Richt tells callers he’s staying and wants ‘Dream Team’ recruits to join him
Mark Richt was outspoken on two topics on his radio call-in show Monday night –- his intention to remain at Georgia and his aspirations for this recruiting season.
- On the recruiting front, Richt reiterated his vision of signing an in-state “Dream Team” that, he said, could make an impact as soon as Georgia’s Sept. 3 season opener against Boise State in Atlanta’s Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.
“We’re trying to recruit guys right now that can make an impact so when we play in that Georgia Dome next year and open against Boise State, we can introduce those kids to the college football world and make a difference at the University of Georgia,” Richt said.
“When you talk about in-state kids, that’s why I’ve been talking about this Georgia ‘Dream Team’, this team of guys that I think are the best players in the state of Georgia. And I believe if they will stay in the state and come together, we can prove to the United States of America that we have the best football in the country [in] the state of Georgia. We need those Georgia kids to stay at home and do that thing for the Bulldogs, and I think everybody is going to get excited about that.”
- In light of recent reports that Colorado and Miami might pursue Richt for their open coaching jobs, one caller implored Richt to “hang in with us, don’t leave us now.”
Richt replied: “I’m definitely going to do more than hang with Georgia. Georgia is going to thrive, and Georgia is going to have a tremendous future ahead of us. And I’m excited to be here.”
Another caller had two questions: Will junior linebacker Justin Houston enter the 2011 NFL draft? And will Richt stay or “jump ship” to his alma mater, Miami?
Richt said he doesn’t know what Houston will do but suggested he could be a top-five or top-10 NFL pick in 2012 if he plays another season of college ball. Houston faces a tough decision, Richt acknowledged.
As for the caller’s second question: “For me, I don’t have a tough decision,” Richt said. “Georgia is the greatest place in the United States of America for me and my family.”
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443 comments Add your comment
jaydawg
November 30th, 2010
12:50 pm
Its really discouraging to know that no matter who or how many of these players we get that our coaching staff will prevent them from reaching their potential and we as fans are not able to realistically expect the Dawgs to win another championship as long as this staff is here.
Richt Plans to be Back at Georgia : Football Rumor Mill
November 30th, 2010
12:51 pm
[...] In light of recent reports that Colorado and Miami might pursue Mark Richt for their open coaching jobs, one caller implored Richt to “hang in with us, don’t leave us now.” Richt replied: “I’m definitely going to do more than hang with Georgia. Georgia is going to thrive, and Georgia is going to have a tremendous future ahead of us. And I’m excited to be here.” Another caller had two questions: Will junior linebacker Justin Houston enter the 2011 NFL draft? And will Richt stay or “jump ship” to his alma mater, Miami? Richt said he doesn’t know what Houston will do but suggested he could be a top-five or top-10 NFL pick in 2012 if he plays another season of college ball. Houston faces a tough decision, Richt acknowledged. As for the caller’s second question: “For me, I don’t have a tough decision,” Richt said. “Georgia is the greatest place in the United States of America for me and my family.” — Atlanta Journal-Constitution [...]
SteveW
November 30th, 2010
12:55 pm
We did defeat 3 Bowl teams this year by the combined score of 125-87. That’s not to shabby, eh?
badada
November 30th, 2010
12:57 pm
@FullTimeDawgFan
You were right on the money haha
Gene
November 30th, 2010
12:57 pm
If Georgia fans are counting on a “Dream Team”, they can look forward to another nightmare.
SteveW
November 30th, 2010
12:58 pm
To all the Bull Dawg faithful: I think Todd Grantham is the real deal. But I also I think it will be 2012 before he has the players in place to dominate the way he can. And he really did have no idea how to stop Tech, even with 2 weeks to prepare. Go Dawgs!
NWGADawg
November 30th, 2010
1:00 pm
There is a road-map out there for getting this struggling program back to respectability. Look west to Lincoln, Nebraska. Get a competent d. coordinator, and recruit defense, defense, defense, defense. If you can stop people and play just mediocre offense, you will win 10 games a year. And don’t give me any of that “it doesn’t work that way in the SEC ” bullcrap. With the exception of Auburn and Arkansas, show me one dynamic offense in this conference. Build a solid defense, and we will compete for an SEC title every year.
SteveW
November 30th, 2010
1:03 pm
And to me, we really don’t recruit that well. We consistently lose out on top recruits, both in and out of Georgia.
And remember, we had Marcus Lattimore. He loved us, and we were his favorite for 2 or 3 years. Then we began recruiting Mack Brown. Lattimore said we had lied to him, and he stayed home with South Carolina. We then lost Brown to UF, and got arguably the 3rd best RB in Ga. in Kendrum Malcome.
And both Ealey and King were only 5.9 recruits; very good, but not exceptional. And King was coming off of a terrible hip/leg injury also.
jwr
November 30th, 2010
1:04 pm
Okiedawg, UGA did play into PJ’s hand. He needed time to take a shot at the endzone, UGA gave it to him, and then Tech almost got that touchdown they needed. Given their success at putting the ball in the endzone all night, they had better-than-even odds of getting that 2-point conversion, and then, if they avoid coughing the ball up, they had better-than-even odds of getting a touchdown.
Look, Richt is a nice guy, and he puts a nice face on Georgia football. But, make no mistake, he isn’t a top-tier coach. He had a good run for about 5 years, but since then mediocrity has set in. UGA will have winning seasons, but they won’t be a serious contender for championship saturday.
I’ve been saying it for 20 years: UGA isn’t going to have a championship program as long as Dooley-inspired coaches are involved in the program. Nobody was going to be chosen who might rip off a couple of NC’s and shine brighter than Vince. Quite frankly, Bulldog Nation loves tradition, and a Dooley-annoited hire will keep the job as long as he beats Tech 90% of the time, winning season or not.
Buckeye
November 30th, 2010
1:06 pm
O H – I O
MURPHY
November 30th, 2010
1:09 pm
NWGADawg,
Just ask Miss St-That’s their formula-been pretty sucessfull this year
SteveW
November 30th, 2010
1:10 pm
You would think that between DeAngelo Tyson, a stud by the way, Kwame Geathers, Bean, Garrison Smith and Mike Thornton, we would have a couple of quality NG’s in there. I think Kwame, Bean, and Thornton may be the answers, and move Tyson to end with Abry Jones on the other side. We wouldn’t be losing much if Houston went Pro if that happened. Yes, I know Houston was officially a LB, but he’s is still a great DE in the 4-3 masquerading as a great OLB in the 3-4.
P.S. When is the last time we were in the top 5 in recruiting?
MURPHY
November 30th, 2010
1:11 pm
O H – I O
0-9 vs the SEC
independent
November 30th, 2010
1:12 pm
I don’t blame the dogs for wanting to keep Richt. You are nothing but a second tier program which makes him a perfect fit. The true SEC powers will continue to enjoy giving you your annual butt kickings. Accept your role as a SEC patsy and you will be fine
Pure as the driven snow
November 30th, 2010
1:14 pm
You Dawg fans who keep repeating “30-24″ like a mantra enjoy yourselves all you want. The thing is… Tech alumni and fans have lives that don’t depend entirely on what a bunch of kids does on Saturday afternoons. College sports are fun to follow, but the biggest reason for going to college is to get an education.
UGA fans don’t seem to care about anything but football, and they don’t care if their players are enrolled in silly majors that no parents who are paying the bills would send their kids to UGA for. The very few football and basketball players who graduate have no job opportunities and end up unemployed or working in menial jobs that hardly require a college degree.
Georgia Tech is a real school with serious academic standards, and that includes scholarshipped athletes. UGA has a long history of being a party school, where parents send their kids for an easy degree, even if the degree itself is practically worthless.
Jan Kemp exposed the crap going on at UGA with athletes being enrolled in courses a ten-year-old kid could pass. That was almost three decades ago, and nothing has changed. If anything, the abuses are more blatant today. Way too many illiterate morons are being recruited, and the very high arrest rate shows clearly that Richt does not care if his players have any morals or self-discipline.
The bottom line is that most Tech fans have very good jobs and productive lives that don’t depend on Tech’s football record for their happiness in life. It would be great to beat UGA more often, but when you put scholar-athletes up against dummy-athletes, it’s usually no contest.
It’s pretty pathetic to see UGA fans who typically have never been within miles of a college classroom and who live or die with UGA’s weekly results on the football field.
So keep on posting your “30-24″ all you want, especially since you’re home with plenty of time on your hands. I wish you well, maybe you’ll get lucky and get your old job back at the Waffle House before your unemployment checks stop coming.
MURPHY
November 30th, 2010
1:15 pm
independent,
1-9 against UGA–I guess that you annual butt kicking uh?
MURPHY
November 30th, 2010
1:15 pm
* thats your
MURPHY
November 30th, 2010
1:19 pm
Pure as the driven snow,
Suck it up boy! 1-9 Be a winner boy!
Days of yore... but still here
November 30th, 2010
1:20 pm
I wonder if any of the books about UGA football include the perspective of someone speaking for the late Jan Kemp? The perspective that “student” athletes like Lindsay Scott were playing years without taking college level courses? That the proudest moment of the football program was earned by players who never earned a single college credit?
Dawgtards love to return to 1980, but their memories are really short when it comes to remembering an earthshaking event that happened a few years later that showed the world what a joke UGA athletes were and what a scam artist their beloved Vince Dooley was (and is). So for all those dawgtards with short memories or who think their athletes are actually taking real courses and trying to graduate, here’s the quote that broke the trial wide open and showed what a slimeball Dooley is:
O. Hale Almand Jr., a lawyer for the defense, offered a justification for the favorable treatment accorded the athletes, citing a hypothetical player. “We may not make a university student out of him,” he told the jury, “but if we can teach him to read and write, maybe he can work at the post office rather than as a garbageman when he gets through with his athletic career.”
Nothing has changed at UGA, they just do a slightly better job of keeping things quiet, but that’s hard to do when 45 of your player-thugs have been arrested, isn’t it?
UGA: WINNER OF THE FULMER CUP AND THE CESSPOOL OF THE SOUTH.
That’s worth repeating:
UGA: WINNER OF THE FULMER CUP AND THE CESSPOOL OF THE SOUTH.
PHIL
November 30th, 2010
1:22 pm
@OkefenokeeDawg So you want a new OC? A new school record for points and doing it with a freshman QB isn’t good enough for you? If Grantham had come in and set a new record for least points allowed would you be saying he had to go, too? Really. How can anyone be that stupid?
PHIL
November 30th, 2010
1:24 pm
Pure as the driven snow, do you REALLY want to get into the academics of UGA compared to GT? Especially the athletes? REALLY???? The myth that GT has better academics than UGA has been busted YEARS ago. Where have you been? Playing with a slide rule?
Dawg Paw
November 30th, 2010
1:25 pm
So Phil – When will Bobo get his shot as a Head Coach?
Dawg70
November 30th, 2010
1:31 pm
Hey pure as the driven snow! You sound like a typical tech fan. Never graduated from tech just not cool enough to be a Dawg. Remember the kid involved in the Jan Kemp mess (Sorrels was his name)? He took remedial classes at UGA with a D average, transferred to tech and became an Honor student. Tell you anything about classes that tech provides for their student atheletes.
chickenman
November 30th, 2010
1:32 pm
we need ray drew and issah crowell … time to get a legit back in the backfield
Breaking news
November 30th, 2010
1:33 pm
Another arrest?
MURPHY
November 30th, 2010
1:34 pm
Days of yore….but still here,
Sounds like cries of a TECHIE
1-9 TECHIE BOY!
PHIL
November 30th, 2010
1:34 pm
@Dawg I assume that is a rhetorical question. So what would you do that would top setting a record for points scored in a year and avg over 30 a game with a freshman QB hmmmmmmmmmmmm? Be less predictable? Why if it can’t be stopped? Run more? Throw more? Spread offense? Wishbone? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm Einstein? What?
@Dawg 70 you should apply for the DC position at all the teams that Tech plays. I am sure they are just slobbering waiting on your application since no one they have on staff knows how to keep them under 400 yards rushing a game. Let me know how that goes.
chickenman
November 30th, 2010
1:34 pm
pure as the driven snow. You must be a tech nerd. On the SPORTS SECTION of the ajc saying that football doesnt matter haha. Stick yo your computer skills and let the dawgs stick to winning and women. Dont worry bro you always have your robot blow up doll Shelly
MURPHY
November 30th, 2010
1:42 pm
Days of yore…but still here
So what you are saying is this: Your team is 1-9 against a UGA team full of:
*Thugs
*Garbagemen
*players that have never earned a college credit
*players that cant read and write
And your team is full of smart football players? If you and your team are so smart-why cant yall find a way to beat the Dawgs? I mean you do have NASA Graduates dont you?
Dawg70
November 30th, 2010
1:43 pm
Hey Phil! Don’t get me wrong. I love the offense tech runs, it’s the same offense I played HB in and coached for a number of years. What you didn’t pick up on was no one coaching now has seen how to defense it. Also who would want to even watch teams that tech plays in the acc much less coach for.
JKMcKAY
November 30th, 2010
1:44 pm
Richt has done the least with the best talent for years!
2012 FEAR THE END
November 30th, 2010
1:52 pm
Please watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiL5UJmkfco
BBBieUgaVIII
November 30th, 2010
1:52 pm
Phil look at the teams you played and their Defenses. UGA should have won the SEC east easily this year with the Dawgs schedule. UGA scored
La Laf 55 bad team
USC 6
Ark 24 Bad D
MSU 12
Colorado 27 Bad team
UT 41 Bad D
Vandy 43 Bad team
Kentucky 44 Bad D
Florida 31
Idaho St 55 Bad team
Auburn 31 Bad D
Ga Tech 42 Bad D
I would not tell people you had a great scoring team if you ended up 6-6 and played this week of a schedule.
independent
November 30th, 2010
1:53 pm
Murphy, Tech? I only care about Tech when they are playing the dogs. Auburn is my school and how I had to laugh seeing the inept dogs try to start a fight for no reason at the end of the game. Sore losers is all you are and a second tier program is what you will always be. Accept it
Your Breath Smells Like Fried Fish Tacos
November 30th, 2010
1:55 pm
30-24
OkefenokeeDawg
November 30th, 2010
1:55 pm
Dr PHIL
Think that scoring record may have more to do with the adnormal number of cupcakes this season? LaLa, Colorado, UT, Vandy, Idaho State were terrible this season, and UK and UF not much better.
I can think of at least 4 games we lost (MSU, CO, UF, AU) where we clearly had the momentum, and Murray had the passing game in high gear, but Bobo singlehandedly stalled the offense by getting back into the Power I, and beginning endless 3-and-outs.
But, you go ahead and go whoo hoo!, because of that school record!
Dufus!
Your Breath Smells Like Fried Fish Tacos
November 30th, 2010
1:57 pm
30-24 or WIDE LEFT – you decide.
2012 FEAR THE END
November 30th, 2010
1:58 pm
@independent Please watch the video I posted
BG
November 30th, 2010
2:04 pm
Paging Isiah Crowell! Stay at home and play for the Dawgs!!!!
OkefenokeeDawg
November 30th, 2010
2:05 pm
2012 FEAR THE END,
Oh damn, that’s so funny. God bless Moonpie!
fla dawg
November 30th, 2010
2:08 pm
Murphy…. I am sure your info was good at the time but I talked to two of the Gator Bowl selection committee members on the phone this morning and they said that unfortunately for us…. UGA in the Gator just won’t happen this year!
PVDawg
November 30th, 2010
2:09 pm
How did Chizik get his 2009 recruiting class? You might want to read this… http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/messagetopic.asp?p=22778676
Scrambled Dawg
November 30th, 2010
2:10 pm
Pure as the Driven Snow:
Copying & Pasting the same whiny post week after week under different names is really pitiful.
Come on son, leave mamby-pamby land and come up with an original thought, if you can.
Buckeye
November 30th, 2010
2:12 pm
Hmmmmm,
Can’t seem to find thUGAin the basketball rankings either……
AP Top 25
RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Duke (65) 6-0 1,625
2 Ohio State 5-0 1,530
3 Pittsburgh 7-0 1,488
4 Kansas 6-0 1,402
5 Kansas State 5-1 1,263
6 Michigan State 5-1 1,250
7 Connecticut 5-0 1,188
8 Syracuse 6-0 1,085
9 Missouri 5-0 984
10 Kentucky 4-1 890
11 Baylor 4-0 844
12 Villanova 5-1 807
13 Tennessee 5-0 779
14 Memphis 5-0 758
15 Minnesota 6-0 754
16 Georgetown 6-0 701
17 San Diego State 6-0 594
18 Florida 5-1 553
19 Texas 5-1 484
20 Illinois 6-1 435
21 Brigham Young 6-0 369
22 Purdue 5-1 318
23 Washington 3-2 270
24 UNLV 6-0 255
25 Notre Dame 7-0 126
Last National Bank of Montgomery
November 30th, 2010
2:16 pm
We would appreciate all you Georgia recruits considering
crossing the state line to come over here and play with
one of our teams, to send us your age and social security numbers
as soon as possible.
This is imperative in order to get your ATM cards set up
and to arrange the slot machines for your use.
Kentucky DAWG
November 30th, 2010
2:16 pm
Just look at the players we lose every year to the likes of; Auburn, South Carolina, Tenn, Vandy, Fla. State, etc. It is just crazy. C’mon guys stay home and bail us out. This state is crazy with talent. Come to UGA and become a DAWG.
2012 FEAR THE END
November 30th, 2010
2:18 pm
@Buckey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_mhFqkR7Gk
OkefenokeeDawg
November 30th, 2010
2:24 pm
Buckeye,
We’ve got you figured out, girl! We hear from you about once a month. You sure get ornery when you’ve got your period!
RussDawg
November 30th, 2010
2:29 pm
A win over the useless North Ave trade school nerds and everyone is happy again!
Give Richt till 2012 to have Dawgs back in the Dome for SEC Champ.
Otherwise hit the bricks.
If there is this “Dream Team” of recruits in GA why haven’t you signed them?
Every year we have a so called top recruiting class.
If you sign them and don’t Coach them we are where we are. 6 – 6
LOOK AT THE CONF SCHEDULE PEOPLE
Next season UT will be better, Urban will have UF better, Only Auburn looks to be down.
AltamahaDawg
November 30th, 2010
2:44 pm
and actually Okee, Lane Kiffin never said any such thing. That was thier QB who said something to that effect. And he was talking about how the Georgia defense had the same tendencies and that particular route that Tn killed us with was open every time, at that exact same depth, exactly as the coaches had said.
Lane Kiffin didn’t say the offense does the exact same thing for 10 years. 10 yrs would imcompass scrambling as well as pure passer, good RB and not so good. various TE,WR, and a wide range of O-line capabilities. Very silly for him to have suggested that UGA has not varied thier play calling to suit the players over the cource of a decade. if you really want to hang anything on what a Kiffin said (and why would you care) it was Monte that said that they came into the game very afraid that if they doubled the recievers, which was thier best shot at stopping (the Georgia team that was passing it up and down the field coming into that game) UGA could simply open up the Running game. They did, we couldn’t.
Continuity is not the problem. Inconsistancy is.