It's Been a While, but I'm Back

So things have been kind of dead here on the blog the last few weeks, despite an abundance of things going on within the Bulldog nation. But let me explain. I was on vacation in Hawaii (absolutely amazing) during NSD and have been completely swamped at work since I got back. Here's my thoughts on what has transpired over the last few weeks:

• My only real disappointment with our recruiting class was the failure to land Avery Young. Cordarelle Patterson choosing Tennessee was a bit of a surprise, but we really did not need receivers. After losing Chester Brown, I thought Young was the most important target we had left. I'm glad we got JHC, but I wish we would have gotten Young instead.
• Of course, the dismissals make the lack of DB depth in the recruiting class look bad. I am really bummed about Nick Marshall. My brother in law is close with some people in the Wilcox County program and have been hearing about Nick for years. I was very excited when he came to Georgia and had big expectations for him. But stealing from anyone, especially teammates, should get you kicked off the team.
• The Chris Sanders situation is becoming more interesting everyday. Today, Sanders spoke about his dismissal and it appears he was not involved in the shenanigans that Seay and Marshall were. He;s going to enroll at GMC and it looks like there may be a chance he is back in Athens in 2013. This is a kid who bleeds red and black and loves Georgia who is owning up to his mistakes. If he gets his stuff together at GMC, I would love to see him back in a Bulldog uniform.
• It looks like the Dawgs may pick up a few Juco additions to the class to supplement the loss of the dismissed players and Chester Brown. While I don't always love the JUCO route, we need experienced bodies right now. The starting groups look great next year, but except for wide receiver, running back, and DE/OLB, we are pretty thin.
• While I am all for the protection of players, I HATE the decision to move the touchbacks up from the 20 to the 25. I know that means there will be incentive to not just kick it deep like they do in the NFL, but this is a fundamental change to how football has been played as long as I can remember and I just don't like it.
• Losing the Auburn game would suck. Can't we just have Tennessee move to the West division? That would be a perfect solution. Tennessee could still play Bama every year, we could still play Auburn every year, and Tennessee would become our new permanent rival in the west. Seems perfect to me.
  
• The more I look at oversigning, the more I think Nick Saban is a dick. A good coach? Hell yeah. But really a dick. I am glad that kid from Atlanta decided to go to Kentucky. But what makes me really mad in that situation is to know that it was the scholarship that was opened up for Dalvin Tomlinson.
• I keep hearing good things about Crowell working hard this off season. If Crowell and Marshall become the 1-2 punch we all hope, look for Aaron Murray's completion percentage to go up and his INTs to go down this fall.
• Dear Board of Regents: Get the contract extensions done. Nor more debating, we need to lock Richt and Grantham down. It helps recruiting and because of the lack of size in the 2012 class, we need to get as much momentum as possible for 2013 as early as possible.
• G-Day will be here before we know it. It may be interesting to watch the kicking duties this year. Georgia has a punter and kicker coming in as part of the 2012 class this fall, but neither of them will be there yet. Most assume Morgan and Barber will win the jobs, but good competition is always better when it comes to kickers.
• Man, the Georgia basketball team is not good. I feel really bad for Coach Fox. He is a good coach, but has not been able to get the talent he needs to win. One five star recruit surrounded by a bunch of lightly recruited players doesn't cut it against teams like Kentucky, where they have 7 or 8 players who will be in the NBA soon. And it looks like the Dawgs are going to miss out on the biggest talents in Georgia once again this year.
• Baseball season is upon. Major league pitchers and catcher begin reporting in the next two weeks and the Diamond Dawgs begin play next Friday. The Dawgs will open the season ranked #11 in the country, but are only the 5th ranked team in the SEC. Florida opens the year at #1 and two time defending national champion South Carolina at #3. It's going to be another tough go at it, but hopefully Coach Perno can get the boys back to the CWS for the first time since 2008.

That's it for now. Next week, I'm going to pick back up with my Damn Good Dawgs series.