Notes from Memphis: Sturdivant, others face decisions on future
MEMPHIS – Three items to start the day:
- Georgia offensive tackle Trinton Sturdivant, who started six games this season after missing almost all of the previous two seasons because of knee surgeries, is undecided on whether to enter the 2011 NFL draft or return for another year with the Bulldogs.
“I don’t have a clue,” he said Tuesday. “We’ll just see how everything plays out. We’ll see after the bowl game how it looks. . . . I haven’t really weighed all my options with my family.”
Sturdivant described his 2010 season as “all right” but “no All-American type year.” Mark Richt put it this way: “He’s had a good season. Hopefully he’ll come back and have a great season next year.”
Sturidvant said he feels “very close” to regaining the pre-injuries form that made him a season-long starter at left tackle as a freshman in 2007.
“At first, there was a little issue with, ‘Oh, is he going to fall into the mental battle?’” Sturdivant said. “But now I’m at the end of the season, and I’m feeling good, just going all out.”
- Richt said Tuesday that none of Georgia’s underclassmen who are considering the NFL draft have told him whether they are going or staying.
“Even if they knew in their heart what they were doing, I don’t think they’ll say anything until after the [Liberty Bowl] game,” Richt said. “And from what I understand, I don’t know if anybody’s going to be ready that moment.
“There might be a couple who know they’re staying, but I think the guys that are thinking about going … they’re going to want a little time to reflect with their families after the bowl game.”
Georgia’s draft-eligible underclassmen include: wide receiver A.J. Green, a likely top-10 pick who just about everyone assumes will go; offensive linemen Sturdivant and Cordy Glenn; outside linebacker Justin Houston; cornerback Brandon Boykin; punter Drew Butler and kicker Blair Walsh. All of those players have asked the NFL’s underclassmen advisory board for a projection of their draft stock – except Green, who doesn’t need anybody to tell him he’s projected to be a first-round pick. The others expect responses from the NFL board by next week.
The NFL deadline for underclassmen to enter the draft is Jan. 15, but the Georgia players are generally expected to announce their decisions by the start of spring-semester classes on Jan. 10.
- Green, suspended the first four games this season for selling last year’s Independence Bowl jersey, had little reaction to the NCAA’s suspension last week of five Ohio State players for the first five games of next season for selling memorabilia and/or receiving discounts on tattoos. The NCAA is allowing the Ohio State players to play in the Sugar Bowl.
“They know best; that’s their job,” said Green, referring to the NCAA. “I’m not going to question them.”
Please follow @ajcuga on Twitter for updates from Georgia’s Liberty Bowl practices in Memphis.
– Tim Tucker
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182 comments Add your comment
Dawg61
December 29th, 2010
5:21 pm
“I haven’t really weighed all my options with my family.”. Yeah, right. If you believe that tripe, you probably voted for U-Know-Who. It’s really “how much money can I make if I go now, or (God forbid) should I grace the team with my presence for another year…provided, of course, I remain healthy. HuH? What’s that? The Escalade I ordered is in? Wow, OK…Uh, adios Dogs.
k483
December 29th, 2010
5:45 pm
@KnowYourRole……no question here that Green will make it in the pros. But if he is going for the $, will waiting a year, when there is no strike looming, yield a greater bottom line contract? A lot of variables here, i.e., the strike, who is likely to pick him up this year vs. next year (and their payroll room), and who is the competition in the position in his position this year vs. next year. I imagine someone has done the research in this. I’m just suggesting that the boon might be greater if he waits.
SuperB
December 29th, 2010
5:48 pm
A. J. Green HAS to be Georgia’s best receiver ever– since he is the best receiver who every played in the SEC!
KnowYourRole
December 29th, 2010
5:56 pm
@k483….1 in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. he is a sure fire top 5 pick. is it possible that he would be 1-4 next year? sure, but is it worth the risk of injury? i think he is gonna make bank regardless. heck, i enjoyed my 4 years of college, but then again i wasn’t an elite athlete who could make millions playing a sport.
k483
December 29th, 2010
6:10 pm
@KnowYourRule……I don’t know, is 1 in the hand worth 2 in the bush when your “birds” are multi-year, 7 figure contracts? If he goes as the first receiver this year in a receiver-heavy draft, that might mean an x-year contract worth y, with a signing bonus of z, whereas he waits a year and goes in a receiver-light draft, and gets 1.2x, 1.3y, 1.4z, etc. Not saying that would happen, I just wonder if from a purely financial standpoint it is the best move, even considering the risk of injury.
KnowYourRole
December 29th, 2010
6:20 pm
@k483….i don’t know what kind of financial situation aj’s family is in, but if it was me, i would want the money now. receiver-heavy draft or not, he will be the first reciever picked. if a GM pick’s another reciever before him in this draft, he should be fired.
still@the bar
December 29th, 2010
7:06 pm
SuperB please pass me some of what you are smoking. Green doesn’t even lead Receiving stats at UGA so how can he be the best ever in the SEC. Green doesn’t even rank in the top 10 is the SEC by a long shot.
Wes Chandler
Don Hutson
Ozzie Newsome
Carlos Alvarez
Terry Beasley
Wendell Davis
Ike HillardTim Mcgee
Jabar Gaffney
David Palmer
Those are the TOP 10 all-time SEC receivers. You actually think AJ Green is even close to any of those guys? AHAHAHH
AJ Green’s ranking in the SEC
08 #37
09 #59
10 #71
And again you think AJ Green is the best to ever play in the SEC? AHHAHAHAHHAH
Please pass me some of what you are smoking.
Toyt Like A Tiger
December 29th, 2010
7:09 pm
Let me state the obvious….
A.J. Green=Gone
Justin Houston=Dallas Cowgirls
Brandon Boykin=Gone
Cordy Glenn=Stay
Trinton Sturdivant=Obviously stay if you want to be drafted at all.
Drew Butler=Obvious Stay but is one of the best punting prospects ive ever seen
Blair Walsh=Obvious Stay but his leg is NFL approved. He and Butler will be the first Kicker/Punter selected in the draft if they go.
Cuz
December 29th, 2010
7:31 pm
Trinton had better stay and get his degree. That would be his best choice for the future. He could have a good injury free season next year and improve his draft stock, which I feel is nonexistant now. Or he could declare for the draft, not get picked and lose his education. I hope for his sake he comes back.
Go for the sheepskin!
red hill
December 29th, 2010
7:47 pm
Good luck to these guys in the pros. I wonder if Richt might quit after the bowl game too. That would suit me just fine.
Camden Mark
December 29th, 2010
8:39 pm
Wish our coach would go on to the pros, anywhere, just go
FLA DAWG
December 29th, 2010
9:51 pm
Dawgs,
If you’ve got prospects of a good offer then take it.
Otherwise you’ll be a part of another Richt – demoralized team.
Best of Luck AJ and thanks for the memories.
NOBODYYOUKNOW
December 29th, 2010
9:52 pm
Tech, if you are not gonna be competitive in any sport,(and at this time you’re NOT.) Then get out of athletics. That bowl game with air force was pathetic. I would rather watch Buford H.S. and some other good high school play each other. I was a G.Tech fan years ago but got so disgusted I jumped ship.
Dawg 1
December 29th, 2010
10:35 pm
Let’s see… Georgia has beaten Tech 9 out of the last 10. Tech has lost 5 of the last 6 games they have played and we still get idiotic comments from Tech fans talking trash about how they are on the ‘up swing’ and how Georgia is losing all of their players.
What am I missing here?
GADSDENDAWG
December 29th, 2010
10:42 pm
AJ dont go. Come back for one more year. PLEASE DONT GO WE NEED YOU.
still@the bar
December 29th, 2010
10:43 pm
Dawg 1 you will see what it is like next year. Tech lost 4 very good and important underclassmen this year. we had 2 linemen go to different colleged for Grad school because they didn’t get into Tech. UGA will have a tough year next year at the start trying to find players to replace the players you may lose.
still@the bar
December 29th, 2010
10:44 pm
Dawg 1 you will see whne you lose some of these underclasmen next year.
jasont13
December 29th, 2010
11:47 pm
I just love reading what people post on here. You can tell the fake UGA fans. They are usually the ones who spell the players names incorrectly or call out games UGA will lose next year like the guys on page one who mentioned UGA will lose to Arkansas next year. Guess what idiot, UGA doesnt play Arkansas next year. Oh and then there is this so called UGA insider. You do know that they play 12 games in Division 1 football right? You claim that UGA could go 3-8 next year. Impossible when they play 12 games.
Some lame name here
December 30th, 2010
2:46 am
Loyalty? Why do they owe the fans anything?
Fair and Balanced
December 30th, 2010
2:52 am
Let ‘em go! It’s all about money now. The fact they are considering speaks volumes about the change since Richt came to Ga. We heard about unity and people NOT wanting to leave because of the fun of playing on a team like GA. Now it’s different. Richt has lost it.
Ha, ha...yea come on with yo come on!
December 30th, 2010
2:56 am
College football’s $1.1 billion profit:
Read it weep, GT L O S E R S! Can’t argue with the $ any way you try to slice the rsults.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/29/news/companies/college_football_dollars/index.htm
Paddy
December 30th, 2010
6:58 am
SOGADOG….you must be kidding me. A big time college coach trying to talk players out of going to the NFL. For what? Glory for the old red & black? If CMR tried that approach he would never win a recruiting battle against any opponent. Kent State would out recruit him in short order. He would also get fired for that kind of behavior.
Andy in Blairsville
December 30th, 2010
7:40 am
Stay at UGA and most likely get arrested and suspended all while having another 6-6 or 7-5 season or go get locked out of the NFL? I’d rather be locked out of the NFL too.
Lainie
December 30th, 2010
8:01 am
In the 1986 Jan Kemp trial, O. Hale Almand Jr., a lawyer for UGA, 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.”
That trial exposed UGA for the football factory that it was, and exposed Vince Dooley as a fraud and a sleazebag. It also derailed Dooley’s plans for a political career. That’s why we see the decrepit old fraud doing TV commercials even now.
Mark Richt is just the latest in a line of sleazy UGA coaches who coddle athletes and discard them after four years of football. He recruits illiterate morons he knows aren’t smart enough for college, but he doesn’t care, as long as they help him line his pockets with millions of dollars each year.
UGA, winner of the Fulmer/Richt Cup and The Cesspool of the South.
Cherie
December 30th, 2010
8:05 am
I’ve never understood how anyone – even an alumnus – could support and take pride in UGA’s football team. When you look at their history for the past forty years, how can anyone ignore Jan Kemp and the “remedial studies” scam, the Jim Harrick fiasco, the DUIs in the athletic office, the DUIs and other arrests of players, the #1 party school tag (i.e., the most drunk students), the suspensions and outright dismissals, the Fulmer Cup, and on and on?
As disgraceful and humiliating as it is, I don’t see many alums and fans demanding an end to this sordid activity. It sets UGA apart as the kind of school most people abhor, and it’s become an embarrassment to the whole state of Georgia.
Will it never end? Apparently not while Mark Richt is at UGA. Richt is perhaps the biggest hypocrite in the United States. But even with all the cheating and lawlessness that he ignores, he still can’t win the SEC.
Buck Blew
December 30th, 2010
11:06 am
Green will be a bust in the NFL next season. He needs to come back for his senior season to get bigger and stronger.
Snoop Dawg
December 30th, 2010
1:00 pm
Interesting that Richt’s incompetence has led to such a level of disdain within the Bulldog Nation that the university can’t even sell its ticket allocation to the Liberty Bowl. They probably couldn’t even give them away. I don’t see too many folks traveling such a distance to watch the worst team in UGA’s long and storied history probably lose to lowly Central Florida. The Bulldog Nation expects the Dawgs to be playing the University of Florida, not the University of Central Florida. Nevertheless, I sense that da Preacha Man’s Koolaid isn’t working the wonders and causing such a euphoric state of hallucination as it has had over the past several years. Now that UGA will be losing big football revenue, the end is near for CEO Markt Wrecked and his Keystone Cops staff.
Snoop Dawg
December 30th, 2010
1:06 pm
If AJ Green needs some money, he should talk to Cam Newton’s dad about floating a loan for a year while he gets some meat on his bones in the SEC another year. Mr Newton could hold AJ’s diamond earring studs as collateral. Then Mr Newton could act as AJ’s agent when negotiating for a pimpy salary with bonus in the NFL…
Snoop Dawg
December 30th, 2010
1:09 pm
Mr Newton might be able to get Cam and AJ on the same team. Cam would be pitching to AJ, see… Perhaps they could join Michael Vick in Philadelphia. The Eagles would become the Philly Payolas…
Snoop Dawg
December 30th, 2010
1:10 pm
As a bonus, Mr Newton could get Cam and AJ big black Escalades to ride around in with spinners and all sorts of sounds within… Ambient lighting, too…
Snoop Dawg
December 30th, 2010
1:47 pm
Actually, the Philly Playahs sounds better…
NewnanDawg
January 4th, 2011
3:49 pm
Maybe we should request that the entire O-line leave early for the NFL.