Reshad Jones makes his move; Curran next?
(UPDATE: As expected, Reshad Jones formally announced this afternoon that he is leaving UGA early for the NFL draft. Click here for the full story from his press conference.)
Georgia junior safety Reshad Jones, who was on the verge of entering the NFL draft a year ago, will do so this time and forgo his senior season at UGA, he confirmed late Monday night.
Although he changed his mind on the draft decision a couple of times last year, he indicated he is firm in his choice this time.
“I know I’m ready,” he said.
He said he made the decision after consulting with his family.
Jones will formally announce his decision to enter the draft at a news conference in Athens this afternoon. UGA says to expect no word today from junior linebacker Rennie Curran, who is deciding whether to join Jones in the draft.
The NFL deadline for eligible underclassmen to enter the draft is Jan. 15, but Curran has indicated he might prefer to make an announcement before spring-semester classes begin at UGA. That is Thursday.
Factors believed to be steering Curran toward the draft are financial (he has a 1-year-old daughter) and the fact that the biggest knock against his NFL potential (his height) won’t change with another year of college.
Jones, from Atlanta, started all 13 games for Georgia this season, making 73 tackles and intercepting a team-high four passes. The highlight of his season was a superb performance in a 30-24 victory over Georgia Tech.
After drawing much criticism for his play against the Yellow Jackets in 2008, he made amends in 2009. His dazzling one-handed interception of a Tech pass at Georgia’s 43-yard line in the second quarter set up a UGA touchdown drive.
“This game was real personal for me,” Jones said afterward. “I wanted redemption. . . . This is as sweet as it gets.”
In Georgia’s Independence Bowl victory over Texas A&M, Jones had a 59-yard interception return to the Aggies 28-yard line late in the third quarter, leading to a touchdown. It was the 11th and final interception of Jones’ UGA career.
Changing topics: It’s Dogs vs. Jackets in hoops tonight at Stegeman Coliseum. Click here for a blog on that.
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181 comments Add your comment
Dawg Fud
January 5th, 2010
10:12 am
Reshad will be a beast in the NFL because he will have excellent caoching. There is a GM out there very intrigued by his abilites and excited about the impact he can have on their franchise.
Reshad is one of the best raw talents we ever signed. We simply never coached him up.
Rennie? he should take the money. everything changes when you have children.
Good Luck
January 5th, 2010
10:13 am
Good luck Mr. Jones!
A 4-8 team next year would not be appealing to me either.
collegeballfan
January 5th, 2010
10:15 am
“I don’t always agree with bobo’s playcalling, but I’m not as angered by him as some people are.”
What the hell do any of you people know about play calling?
Gimme a break!
Justin
January 5th, 2010
10:15 am
To blame his coach for his tackling problems is absurd. His coach wasnt out their looking like a short armed f**k that couldnt tackle.
Not Disappointed
January 5th, 2010
10:16 am
<—————- Die hard Tech fan here!
I wish these young men the best. They are making the best decision for them and I understand. I hope they comeback to finish their degrees one day. "Best of Luck!"
Ramblin Wreck!
Dawg Fud
January 5th, 2010
10:18 am
I like Richt. Do i think he is the greatest ever? no. Is he good for UGA? Absolutely.
The problem with most UGA fans is that we tend to believe we are better than we really are. we are a perennial top 10-15 program. that’s pretty good but not where most of us think we should be.
we certainly have not reached our potential but hopefully we will.
it would have been nice if we could closed the deal against Florida in 2002 and South Carolina in 2007. if we did, we would have played for the national title both years. may not have won either but would have been to the big game.
reality check
January 5th, 2010
10:19 am
Boise State 2 BCS appearences and 2 BCS wins.
GT making its first BCS appearence ever, tonight.
MATT
January 5th, 2010
10:24 am
Thanks for nothin. Talk about someone who never lived up to his hype. Our D should be improved without him, evans, and miller. NEXT!!!
Vick=Dog killing thug
January 5th, 2010
10:27 am
Best of luck Mr. Jones. I wish you would stay as you just cant replace senior leadership. I hope to see you on Sundays for a LONG time.
DGD
Tallapoosa Dawg
January 5th, 2010
10:28 am
Good riddance to a thug. Take a few more of those worthless bum thugs with you including Mike Bozo!
dawg e dawg where's ur bone
January 5th, 2010
10:28 am
Thx Reshard ur doing us a FAVOR u never lived up to ur potential and probably never willl……Ogletree would take ur position ne way
Agent 86
January 5th, 2010
10:28 am
To any Dawg fan who rips one of their own: Show some class and treat the players like they were members of your family. … To Reshad: Best of luck.
OZZFEST
January 5th, 2010
10:29 am
Ummm…good luck, dumb-dumb.
I have attended 250+ UGA games and have never seen a worse set of defensive backs play for one team…for one entire season…with little to no improvement.
Steve
January 5th, 2010
10:29 am
JoeB nailed it.
Willie was great at coaching our DB’s, but when he became DC they went downhill in a hurry. Either he needed to own both roles, or hire a better DB coach. Please don’t tell me he couldn’t own both roles and do it well, as BVG was both DC and LB coach and they dominated under him.
We need better DB play, but our biggest problem is below average LB play(far below average for UGA standards) since BVG left. LB’s solidify your entire team, and our LB play the last couple of years is as bad as you will see in the SEC. Sure, Curran makes a ton of Brooking’ess tackles 5-6 yards downfield, but our LB’s can’t cover the pass or stop the run. Ellerbe was a big hitter, and probably the best LB we have had since BVG. If not for tremendous interior line play teams would have run wild against us. Maybe it’s recruiting, but in my 30 years of watching the Dawgs, I have never seen weaker LB play and it has affected our entire defense.
Best of luck Reshad. It seemed like you were just starting to come into your own, and having to cover up for terrible LB’s the last two years probably slowed you down. Get better at tackling or you won’t be a major player in the NFL.
Bill
January 5th, 2010
10:31 am
I think Reshad Jones will be a star in the NFL. I am glad he chose to be a DAWG and I wish him the best. He will be missed.
BPClassof-85
January 5th, 2010
10:33 am
I wish the best to Reshad and hope that he lives up to the lofty expectations that he did not live up to at UGA. I onloy hope Rennie will be back. He is not nearly as expendable as Jones.
UGA-Tech rivalry goes full-bore all year long | The Junkyard Blawg
January 5th, 2010
10:33 am
[...] many folks are surprised to hear that safety Reshad Jones won’t be returning for his senior season with the Bulldogs, and the expectation is that linebacker Rennie Curran [...]
Bill
January 5th, 2010
10:33 am
At best a fourth rounder – And I drink the UGA koolaid. Way to many passes left undefended, way to many missed tackles, way to many cheap shots
McDawg
January 5th, 2010
10:35 am
he had a great year-can hit, covers alot of field probbaly a good decision
DirtyDawg
January 5th, 2010
10:49 am
I too wish the young man well, but like others that decided to forgo their final year of eligibility, it’ll hurt. It’s particularly disheartening since Mr. Jones had just started to play up to his potential and another year of improvement would have been nice for him and for us.
So we move on, as we have ever since Herschel made the mistake of trusting Jack Manton.
Socal Dawg
January 5th, 2010
10:50 am
Mistake!
Halberstram
January 5th, 2010
10:52 am
Congrats Reshad and best of luck!
All the negative comments are not needed. This guy played hard for the Dawgs for three years.
Steve
January 5th, 2010
10:52 am
collegeballfan, if you think fans might not know about play calling you are an idiot.
It doesn’t take someone who has coached, or even played beyond high school to know anything about play calling. While many people might not know how the difference pieces of a team work in different ways on certain plays, they can still understand some basic fundamentals of the game. More importantly, a gameplan is what most fans refer to when they speak of calling the plays, not about individual play calling.
That being said, I and many others were obviously correct this year. When Georgia finally committed to running the ball like so many of us thought we should have done, Georgia started winning games it was supposed to (Auburn, GT, TAMU). Prior to that stretch, the only identity our offense had was that other teams knew if they blew up one or two runs that we would abandon the running game for the rest of that half. No one feared our running attack for the first 9 games because we only ran off-tackle and miss-timing runs. We didn’t just line up and force someone to stop the dive play. When we finally did, we found out teams couldn’t stop it, and we controlled the ball and most importantly the clock much better. This kept our defense off the field, which was the best play call we could make. Our offense was as much or more at fault as our defense because we didn’t eat the clock.
Georgia was dead last in rushing attempts as a perecentage of offensive plays in the SEC until the Georgia game, and for some reason the light finally switched on. Maybe it was all the fans complaining for the entire year, or maybe Bobo finally saw the light that you can’t run a play-action pro-style offense unless the other teams respect the run. So apparently, despite fans not knowing anything about play calling, or rather game calling, when Bobo started doing what the fans wanted we started to dominate.
I guess the fans know more than you think.
TXDawg
January 5th, 2010
10:53 am
To all you coaches out there in blog land, before you start penciling in Ogletree as the replacement for Jones at Safety you might want to know that he might not even play safety for the DAWGS. Instead he may be moved to linebacker. Stick to being a fan and let the REAL coaches handle the positions, X’s, an O’s.
UGAGRAD02
January 5th, 2010
10:54 am
Thank god he is going pro. Between Jones and Evans I couldn’t tell you who sucked more.
Bank Walker, Texas Ranger
January 5th, 2010
10:55 am
Any chance Evans will turn pro as well….please.
Bank Walker, Texas Ranger
January 5th, 2010
10:57 am
UGAGRAD02, couldn’t agree more. Both should hire WM as agent because he thinks they are a lot better than they actually are.
bigdawg#8
January 5th, 2010
10:58 am
It doesn’t matter what round he gets drafted in, he will make more money then anyone on this blog! Good luck RJ from another former dawg.
BJohnDawg
January 5th, 2010
10:59 am
Jones wish you luck but I have to say personally think it is a mistake.
You need major work on your tackling, technique, and your positioning. To many times you showed poor tackling skills and seemed to be lost on the field.NFL looks for complete players, they dont want to teach fundamentals.More to it than hitting someone hard.In the NFL a shoulder un tackle will get you cut quick.
I predict a late round pick.Not hating here, just stating it as I see it.Hope you prove me wrong.
murfdawg
January 5th, 2010
11:01 am
As a Dawg fan for over 40 years, I have never seen as poor a display of “tackling/bumping/O-laying” as Jones exhibited in the GT game in 08. Then he starts off the season at OKST with an illegal hit on a defenseless receiver that cost us a TD. Glad to see him go. He will wow some NFL scout with his athletic ability and make some money, which is good for him and I wish him well.
I hope UGA goes back to recruiting football players from football schools, not athletes from non-football schools. I think Ogletree will make us all forget about Jones.
Bank Walker, Texas Ranger
January 5th, 2010
11:09 am
Now lets get the DC from Boise State
Chi Town is in da house
January 5th, 2010
11:10 am
Looks like all the rats are jumping the sinking ship
NCR
January 5th, 2010
11:10 am
To the dummy that said he will *only* make 200K-350K a season, the Packers have the lowest average salary at $440,000. Let’s say he’s 4rd material. He could be close to that. The kids maybe 22, let’s say he sticks around 3 NFL years. That’s over $1 million dollars before he’s 25. Did YOU have that kind of money at 25? Most people won’t see that money over a lifetime, nevermind at 25.
Jonathan Dowling
January 5th, 2010
11:12 am
Run Dawgies! Get off that sinking ship before it completely goes under.
1eyedJack
January 5th, 2010
11:20 am
NCR, you’re right but, once his agent takes a cut, he buys mama and grandma a new house and Lexus, gets a couple of “baby mama’s” and makes some bad investments he’ll be right back where he started from.
SEC East Headlines – 1/5/10 | MrSEC.com
January 5th, 2010
11:29 am
[...] time is right” for him to leave Athens for the NFL.21. Linebacker Rennie Curran is expected to make a similar announcement, perhaps today.22. In basketball news, Georgia has a rivalry game with Georgia Tech before opening [...]
Flo-Ri-Duh!
January 5th, 2010
11:30 am
Don’t blame Reshad for leaving …. he is almost ready for the next level but still needs work on coverage skills and tackling. However, he would have to learn a system under a new DC and there are two very talented safeties coming in the current recruiting class. One of them will be ready (Jakar Hamilton) as he is a Jr. college transfer but Alec Ogletree will be straight out of highschool and if Reshad had stayed Ogletree probably would have been a backup. Good luck to Reshad.
bigdawg#8
January 5th, 2010
11:31 am
1eyedJack is that a racist comment? I believe it is. WOW IT TOOK 5 DAYS INTO 2010 FOR RACIST COMMENT TO SURFACE!!!!!!!!!!!!
30-24 Dawgs - WE RUN THIS STATE
January 5th, 2010
11:32 am
Can’t blame Reshad after he proved his worth to NFL scouts on 28-Nov when he SHUT DOWN tech’s perfect option and passing game all night long and picked off the dual-threat Caucasian known as Jayblow Shaw en-route to a 30-24 victory by the Dawgs!
Flo-Ri-Duh!
January 5th, 2010
11:33 am
Reshad will likely be a 3rd rounder – if he waits til next year I see him as a 2nd rounder which is a big difference in pay normally but the owners are thretening to change the pay structure for rookies in the NFL after this class so I don’t blame him for leaving even though he could use another year in college and UGA needs him.
N.GA.DAWG
January 5th, 2010
11:34 am
I for one was wanting him to leave last year. I agree with the folks that said he cant cover or tackle. In the NFL you dont get as many chances to f up like he did at UGA. In his defense he had a much better 09 than 08 season. but i dont think he will last long unless he overcomes his flaws.
PapaDawg
January 5th, 2010
11:37 am
Hate to see quality atheletes go early but I don’t blame them one bit. Go get that NFL big money while it’s there
N.GA.DAWG
January 5th, 2010
11:37 am
By the way a coach cant make a tackle or cover a receiver for him.
1eyedJack
January 5th, 2010
11:44 am
Comment hit home bigdawg#8? Not meant to be racist, just observations over the last 15-20 years. By the way, I teach at an historically black college and most of my students would agree if not say the same thing.
Glenn
January 5th, 2010
11:48 am
Jones want be missed, Curran please stay another year.
ValdostaDawg
January 5th, 2010
11:54 am
I know we have Rambo,Cummings now and we have Olgetree coming in (which he didnt impress me in the All American game) BUT…..
How good is Jakar Hamilton?
What about Jordan Love??
on another note, Where is the Gaethers kid???
kerryb
January 5th, 2010
11:57 am
I’m a Dawg fan and this does’nt bother me much. The guy never lived up to his potential. Good luck in the NFL. I bet he does’nt go above the fourth round.
Happydawg
January 5th, 2010
12:00 pm
Thank you for playing at UGA and the best of luck to you!
Pat
January 5th, 2010
12:01 pm
Curran needs to support his child! This is a continuing problem for athletes! Just look around…most athletes have illegitimate children. Many!!!! So sad. Forget his athletic ability, he is a parent first!
me123
January 5th, 2010
12:05 pm
I loved watching Curran tackle this season. He is skilled, effective, and fast. He will make a place for himself in the NFL no doubt.