wait for the season; I only read these comments to get a tiny sip of football to get me through the next 39 days, but it’s become soooo negative and whiny! How about some team spirit and pride!?! GATA GO DAWGS!!! Can’t wait for Sept 1!
what of it?
July 24th, 2012
1:35 pm
what was the expected response? No we don’t want ‘em
Blather Bloviator
July 24th, 2012
1:37 pm
Bill, Did you forget Musa Smith from Perry County PA?
G.P. Burdell
July 24th, 2012
1:37 pm
Real classy there thuga…you can’t recruit good enough on your own so MR has to go pilfer players from a school going through an especially tragic time. Let those players decide for themselves if they want to go somewhere else or stick together through this and have the most important bonding experience of their lives. It also says a lot that your star player sees the diffiencies in recruiting and spouts off trying to lure players.
G.P. Burdell
July 24th, 2012
1:38 pm
*dificiencies
what of it?
July 24th, 2012
1:45 pm
Tide,
your history is as poor as your class. Georgia was never a penal colony.
wreckmaniac
July 24th, 2012
1:46 pm
Next year, at SEC media days, the circus will be expanded by having the coaches wear tuxedos. They will be taken to the interview room in a horse-drawn carriage with their 3 players. The media will present a glass slipper to the coach whose team the media believes will be conference champ. UGA will present its three top selections for Drama Queen. Won’t that be cute ?
Philledawg
July 24th, 2012
1:51 pm
Penn State will be off the ‘competetive’ football map until, let’s say, 2020? An an alum, ABJ ‘80, I love my Dawgs, I know we have immediate openings. I’m wondering, and I may be wrong. Penn State players, you have a 2nd chance to attend a great University, Coach Thomas is here. I’m sure you’ll feel ‘at home’. Woof and ‘C’mon down”!
The Dogfather
July 24th, 2012
1:56 pm
Penn State roster lists their punter as an all american. Coach-We need a kid with experience….
Dawg Haus
July 24th, 2012
2:00 pm
Faithful Dawg 86, I hear you. Despite all the negative stuff that’s been going down this offseason, I have high hopes for this team and will be yelling loud and proud for our Dawgs at the opener. Go Dawgs!
Nate the Great
July 24th, 2012
2:04 pm
@ Doug Dawg and GP Burdell:
Those aren’t UGA fans, its Tech and Bama trolls that really have pathetic lives that complain. Most legit fans are just that FANS, not haters. These blogs have become so clustered with morons from opposing teams and AJC does NOTHING to control/stop it, us real fans don’t really care to comment. They beat their chest when their team does well because their personal life is pathetic and have no real personal accomplishments in their 45+ years of existence that they have to latch themselves to the coat-tails of 18-23 yo kids to feel like they aren’t the waste of air they are.
It is truly pathetic when you put it perspective.
Take home: The players dont read this crap and it won’t affect how we play this year.
tide roll
July 24th, 2012
2:06 pm
Didn’t your guy JOE T. hire PENN STATE’S long time Strength and Conditioning Coach? You’d have to be a complete idiot to think this guy wasn’t aware of Sandusky’s antics. If he wasn’t, he should have been. Yet another BIZARRE decision by GREG MCGARITY. You guys suck.
Nate the Great
July 24th, 2012
2:11 pm
And to the bama fans that want to trash the state of GA: Where does you HC live here? Why do you read our papers? What exactly is in Alabama besides crappy roads, bass fishermen, and impoverished countryside?
Oh I know…inbred morons!!!! Get off Saban’s jock and do something with your OWN life and not live through college kids that you didn’t even raise!! Pathetic. Truly pathetic.
Top Row Dawg
July 24th, 2012
2:14 pm
I grew up learning that Sinkwich was from Pennsylvania. However, Frank Sinkwich grew up and played high school ball in Youngstown, Ohio.
The Georgia Media Guide and several sites say he was born in Pennsylvania but new research and Wikipedia say he was actually born in Croatia during World War I, where his mother was a refugee.
If anyone has something firm on this, I am curious. Doesn’t change his being a great player, just that there is no Pennsylvania connection like we were taught. Nick Saban has some Croatian origin too, but he was born in West Virginia.
Nate the Great
July 24th, 2012
2:14 pm
Stay classy you rammer jammer morons!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/suit-blames-alabama-coach-saban-daughter_n_1668148.html
UGA Insider
July 24th, 2012
2:18 pm
The track record for infractions regarding Alabama football is “abysmal”.
-NCAA
Nate the Great
July 24th, 2012
2:19 pm
Do you think Kristen learned how to react to difficult situations from her father or mother? Either way, great job Nick on raising a stellar young lady!! The pride of Alabama I know.
UGA Insider
July 24th, 2012
2:20 pm
Alabama football has been on the “habitual violator” list the past 15 years.
-NCAA
Dawg Haus
July 24th, 2012
2:27 pm
Top Row Dawg, very interesting! I knew Sinkwich was from Youngstown, OH, but had no idea he was born in Croatia. There have been quite a few successful football personalities with Croatian blood: Sinkwich, Saban, Belichick, Grbac.
Big Crimson 75
July 24th, 2012
2:32 pm
It doesn’t take much to stir up you pups.
As Willie would say — 1980, it’s documented sport!!!
1980!!!…….that’s 32 yrs & counting for the mathematically challenged doggies.
Holy Guacamole
July 24th, 2012
2:39 pm
Saban doesn’t have Croatian blood. I think that it is misrepresented. Supposed to Cretin.
coach satan
July 24th, 2012
2:40 pm
Tide is rolling and nothing can stop it
July 24th, 2012
1:21 pm
LA Monroe
Utah
Since then, more national champions than UGAs history.
Not if we count them the way bama does. College Football Data Warehouse list UGA with 11 total National Championships http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/sec/georgia/all_national_champs.php
I use to like bama, but people like you make it easy to really not care about the tide at all. I wish you all the worse.
Mandingo
July 24th, 2012
2:42 pm
I hope CMR has the best season he has ever had as a head coach so you guys don’t turn on him the first drunken chance you get.
Dawg Haus
July 24th, 2012
2:44 pm
More praise for the linebackers: http://www.athlonsports.com/college-football/unit-rankings-2012-sec-linebackers
I think moving Cornelius Washington to the line was a good idea. He’ll play well alongside Big John/Kwame and opposite Abry Jones. I hope Ray Drew gets some playing time with that group.
Nel-Dorado
July 24th, 2012
2:50 pm
@ Tide is rolling blah blah blah.
Looks like Utah and Louisiana-Monroe didn’t have any trouble. Also what happened in the LSU game that was in the regular season and was in T-town?
Also these kids that may play in the Mizzou game didn’t commit any crimes. And if they went to BAMA they wouldn’t even be suspended for 1 game. Open your eyes, be realistic.
funny...
July 24th, 2012
2:52 pm
Holy crap, people still posting about UGA arrests, etc.
Every school has these issues, even yours. Furthermore, if you’re an Alabama fan trolling a UGA blog then LOL at you. You’re reading and posting, but then again, no one ever confused Alabama fans for being intelligent.
Nel-Dorado
July 24th, 2012
2:52 pm
@ Big Cimson 75.
Please tell me you weren’t born in ‘75 because your comments are simply childish and close minded.
Integrity list:
Dubose
Franchione
Price
Shula
Kines
HA! I would take CMR over any one those Mooks!
Joey
July 24th, 2012
2:52 pm
“So are we going to start seeing “We WERE Penn State” bumper stickers?!?”
**************************************
Soon as we see Bama in Atlanta” bumper stickers, dufus . . .
Krystal Burger Association
July 24th, 2012
2:53 pm
Which on of you guys is Alabama alumni Brain Dowling? Please remember to keep your paints on while ordering your cheese krystal.
Top Recruit
July 24th, 2012
3:04 pm
Whoa. Dawgs do have a few roster spots available and there are opportunities to play between the hedges. But let’s back up a moment there Jack.
Let’s think about it from other than the Dawg’s roster and needs.
Let’s think about the needs of those young men at PSU. I’m sure they want to play, but juniors and seniors are moving toward a degree and I would think they have a great deal of loyalty to the Nittany Lions. They may not go to a bowl but they are not barred from wins and a conference champsionship or national rankings. I did not see any prohibition on that by the NCAA. I would think any movement would be incoming freshman and sophomores. Those young men will short of play [letter in 2011]. And they may wait to transfer after this season and cherry pick. Again, I did not see time frame on when they could transfer.
But let’s stop all the “as usual” recruitment that the Dawg Nation falls into each year. If my son was there this would be just a few of the considerations that would come into play for him rather than the fans at Georgia, Tech, or any other school / program with the mindset ” sign-them-up-now”.
Big Crimson 75
July 24th, 2012
3:05 pm
Nel-Dorado — I would too.
AltamahaDawg
July 24th, 2012
3:05 pm
That was harsh.
Piney Woods Pete
July 24th, 2012
3:07 pm
Penn State recruits honest, law-abiding intelligent athletes who earn real college degrees. There is no way in the world that one of their players is going to transfer to UGA and have to play with a gang of goons, dummies, and woman-beaters, not to mention having third-rate coaching, and a perennial contender for the Fulmer/Richt Cup.
AltamahaDawg
July 24th, 2012
3:10 pm
You are aware of WHY they can transfer, right, pete?
Joey
July 24th, 2012
3:11 pm
Once more – Congratulations Bama! 2 BCS Titles in 2 Years! Congratulations! Whoo Hoo!
Is that enough of a pat on the back for you Bama fans to cut back on your insults?
Big Crimson 75
July 24th, 2012
3:13 pm
joey — 2 in 3 yrs, but who’s counting?
Richw
July 24th, 2012
3:17 pm
If the state of Georgia is such a bad sports state then why does Alabama and Auburn spend so much time recruiting here, is it because most players from the state of Alabama have a combined IQ equal to the speed limit in a school zone.
AltamahaDawg
July 24th, 2012
3:18 pm
Nobody was counting in 2010.
SOUTHGADAWG88
July 24th, 2012
3:39 pm
We have a short roster because of the number of kids kicked off the team or the ones who decided to transfer.This roster stuff is a bunch of nonsense.The is a list out there on oversigning of all BCS schools that shows the number of kids signed from 10 and 5 years ago.UGA has won more games than 95 percent of the list.Stanford for instance has avg 18 recruits each signing class going back 10 years and they don’t seem all that affected.USC was the best team in the PAC-10 with the smallest roster to boot.It is an overrated issue.
slydog
July 24th, 2012
3:41 pm
Silas Redd would be the day one starter at RB IF, IF, IF, he came to UGA. One O-linemen and one DB would be nice too. Can’t ask for much more than that.
SOUTHGADAWG88
July 24th, 2012
3:45 pm
This notion that somehow the 70th and on guy on your roster is somehow going to have a big impact on the field is dubious at best.Take our RB situation,folks whined about our “lack of depth” at RB last year while overlooking the fact that Ealey and King were expected to play in 2011.Brandon Harton and Carlton Thomas were not expected to get much PT,but we had to play them.The results are pretty much what you would expect from the 5th-6th guy on the depth chart.
Joey
July 24th, 2012
3:46 pm
Haha – I got carried away in my Bulldog misery. Of course, 2 in 3 years, soon to be 3 in 4 years?
We bow to the mighty elephant . . .
Joey Hanie
July 24th, 2012
3:47 pm
I want 22 Richard Samuels….GO DAWGS!!!! GATA!!!!!!!
chazzo
July 24th, 2012
3:47 pm
OL!!!!
VA DAWG
July 24th, 2012
3:51 pm
My mother told me when I was a kid to get good grades or else I’ll be yelling “Roll Tide” from a trailer park.
DawginLex
July 24th, 2012
3:53 pm
No one is coming
Coach O’Brien has rallied the troops and the fact they are still going to be on TV is a huge factor
so far
Joey
July 24th, 2012
4:01 pm
Those extra 15 scholarship players must mean something, SOUTHGADAWG88.
Else, why would the NCAA take that many scholarships from the cheating programs?
Bad luck, or poor roster management (or both), we are in the boat, scholarship-wise, of a football program on NCAA Probation.
Good news is, we CAN sign a bunch for next year, but we are short-handed for ‘12. If you aren’t counting on a half-dozen or more injuries at fall camp, major and minor, then you better steel yourself.
Dr. Morpheus
July 24th, 2012
4:03 pm
Makes sense to do this
Dawg Haus
July 24th, 2012
4:04 pm
Lex, I’d be surprised if any of them did end up in Athens. Sounds to me like they’re going to band together and go through this mess together. I’d like to see some of them at UGA, but admire their commitment to Penn State.