On a tepid Signing Day, there’s still reason for UGA to believe
Rodney Garner and Mark Richt meet the press on Signing Day 2010. (Photo by M. Bradley)
Athens – Just as it would be wrong to make too much of one lost recruit or one tepid signing class, it would likewise be wrong to ignore current events. And those are: Coming off its worst season on the field under Mark Richt, the Bulldogs have assembled their lowest-ranked recruiting class, according to Rivals.com, since Richt was so new to the job he hadn’t yet coached a game.
“I don’t expect Bulldog fans to be excited over an 8-5 season,” Richt said Wednesday, briefing the media on a subdued-by-Georgia-standards Signing Day, but that season is done and this recruiting class is essentially complete and the Bulldogs move on. And the question becomes: Is Georgia better suited today to win big than it was 12 months ago?
And the answer is: Yes.
We cannot know how good Da’Rick Rogers will (or will not) be at Tennessee, but we can know this: Georgia was never going to play for another SEC title with Willie Martinez coaching its defense. If firing Martinez and two assistants made for what recruiting coordinator Rodney Garner called “some difficulties,” that’s a trade-off worth making if in fact Todd Grantham, Martinez’s successor, is as clever as advertised.
“That’s why I did what I did,” said Richt, responding to a question about Georgia’s positioning for the future. “That’s the only reason I did what I did.”
As much as Signing Day matters, coaching matters more. Richt’s program had become the place where big-time defensive players came and were left to their own devices. Were recruiting alone the secret to success, Georgia and Richt — eight consecutive Top 10 classes, according to Rivals — would have taken a BCS title by now.
As disappointing as Rogers’ defection was, Georgia fans should nonetheless find reason to believe this February. Because the head coach bears a lean and hungry look. “[Last season] has given me more resolve to get this program where it belongs,” Richt said. And then: “We have everything we need to get that done.”
Last season wasn’t good. (No good seasons lead to Shreveport.) The coaching search took six weeks and included three high-profile turndowns. The recruiting class of 2010 numbered 18 commitments last fall and wound up with 19 signed letters-of-intent. But all that is past now, and what remains is a better defensive staff — couldn’t be worse, could it? — and a rejuvenated Richt. And also this:
“We’ve got some darn good football players,” Richt said. “That’s got me excited about what the future holds.”
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429 comments Add your comment
JB
February 3rd, 2010
3:58 pm
Looking at Tech’s class today, I can see why the term “coach’em up” is used so much over there.
juvenal
February 3rd, 2010
3:59 pm
you don’t need top wr’s, now, remember;you’re now a running school…
Yellow Fuzz
February 3rd, 2010
4:00 pm
“wait till next year”
Moonlight Graham
February 3rd, 2010
4:00 pm
Great move to sign Nick Marshal, from Rochelles reciever. That dude Marshall is the real deal!!
John
February 3rd, 2010
4:00 pm
CMR should put BoBo on the clock, he needs to show improvement or he will meet the same fate as Martinez. Stop telling me how Georgia’s offense leads the SEC in scoring & yards gained if they are piling on lesser opponents, but being blown out against Tenn, Fl, and Alabama. Bobo had the NFL’s #1 quarterback, first running back selected (Moreno) and 2nd round receiver (Mohamad)with future #1 receiver (Green) but couldn’t put up the points when he needed to against the Big 3…If he needs top talent to be mediocre, what do you expect him to do with lesser talent?
Mark Bradley
February 3rd, 2010
4:00 pm
My assignment today was to write about Georgia’s class, not Tech’s. But I will say this, JB: Signing Day at Georgia is different than at Tech. (And I’ve covered both.) If Tech gets into the Top 20 — it did in 2007 — it’s a breakthrough year. If Georgia’s not in the Top 10, it’s a down year. That’s just the nature of the two programs.
Mr Me
February 3rd, 2010
4:00 pm
Diamond Dog’s Parole Officer
February 3rd, 2010
3:54 pm
I wasn’t saying that UGA doesn’t have those type players, all i was stating is that its hard to root for someone that comes off uneducated. As for Champ and Boss, I can only remember NFL interviews and in those they at least were understandable.
CDAWG
February 3rd, 2010
4:01 pm
JB, I am rolling!!!
jellybeandawg
February 3rd, 2010
4:02 pm
Coach Mark Richt in addition to improving your soulja boy dance moves ( I really enjoyed watching the team perform it on the field during time outs against Arizona St. last year while we were loosing in the 4th quarter) I also hope you have been working on improving your tan, back flips from the 10-meter high dive, and basketball trick shots. These qualities are so fundamentally important in a head football coach that I don’t think we stand a chance of winning a game without them.
Floundering Fox Hounds Batman!
February 3rd, 2010
4:04 pm
Well of course uncle Miltie.. I mean Mr Bradley CMR is paid the Big Bucks thus UGA fans expect top 10 classes every year…
juvenal
February 3rd, 2010
4:04 pm
MB, they would like you if you worked for the AP…
Va Beach Dawg
February 3rd, 2010
4:07 pm
Mark, I love the way you trash the dogs all recruiting season, to help the recruits know that the program is in the toilet. Now that the recruits have all signed and you’re taking lots of heat from the Bulldog fans about your obvious bias, you write a balanced article. We’re not that dumb. You claim objectivity. Did you ever wonder why not ONE GT fan ever complains about your stuff?? If someone is balanced, they would get criticism from both sides. Just fess up and tell people you’re a Tech homer and stop the charade!
Dzerzhinsky
February 3rd, 2010
4:07 pm
At least one thing stands in Grantham’s favor: The defense he inherited has nowhere to go but up, and, if things don’t improve next year, he can do like Obama and blame it on Willie every other breath.
MALONE
February 3rd, 2010
4:07 pm
Believe what, exactly…?
Jeff in Calhoun
February 3rd, 2010
4:07 pm
ESPNU has Georgia #9, USC #10 and Tennessee #11…..GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eat and Tweet
February 3rd, 2010
4:08 pm
Hope some of these guys hit the weight room immediately. UGA needs some physical guys to run that 34 defense
Jeff in Calhoun
February 3rd, 2010
4:09 pm
I will take Hudson Mason over Two Nash Nances anyday!
Lane Kiffin
February 3rd, 2010
4:10 pm
Did someone mention charades????
jellybeandawg
February 3rd, 2010
4:11 pm
OoltewahDawg there are a half a dozen or more coaches I would trade him for in a second. The obvious (Saban & Myer) but also Gary Patterson, Brian Kelly, butch Davis, Chris Petersen and a few others.
Dawgs 2010
February 3rd, 2010
4:11 pm
Rocky Top, you will always be,
stupid white trash to me,
good ole Rocky Top,
I jus lost three more teeth!!
Jeff in Calhoun
February 3rd, 2010
4:11 pm
Mason threw for 5000 yards while Nance threw for 3000 in the same spread offense. Mason did not have a Da’rick to throw to.
RAMBLE ON!!!
February 3rd, 2010
4:13 pm
Is there a template for Hargrave Academy with these scholarships?
Internet killed the AJC
February 3rd, 2010
4:13 pm
How come Tech is Ok with the 120th class and Georgia needs to prove somethine with a top 20 (Depending on who you listen to). Mark, why don’t you report the facts and not your opinion. That’s why the internet killed the AJC. The internet tells the facts, not its opinion.
FB, WBB, or MBB , Georgia wins
jellybeandawg
February 3rd, 2010
4:14 pm
Dawgs2010 hahahahaha. You hit the nail on the head with that one!!
GaGator
February 3rd, 2010
4:15 pm
How can Richt be happy with his class finishing 6th behind Florida, Auburn, Alabama, LSU and Tenn. That’s a tough sell to anybody, but a brain dead dawg.
FINALLY
February 3rd, 2010
4:17 pm
Very Well Put Sir !!!!!
Mike
February 3rd, 2010
4:18 pm
Think about it, Georgia beats Hawaii 24 months ago in the Sugar Bowl and gets ranked #1 in the country, with the expectation that Georgia would play for the coming season’s national championship. Look at how far this program has declined. Now, Georgia can’t seem to get the recruits it needs to build and sustain excellence. This coming season, not 2 years or 3 years or more re-building, it is vital for Georgia to beat Florida and for Georgia to play for the conference championship in December. Anything less and Georgia will (maybe possibly already has) become an additional member of the South Carolina, Kentucky, Vanderbilt club. End the love fest with Mark Richt. Start looking at the numbers.
Bremen Dawg
February 3rd, 2010
4:18 pm
Good article Mark,
Like I have said all along, give Grantham some time (2 years) and UGA will be back to the junkyard D that we are used to. We are 2 deep almost ever postion on Offense and thats why we lost some O recruits. Like Da Rick was going to be 4-5 on the chart and he will get to play as a true freshman with Tennessee. FSU must be giving out Free Shoes again.
kerryb
February 3rd, 2010
4:20 pm
GaGator,
Richt got what he needed quality depth. UF needed to sign that kind of class. 75% of your starters from last year are gone. Congrats on the class, but they are about two years away and there is no way to know if they will all qualify. And there is no way to know if they will end up being 5 star college players. Those are what they call projections. Lets wait and see if they live up to those projections.
What??
February 3rd, 2010
4:22 pm
Can’t understand the communication drop off between UGA coaches and top recruits resulting in missed oportunities.
Can not understand how Richt can continue to say the same thing year after year expecting us to believe he will turn things around.
“Fire in his belly”?? How can you be the head coach participating in a football program that plays in the SEC and not have the fire?? If he has lost it, what makes us believe he has it back??
What is really going on in Athens??
ESPN ALWAYS TOSSING FLORIDA'S SALAD
February 3rd, 2010
4:22 pm
Oh My God………..Why do I watch ESPN? What a joke of unbiased coverage!!!!!
Sick….Sick….Sick I tell you. The Tradition of USF and the EGO of NO OTHER!!!
Burn that piece of $&@* town to ground. Remember the Arkansas Game?
Bremen Dawg
February 3rd, 2010
4:22 pm
Ya’ll know I can’t stand Tech, but look what Paul Johnson did with some of those unranked recruiting classes. I known, don’t shoot me, but I’m just sayin that ranking don’t make or break you program. Rankings are for sites to sell you a subscription to their site where you can see videos and read about these 4 and 5 star recruits.
Eat and Tweet
February 3rd, 2010
4:23 pm
Owensjeff @ 4:20 pm Almost forgot that its 10 cent wing night at Loco’s. kinda boring at Butt’s Mehre right now gonna head on over…. later dreggs
GaGator
February 3rd, 2010
4:24 pm
Like anyone here really cares, but it’s better to know than to be ignorant.
Urban Meyer will go on leave Thursday, after securing the #1 class in NCAA history.
GATruth
February 3rd, 2010
4:24 pm
PUT AN END TO the SOFT Verbal!!! What a pant load that is. It’s like some punk asking your daughter to the prom…as long as no one better gets interested in going with him. We’ve been burned by every soft-verbal commit I can remember. Garner and Richt should calmly tell any kid that offers a soft verbal, “Look, we don’t want you to make a decision before you are ready and you should find the school that is the best fit for you. But, we have only so many slots at this position and we are going to continue to go after other athletes. If we get strong commitments before you are ready to man-up, we’ll have to rescend our offer. Not trying to be mean, but we just don’t play games at UGA.”
Herschel Walker could whip your hiney
February 3rd, 2010
4:24 pm
Defense wins championships.
Montgomery Burns
February 3rd, 2010
4:25 pm
WE DID NOT WANT DA’RICK ROGERS ANYWAY. I’LL HAVE SOUR GRAPES FOR DINNER PLEASE.
Kenny "Bulletproof Tiger" Powers
February 3rd, 2010
4:25 pm
Anything more than 1-2 losses next year and the hot seat will heat up at UGA. Feel bad for all the coaches, but they can swim in millions of dollars to make themselves feel better.
Win it all and you get a 5 year reprieve to suck; unless your les miles.
tim
February 3rd, 2010
4:25 pm
kerryb are you delusional ..75% of who’s starters are gone? count on a continuation of the annual Jax beatdown..did you take a real good look at Florida’s class? In addition..Brantley is head and shoulders better than the rookies you’ve got…and you ladies know it
Reality Check
February 3rd, 2010
4:25 pm
Today’s coverage of GT and UGA underscore what has gone on all year. GT gets a free pass with a much lower ranked class than UGA because Paul Johnson is a Genious and can coach them up. UGA beats GT and the game was not a fluke but GT had more important games that mattered.
MB, if UGA had kept the old coaching staff and had a top 5 class you would write a lot of negative stuff about failure to change coaches. UGA made changes and it affected a couple of recruits on defense. It still seems UGA picked up some highly ranked defensive players overall, just not any 4 or 5 stars on Offense. The hack job all AJC writers have done on UGA over the last 12 months is awlful, but I would not expect anything less from a newspaper that is on the decline.
Hairy
February 3rd, 2010
4:25 pm
WAY TO PUT LIPSTICK ON A PIG!!!
59bulldawg
February 3rd, 2010
4:27 pm
I agree! If losing Da’Rick was the price we had to pay for sending CWM and two others packing . . . and Grantham is as good as advertised, then it was indeed a bargain . . . no matter how good Da’Rick ends up being at Tennessee. This is still a very solid class and even though I would have liked to have signed the kid from Calhoun, I would have liked to have signed Whitaker from Warner Robins even more. It would have been great to have him teamed up with Thornton on the line. But I’m happy with what we have. They all have great potential to excel as Bulldawgs and most of all . . . they want to come to Athens. Now maybe with can finally start coaching these kids up to their potential. Go Dawgs! GATA!
Bradley Hater
February 3rd, 2010
4:27 pm
Tell it like it is Va Beach Dawg!…Bradley is nothing more than a muck raker…..he hasn’t ever written a well thought out article that I’ve ever seen. …always looking to find fault where there’s none.We don’t need him at the AJC….He needs to go…he’s not a journalist…he’s an instigator…he loves to invent stories.Georgia and Tech should band him from their athletic departments.
CDawg157
February 3rd, 2010
4:27 pm
Hahahaha hope you have fun at Tennessee!!!! We only want the players that don’t lie and who ACTUALLY want to play for our team. Ogletree gonna steal a couple from da drop in the Tennessee game this year!! Go Dawgs. Pretty good recruiting class, looks like we were able to load up on D. We’ll see how it all plays out, I have pretty high expectations for the DAWGS!! Yet again, I have very high expectations for Georgia every year lol…..
TechfaninVR
February 3rd, 2010
4:27 pm
I think sometimes UGA signs too many blue chippers. The two best Dawgs of the last decade were D Greene and D Pollack neither one was highly touted.
jellybeandawg
February 3rd, 2010
4:27 pm
Mike Florida’s football program is so far ahead of UGA’s now its not even funny anymore. They are LIGHT years ahead and under the current staff/administration there is no way, no chance, that it will ever catch up. If we can hold on to Fox we may be able to catch them in Basketball but until serious,deep fundamental changes are made in Football forget about it. Our best bet is to just worry about beating SC, Kentucky, and praying to go .500 against Tennessee every year.
The truth
February 3rd, 2010
4:27 pm
Rogers is a T.O. type player. He is a great tallent but his attitude sucks. Sure the QB is his best friend but he’s not stupid. He knows whos coat tails to ride. I was as excited as everyone else when he verbally commited to UGA, but I know a coulple of parents whos kids played with Rogers. The QB was his only friend. Rogers is all about Rogers. UGA doesn’t need a cancer on their team. I’m glad he went to the vols. We’re better off with out him. That being said, this is a disapointing class. That’’s what comes with an 8-5 season.
Eat and Tweet
February 3rd, 2010
4:28 pm
Owensjeff @ 4:26 PM Almost forgot thats its 10 cent wing night at Loco’s. Kinda boring right now at Butt’s Mehre. gonna head on over…. later dreggs!!!
Ralph
February 3rd, 2010
4:28 pm
Still a class with a 10th place star average on Scout. Not a bad class at all and answered several defensive needs. The class is in much better shape than the AJC.
Yellow Fuzz
February 3rd, 2010
4:28 pm
I finally, after searching all day, found a service that had Georgia’s class in the top 5.
http://www.programsindecline.org