2011 Recruiting Wrap Up: Assessing the Depth Chart - Defensive Backs

(This is the final entry in a series examining the depth chart following the completion of the 2011 recruiting season.)

Georgia's defensive backfield looks to return all four players who finished the 2010 season as starters (Boyking, Commings, Rambo, and Ogletree) as well as some experienced upper classmen. The new faces in the secondary could also push for playing time this fall.

Depth Chart - Corner
1. Brandon Boykin, Senior
2. Branden Smith, Junior
3. Sanders Commings, Redshirt Junior
4. Jordan Love, Redshirt Sophomore
5. Damian Swann, Freshman
6. Derek Owens, Sophomore

Analysis
Boykin's decision to return for his senior season should help this group continue to improve in 2011. Sanders Commings was listed as the starter at the end of 2010, but I fully expect Branden Smith to be the starter come August. Jordan Love and Derek Owens both saw limited playing time in 2010 and will look to build on that experience this fall. Freshmen Damian Swann and Nick Marshall could also push for playing time with good summer camps. I expect freshman Devin Bowman to redshirt.

Depth Chart - Safety
1. Alec Ogletree, Sophomore
2. Bacarri Rambo, Redshirt Junior
3. Shawn Williams, Junior
4. Jakar Hamilton, Senior
5. Corey Moore, Freshman
6. Chris Sanders, Freshman

Analysis
2010 was a disappointing year for Georgia's safeties. Bacarri Rambo failed to play at the same level he did in 2009 and transfer Jakar Hamilton did not live up to his reputation as "the hitman". The lone bright spot was true freshman Alec Ogletree, who will now be looked to as the leader of the group. Shawn Williams is the only other experienced safety on the roster, so expect immediate contributions from highly touted freshman Corey Moore. Chris Sanders may also see playing time, but I do not expect Quintavious Harrow to play much at safety (though we may see him on special teams.)

2011 Recruiting Wrap Up: Assessing the Depth Chart - Quarterback

*This is the first in a multi-part series examining the Georgia depth chart following National Signing Day.

Depth Chart
1. Aaron Murray, Redshirt Sophomore
2. Hutson Mason, Sophomore
3. Christian Lemay, Freshman (early enrollee)

Assessment
Aaron Murray had an amazing freshman season in 2010 that will go down as one of the best overall seasons for a quarterback in Georgia history. Unfortunately, a bad performance in the Liberty Bowl prevented him from setting a number of Georgia single season records. He sits comfortably atop the quarterback depth chart and will most likely be there for the next 2-3 seasons.

Hutson Mason played sparringly last fall, however he did throw for a touchdown on hist first career pass. He will head into the spring and summer at #2 on depth chart, but will battle with Christian LeMay to keep that spot. The highlights of Lemay in high school show he has all the skills of a true dual-threat quarterback. While he could take the backup job from Mason, my hope is that the coach staffing will redshirt him, leaving him with atleast two years to be a starter in Athens. Of course, all that could change if (heaven forbid) Murray got hurt.

2011 Recruiting Wrap Up: The Dream Team is really the Complete Team

I know Coach Richt is still waiting on the final decision of big John Jenkins before officially wrapping up recruiting for this year, but at the point the 2011 recruiting season is over. Signing all 23 of the verbal commits the Dawgs had coming into yesterday and picking up Isaiah Crowell and Kent Turene was the icing on the cake for Coach Richt, Coach Bobo, and Coach Grantham. And while this class will be remembered by the Dream Team moniker, maybe the more appropriate name is the Complete Team.

In year's past, Georgia has tended to focus on certain positions to drive their recruiting efforts. Often a class rich in skill position players may have been thin on the lines or a class rich in offensive lineman was weak in the secondary. This class is a completely different story. The Dawgs were able to wrap solid commits at nearly every single position on the field. As a matter of fact, you could make almost an entire 22 man starting roster from this class. The only positions that we did not sign players at were fullback, kicker, punter, and center (though a couple of the offensive line recruits could play center). We even signed a freaking long snapper!

And it is not just the fact that we found bodies at nearly every position, but a number of players that may have immediate impacts. Crowell will be given a chance to start at tailback, Drew will compete for the vacated spot left by Justin Houston, Malcolm Mitchell will see action at receiver, Jay Rome may see the field with Figgins moved to fullback, and John Jenkins (if he signs) will most likely be the starting nose guard. Overall, this is an amazing class that filled our needs and stocked the cupboard with talent.

Tomorrow, I will take a closer look at the Georgia depth chart prior to spring practice with the new recruits in the mix.

Signing Day: Mid Day Report (UPDATED)

UPDATE - Crowell is a Dawg...and he has one too.

It is about to be 1:00 PM, only 30 minutes until the decision from Isaiah Crowell. As we stand right now, Georgia has signed all 23 of the players they had committed coming into today. We did miss out on Pagan and Richardson, but picked up linebacker Kent Turene.

I hope Crowell makes the decision to come to Athens, but if he doesn't we should not freak out. this is still one heck of a recruiting class and an excellent job by Coach Richt and staff. I still think Jenkins ultimately comes to Athens, and that would be the final touch on a great recruiting off season.

Coach Richt also said he expects to have a new o-line coach in place by next week.

Finish like Herschel!!!

(Photo Courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Herschel Walker made quick work of Scott Carson on Saturday night to improve his MMA record to 2-0. Hopefully, Herschel has set the tone for the entire Bulldawg Nation for the remainder of this week. Here's what is coming up:

- It is make or break week for Georgia basketball. After two straight tough losses to Florida and Kentucky, the Dawgs face two SEC west opponents this week. Arkansas is coming off a win at Vanderbilt, so the Dawgs better be more ready than they were on Saturday. Auburn comes to town this weekend and if the Dawgs lose that one, there is not shot of making the NCAA tournament.

- But the real focus of this week is recruiting. National Signing Day is Wednesday, but the recruiting season won't officially end until Saturday when John Jenkins makes his decision. At this point, I am pretty confident that Georgia's gets Crowell and Pagan on Wednesday. Richardson and Turene would be nice as well. But getting Jenkins to fill the hole in the middle of the D-line remains the most important player left on Georgia's big board.

Jay Rome and Malcolm Mitchell are my homeboys

For once, Georgia had a good day yesterday. The news that Stacy Searels officially accepted the O-line position at Texas became an afterthought as the Bulldogs picked up 2 commitments from Valdosta.

The commitment of tight end Jay Rome was pretty much a forgone conclusion. There have been rumors that Rome has been recruiting other players to Georgia during the fall. After making his commitment on ESPNU yesterday, Rome put out an open invitation to Isaiah Crowell and Ray Drew to come be a part of the Dream Team. Later in the night, Rome showed up at the announcement for Malcolm Mitchell sporting a t-shirt that said "UGA is my homeboy!" Here is an interview with Rome about his decision.

Later in the evening, Malcolm "Tampa" Mitchell also recruited to the Dawgs. I thought for sure he was going to Bama, so this is a big get for the Dawgs. I think we may see him on both sides of the ball (like Branden Smith). Here is an interview with Mitchell.

Overall, a great recruiting day for the Dawgs. If the Dawgs can close the deal in the next few weeks on Ray Drew, John Jenkins, and Isaiah Crowell, it will truly have a "Dream Team" coming to Athens.

We Don't Just Give Out Scholarships

There has been a small controversy this week about the scholarship offer that Georgia recently gave to Quintavious Harrow. Harrow, listed at 5'10 and 180 pounds, played linebacker and safety at Carver Columbus. As we all know, Carver was also the home of mega-recruit Isaiah Crowell, one of the top running backs in the country who appears will pick between Georgia, Auburn, and Alabama on national signing day. Some in the media at labeling the offer to Harrow as a recruiting ploy to get Crowell. And while offering a close friend of another recruit never hurts a team's chances with a recruit, to say this is just a ploy to get Crowell is absurd. Here is why:

#1 - This is Georgia, not Alabama. We do not oversign our recruiting classes and unless a player makes a mistake (see Dexter Moody in 2009) we do not rescind scholarship offers. We don't just offer scholarships for the sake of offering.

#2 - The Ogletree boys. Last year, people claimed Georgia only offered Alexander Ogletree a scholarship to secure his talented brother. Alexander became a key special teams contributer in his freshman season and has the lead to be Georgia's starting fullback next fall.

#3 - We're not the only ones recruiting him. Harrow has shown interest from a number of schools, including Clemson and Alabama.

#4 - He just recently became eligible. Academics have been an issue, but he recently improved his scores enough to meet the requirements to play division 1. Georgia only offered a scholarship after he was eligible.

#5 - We have been recruiting him for a while, but we did not have the extra scholarship to offer. From the comments I have seen, the Georgia coaches have been talking to Harrow for a while. It just so happens the scholarship offer came last week, after AJ Green had announced his decision to go to the NFL (and thus opening another spot).

Throw in the fact that Harrow sports an impressive 40 time and we just lost another linebacker (Justin Houston) to the NFL and it is pretty clear this kid will be expected to contribute should he come to Athens. I'm not blind to think that the fact that he is Crowell's teammate played somewhat into the offer decision, but whether Crowell comes or not, Harrow is not just a throw away player.

Mustain: The Once and Future Starting QB?

Even though conference expansion/implosion is the topic du jour, USC’s sanctions any other week of the year would be the main focus of media and college football blogs alike. As has been widely reported elsewhere, USC Trojan underclassmen are beginning to resemble rats on a sinking ship, looking to flee a crippling 2 year bowl postseason ban handed down by the NCAA. While UGA is in the running to land former AJC Super 11 Jarvis Jones and Florida/Alabama are purportedly committing recruiting infractions in pursuit of USC RB Dillon Baxter, we have yet to hear any rumblings on transfers from any of the upperclassmen of Troy.

NCAA bylaws directly allow players who would otherwise be barred from postseason bowls for the rest of their collegiate career to transfer without sitting out a year. One particular Trojan who squarely falls in this group and is well-known by SEC fans happens to be Mitch Mustain, formerly of Springdale, Arkansas and the one-time Razorback starting quarterback.

Coming out of high school, Mustain was named the 2005 Parade All-American Player of the Year, 2005-06 Gatorade National Player of the Year and the 2005 USA Today National Player of the Year.After following his high school coach, Gus Malzahn, to Arkansas, he transferred to USC after being benched mid-season (with an 8-0 record) and followed out of Fayetteville high school teammate Damian Williams and Malzahn in pursuit of a more pass-oriented offense.

Mustain is currently buried on the USC depth chart, having made only 16 passing attempts in his 2 seasons as backup QB, is stuck behind returning sophomore Matt Barkley and could also potentially fall behind the newest incoming prep QB All-American, Jesse Scroggins. Mustain might mentally be planning on following USC alum Matt Cassel‘s roadmap from perennial benchwarmer to NFL starting QB, but that road is haphazard and much less attractive without Pete Carroll donning the headset in the Coliseum this fall.

While Mustain’s official position thus far in the sanctions upheaval is that he has no plans to leave, there are several teams who desperately could use a QB. For obvious reasons (see Nutt, Houston), Ole Miss has to immediately be dismissed as a candidate, as well as any Pac 1X members, given the inter-conference transfer restriction rules, sanctions or not.

UNC, Tennessee and a darkhorse Auburn are among several viable destinations should Mustain decide on pursuing a transfer for his final year of eligibility. UNC is projected in the top 25 in multiple preseason magazines but is held back mainly by their offense (Phil Steele even predicts that QB TJ Yates, a 3 year starter, could lose his starting roll to a redshirt freshman); up in Knoxville, beyond the joy that UT fans would get from the coup of stealing a player from the Kiffster, the cupboards are relatively bare, with recent JUCO transfer Matt Sims the only serious candidate for playing time at QB behind a patchwork O-Line. Auburn could be attractive for Mustain, given the familiarity of HS Coach Gus Malzahn’s offense, and Mustain could be only one stolen laptop away from serious playing time.

While USC is currently appealing the sanctions, it may be a bit of an uphill battle to get the sanctions overturned. It is possible that USC upperclassmen being in play to transfer this year could be a moot point, as the waters are still murky as to whether the NCAA will allow a USC upperclassman to transfer out during the ongoing appeals process. A comparable sanction/appeal timeline should approximate Alabama’s recent appeals process, which ran roughly 9 months. I would imagine that the NCAA would ultimately come down on the side of the student-athlete in this instance, allowing players to transfer during any ongoing appeals, given the institutional actions that led to this transfer window opening in the first place.

While the conference musical chair game will continue to garner the most press attention, expect to see a slow trickle of transfers and decommitments throughout the summer, as USC prepares to lose 10 scholarships a year for 3 years. Hopefully UGA will be able to bring Jarvis Jones back home to Georgia, as well as plucking a few extra recruits away from USC’s top 5 2011 recruiting class.

Huge Commitment: Wilcox County's Nick Marshall

The Dawgs continued to put together what looks like to be an amazing 2011 recruiting class with the commitment of Nick Marshall from Wilcox County High School. My brother in law's father is from Rochelle and friends with the coaching staff down there, and they have nothing but great things to say about this kid. I saw him play in the state championship game last year and he played great at the quarterback position. With LeMay already a part of the class, I am glad to see that Marshall expects to play DB at Georgia. While some may be concerned that he is leaving the QB position, here's a video of what he can do on the defensive side of the ball:



What is even more exciting about Marshall's committment is his plan to play basketball for Coach Fox as well. He will easily be among the top players in the state next year and because he will be on a football scholarship, he will not count against the basketball scholarship limit. I am really excited about the direction the basketball program is taking.

Welcome to the Bulldog Nation, Nick! Can't wait to see you in the red and black in 2011!

Meet Christian LeMay

Friday night Georgia received a verbal commitment from Mint Hill, NC quarterback Christian LeMay as a member of the 2011 class. LeMay, who is about to complete his junior season at Butler High School, is rated as the #2 quarterback in the country for the class of 2011. During his junior season in 2009, LeMay passed for over 3,200 yards and 44 touchdowns while leading his school to the state championship. What is even more impressive is that he completed nearly 69% of his passes while only throwing 2 (yes, I said 2) interceptions. He is said to possess a rocket arm with a lightning quick release in addition to having the reputation as a great leader. He already stated his intentions to help bring other big name prospects to Athens. The 2011 recruiting class is off to a great start.


Check out Christian's highlights here.

Welcome Dawg nation, Christian. Look forward to seeing you on the sidelines in Athens soon!