UGA coach Mark Richt sounds off on controversial recruiting issue of ‘oversigning’
What do I REALLY think? Richt has been "unplugged" in Bulldog Club Meetings (AJC photo)
There’ something about the Georgia Bulldog Club meetings that seems to bring out “the edge” in UGA football coach Mark Richt.
The normally cool and calm (and almost always “politically correct) Richt from press conferences and halftime TV interviews … well, that guy morphs into a different person in Q&A sessions with his fanbase.
Richt was asked about the controversial issue of “oversigning” this week in Greenville, S.C.
“Oversigning” is when a college signs more recruits than it has scholarships available. There’s an entire website dedicated to the hotley-debated issue at oversigning.com
Richt was very opinionated on the topic, reported UGASports.com’s Anthony Dasher (go here to read the full article):
“If you sign a class, you can only bring in as many as you have room for, so let’s say you have 85 on scholarship and let’s say you have 15 seniors graduating. Well, there’s only 15 more spots for 85, you can sign 25 guys, by rule, and in February you can sign those 25 guys,” Richt said. “Now, by the time that season starts, you may have more attrition, five more guys may leave for whatever reason, may go pro, transfer, so let’s say you’re down to 20.
“You’ve got 20 spaces but you’ve still signed 25. Well, you can bring them in during the summer, work them and let your strength staff work with them, and decide which ones you like the best. The other five, you can tell them, ‘Hey, we know we signed you, we expect you to come in, but we don’t have space for you, we’re sorry, but you have to leave and come back in January.’”
After a brief pause, Richt gave his feelings on that particular tactic.
“I think that’s an awful thing to do,” Richt said. “It’s nothing that we have ever done since we’ve been at Georgia.”
Richt conceded that’s not the case with grayshirts, something he admitted Georgia has talked to recruits about doing in the past.
“Oversigning” is a particularly sensitive issue in the Atlanta area, after what happened between South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier and Lorenzo Mauldin, the defensive end from Atlanta’s Maynard Jackson High School (go here to read full story).
What are YOUR thoughts on Richt’s comments?
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– By Michael Carvell, AJC Recruiting Blog
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243 comments Add your comment
Telling the Truth
May 16th, 2011
1:16 am
Biggest Difference in Grad Rates Between Football Players and All Students
Major Programs
(Difference of 15% or more)
Football Players All Students Difference
UCLA 51% 89% -38%
Texas 49% 77% -28%
Georgia Tech 49% 77% -28%
USC 58% 85% -27%
Virginia 68% 93% -25%
Cal 64% 88% -24%
Texas A&M 55% 77% -22%
Georgia 57% 76% -19%
Maryland 60% 79% -19%
Michigan St. 56% 74% -18%
Arizona 41% 57% -16%
Oregon 49% 65% -16%
Michigan 71% 87% -16%
Oklahoma 45% 60% -15%
BYU 61% 76% -15%
Telling the Truth
May 16th, 2011
1:16 am
Basketball Graduation Rates: SEC
Vanderbilt 85%
Alabama 85%
South Carolina 62%
Mississippi 62%
Florida 60%
Arkansas 58%
Mississippi St. 47%
Auburn 42%
Kentucky 31%
Tennessee 30%
LSU 29%
Georgia 18%
Telling the Truth
May 16th, 2011
1:17 am
Bottom 10 Basketball Grad Rates: Major Programs
Maryland 8%
Fresno St. 8%
Arizona 11%
Georgia 18%
Cal 20%
Connecticut 27%
Washington 29%
LSU 29%
Tennessee 30%
Kentucky 31%
Telling the Truth
May 16th, 2011
1:19 am
Grad Rates for All Athletes: Selected Others
Penn St. 89%
North Carolina 87%
Florida 85%
Alabama 82%
Miami 82%
Florida St. 79%
Michigan 79%
Division I average 79%
Ohio St. 78%
Nebraska 75%
Georgia 75%
Georgia Tech 71%
LSU 71%
Texas 70%
Oklahoma 70%
Telling the Truth
May 16th, 2011
1:19 am
I guess the graduation rates do matter in recruiting.
Landry
May 16th, 2011
1:50 am
i’LL SAY IT AGAIN.
RICHT GETS RID OF PLAYERS TO MAKE ROOM FOR SCHOLARSHIPS, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER COACH, HE JUST DOESN’T USE THE METHOD OF ‘OVER-SIGNING.
RICHT’S TOP 4 METHODS:
1- WAIT FOR SOMETHING BAD TO HAPPEN & OVER-REACT (METTENBERGER)–METT WAS OFFERED A SCHOLLY BY BAMA 7 LSU, SO 2 NATL CHAMP COACHES THOUGHT RICHT OVER-REACTED–METT LED HIS TEAM TO THE JUCO NATL CHAMPIONSHIP AND NOW PLAYS FOR LSU WHO WILL BE IN THE HUNT FOR THE NATL CHAMPIONSHIP
2- SEVERELY LIMIT TOUCHES (LOGAN GRAY) GRAY WAS THROWN 13 PASSES IN 2010-COLORADO THOUGHT HE WAS VALUABLE ENOUGH TO OFFER A SCHOLLY, COLORADO BEAT GEORGIA
3- BENCH DURING A BOWL GAME FOR NO VALID REASON ONE OF YOUR MORE PRODUCTIVE DEFENSIVE PLAYERS (DOWTIN) RICHT BENCHED DOWTIN, WHO LATER ALL CHARGES WERE DROPPED AGAINST HIM AS HE WAS DECLARED INNOCENT BY THE JUDGE
4- GOSSIP ABOUT YOU AND SMEAR YOUR NAME IN PUBLIC INTERTVIEW (EALEY) RICHT CHOSE THIS METHOD TO TRY AND FREE UP EALEY’S SCHOLLY. EALEY WILL LIKELY END UP AT A TOP 10 SCHOOL IN 2012 AND DO IN THE 1ST OR 2ND ROUND IN THE NFL DRAFT WITH HIS MARK INGRAM TYPE NUMBERS IN 2010
Joey
May 16th, 2011
7:21 am
As a News source it’s amazing how many cheap shots you continue to publish about Spurrier. I guess he owned UGa so long that this is your way of getting retribution. It’s evident that you are reporting that parts of the story that paint Spurrier in the bad light as you have not mentioned once that South Carolina would have brought Mauldin in IF he qualified regardless if he signed a Letter of Intent just like they are going to do with Jordan Montgomery who happens to be the other prospect that did not sign. Montgomery just like Mauldin was promised he would be brought in as long as he qualified which in the end is all the counts. Half facts and slanted views seem to go hand in hand with the AJC nowadays.
UGA whippin post for FLA
May 16th, 2011
7:34 am
@Lake Dawg – you’re an idiot…
UGA whippin post for FLA
May 16th, 2011
7:43 am
@Truth – wow, those stats paint an awfully bad picture of the academics at UGA. I’m sure it’s because UGA is a much tougher school than everywhere else and a degree from UGA is harder to obtain than anywhere else. LOL
DawginLex
May 16th, 2011
8:46 am
Yeah joey Spurrier really owns UGA
2005-lost
2006-lost(got shutout at home)
2007-won
2008-lost
2009-lost
2010-won
2-4 in 6 years that’s really owning UGA
GeoffDawg
May 16th, 2011
8:51 am
Chiming in late here but for Tide Rising, how about the names Chuck Kirschman and Jeremie Griffin?
Landry
May 16th, 2011
8:58 am
RICHT DID A LOT FO THINGS TO FREE UP EALEY’S SCHOLLY. 1ST, RICHT LINED UP IN THE RUN FORMATION TO RECRUIT CROWELL WAS CITED FOR A RECRUITING VIOLATION. THEN RICHT PROMISED CROWELL WOULD BE USED HEAVILY BEFORE CROWELL PRACTICED OR EARNED IT. RICHT’S NEXT MOVE WITH EALEY WAS BIZARRE. AFTER SIGNING CROWELL, RICHT HAD HIS S & C COACH CITE EALEY FOR NOT GIVING ENOUGH EFFORT ON HIS WORKOUT VIDEO????? WHEN EALEY COMPLAINED, RICHT ISSUED A PUNISHMENT RUN TO EALEY. THEN FINALLY, RICHT THREW EALEY UNDER THE BUS BY SMEARING EALEY’S NAME IN A PUBLIC INTERVIEW.
RICHT AIN’T A SAINT AND SHOULDN’T BE THROWING ROCKS WHEN HE LIVES IN A GLASS HOUSE.
Landry
May 16th, 2011
9:15 am
Great article by Larry Brown on Mark Richt. He points out that Richt’s comments on over-signing come across as self righteouss considering the arrest situation under Richt’s ‘leadership’.
http://larrybrownsports.com/college-football/mark-richts-win-at-all-costs-thoughts-are-laughable/68383
GeoffDawg
May 16th, 2011
9:38 am
Landry, why are you yelling so much? It’s hard to come across as reasonable when you’re screaming at people electronically.
Jackie Moon
May 16th, 2011
10:18 am
I like Mark Richt, but the guy needs to win a national championship. He can get on his soap box about oversigning all he wants, but the guy needs to worry more about winning right now. The two coaches over in the next state may oversign, but they win. The bottom line is coaches are measured by their record not by how many players they sign. 50 years from now people will be saying that Saban was a hell of a coach. He won this many championships. Will they say the same about Richt?
Landry
May 16th, 2011
10:37 am
RICHT’S METHOD #5 TO CLEAR ROOM FOR SCHOLARSHIPS:
#5 METHOD–GRAY-SHIRTING
ALTHOUGH NOT WELL KNOWN, RICHT’S HAS GRAY SHRITED AT LEAST 1 PLAYERS PER YEAR. AND RICHT WON’T HESITATE TO CUT THAT PLAYER IF THAT PLAYER DOESN’T PERFORM WELL IMMEDIATELY.
Landry
May 16th, 2011
10:39 am
Richt’s just deflecting attention away frOm his 2-9 record since 2009 against ranked teams. richt doesn’t want people talking about how he has averaged 6.5 wins a year since 2009. rICHT FEARS PEOPLE POINTING OUT THAT HIS WIN TOTALS HAVE FALLEN EVERY YEAR FOR 3 YEARS IN A ROW, FROM 11 TO 10 TO 8 WINS TO JUST 6 WINS.
RICHT’S A BLAMER. HE LIKES OT BLAME HIS INCOMPETENT COACHING ON OUTSIDE FACTORS, ANYTHING EXCEPT HIMSELF IS THE BLAME.
IT’S “THE GEORGIA WAY”
TideFan
May 16th, 2011
11:04 am
I love how UGA fans take the holier than thou approach. How many guys have been arrested at UGA in the last couple years again? Saban should be commended for giving more guys an opportunity to succeed and keeping them out of trouble.
285exp
May 16th, 2011
11:45 am
GeoffDawg,
What about Kirschman and Griffin? Both were given medical scholarships that they voluntarily accepted. Kirschman told the WSJ that he was “kind of bitter”, but he did not dispute that he was injured. He said that he felt like he could have played through it. He was never going to play a meaningful snap at Alabama, he had a back problem, and he was given the opportunity to finish his education for free. Griffin had a major knee injury, failed to pass a physical, was offered a medical scholarship or a student coaching position. According to the WSJ article Griffin said “he doesn’t contest the results of the physical and said it was “basically my decision” to forgo the rest of his playing career.” If these examples are your proof that Saban is giving fraudulent medical scholarships, that’s pretty weak sauce.
W118
May 16th, 2011
12:24 pm
285exp – Check the numbers. In 4 years (2007 – 2010) Saban has given out 11 Medical Scholarships. Ohio State? In 10 years, they’ve given out 4.
The NCAA by-laws state that the player must be unable to PARTICIPATE ever again; it says nothing about being able to compete at a certain performance level to recieve a medical scholarship. So, according to the NCAA, even if Kirchman said he was injured, he also said he thought he could play through it. Meaningful snap? Who cares. That’s EXACTLY why people complain about Alabama. Meaningful snaps are meaningless in this regard. You’ve basically just stated the exact problem. Player isn’t panning out? Eh, just get rid of him and free up the scholarship for someone who can.
There are numerous cases where teams kept guys who were obviously eligable to recieve a medical hardship, but didn’t want to kick that player to the curb in regards to football, something Saban has no problem doing (see Arther Ray Jr. at Michigan State and Mike D’Andrea at Ohio State).
Landry
May 16th, 2011
1:03 pm
Saban ain’t doing nuttin illegal.
richt just tryin’ to act like Sabvan has some kind of ‘advantage’ over him.
He does, Saban’s a better coach and has head coaches 2 SEC teams to the National Championship.
that’s the difference.
And it drives Richt the Curser, crazy.
GeoffDawg
May 16th, 2011
2:24 pm
If he says that he’s bitter and that he could’ve played through it, that doesn’t sound overly voluntary to me. I think you hit the nail on the head though by stating that he would never play a meaningful snap at Bama. Basically, he couldn’t cut it on the two-deep and he was pushed out. Thanks for making my case.
285exp
May 16th, 2011
2:38 pm
W118,
Those players voluntarily took medical scholarships. If they thought they could still play, they could have transferred to another institution. Like Jarvis Jones, now a linebacker at Georgia, who was injured while playing at USC, where the team doctors refused to clear him to play. I suppose that Georgia is so desperate to win that they are willing to risk the health of a player that another school, who was already thin at linebacker, refused to clear to play. But I guess you think that an injured player, who will never be allowed to play another down, should be kept on the roster and deny another athlete the opportunity to get an athletic scholarship. He still gets to finish his education. He’s not being kicked off the team, even though there would be nothing to keep Saban from simply refusing to renew his athletic scholarship. Tell me, who is being harmed here? When you have some real examples of healthy Alabama players fraudulently being declared medically unable to play, come back and tell us about it.
GeoffDawg
May 16th, 2011
2:56 pm
Ha ha! Thou dost protest too much! Jarvis Jones is a premier talent so obviously he would be able to get another program to review his medical history and if satisfactory, offer him a scholarship. That’s a completely different issue than what’s being alleged at Bama. The issue here is with regards to players that can’t cut it on the field. Most Div I teams aren’t going to be lining up to offer scholarships to another team’s scrubs. Beyond that, contrary to what my wife thinks, I’m not a mind reader and can’t legitimately tell any number of valid reasons to stay at the school. Maybe their parents are alums, maybe they offer their major, maybe they don’t want to play at a div 2 level, etc, etc, etc.
Zombiewoof
May 16th, 2011
2:57 pm
Haters gonna hate when you’re on top of the world.
Roll Tide.
Suffering
May 16th, 2011
3:06 pm
After 4 years in a row of letdowns and dissappointments the Bulldawggie Nation is now crying foul about everything from UF to Alabama, to Auburn, next it will Tennessee. Get your own house in order then the rest of the league may one day respect the once average Bulldogs of Georgia.
Suffering
May 16th, 2011
3:10 pm
How many of those so called players who were forced to Medical hardship as alleged went on to play football at another school? One, and he went to a Division III school in Mississippi because the team physicians at Alabama ruled his heart ailment was a major problem, and he had actually started a dozen games for Alabama. Then on top of that he was given a BCS ring last year after he returned to graduate. Look it up: Ezekial Knight. The truth just hurts. Do not come on here making up lies about how unfair Saban is.
Suffering
May 16th, 2011
3:11 pm
I take that back, he went to a Division III school in Alabama to play his final year. Miles College, I believe.
Suffering
May 16th, 2011
3:13 pm
W118,,
Who wants to be compared to Ohio St now? The curtain has been opened and the man behind the curtain was performing all kind of ILLEGAL tricks. Not a good place to compare a second tier school who loses annually to the SEC as and example. Re boot that to Penn St and it just might work a little.
GeoffDawg
May 16th, 2011
3:25 pm
The truth is that Saban oversigns as a matter of routine. He’s not the only one by far but he is in the spotlight more for it because of the WSJ article and because he’s not transparent about his roster numbers. Les Miles is particularly egregious about it with regards to that player that was kicked off the team after moving into the dorm. That was downright shameful on his part. Regardless though, you only get so many scholarships so unless you get very lucky with players not qualifying academically or deciding to give up football for whatever reason, you’re putting yourself into a real bind numbers wise. Somehow, Saban, along with Miles and others, seem to get very lucky every year.
285exp
May 16th, 2011
3:51 pm
Saban is in the spotlight more because you people are scared to death of him, not because he does anything illegal or unethical. He follows the rules, his players stay out of trouble, they do well academically, and he puts them in the NFL. When you can find some examples of actual wrongdoing rather than wringing your hands and whining about the unfairness of it all then bring it on. Giving us examples of Les Miles doing bad things don’t count.
Mean Machine
May 16th, 2011
4:16 pm
Saban, Petrino, Myles, Chizik, and Spurrier are a disgrace to the coaching profession to do what they do to recruits. SCUMBAGS! If they ever knock on my door to talk to my kid, I’ll tell them to their face, “GO TO HELL”! They offset their poor evaluation of players by signing more and then getting rid of their mistakes.
285exp
May 16th, 2011
4:24 pm
Don’t worry Mean Machine, I suspect you’re pretty safe from any visits from Saban. It’s terrible what he did to Julio, Darius, Carpenter, and Ingram, isn’t it?
GeoffDawg
May 16th, 2011
4:32 pm
Ok Pollyanna. Bury your head in the sand. I know you’re just being intentionally obtuse to avoid saying anything negative about your most recent bronze statue so no worries. Most fanbases are pretty singularly focused. UGA would be no different. Tell me though, if you came home from work and saw black smoke billowing out of your windows, would you not call 911 because you haven’t actually seen the fire? Numbers don’t lie. If this were a criminal case, a lawyer would have a field day with the inconsistencies.
285exp
May 16th, 2011
4:39 pm
If this were a criminal case, there would have to be proof that some law was actually broken. None of you whiners has been able to point to a single case where Saban has broken any regulations. All of your blubbering about how he’s so horrible and it’s just not right what he does to those poor players is hilarious. The recruits keep coming because he tells them the truth and does what he says he’s going to do. Get over it.
GeoffDawg
May 16th, 2011
4:47 pm
If this were a criminal case, the burden of proof is “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Obviously, I’m not dealing with somebody who’s reasonable but I’m quite confident that the players on record as well as the inconsistencies with the signing numbers as well as the lack of transparency regarding the roster would put Saban on the short end of blind justice. You don’t always have to have the murder weapon to convict the killer. A deliberation of the available evidence mixed with some logical reasoning can be enough.
285exp
May 16th, 2011
5:02 pm
Well, I guess Georgia fans would know a lot about criminals in their football program.
GeoffDawg
May 16th, 2011
5:07 pm
That’s a zinger, right? I don’t blame you for trying to change the subject when you’ve been so thoroughly owned. Enjoy your evening.
285exp
May 16th, 2011
5:20 pm
Owned? You still haven’t come up with a single example of Saban doing anything wrong. Not a single player mentioned in the WSJ article claimed he was not injured. You haven’t provided a single example of a player who was deceived by Saban or who had their scholarship pulled simply for not performing on the field. You talk about smoke, the only smoke is being blown out your backside, trying to cover up the fact that you have no facts, only innuendo. No, your obsession with Saban is funny. He’s not close to being the biggest offender in the oversigning kerfuffle, and there are examples of real abuses like Les Miles’, yet you blather on and on. Face it, you got nothing.
Ty
May 16th, 2011
5:35 pm
PLEEEEEEAAASE, Someone go buy Telling the Truth a Life! Seriously!
GeoffDawg
May 17th, 2011
8:29 am
Lol! Face it – you’ve been owned pal. Doesn’t mean you can’t still live a normal life.
Update on UGA recruit Nick Marshall playing QB in ‘Wild Dawg’ and meeting NCAA academic requirements | AJC College Sports Recruiting
May 17th, 2011
2:52 pm
[...] of Fame” status for the AJC’s message boards, after Mark Richt gave his opinion on “oversigning” (go here to [...]
BAMA dude
May 19th, 2011
7:08 am
Wow. Let the UGA program fall into mediocrity and the fanbase starts whining that all the schools ahead of them are unethical. Someone tell me, what is wrong with a medical scholarship situation? Is the kid who didn’t turn out to be good enough not getting his education?