UGA’s ‘bus’ less crowded as Bulldogs report for preseason camp
Linebacker/defensive back Nick Williams would have been a significant contributor for Georgia had he remained with the Bulldogs. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Athens — Georgia coaches and players have spent a lot of time this summer talking about mass transportation. Specifically, buses.
As in, “You’re either on the bus or you’re not,” as coach Mark Richt has said more than once this offseason.
As the Bulldogs get set to open preseason camp this week, one thing is evident: Their bus is less crowded now.
The Bulldogs will open the 2011 season well below the NCAA maximum of 85 scholarship players. Seventy-eight scholarship players are expected to check in when players report for tonight’s mandatory team meeting. That includes 54 returnees and 24 newcomers. Another 27 walkons will join them.
Not included in that number are 10 former players that are no longer with the team but had eligibility remaining (see chart below). Some of those are not in Athens by choice, others were shown the door. There’s a lot of gray area in between.
“Some guys have chosen to move on and a couple got a little help,” Richt said.
You’ll never get a straight answer from the head coach on this subject. In almost every case he announces a departure as a “mutually agreed” upon decision to leave. It’s his way of saving the players from embarrassment.
But comments from the Bulldogs that are still around indicate in only a few cases did the departures have an actual say in the matter.
“The guys on this team, the guys that stayed, are the guys that really want to be a part of this team,” junior linebacker Christian Robinson said last week. “Some guys didn’t always fit in or didn’t always do what they were supposed to do or didn’t behave. Nothing against them, but they just didn’t fit into what we need right now.”
It was a well known fact that some of the players that have left were having trouble doing things “the Georgia way.” For instance, tailback Washaun Ealey had been the subject of multiple disciplinary suspensions and offensive tackle A.J. Harmon had been sidelined because of academic struggles.
And in the case of guard Brent Benedict, there was a well-publicized weightroom confrontation with new strength and conditioning coordinator Joe Tereshinski that resulted in a “mutual” decision for him to leave.
“Since we got back from after the bowl game, Coach Richt has made it very clear that we’re going to work and we’re going to make everybody understand that you got to pay a price and it’s something special to wear the ‘G’ and be part of the University of Georgia,” Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said last week. “It’s not going to be easy. We’ve made it extremely tough around here. When you turn up the heat, sometimes you’re going to have guys that don’t want to be a part of it. That’s their choice.”
In total, 13 players that would otherwise have eligibility to play football for Georgia in 2011 aren’t going to be with the team this fall. Add the one-game suspension of junior running back Carlton Thomas and the eligibility issues facing linebacker Jarvis Jones, that number jumps to 15.
The Bulldogs didn’t always want the players gone. A.J. Green, who was selected fourth in the NFL draft, really had no choice. Starting left tackle Trinton Sturdivant suffered a third ACL tear. And rising senior Caleb King desperately wanted to lead the team in 2011 but simply could not make the grades to maintain his eligibility.
“I hate it for Caleb because nobody wanted to be here more than him,” said Robinson, who attended Greater Atlanta Christian with King. “If he hadn’t been recruited, nobody would have seen me.”
Georgia will suffer some adverse effects. Depth on the offensive line, at running back and within the linebacking corps is perilously low. But sometimes, as they say, it’s addition by subtraction.
“We have enough guys here at Georgia to get it done,” Robinson said.
- OL Brent Benedict, RFr. — Transferred to Virginia Tech
- LB Brandon Burrows RFr. — Shoulder injury, out for season
- LB Marcus Dowtin, Jr. — Transferred to North Alabama
- TB Washaun Ealey, Jr. – Transferred to Jacksonville State
- TB Caleb King, Jr. — Academically ineligible, will enter NFL supplemental draft
- WR Logan Gray, Jr. — Graduated with eligibility, transferred to Colorado
- WR A.J. Green, Jr. — Early entry into NFL draft
- OL A.J. Harmon, Jr. — Transferred to Alabama State
- LB Justin Houston, Jr. — Early entry into NFL draft
- DE Jeremy Longo, Jr. — Medically disqualified
- OL Tanner Strickland, Sr. — graduated with eligibility remaining
- OL Trinton Sturdivant, Sr. — knee injury, career over
- DB Nick Williams, Jr. — Transferred to North Alabama
*Carlton Thomas, junior tailback and third-leading rusher, is suspended for first game.
**Jarvis Jones, sophomore linebacker, has an NCAA eligibility issue under review.
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155 comments Add your comment
Woof Woof
August 2nd, 2011
4:04 pm
Paul is the water nice in Destin today?
bucket
August 2nd, 2011
4:04 pm
Trinton’s situation is truly a tragedy IMO. He looked like a beast as a freshman.
P_The_Ricker
August 2nd, 2011
4:06 pm
for whatever reason, i always thought that n. williams was getting a raw deal at UGA. no reason b. evans or j. hamilton should have started over him. he had a mean streak to him….and that’s something the defense especially lacked in ‘09 and probably could have used a little more of in ‘10.
Vince Lombardi
August 2nd, 2011
4:06 pm
Anymore secondary violations to report this week?
51-7...memories for a lifetime.....
August 2nd, 2011
4:09 pm
Poor Caleb….yeah, right. This is a kid that continually caused problems and lacked any kind of leadership skills. He had 4 years to do something and now were supposed to say..poor Caleb, nobody wanted to be a leader this year more than him…..what a bunch of crap from a total moron. He and Ealey were a major reason for all the crap that went on the last few years. My bigger question- why did it take the possibilityof losing his job for our head coach to wake up and do something???????????????????????????????????????????
Beat the rush....Laugh at Tech early and often
August 2nd, 2011
4:11 pm
Hope the players really get it this year….time will tell
LHarding Dawg
August 2nd, 2011
4:12 pm
Hey Paul, we already have an outstanding coach and the Dogs are going to be just fine.
UGA
August 2nd, 2011
4:13 pm
Shows the pressure Richt is under to win. By far the most transfers of any of his UGA teams. He has finally saw the writing on the wall! Lose more than 3…and its GOODBYE even if you are a nice guy. Thus, training regimen has picked up for job security reasons.
CMR Titanic
August 2nd, 2011
4:14 pm
Just a rearrangement of the deck chairs…. that’s all
UGA Insider
August 2nd, 2011
4:16 pm
I have said the only thing that worries me about this season is the injury bug. That’s the problem with having significantly less than 85. UF has much of the same problem. If we stay healthy we have a chance…if we constantly have 10 or 12 on IR each week as most SEC programs do…We are in major trouble. Keep your fingers crossed.
Stomping on Vandys midfield logo
August 2nd, 2011
4:17 pm
I see big things for this program. buh bye mark richt……
Douglas Dawg
August 2nd, 2011
4:18 pm
Big CMR supporter…. I really hope this is not to little to late!
JB
August 2nd, 2011
4:20 pm
Lot’s of interest in the Dawg program from Non fans. i. e. Paul n Destin loves the dawgs. Here for almost every blog. tide roll must be at the mill on second shift….or at the cleaners picking up his Camo Bama apparel. Looking forward to the season.
441North
August 2nd, 2011
4:22 pm
51-7, you nailed it. Glad those cancers are out of there.
GtDawg
August 2nd, 2011
4:22 pm
“LOST DOGS” LOST 7 games last year, New “DAWGS” for 2011…GATA
just the truth
August 2nd, 2011
4:23 pm
GA Yeck ………… you seem to be a good reader so I’m sure you read the article or saw on tv where the school 60 miles to to the west of you was rated the #1 athletic facilities in the country.
David Pole-ax
August 2nd, 2011
4:37 pm
just the truth
To whom were you referring:
1. ATL professional sports teams.
2. Ga. State
3. Kennesaw State
4. Emory University
*…..OR…..*
5. McEachern H.S.
Dabo Dawg
August 2nd, 2011
4:41 pm
Fire Rodney Garner for recruiting these unlucky 13!
St. Richt
August 2nd, 2011
4:41 pm
bucket, I think DawginLex had tried to point out that he was the classy blogger this morning in complenting us on the commitment of Marcus Allen out of Florida. And all I said was that I too had been highly complementary of Georgia’s recruiting, which its hard not to be- especially this past year. But if you read DawginLex’s comments on this blog and many others, his comments are immature at best. He complains about the trolls that post random garbage, yet he responds to them like a 10 year old. Case in point below:
“just STFU douche boy”
All I’m saying here is that Richt needs to move on and stop talking about the players who have left the program. We get it, they weren’t team players. But every time he brings it up it sounds like he’s trying to say they were the problem.
Let the trashing begin in 1, 2, …
St. Richt
August 2nd, 2011
4:43 pm
In fact, DawginLex had suggested that I should take a page from his book. So should I call somebody a “doucheboy” now? Will that make him happy?
David Pole-axe
August 2nd, 2011
5:05 pm
For anyone who cares:
[my "e" has been added for reasons]
If some care to do the arithmatic;
only six were nudged out the door.
* The others;
injury, graduation, going pro !
Not exactly poor reasons failing to be on this years roster.
Sturdivant, Longo, Burrows…give me a break,
how did their names get included in that article ?
A.J. + Houston…same ?
Now…Tanner Strickland’s case is interesting.
* He never quite panned out.
He would possibly contend for a starting position this year.
Yet, he walks ?
However, you can’t blame a kid for graduating.
Still…..curious ?
By the way, don’t you termites have your own blog ?
RabidDawgFan
August 2nd, 2011
5:05 pm
QB: Aaron Murray
HB: Richard Samuel, Isaiah Crowell, & Ken Malcome
FB: Bruce Figgins
WR: Tavarres King
WR: Malcom Mitchell
TE: Orson Charles
LT: Cordy Glenn
LG: Kenarious Gates
C: Ben Jones
RG: Chris Burnette
RT: Justin Anderson
RabidDawgFan
August 2nd, 2011
5:07 pm
DE: Abry Jones
N: John Jenkins & Kwame Geathers
DE: DeAngelo Tyson
OLB: Jarvis Jones
ILB: Christian Robinson
ILB: Alec Ogletree
OLB: Cornelius Washington
CB: Branden Smith
FS: Sanders Commings
SS: Bacarri Rambo
CB: Brandon Boykin
Be Real
August 2nd, 2011
5:09 pm
Its easy to say none of those will be missed but if you are truthful Dawgs will miss Ealey,C.King,J.Houston,and especially A.J. Green. So lie if you wqant to but 4 will be really missed.
Black Mountain Bulldog
August 2nd, 2011
5:10 pm
Any word on Kent Turene?
Russ, the Temporary Mascot
August 2nd, 2011
5:31 pm
Does this mean they will be riding the short bus now?
St. Richt
August 2nd, 2011
5:34 pm
No pressure Isaiah.
bucket
August 2nd, 2011
5:48 pm
@ St. Richt – Do you know for a fact that’s the 2 Richt was referring to? Or maybe he wasn’t referring to a specific number. That could have been a figure of speech. When I saw that list I saw 7 names on there that close friends in Athens tell me were malcontents. Everyone on these blogs have been screaming about a lack of discipline in Athens and this article makes it clear that Richt finally got the message and made some changes to address that issue. As of now it seems to be working because UGA has not been in the headlines for a lot of arrests. We will see how it works when the games start. We get it, you don’t like UGA or Richt. CMR is not a perfect man and is not above reproach, but this article is not an indicator of his class.
GtDawg
August 2nd, 2011
5:55 pm
@Be Real, This is College Football. Players leave every program every year. You recruit and try and improve on last year. Bama lost a Heisman Winner and they most likely will be preseason #1
edumacated
August 2nd, 2011
6:00 pm
Rich’ts team is going to be short of quality players in too many spots, but that is besides the point. I’m not getting excited until I see a smart coaching call from the sidelines at some point. By the way, with Richt’s band of coaches, I’m not going to hold my breath.
Destin Dawg
August 2nd, 2011
6:15 pm
Richt will by more hands on this year….play calling etc… all 10 +++ season coaches have a down year or 2…. S & C has the team in great shape… this will be Todd Grantham’s coming out year… he’s a great coach and at this point he knows he can solidify his college carreer in the next 2 or 3 years.. and he’s at the right place and has the players and schedule… Go Dawgs !!!!!!
Shawn
August 2nd, 2011
6:15 pm
Defense will win us some games this year! This is going to be a good year for the DAWGS!
UGAG is gitting the ncaa death penalty, he he ha ha
August 2nd, 2011
6:17 pm
Gitting on the bus is good practice for ugag players, they use a lot of buses in prison work gangs!
D-MAN
August 2nd, 2011
6:18 pm
St.Pricht- Richt made these comments two weeks ago at SEC media,get over it!Why do you spend so much time on here anyway Nerd boy!Richt never threw anbody under a bus,Richt represents nothing but class!How bout Garcia being reinstated,there’s your class.
Poopdawg
August 2nd, 2011
6:34 pm
Nipples, just how big a boy or you?
Destin Dawg
August 2nd, 2011
6:35 pm
St Richt is why everybody hates Techies !!!! all schools not just the Dawgs… all of ‘em !!
JDawg1785
August 2nd, 2011
6:40 pm
Golden words from Christian Robinson!
LakeDawg
August 2nd, 2011
6:41 pm
UNA should play in the SEC. They have transfers from all over the SEC.
LogicalUS
August 2nd, 2011
6:44 pm
“CMR just sprouted some stones overnight and realized they were cancers”
Shhhh you are upsetting the apple cart and are going to depress some kool-aiders..
It is setting up to a perfect storm in Athens this season. It’s few areas of strength of TE are going to be hampered by it’s many deficiencies. Few fans seem to realize that an effective TE is heavily dependent on a strong running game or threats outside at WR, which UGA simply does not have.
A strong running game holds the LBs and lets the TE get in the space behind the LBs or heavy threats at WR allow TE to cross underneath of dropping secondaries.
The other thing which is going to kill TE production is that the OL issues are going to require UGA to keep the TE in for pass protection against the better teams so that Murray doesn’t end up in triage. So look for UGA TEs to show out against the Coastals, Vandy’s etc, but to disappear against the Boisey, SC, UT, UF, etc.
Beast from the East
August 2nd, 2011
6:50 pm
The “team” is better off without players that want to put “me” first. UGA may lose a game or two because of depth issues, but will be better off in the long-run.
BirdDog
August 2nd, 2011
7:33 pm
It’s called addition by subtraction.
derek
August 2nd, 2011
7:51 pm
I guess most players really don’t care as much about winning championships helping the team as they say. Because if everyone on on that departure list had stayed. Georgia would be in the Dome in December playing the champion from the West.
Rhall55
August 2nd, 2011
8:12 pm
I still believe in Roster Management: Clowns like Caleb King should be dismissed from the Team on the first smell if ignorance, laziness, or plain stupidity!! He qualified in all (3) categories!! Offers should have gone to D Daniels (son of Phillip Daniels, former UGA Player / WR to Notre Dame); J Clemons (son of Charlie Clemons, former UGA Player / RB to KY); and M Caffey (best friend of Damian Swann; wanted terribly to come to UGA with his best friend); continue the family lineage and bring in players who have a desire to play for UGA!!
FLA DAWG
August 2nd, 2011
8:57 pm
On the surface the cohesion factor sounds good.
But will that translate into four quarters of SEC caliber performance on the field?
I have been skeptical for three years – so far my skepticism has been proven justified.
I genuinely want to be wrong about the forthcoming season but I think The Dawgs beat Boise (maybe) in a close game and then lose to SC. The rest of the season will likely be like last one – missed blocks and tackles and below average offensive playcalls.
But that’s just my opinion.
FLA DAWG
Class of ‘79
RedandBlackDAWG
August 2nd, 2011
9:17 pm
Vince Lombardi,
The only violation is using a famous mans name to act stupid. What team do you support you moron? Lombardi is probably turning over in his grave, having a fool, using his name to spout such garbage.
Tech Guy
August 2nd, 2011
9:26 pm
I always suspected the dawgs rode on the sort bus anyway.
wayxdog
August 2nd, 2011
9:49 pm
Is the new, tougher approach a product of McGarity or Richt?
ToccoaDawg
August 2nd, 2011
10:18 pm
Sturdivant is the tragedy this off season. I noticed it didn’t say he lost his scholarship
. maybe he can learn to coach.
RedandBlackDAWG
August 2nd, 2011
10:39 pm
It took me a little while, but I think I have finally figured out why the UGA haters come on blogs about UGA and spout their dribble. Forgive the slowness as I am getting older.
It is called the Mickey Finn Syndrome. His famous saying was, “He was going to hit me, so I hit him back first”. Fear, just plain fear. It even drives Tech. fans to come on here, and pretend they matter in the whole scheme of things.
It probably wouldn’t be so bad, except most of the stuff spouted by these haters, is equivalent to a 4th grader mentality. No substance and all B.S. with childish remarks. Isn’t this the time of year when all these haters should be on their own blogs, supporting their teams. You can forgive the Tech. fans of that, since they really don’t have much of a team.
GO DAWGS
Jake
August 2nd, 2011
10:41 pm
Funny thing — Richt’s line about being “on the bus” is a spinoff of the original line, which was “You’re either on the bus or off the bus.” It was the slogan of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, who traveled around the country in the 1960s in a psychedelically painted school bus called “Furthur” doing LSD and other psychoactive substances. Tom Wolfe wrote about it in a book called “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.”
So, Coach Richt, like…peace and love, man….