A most unusual sight: UGA absent from Rivals.com’s Top 10
It’s a strange feeling for Georgia fans, and it has to feel a bit odd to Mark Richt. According to Rivals.com, Georgia’s recruiting class of 2010 ranks 15th nationally and sixth in the SEC. (The ratings — updated as of 10:48 a.m. Wednesday — are subject to change.) That would be the Bulldogs’ lowest national rating since 2001, when Mark Richt had been on the job barely two months.
Over Rich’s first nine years, Georgia finished outside Rivals’ Top 10 only once. A year-by-year look:
• 2001: Sixteenth nationally, third in the SEC.
• 2002: Third in the nation, second in the SEC.
• 2003: Sixth in the nation, third in the SEC.
• 2004: Sixth in the nation, second in the SEC.
• 2005: Tenth in the nation, second in the SEC.
• 2006: Fourth in the nation, second in the SEC.
• 2007: Ninth in the nation, sixth in the SEC.
• 2008: Seventh in the nation, third in the SEC.
• 2009: Sixth in the nation, third in the SEC.
About here, you might be saying, “So what if Georgia’s not in the Top 10 this time? All those highly rated classes really only resulted in one SEC title.” (That being in 2005; the 2002 conference championship was achieved largely with Jim Donnan’s recruits.) Not to be a Gloomy Gus, but here’s what:
When you get used to a school lighting up the recruiting board, it’s significant when it doesn’t. It’s significant when Georgia doesn’t land a single 5-star recruit. (That last happened in 2007.) It’s significant when an Auburn program in Year 2 under Gene Chizik lands 13 spots ahead of Georgia in Year 10 under Richt. And from this we can draw only one conclusion:
Mark Richt needs to rent some white limos.
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600 comments Add your comment
Jax Dawg
February 3rd, 2010
10:52 am
Hey Lady Ga Ga-tor. Name the 7 coaches better than Richt. Please have something to back each comment up too if you can.
tidog
February 3rd, 2010
10:52 am
I’m just excited/ready too see the 3-4 defense in action with the athletes we have. Finally some agression and urgency on the defensive side of the ball. If that front seven can gel with talent that Boykins, Smith, Rambo have to play the ball. Look out SEC.
GEEZUS
February 3rd, 2010
10:52 am
Who gives a ratz azz about Rivals rankings? If you can’t coach em what the hell does it matter? This is the dumbest conversation piece seriously Mark…
Who the F cares…
Clayton
February 3rd, 2010
10:52 am
MB, still top 10 on ESPN. rivals or espn have updated the signing of Mike Thornton yet either. Its still a good class plus, rumors have it that Rodgers may not have qualified to play at UGA anyways, and Robey being very small, may not fit the scheme. Would be nice to steal a WR and CB from nowhere though. That would help a bit
cantondawg
February 3rd, 2010
10:54 am
Dawg tired,
Herschel Walker was the #1 running back and recruit in the entire nation. They didn’t have all the recruiting rules back then and coaches would literally camp out in Wrightsville. There was a story that a Clemson coach hounded and visited Herschel so much that his dad had to pull a gun on him to chase him off. Every school in the national wanted him. He scored something like 48 touchdowns and rushed for over 3500 yard his senior year
Gen Neyland
February 3rd, 2010
10:54 am
Dawg Fud : Too much emphasis is put on today’s workings. A whole bunch of ennuendo, opinions based on personal feelings and the such. When the mob gets moving in one direction, it takes more than rational thought to turn it back…Let it roll and have fun with the masses…
Clayton
February 3rd, 2010
10:55 am
I lied rivals has updated the Thornton signing, but ESPN has not. UGA currently sits at #9 on ESPN and #15 on Rivals. Considering all the fuss thats pretty good.
Eat and Tweet
February 3rd, 2010
10:57 am
Owensjeff… @ 10:59 AM @ Butts Mehre and the tally of the crowd is inflated… I counts about 80 peoples not 150. Theyre are restless cuz there aints no food left. No word about Telvin and no official paparework on Thort. later dreggs…..
Jax Dawg
February 3rd, 2010
10:57 am
Your silence is deafening Mark.
Sam Robards, Dawg Fan
February 3rd, 2010
10:57 am
Posting this article LONG before the day is up and claiming its results are final is incredibly poor judgement. Yeah, I shouldn’t be terribly surprised, considering the source, but it’s shocking that a writer could be so idiotic. I mean, Schultz hasn’t even written about recruiting rankings (yet) today, and that’s saying something.
Also, I always thought the guys at Rivals were kinda dumb. Not because of this article, mind you. I’ve just always read whatever they have to say with a grain of salt because most of it turns out to be dead wrong.
Anyway, I think this whole process has gotten out of hand anyway. These kids haven’t done jack, and these sports sites wanna put ‘em up on a pedestal as the saviors of American Sports. That’s why I put more stock in the “What’d These Classes Actually Do in College” rankings (or whatever they’re called).
For that reason, I don’t put much stock in recruiting rankings. How these kids played in high school and how they’ll play in college is up to one key factor: coaching, which UGA has in spades (I don’t care what anyone says).
That’s why I picking UGA to win the SECCG this year or, at the very least, the SEC East title. Bank on it.
Just the Facts..
February 3rd, 2010
10:59 am
It’s amazing that UGA cracked the ESPN TOP10, and that was before Thorton signed! I think I’ll trust them a little more, seeing that there recruiters actually played the game of football!
Jax Dawg
February 3rd, 2010
10:59 am
You might want to put on a wig and mustache to disguise yourself.
Clint
February 3rd, 2010
11:01 am
I have never taken much stock into the recruiting rankings. I mean look at FSU and Auburn. They both have had great class rankings over the past few years, and we see how that has translated into wins. I love that our class is solid along both lines and linebackers. That is where games are won. The D-line class we have is probably one of the best in the nation along with the kids Florida got. Sure we don’t have the flashy skills players who usually come with the big star rankings, but then again we are young at all our skill positions so we really did not need to sign that many this year.
Mark Bradley
February 3rd, 2010
11:01 am
Headed to Athens now. Back soon.
cantondawg
February 3rd, 2010
11:01 am
I’ve seen the term “Disney Dawgs” referred to UGA fans like myself who feel that CMR is a great coach and has a great track record with 6 top ten finishes and a #2 and #3 ranking. We were disappointed in the 8-5 season but feel that you don’t get rid of a top tier coach after 1 subpar year. Heck, even Bear Bryant had back to back 6-5 years and then went on to win 3 national championship.
I think we need to come up with a term for those calling for UGA to fire Richt who has got the fourth best winning percentage of active coaches and who has 10 years in building recruiting relationship with HS coaches and replace him with someone who is an unproven Head coach with a resume not half as good a CMR’S
I think we should call these people “Dumba$$ Dawgs”. A name that truly fits their IQ and Social status…
I would rather be a “Disney Dawg” than a “Dumba$$ Dawg”
Can't Make It Up
February 3rd, 2010
11:01 am
dog poops can spin it anyway they like but it is a Huge Deal and with DA Rick going to TN is priceless. How the mighty have fallen
HBTD
February 3rd, 2010
11:02 am
Dawgs are loaded with talent again. Believe me, they’ll be fine with this recruiting class!
How2fish
February 3rd, 2010
11:02 am
Roll Tider the West is best..blah blah only when the Tide is up..Please let UGA play Bama this year…now I have to listen all that hot air coming out of Bamaites..without a chance to prove it one way or the other.
Pick on UK time
February 3rd, 2010
11:02 am
why dont all the Dawgs rip Mark’s UK team in the comment section of his blog, the way he rips UGA in his articles? Isn’t that fair play?
Otto
February 3rd, 2010
11:02 am
Mark, very insightful
Flowery Branch Yellow Jacket
February 3rd, 2010
11:02 am
The primary reason that both Georgia and Georgia Tech are down in the rankings is the size of their recruiting classes. If you take the top 50 teams listed on the Rivals.com web site and rank them based on the “Average Star Rating”, UGA comes in at #9, while the Yellow Jackets are at #25. Although UT has a lower “star rating” than the Dogs, their recruiting class is composed of 26 people, versus 18 for Georgia. As a matter of fact, Florida, Alabama, LSU, and Tennessee are ALL expected to sign 26 athletes today … and Auburn is expecting to sign 30! In terms of total points, it would be very difficult for a school with 18 scholarship openings to compete with that.
Jax Dawg
February 3rd, 2010
11:03 am
Miles needed a flag to beat Georgia this year. Dooley, Mullins haven’t beat Richt. And Coach C and Petrino lost to Richt this year. Will that do?
GaGator
February 3rd, 2010
11:03 am
Jax Dawg
February 3rd, 2010
10:52 am
Hey Lady Ga Ga-tor. Name the 7 coaches better than Richt. Please have something to back each comment up too if you can.
These coaches are better than Richt: Meyer, Saban, Miles, Dooley(reruiting anyway), Auburns coach “C”, Mullins (Miss State) Petrineo, and Hustson Nutt. Will that DO?
AltamahaDawg
February 3rd, 2010
11:04 am
I guess the only cure is to beat Auburn for the 5th straight time…
Money Talks
February 3rd, 2010
11:05 am
The dawgs went cheap and didn’t offer Kirby Smart what he wanted ($1.5 mil), and ended up hiring their 5th choice, grantham at $750,000 and are paying for it in lackluster recruiting. They should have canned bobo, who is worthless and hired Smart and they would have gotten a lot better talent to uga.
haney
February 3rd, 2010
11:05 am
The AJC strikes again, Bradley taking shots at the UGA class, while Schultz props up the GT class!! I think we will soar next year, when we sign a full 25 prospects and kids get a chance to see our new defense and our offense where Murray takes over with 10 returning starters. This class contains 4 defensive players that will see a good amount of PT this fall-Thornton, Smith, Hamilton and Alec Olgetree. On offense, this class was light on kids from that side of the ball so I would be suprised if any see the field, except Zander Olgetree on special teams-that kid will be a suprise.
I think next recruiting class you will see more of a balanced class but for this year, we needed to go defense heavy and considering we changed coordinators, we only lost 3 kids, all three being out of state prospects.
One final note, the way recruiting services RANK schools is based more on the number of players in the class than anything. Meaning, UGA is signing 18-19 kids today, UF, Bama, AU, FSU, and others are signing at least 25, some more than that I guess because some will not qualify. So, you have to take the rankings with a grain of salt.
Shut up Bradley
February 3rd, 2010
11:06 am
Now Bradley is a recruiting expert? How many negative articles can you write in a week? There’s some good kids in this class who will actually achieve something in life, rather than others who do nothing but write bad articles for a dying newspaper.
Bruce Mac
February 3rd, 2010
11:06 am
GaGator, you have lost it sir. Meyer and Saban yes. The rest have nothing close to CMR and you know it. You have no credibility with that logic. How many wins, SEC Championships do these guys have again? Oh yea, the recruiting is rated higher, give me a break and act like you know something about football.
Sam Robards, Dawg Fan
February 3rd, 2010
11:07 am
*I’m Dang typos…
Observer
February 3rd, 2010
11:07 am
I still say the Outback Bowl people got it right last year. Auburn was a better fit there and Georgia was a better fit for Shreveport. One has the number 3 recruiting class and the other has # 17. The numbers don’t lie
Jeff in Calhoun
February 3rd, 2010
11:07 am
Simple Math! Georgia only signed 18 players compared to most in top ten with 25 to 28 players.
Each player accounts for a lot of points. Georgia did not have the available scholarships this year as the others.
Dostoyevskiy
February 3rd, 2010
11:07 am
UGa, like all other UGa-level teams in the SEC (AU, SC, Ark, Tn) is going to have to overachieve to the max in order to have a chance to stay in games with Fl and Bama. Those two teams simply have superior athletes across the board. Not necessarily at every position, but at 8-of-11 of the positions on both sides of the ball. Fl, like Texas, and to a lesser extent Bama, simply dominates in recruiting and this will not change in the near future. So get used to it and play hard and do the best you can.
Jax Dawg
February 3rd, 2010
11:07 am
Lady Ga Ga-tor do us all a favor and cruise the Gainesville Sun and bless them with your knowledge.
Buzzsaw
February 3rd, 2010
11:08 am
If I am not mistaken, the Rivals list tallies points which helps schools with larger classes. If you lok at average stars, UGA finishes at number 9 and GT finishes at 25. This looks more at the overall quality of the recruits than the total amount. USC, by far, had the most outstanding class in terms of the quality. With just 16 recruits, they still posted at 5th overall.
At any rate, I think UGA and GT were very successful this year. Picking up Loius Young really bolstered Tech’s class and speaks volumes about for Al Groh.
Go Jackets!!!!
Yellow Fuzz84
February 3rd, 2010
11:08 am
Mark, can you let us know where GT is currently ranked? I’m guessing #8 or better.
thunderbull56
February 3rd, 2010
11:08 am
Marko, there’s one ranking that UGA ranks in the top five of every year………..UNDERACHIEVEMENT !!!!! Would love to know the stats on all those five star signees who never qualified academically and were included in those rankings.
realdawg
February 3rd, 2010
11:10 am
Who gives a crap…damn you are negative.
gb
February 3rd, 2010
11:11 am
Rankings? Huh? Every year the top 10 classes in the nation include 5 or 6 or even more SEC schools! Aren’t any of you experts able to see through some of that? Do you really think Penn State, Ohio State, USC, Texas, OKlahoma, USC etc. etc. aren’t getting really good players? Wise up, being called the top class or the 15th class, there usually isn’t much difference!
Gatorzone
February 3rd, 2010
11:11 am
GaGator, while I agree that UGA is having a tough time, saying Richt is 7-8th best coach is crazy.
I would put him at #4-5 at worst.
Jona
February 3rd, 2010
11:11 am
GaGator
” Face facts, Richt is now about the 7th or 8th best coach in the SEC”
The opinion of a lizard lover. Doesn’t carry much weight past LaGrange
David
February 3rd, 2010
11:12 am
Clint…look at the offensive coordinator in that small time frame…yeah there ya go…spread turned into dread..dont blame the kids if the coach didnt produce it..we should have kept Tubs but Chizik bleeds for auburn and knows the traditions thats why the recruiting is doing so well…i dont consider him a year 1 coach..hes been in the trenches for many years for AU.
Jona
February 3rd, 2010
11:14 am
“tech always has a top 40 recruiting class because of academic standards”
bahahahahahahahahahaha
Jax Dawg
February 3rd, 2010
11:14 am
If I recall correctly neither Pollack nor Thomas Davis were 5 stars and look at their college careers – All-Americans.
Stir-it-up Bradley – also keep in mind UGA has only signed 18 players, the fewest of any top 20 class besides Kitten’s USC class.
Just the Facts..
February 3rd, 2010
11:14 am
GoGator, Urban knew, Urban knows, Urban will be Exposed. The Spread will not work against NFL trained DC’s. Ask Urban how one year coach Monte Kiffin exposed that ridiculious offense. All you recruits that play in that joke of an offense will never amount to nothing at the next level. Not picking on him at all but look at the difference between Tebow, and Stafford who played in a more convential pro style attack. Look at Tailbacks out of Fla, they haven’t produced a first round Tailback since Fred Taylor! Future tailbacks you might want to use youtube in the future and look up guys like Herschel Walker, Terrell Davis, Robert Edwards, Rodney Hampton, LarsTate, Tim Worley, Garrison Hearst, Musa Smith,Kregg Lumpkin, Danny Ware,Thomas Brown, Patrick Pass, and yes Knowshon Moreno. Now tell me kids like Mack Brown who gives you a better chance to make it as a pro?
Bruce Mac
February 3rd, 2010
11:15 am
observer, nice logic. That makes alot of sense. The best thing that ever happened to UGA was Shreveport. Hide and watch. We will take another win over Auburn, you can have your recruiting victory. Probation is close behind whenever Auburn does well in recruiting. I see now what Tubbs got fired, he wouldn’t play the Auburn pays game.
Yellow Fuzz
February 3rd, 2010
11:16 am
Yellow Fuzz84
February 3rd, 2010
11:08 am
Mark, can you let us know where GT is currently ranked? I’m guessing #8 or better.
Tech always has a top 40 recruiting class because of academic standards but we turned it into a top 13 final ranking on the field last year. You on the other hand took your top 5 recruiting class and turned it into a top 40 final ranking on the field. Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Top 40-thanks to Bobby Bowden’s lone vote! Otherwise you tie for last with 60 other voteless teams. Hahahahahahaha. See you between the hedges in November AH’s.
gigantor
February 3rd, 2010
11:16 am
I think it’s a blessing, and not really a blessing in disguise. We need guys who have their attitude right, who are hard workers, who make grades and play the game smart. Many times these are the 3 and 4 star guys who have a little less ability but make up for it with heart. A lot of the 5 star guys have the talent, but maybe the big ego to go along with it. It’s a positive step. Having the right coaches in place and the right kids is more important than recruiting rankings. We finally are getting it. Most Dawgfans are pleased.
Dawglasville
February 3rd, 2010
11:17 am
What was Terry Hoages ranking? Dooley took him with his last scholarship as a favor to a friend. He got Hershel and then signed Hoage with the last scholarship and both of them worked out pretty well.
Volunteer Nation
February 3rd, 2010
11:17 am
Double-D sure is bringing the recruits home to Tennessee, 1 5-star that he raped from Georgia and 11 4-stars. We’re only about 500 Rivals Recruiting points behind ‘Cheatin-Bama but we will close the gap with a few more announcements per my sources!
Great day on Rocky Top! Whew!
Mustafa
February 3rd, 2010
11:17 am
UGA is number 4 in recruiting according to ESPN. Why the big disparity between ESPN and Rivals?