Vance Cuff over Kris Durham?

So, the National Football League has extended invites to the annual combine in Indianapolis. There are 8 players from Georgia who received invites: AJ Green, Justin Houston, Clint Boling, Josh Davis, Demarcus Dobbs, Akeem Dent, Shaun Chapas and...wait for it...Vance Cuff!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

Vance Cuff, who was repeatedly burned at the corner position last season received an invite to the combine but kris Durham and Darryl Gamble did not. What are these guys thinking? Gamble may not be the best player in the world, but he is much more serviceable than Vance Cuff.

And Durham failing to get an invite is total BS. After missing the entire 2009 season with a broken collar bone, Durham returned to Georgia in 2010 and finished second on the team with 659 yards receiving. While he may not have the statistics of other receivers in the draft, his ability to make big catches combined with his 6'5'' frame means someone will most likely take a chance on him at the pro level. Plus, the "slow white guy" doesn't apply to Durham. Just ask the Georgia Tech secondary. Here's a look at Durham's highlights from this season:



I wish Vance Cuff luck at the Combine, but Gamble or Durham is much more deserving of that spot.

Victories of the Moral Variety

Most of us Dawg fans are beginning to grasp at something, anything to restore meaning to the rest of the 2010 football season. I'm a little down after these first couple of games, but remember, all of us have been looking forward to football for 9 months. Let's try to embrace it and our Bulldogs as much as we can.

Or is it?

It's hard to say that we're playing for pride when we came out flat and lost to an inferior (talent-wise) Mississippi State football club, especially when our Dawgs appear to have all but forgotten how to "Finish The Drill".

In an attempt to somehow overlook our 0-3 SEC start and our 1-3 record, here are 4 moral victories so far to takeaway for the season; while they obviously don't show up in the polls, maybe you can take a little bit of solace in them for our near future.

1) Aaron Murray - The preseason buzz was whether this newcomer to the returning 10 offensive starters would somehow slow down our attack; so far, Aaron is more than carrying his fair share of the offense. Aaron currently ranks 4th in the SEC in passing yards/game as well as in total offense; his passing efficiency is a solid 6th in the SEC, especially accounting for him being the only underclassmen on the list.

The excess play-action calls notwithstanding, Aaron could develop into an even deadlier quarterback over the rest of the season if the playbook is thrown open and more shotgun snaps are taken, giving Aaron a longer time to assess the coverage and routes. Then there's also that All-American wide receiver coming back from suspension...


2) Kris Durham/Blair Walsh - I think we could all agree that there have been several small positive surprises from our roster this year, among them Durham and Walsh.

Kris Durham is one of several remaining 2006 signees left on our roster; after battling through a shoulder injury and a resulting redshirt season last year, Kris currently ranks 3rd in the SEC in reception yards/game and 8th in receptions/game. All this while Durham is known as the go-to receiver for Georgia during AJ's suspension, with opponents focusing on him more; Durham has 17 out of the team's to-date 66 receptions for the season, having almost twice as the 2nd leading receiver on the team (Tavarres, with 9). With AJ returning, Durham and our passing attack could flourish further, with Kris fighting less double teams from our opponents' secondary.

Blair, a 2009 Lou Groza award finalist, has proven to be the only true consistency so far this year. Blair currently ranks 8th in overall scoring in the SEC with 31 points, and is a perfect 7-7 on FGs this year, with a long of 52 yards. While we have given up some bad kickoff returns so far this season, the statistics prove otherwise, with UGA ranking 12th in the nation in fewest yards per return given up (@17.47 yards/return), helped in part by 25% of our kickoffs (5/20) being downed for touchbacks. I hope that we can convert more of these FGs into touchdowns in the near-future, but it's always good to have almost guaranteed points at the end of a scoring drive.


3) Potential NFL lockout?- Beyond the above two, it becomes tough without listing obvious future moral victories (AJ returning!) or minuscule ones from this season. This is part 1 of my forward look to possible impacts on next year.

Out of the 29 listed juniors and 17 redshirt sophomores on our roster, the big names to circle for the spring's draft would be AJ, Justin Houston, and Ben Jones, with possibly Cornelius Washington and Brandon Boykin also in the mix. There always might be another surprise name popping up at some point due to the swirling uncertainty with the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations.

As long as there's no CBA, any players who are taken in the 2011 Draft cannot sign with their drafting teams (especially since one of the major points in any CBA agreement will be instituting a rookie wage scale).

So, if you are a stud draft pick with remaining eligibility, do you:

1) Leave college for the draft in the hopes that the CBA might get signed, leaving your career at risk should some sort of fluke accident happen? Also, if there's no NFL season in 2011 (which is a real possibility, since the owners are reportedly collecting partial TV revenue for the season, whether it gets played or not; this of course is a lawsuit in the making), you would have to shake off some rust to fight 2011 and 2012 picks for a roster spot.

2) Stay in school, play football, get the regular NCAA injury insurance and maintain their draft stock for 2012. Or,

3) Avoid the 2011 draft, keep an eye on the CBA negotiations, and if an agreement is reached, screw up your eligibility to make yourself available for the summer NFL supplemental draft.

This option, which Paul Oliver took in 2007 after he was declared academically ineligible, is only realistic for the more elite, AJ/Justin Houston type prospects, especially since teams would be surrendering future draft picks. And this of course assumes that the players wanting to go in the supplemental draft could figure out a way to kill their fall eligibility (really tough not throwing in a joke here...).

While it would be a small miracle if AJ did return for a senior year, the possibility is definitely out there with the NFL CBA uncertainty.


4) New scheduling approach - While Damon Evans did wonders for the men's basketball program with the hiring of Mark Fox, his football scheduling approach was somewhat questioned, especially last year when we opened on the road against Oklahoma State during the inauguration/setup game of the newly refurbished Boone Pickens Stadium.

While I agree with BulldawgJosh that McGarity's proposed approach is a bit of a buzzkill and will hurt UGA's coast-to-coast public exposure, there is something to be said for Florida's results (3 MNCs) in the 18 years that they have not held an OOC game outside the state of Florida.

The alumni buzz for next weekend's Colorado has been more than palpable (I can only imagine a sold-out, 3,000 ticket UGA tailgate in Boulder with a waiting list), and I'm sure the buzz will be even more overwhelming for the 2013 Clemson game and especially the 2015 Oregon game in Eugene.

Although there is definitely merit in Nick Saban's approach to scheduling marquee games in recruiting hotbeds, I think that approach is more appropriate for outsiders-looking-in (ala Boise State, and the early years of Bowden/Florida State) and for state schools with recruiting areas less rich than Georgia.

For the OOC games UGA does pursue in the future, hopefully it will target recruiting-rich areas for games, approaching schools in California and Texas, as well as large media markets that will further expose UGA nationally (ie Rutgers).


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It's tough trying to put lipstick on a pig. But I do think there are some things to continue to look forward to this year, especially the treat of seeing Murray blossom as a QB and the continued evolution of Todd Grantham's defense, which actually ranks 5th in the SEC in total defense.

For the rest of the season, I want to see the Dawgs playing with more fire and passion, living up to those words on the back of their off-season workout shirts. I want to see Grantham's energy on the sideline, which I suspect has been bottled up by some of the higher-ups. And as a suggestion to Mike Bobo, I think he needs to move back up to the box for play-calling, since he's definitely not seeing what everyone else is.

Week 3: Impressions and Ramblings

A win is a win. Sometimes it ain't pretty, but at the end of the day all that really matters is the W.

Week 3 of the college football season has passed, here are my thoughts:

Georgia - South Carolina

- This was a typical Georgia - South Carolina game. Georgia dominates much of the game, but Carolina still has a chance at the end. This time, Rennie Curran played the role of David Pollack and saved us. (The B 'n E staff likes to knock me for being from Snellville, but our boys tend to come through when it counts.)

Snellville comes through in the clutch!

- Stafford proved that he is ready to lead this team. The Cocks brought pressure and Stafford made the right decisions that led us to a victory. He's a dropped pass and Richard Samuel lowering his head away from a two touchdown day. The throws to Durham and Green were NFL caliber.

Catch the damn ball!!!!

- Knowshon continues to amaze. That was the hardest earned 79 yard game I have seen in a long time.

- The bad things from weeks 1 and 2 remained. Too many penalties, bad kick-offs and not enough pressure. We've got some work to do in practice.
- We dropped to 3 in the ranks, which I think is crap. USC killed an overrated OSU team and deserves to be 1, but Oklahoma who has played no one did not deserve to jump us.

Notre Dame is back?
- In what I like to call "Pillow Fight 2008", Notre Dame put a hurting on Michigan 35 -17. This may not be a popular opinion, but I think Notre Dame may be a little better than people think. Don't be surprised if they end up with 8 wins this year.



USC shows its muscle
- Ohio State is horribly overrated. I know USC is good, but they only put up 3 points. The loss of Wells does not make up 32 points.



The Pac 10 is as bad as the ACC
- Arizona State showed that they are clearly not ready to compete for a spot in the BCS with a loss to UNLV, UCLA got demolished by BYU, Washington got blown out by Oklahoma, Arizona loses to New Mexico, Washington State loses to Baylor, and Cal's mighty running game got beat by a Maryland team that lost to Middle Tennessee State. Conference Power ratings are clearly defined with the SEC at 1 and the Big XII at 2.



Mississippi State picks up 2 in the 8th, but Auburn's closer shuts the door in the 9th
- Auburn 3, Miss St 2 - Are you freaking kidding me?!?! When Miss St. went for on 4th and 15 from the 50 in the fourth, Earl looked at me and said, "They should have pinned Auburn deep and went for the safety to win." The sad thing is, that could have really happened.

In Conclusion...

We escaped Columbia with a win and we are 3-0. We travel to the desert next week and we need to send a message to USC that the Pac 10 doesn't scare us one bit. With Bama looming, we need to fix the penalties and pass coverage fast.

Photos courtesy of the AJC and the Athens Banner Herald

Who is poised for a breakout year in 2008?

We start out Kick-Off Week 2008 with a look at players on Georgia’s 2008 roster who are poised for breakout seasons. Each of these players will see the field this season with a chance to have a direct impact on the success of the 2008 campaign. Here are the breakout players for 2008:

Kris Durham, Junior Wide Receiver

Durham came to Georgia as a member of the recruiting class of 2006 after being an all state performer at the Class AA Calhoun. Durham saw plenty of action during the 2006 season, including a critical reception during the Bulldogs’ comeback victory over Virginia Tech in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. Durham’s 2007 campaign got off to a blazing start during G-Day, catching 6 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns. Durham carried this momentum into his sophomore campaign, tallying 11 receptions for 169 yards. Durham was named most improved during the practices leading up to the Sugar Bowl and he responded with a career high 3 catches for 48 yards.

Durham was once again named most improved wide receiver at the conclusion of spring practice in 2008. With the graduation of Sean Bailey, there is an open receiver spot and Durham, along with Kenneth Harris, Demiko Goodman, and freshman A.J. Green, are all looking to make an impact. Kris has displayed good hands and ability to be a valued blocker down field. Look for Durham to be used frequently on quick screens, plays on which he had a lot of success in the Sugar Bowl. I also look for Durham to become a key receiver in the slot this season, particularly in the red zone (similar to how the Falcons have used Brian Finneran in the past) and on third downs.

Richard Samuel, Freshman Tailback

Richard Samuel enrolled early at Georgia in the spring of 2008 as a just-turned 17 year-old college Freshman. In 2007, Samuel played both ways for Cass High School of Cartersville, making plays that would earn him a 5 star recruit status. After arriving on campus, there was debate as to whether he would play running back or linebacker. Samuel saw carries from the back field during G-Day and his role as a running back was solidified. During summer practice, Samuel has entered into competition with Caleb King back up Knowshon Moreno.

There is little doubt in my mind that Richard Samuel will see significant playing time in 2008. Earl and I attended one of Samuel’s games at Cass last season and we saw him make one of the most amazing plays I have ever seen in person. On the last play of the first half, Candy Creek was attempting a field goal from inside the Cass 10. Samuel jumped the snap and hurdled the offensive line. He proceeded to block the kick and after picking up the ball, return it for a 96 yard touchdown. His talent level is amazing, particularly for a kid who will only be 17 during his freshman season. I see Samuel being used in tough situations where his power can be used to gain that few extra yards.

Kiante Tripp, Redshirt Sophomore Offensive Tackle

Kiante Tripp was a force on both lines during his senior year at Westlake High School in Atlanta, picking up numerous honors and rewards. During his 2006 redshirt year, Tripp was used on the defensive line, however lack of depth prompted a move to offense in 2007. Appearing in eight games primarily at right tackle, Kiante was penciled in as the starter at the position for 2008. And then came summer practice.

Tripp continued to impress coaches during the early days of summer practice when starting left tackle Trinton Sturdivant was lost for the season with a knee injury. As rumors swirled about who would take over, many media outlets began to cast doubts on the Bulldogs’ #1 ranking. The solution soon became apparent: Tripp would switch from right to left tackle to provide coverage for Matthew Stafford’s blind side. As a true freshman in 2007, Sturdivant had an amazing season opening holes for Knowshon Moreno and giving Stafford plenty of time. Tripp will be that anchor in Sturdivant’s place and will be a dominating member of an experienced line in 2008.