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Even if you’re not going for season tickets, a minimum $100 contribution to the Hartman Fund will get you a 2012 football ticket application and will make you eligible to request single-game tickets to five of the seven home games. With the Dawgs looking to open the season as possibly a Top 5 team, some folks might want to scramble aboard the bandwagon.

Then again, whether you can find five home games on Georgia’s 2012 schedule that you consider worth the cost of the ticket plus a contribution is another question.

Along those lines, I had a note from reader SavannahDawg, who was going ahead and making his …

Brett Johnson and Paul Floyd of UGA’s Redcoat Band tell me that the Redcoats’ football team will be playing something called the White Team, an unofficial aggregation allegedly consisting of band members from that school on North Avenue, at noon Saturday at Southeast Clarke Park, 4440 Lexington Road in Athens.

Just in case you might be one of those folks who mistakenly considers the members of the band to be anything less than gung-ho iron men, you should know that they play full-contact tackle football and, Brett noted, like rugby, “the only padding is a mouthpiece and hopefully forgiving grass.”

Sounds like the sandlot games my brothers and I used to love playing with our friends when we were kids (only we didn’t even bother with the mouthpieces).

Saturday’s game, dubbed Band Bowl III, is the third annual clash since the series was revived after an undertermined number of years off (no one …

Basically, what it comes down to is this: The permanent cross-divisional rivalries could easily be maintained if the SEC went to a nine-game conference schedule as other conferences, including the ACC, are doing. But SEC athletic directors prefer to stick with eight conference games in order to maintain more scheduling flexibility (meaning they can schedule the occasional nonconference BCS game and still feast on at least two cupcakes per season).

That’s an even bigger factor for teams like Georgia, Florida and South Carolina that have BCS in-state rivals permanently locked in on their schedule.

The future of the Georgia-Auburn rivalry is endangered because, with that game and Alabama-Tennessee being …

UGA defensive coordinator Todd Grantham has been named one of the nation's Top 25 recruiters. (University of Georgia)

The gray skies outside have reflected too much of how my winter has gone so far, so it’s time for a few mood brighteners, of the red and black variety.

Some might choose to be focusing on those potential signees that Georgia didn’t manage to flip last week, but the Dogs still will have some pretty impressive fresh blood coming to Athens, and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham reportedly had a big hand in making that happen. Rivals.com has noticed, and named Grantham one of the nation’s 25 best recruiters, which bodes well for replenishing the senior-laden defensive secondary after this season.

Speaking of which, David Ching of ESPN’s DawgNation notes that while Georgia could have depth problems in its defensive secondary in the wake of last week’s dismissals, the returning starting lineup is pretty awesome, with Bacarri Rambo, Shawn Williams, Branden Smith and …

William D. King was a Georgia Bulldogs fan his entire life. (Photo by Bill King)

We laid my Dad, William D. King, to rest in Athens’ Evergreen Memorial Park Wednesday, and it being national signing day much of my Bulldog-centric family naturally had one eye on ESPN while we got ready for the funeral at First Baptist Church.

Dad wouldn’t have minded in the least. I’ve written in the past about his devotion to the University of Georgia, and several favorite family stories of Pop involve the Dawgs. Such as how he came to stand on the sideline as a “high school prospect” when the 1942 national championship team met Alabama in Atlanta. And how he nervously ate his way through almost an entire bag of oranges as Georgia beat Auburn for the SEC title in 1959 — a tale that seemed to resonate with quite a few readers who’ve mentioned it to me over the years.

It was a burial befitting a lifelong Bulldog, and not just because of the beautiful plant bedecked with a red and black ribbon, …

Well, I’m sorry to report that Dad is in failing health in Athens and I’m shuttling back and forth between there and Atlanta, so my blogging this week may be less frequent. I appreciate your understanding and your good thoughts and prayers.

Even if there isn’t a new posting here, feel free to continue discussing the Dawgs in the comments, but please keep it clean and civil. Thanks.

Go Dogs!

Got something on your mind concerning UGA athletics or a question for the Junkyard Blawg? Send it to junkyardblawg@gmail.com.

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— Bill King, Junkyard Blawg

MonroeDawg writes: Did you see the latest from South Carolina? They’re so upset about losing the SEC East to Georgia that their athletic department is petitioning the SEC to change the rules so that games against your own division count a whole game while games against the other division only count half a game. They still can’t get over the fact that they beat Georgia and all the other SEC East teams this year but lost the division because the Dawgs had a better overall conference record. I can’t believe they’ll get anywhere with this. What do you think?

I think those grapes are mighty sour over in Gamecock country. The proposal you mention came from USC-East trustee Chuck Allen, who can’t handle South Carolina not winning the East two years in a row. One division title and suddenly they’re feeling entitled in Columbia! “It just seems fair that the team that won all its division games would be the division champ,” Allen …

Mark Richt has some work ahead of him if he wants to have another celebration like this in 2012. (Associated Press)

Outside the Bulldog Nation, Mark Richt’s 2012 team is being viewed as a preseason Top 10 lock, thanks to returning talent (including virtually the entire defense) and a favorable schedule. But all that enthusiasm is being tempered among many Dogs fans by concerns about some of the things on Richt’s offseason to-do list.

The head coach himself has listed improvement on special teams as a top priority for the offseason, saying “there’s no doubt that we’ve got to be a whole lot better on special teams top to bottom.”

In the absence of naming a special teams coordinator (which many of us still would like to see), that’s likely to come down to a commitment to play more starters on the punt and kick teams and an overall greater emphasis on preparation in that area of the game. Of course, the Dogs also will be breaking in a new placekicker and a new punter, so those …

Can Aaron Murray become an elite quarterback for Georgia? (Associated Press)

It’s tough finding a consensus lately among Georgia fans on quarterback Aaron Murray.

In his second season behind center for the Dogs, Murray completed 218 of 371 passes for 2,861 yards (a 58.8 percent completion rate) and broke the single-season school record for touchdown throws with 33. He also ran for two scores, giving him the UGA record for single-season touchdown responsibility.

And in the SEC, he ranked second in passing (220.1 yards per game), second in total offense (229.6) and fourth in passing efficiency (146.4).

Stats like that are why Murray made some All-SEC teams and is routinely cited by national sports media as one of the best QBs in the conference. It’s a major reason the Dogs will enter next season highly rated.

But closer to home the excitement over Murray’s passing numbers is tempered by frustration over his penchant this season for devastating turnovers against South Carolina, …

Would Richard Samuel be a good fit at fullback? (Associated Press)

All in all, it was a pretty good week for the Georgia Bulldogs — football variety, at least. Todd Grantham’s defense will be intact next season, and Grantham apparently rebuffed interest from the Falcons; the Dogs lost only one player to the NFL draft; backup QB Hutson Mason decided to redshirt rather than transfer; and Mark Richt got commitments from a five-star defender and another highly rated running back. Sounds like a good time to sample the Junkyard Mail …

Harry Peterson writes: Like most Dawg fans I’m thrilled that Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall will be joining our team, and I’m one of those who believes the competition will be good for Isaiah Crowell and force him to increase his effort and perseverance. But what is the coaching staff going to do with all those other tailbacks? Carlton Thomas can still maybe serve as a change-of-pace back, if he doesn’t get himself kicked off the team, but what about …