Credit to Richt: A big recruiting yield at a big moment for UGA
Coming off its first losing season since 1996, Georgia is poised to sign the most illustrious recruiting class Mark Richt has assembled, which is saying something when you consider two 2006 signees were among the top dozen taken in the 2009 NFL draft. Obvious question: Who saw this coming?
Said Chad Simmons, the Southeast recruiting analyst for Scout.com/FoxSports: “I am a little surprised … but I’m not that surprised.”
If we’ve learned anything this past month, it’s that the Georgia program might be in a weakened state but that the Georgia name remains a powerful thing. Four different SEC programs have accounted for the past five BCS titles, and yet Georgia, at least on Signing Day 2011, seems positioned to stand with any of them.
Said Simmons: “I don’t think wins and losses make a difference. There’s a chance Georgia, which was 6-7, will outrecruit Auburn, which won the national championship.”
Said Jeff Dantzler, the astute Athens radio man: “This is the most important recruiting class coach Richt has ever had, and it’s one of the most important in Georgia history. And it’s not just because of talent — it’s because of the psyche of our people.”
We pause to insert the disclaimer: Recruiting isn’t an exact science; if it were, Georgia wouldn’t have been 6-7. But such was the discord in and around the program — fans in a tizzy, media (blush) in high dudgeon, the strength coach being re-assigned — that a diminished recruiting class figured to be the next falling domino. But no.
Scout.com ranks Georgia’s class the nation’s seventh-best, and Simmons said there’s a chance the Bulldogs could clamber into the top five. Still in play: The running back Isaiah Crowell of Carver-Columbus, the defensive end Jeoffrey Pagan of Asheville, N.C. and the massive defensive tackle John Jenkins of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
Simmons: “If all the chips fall their way, this would definitely be the top class Richt has had. It would throw over the [2006] one with Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno and Reshad Jones.”
Let’s recall: The calendar year began badly. Having lost the Liberty Bowl to Central Florida on New Year’s Eve, Georgia watched Xzavier Dickson of Griffin and Quan Bray of LaGrange use the Jan. 5 Under Armour All-America Game to announce for Alabama and Auburn, respectively. That prompted even more hand-wringing among Bulldog Nation — and much tut-tutting, it must be said, from this observer — but Richt and Co. have since gotten almost everybody worth getting. How?
“It’s a tribute to these coaches for not giving up, for selling Georgia as still being Georgia,” Simmons said. “They want these guys to be difference-makers, the guy who’ll turn it around.”
We say again: With Richt, recruiting has never been the overriding concern. At issue is how well assembled resources have been marshaled. Which leads to this: Should Georgia land Crowell and Jenkins to go with Ray Drew (defensive end, Thomasville) and Damian Swann (defensive back, Grady High) and Jay Rome (tight end, Valdosta), could the Bulldogs win the SEC East next fall?
Simmons: “These next few days [Crowell is announcing Wednesday, Jenkins not until Saturday] will be big for Georgia. Those are guys who can play for Georgia next year. They’re big pieces in this class. Jenkins is the 6-foot-4, 340-pound nose guard that [defensive coordinator] Todd Grantham needs for his 3-4 defense.”
Let’s see. Big interior lineman from a junior college: Didn’t Auburn just win it all with one of those? (The name was Nick Fairley, in case any Bulldog fans have forgotten.) And a hotshot freshman runner: Didn’t the arrival of Marcus Lattimore lift South Carolina to a breakthrough SEC East crown? Said Simmons: “Crowell can be that same type of player for Georgia.”
We pause here for breath, and also to remember: Georgia went 6-7 and didn’t beat a team with a winning record. But such is the promise inherent in recruiting, and no school knows better than this one. In 1979 the Bulldogs were 6-5. They signed Herschel Walker (running back, Wrightsville) on Easter Sunday 1980; on New Year’s Day 1981, they became national champs.
By Mark Bradley
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523 comments Add your comment
JB
January 31st, 2011
3:15 pm
Journalism is taught at Tech? The reason I ask is reading all the post from Tech yesterday and today defending Johnson’s recruiting efforts. Great writing. This class is tanking like a rock and they will tell you recruiting is not important, our class will be fine yada yada. Those guys are in trouble. I admire them for defending their guy and school, but man, They gotta know the talent level has dropped two to three notches since Gailey left….And it shows…..
dawgfacedboy
January 31st, 2011
3:17 pm
Coaching matters more. Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Ohio St., USC, LSU, Bama, UGA, NOtre Dame, FSU, and MIami have avg. top 11 classes over the past 6 season. The first 7 listed have multiple top 10 finishes, UGA has 1, and the last 3 have none. Coaching matters more.
just a fan
January 31st, 2011
3:18 pm
@ Vinnie
granted you can say he struggled against florduh and ucf but the other losses this year you can clearly say were lost fumbles by RB’s bad defense blown coverage.
Murray to me is the future got a year under his belt and will preform lights out next year IMHO
Dirty Dawg
January 31st, 2011
3:19 pm
Thanks Mark – Bradley that is – for doing a piece on Richt and UGA and didn’t use a ‘yes, but’ once…must have really chapped your jowls. We all have to appreciate the job that Mark – Richt that is – and his staff have done with this recruiting class. He went out on a limb with the ‘Georgia Dream Team’ and has, regardless of how many more of the ‘uncommitteds’ we get, done it. That’s the first step.
Now he’s got to see what an improved strength and conditioning program can do for Spring, along with what to do with Delay and friends, then bring in all this new talent and mold them into an ‘as good as we can get’ ball club. Face it, any decent recruit these days will only hang around three years, so unless you’ve really got a problem with ‘building ‘em up’ for SEC-level play, then I say play ‘em all from the get go. Who knows where we’ll end up with an O-line coach, and the talents of a Delay may open the door to something other than strictly a ‘pro-style’ (two-back, tight-end, drop-back QB), but that too will be determined – it may even require some help for Bobo, and if Richt can’t provide it (remember Charlie Ward), then he’ll get somebody that can. Then it’ll be on to the season.
This may not be the same kind of Boise State team that we beat so badly a few years back, but then, we won’t be the same Georgia team that lost every game last year with the bounce of the ball on one play – give or take – so I like our chances for, perhaps, even a dominating game. As for South Carolina, we’ll have more weapons and we now know that all you’ve got to do to Mr. Lattimore is to hit him in the mouth and he’ll be toast – shoot, if he was a hockey player they’da stitched his lip up on the sidelines and sent him back in.
Mark Richt has shown that he knows what to do and how to do it and while this recruiting class is just the first step, I’m with him right down the line. I just hope that he doesn’t do a Cary Cooper on us after winning it all next year, tosses the badge in the dirt and rides out of town.
GetReal
January 31st, 2011
3:19 pm
So, if the recruiting classes are so great, then why is the program going down the tubes so fast? Is it the coaching? Is it that recruiting rankings don’t really mean that much?
JB
January 31st, 2011
3:20 pm
dawgfaceboy….you are correct….see my post at 3:08
Will the real Aaron Murray please stand up???
January 31st, 2011
3:20 pm
Who is the real Aaron Murray?? Is he the up tight, stiff, seemingly too short QB with bad split decisions like in the 2010 G day game, the SC game, the MSU game, the Colorado game, the Florida game, the UCF game and a few others ? Or is he the UGA/UT game QB?? In that one game ……………..I thought that he was the most amazing multi talented QB that I have ever seen at UGA over the last 50 years. Running, throwing, etc. That one game apparently, was due to UT’s lousy D team.
The real Aaron Murray could be spelled Christian Lemay. Lemay is about a legit 6′2″ or 6′3″ and has an equal arm, equal medium range accuracy and is likely, far more athletic and much faster. Just a hunch. I suspect that Lemay could get to the corner faster than Murray. I also think that he has a big arm, that he is accurate and that the team will rally behind him. Just a hunch, because of last year. Just a hunch.
We shall see. I also hope that Aaron Murray loses his Batman gloves from that disastrous Liberty Bowl game. That was sad. He looked like a 9 year old kid.
Go Dogs.
headley lamar
January 31st, 2011
3:20 pm
The UPI Championship WAS considered the equivalent to the AP at that time.
No it wasn’t. The AP was always considered superior in every way. UPI title was an after thought.
Tech played in the ultra weak ACC and played no one. Then won the Citrus.
Anyone who thinks they were the best team in the country that year is either
A. A Tech Homer
B. An idiot.
They weren’t the best team by a long shot.
icedawg
January 31st, 2011
3:21 pm
It is very difficult to know how recruits will pan out on the playing field. Team chemistry is an intangible which probably plays an even greater part in the formation of a team. Recruiting has become more hype than helpful in determining the health of a program. How can high school players be given an accurate rating that is comparable to others throughout the country? It’s mostly guess work. But more importantly it has now become commercialized and a way for some people to make a living being “experts.” I hope that the student athletes can stay out of trouble, focus upon their education and have fun playing the sport period.
headley lamar
January 31st, 2011
3:22 pm
Is it that recruiting rankings don’t really mean that much?
They mean ALOT. Look at the teams that always finish in the Top Ten in recruiting.
They are the teams that finish in the Top Ten a lot.
UGA has had 6 or 7 Top Ten classes since Richt was coach.
They have finished in the Top Ten 6 or 7 times
This isnt that hard people.
Kyle
January 31st, 2011
3:22 pm
OH YOU ISAIAH CROWELL……MY GOD…A FRESHMAN…….we can dream…..
Red
January 31st, 2011
3:25 pm
Why are people giving Richt such high praise for this class? Doesn’t he do this year after year? He gets a top 10 class every year and squanders the talent. Why all of a sudden are people saying this class has saved his job? Getting a little ahead of ourselves aren’t we? Forgetting the past as well aren’t we? Whoopty doo. ANOTHER great class. It’s the results on the field that have Richt in the hot seat. How many 5 star busts has Richt on his record? The man can recruit (actually Rodney deserves a chunk of credit) but he clearly coaches these kids down every single year.
headley lamar
January 31st, 2011
3:28 pm
Oh and for those who say UGA has done nothing will all those Top Ten classes
Well the numbers prove you wrong.
Winning PCT last Decade.
1 Boise State 0.87179 102 15
2 Texas 0.86325 101 16
3 Southern Cal 0.83621 97 19
4 Ohio State 0.81739 94 21
5 Oklahoma 0.80165 97 24
6 Louisiana State 0.77119 91 27
7t Florida 0.76923 90 27
7t Georgia 0.76923 90 27
9 Texas Christian 0.75893 85 27
10 Virginia Tech 0.73950 88 31
Wanna know what UGA did will all those Top Ten classes. They finished Tied with Florida for 7th on the win list in a MUCH tougher conference than the teams above them.
Only LSU had more wins (1) and they played in one more game.
Id say finishing in the Top Ten for the decade is pretty much on par with recruiting in the Top Ten much of the decade. Wouldnt you?
Buddy Curry made every tackle
January 31st, 2011
3:29 pm
He kicked a field goal against Central Fla. Should we not blow out Central Florida?
Last
WIN WITH RICHT
January 31st, 2011
3:30 pm
The odds are much better for a 5 star being successful than a 3 star.
A great recruiting class may not guarantee championships. But, it is hard to win with bad recruiting classes.
headley lamar
January 31st, 2011
3:30 pm
He gets a top 10 class every year and squanders the talent
How is having the 7th best record in the country the past 10 years squandering it.
Please explain??
UGASlobberknocker
January 31st, 2011
3:31 pm
Hey Heady up you a$$ Lamar. Im neither an idiot or a Tech fan. and I wouldbe willing the closest you ever came to a diploma is dusting your bosses’ every day..but that said..just to point out your ignorance:
The UPI Championship WAS considered the equivalent to the AP at that time.
No it wasn’t. The AP was always considered superior in every way. UPI title was an after thought.
EVERY OFFICIAL ACCOUNTING OF ANY NATL CHAMPIONSHIP BETWEEN 1960S AND 1990S INCLUDES BOTH POLLS EQUALLY AND DECLARE BOTH EQUAL CO CHAMPIONSHIP. IT HAPP IN 1997, 1991, 1990, 1978, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1970, 1969. NONE OF THOSE ARE TRUE CHAMPIONS? YOU ARE AN IDIOT
Tech played in the ultra weak ACC and played no one. Then won the Citrus.
TRUE THE ACC SUCKED THEN AS NOW. BUT THEY DID PLAY #1 VIRGINIA ON THE ROAD AND BEAT THEM. MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE PEOPLE WOULD CONSIDER THAT A QUALITY WIN
Anyone who thinks they were the best team in the country that year is either
A. A Tech Homer
B. An idiot.
UGA CLASS OF 1980. So neither Tech homer nor an idiot. For you, Im guessing 7th grade grad at Hahira Junior High
hey weren’t the best team by a long shot.
WHO WOULD YOU HAVE RANKED #1 THAT YEAR?
headley lamar
January 31st, 2011
3:32 pm
The odds are much better for a 5 star being successful than a 3 star.
A great recruiting class may not guarantee championships. But, it is hard to win with bad recruiting classes.
Exactly. Look some of them are gonna be busts. Happens at every school.
All things being equal id rather start with the better talent and see how it plays out than the other way around.
UGASlobberknocker
January 31st, 2011
3:33 pm
Heady up your A$ $ Lamar
Im UGA Class of 1980 so neither a Tech Homer nor an idiot.
You on the other hand, need to say no more to prove your lack of intelligence. That is sadly obvious.
John
January 31st, 2011
3:35 pm
Will the real Aaron Murray please stand up???
I agree there is a potential cap for Aaron Murray, he has reached his up-side. The reason Georgia doesn’t have a BCSC is because they didn’t allow Shockley to play sooner, thereby reaching his maxium upside at the same time most of the seniors left for the NFL (Pollack, Thurman, Davis, etc.) That was the year Georgia should have won the NC.
Aaron Murray can’t see over the middle of the field, which explains why Georgia didn’t use the tightend much this season. Is he growing any? Because if he doesn’t, what makes Georgia fans expect him to suddenly see the middle next season? The key to a chamionship in the next 2 years is getting Christian Lemay ready to reach his maxium upside by the time most of these great recruits bolt for the NFL in 3 years.
Braves Fan
January 31st, 2011
3:35 pm
Mark Richt would have red shirted Herschel.
headley lamar
January 31st, 2011
3:35 pm
WHO WOULD YOU HAVE RANKED #1 THAT YEAR?
Colorado. They were the best team. Miami that year would have beaten tech as well.
Tech won the lesser of the polls ( UPI ) by one point. Yellow Jackets (11-0-1) took the UPI poll by one vote over Colorado, 847 to 846.
* Colorado Buffaloes – AP Poll & Consensus champions
* Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – UPI Poll
headley lamar
January 31st, 2011
3:38 pm
Im UGA Class of 1980 so neither a Tech Homer nor an idiot.
Well your one of the two. Im guessing Tech fan posing as UGA fan but cant say for sure.
This is the internet and anonymity reigns supreme.
Either way anyone with half a brain knows tech was nowhere near the best team that year.
They just got lucky and it fell in their lap.
headley lamar
January 31st, 2011
3:40 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_NCAA_Division_I-A_football_season
Go here and tell me what it says for National Champions.
Beside the name Colorado it says Consensus National Champion
Next line lists Tech as winning the lesser UPI poll.
Starring Kam Fong as Chin Ho
January 31st, 2011
3:47 pm
Richt can sell the notion that these players can come in and play immediately, as well as stay in State and reap the rewards of playing for their home state school. Now when Ga gets 2 or 3 deep at a recruits position then the other schools will reap the benefits.
Ray Goof
January 31st, 2011
3:57 pm
UGA fans insert head in clouds…again, and get ready for your 7-6 season…which sad to say is an improvement….
bigreddawglover
January 31st, 2011
3:58 pm
Let’s give our new AD some credit. Didn’t he redirect CMR’s oversight and responsibilities away from administration in order for CMR to focus more of his time and energy on being a head football coach and all that goes with it. If I recall CMR’s first pronouncement was that he felt rejuvenated and was looking forward with great anticipation to refocusing on the game itself ( something he loves, his term), and being a head coach exclusively..
His first endeavor with these new peramitters and renewed energy has been recruiting for the 2011 edition of the Bulldogs. No one can argue that recruiting is less important than X’s and O’s, or sideline adjustments during the course of the game. A head coach has to lead in these 3 phases,
and there is no question that CMR has has opened up the 2011 season with more success than any of his critics from 2010 would care to acknowledge.
My hat is off to him and AD Greg McGarity for taking an enormous step in the right direction. Even if we don’t sign Crowell or Jenkins we should acknowledge a superb job in completing the first step necessary to having a winning and respected program; one in which we can all take pride.
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
January 31st, 2011
4:02 pm
this class and the expectations that come with it will decide richt’s fate in th e next year or two. i do like the fact that the majority of recuits are native georgians and play for the state itself.
PaulieOldSchool
January 31st, 2011
4:03 pm
No one can take a group of talented HS players and mold them into a group of self-aggrandizing, criminal, non-academic miscreants quite like CMR. He needs to go, now, please before any more damage is done. Who cares who we can recruit if we don’t have the coaches to make them play well together? And be disciplined? And stay out of legal trouble? And go to class? Really, what difference does it make? He needs to be gone, like, yesterday.
@ Steve
January 31st, 2011
4:04 pm
Colorado, Central Florida and underachieving recruiting classes are yesterday’s news, dude. We’ve already been beaten over the head with those topics and a host of others that you failed to mention, most of which made 2010 a year to forget. Unless you have something new to share with us on those items, something heretofore unknown, we will go about our business preparing for 2011. If you want to dwell on the past, why don’t you enlighten us with news about that ship that sank in the Atlantic? I think it was called the Titanic.
DawginLex
January 31st, 2011
4:07 pm
My $.02
Saw a documentary going back and looking at past national champions.
It played the “what if” game of different match ups during the season etc.
Tech’s title was given to Miami based on what was presented.
FWIW
We shall be Dawgs.........
January 31st, 2011
4:08 pm
Have a little faith…walk proud! Stand straight…Hold out….We shall be Dawgs!!!!!
When the last Gator cries for a crust of bread…
when the last Tiger dies for just words that he said…
when’ their is shelter over the poor Cocks head…
We shall be Dawgs!!!!
obviously these freshmen see the opp
January 31st, 2011
4:09 pm
when the upper classmen are terrible – the incoming freshmen see potential playing time aplenty.
Cobb Dawg
January 31st, 2011
4:13 pm
This is shaping up to be a great class and you have to give CMR the credit. If ‘11 is not a total disaster like ‘10 was, I think he’s earned the right to prove he can still coach as well. If he can’t, we still have loads of talent for the next coach.
PTC DAWG
January 31st, 2011
4:14 pm
To those who question our top 10 recruiting of the past…if you’ll check back, UGA finished in the top 10 in the nation a LOT with CMR at the helm.
Dawgs will be back.
ugab
January 31st, 2011
4:16 pm
We have always recruited good. Have we always filled our needs is the question? Injuries, arrest, and some of the worst coaching in the nation has led to losing seasons. It starts in the trenches. Garner is not a good DL coach. Garner can recruit. OL has not produced. bobo is to obvious. No fakes, poor special teams(play starters on special teams.
ugab
January 31st, 2011
4:17 pm
Oh yeh! kick it in the d”am endzone.
Dumb Mutts Nation Playing that same Broken record as always
January 31st, 2011
4:20 pm
Don’t care who the mutts get or where Rivals or Scout has over rated mutts ranked at, you still choke every season.
No One Knows You're a Dawg
January 31st, 2011
4:20 pm
Mark Bradley on UGA recruiting (via “Get the Picture”):
MB Then – “Even in lesser seasons on the field, Georgia under Mark Richt has always been able to point to its recruiting. Now, with lesser seasons running together, the program that controlled its state controls it no more. The buzz about this program has been downgraded to a murmur, and the murmur concerns the future of its head coach. Which grows more tenuous by the moment.”
MB Now – “We say again: With Richt, recruiting has never been the overriding concern.”
http://blutarsky.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/mark-bradleys-take-on-the-georgia-bulldogs-not-hot/
WIN WITH RICHT
January 31st, 2011
4:21 pm
You have to hand it to Richt. After a terrible season and adversity, he has pulled togather an impressive class. A lot of people thought his vision of a Dream Team was a pipe dream.
DawginLex
January 31st, 2011
4:23 pm
Paulie,
You want Richt fired now? Like Thursday of this week?
skeet
January 31st, 2011
4:24 pm
I laughed at this part: “media (blush) in high dudgeon,”
Well played.
Mark Richt coaches his players down, not up
January 31st, 2011
4:24 pm
Another 6-6 season for the leghumpers. Memphis bound at best again.
MVP
January 31st, 2011
4:26 pm
Choke ! The Offical Drink Of The Georgia Bulldawgs !
Einsteindawg
January 31st, 2011
4:27 pm
@ugab,
You are correct…Garner (like Trooper Taylor) can’t coach. The “playahs” from the inner-city they recruit usually tend to create more problems than they are worth; however, I really like our incoming class this year. Wonder who’s responsible?
DawginLex
January 31st, 2011
4:27 pm
Let’s fire Richt the day after NSD as some idiot suggested on another blog.
Doesn’t matter that he never gets to coach the kids he just signed.
Doesn’t matter that they signed to play for him and his staff.
Doesn’t matter that the University looks foolish for allowing kids to sign with UGA then rip their hearts out the next day.
Yeah, let’s do that.
What a bunch of idiots.
goldwreck
January 31st, 2011
4:27 pm
Colorado’s “Championship” was tainted at best.That was the year the official’s gave them 5 downs to score the winning TD against Missouri.
Otherwise they lose and are out of the picture.In this day of official’s
replay,etc Colorado loses.
DawginLex
January 31st, 2011
4:29 pm
In today’s BCS, Tech would not have been in the title game.
It would have been Colorado vs Miami.
I AM A UGA FAN
January 31st, 2011
4:29 pm
AND I HAVE MY HEAD UP MY AZZ AND IT SMELLS GREAT !
The Ghost of Wally Butts
January 31st, 2011
4:30 pm
Forgive me if I don’t gulp down a big beer stein of DREAM TEAM KOOL-AID just yet….
I will just wait and see, thank you very much, if these “DREAM TEAM” darlings of the media can stay out of the Clarke County Jail.