The Impact of Stafford Going #1 Overall

After the last few months of speculation, the 2009 NFL draft will commence this Saturday with the Detroit Lions holding the number 1 overall pick. There has been much debate about how the Lions intend to use that pick. Coming off the first 0-16 season, the Lions need help in many areas. Like the Atlanta Falcons taking Matt Ryan with the third overall pick last season to help bring a new face to the franchise, the Detroit Lions are considering drafting Matthew Stafford as the first pick. After watching Stafford play the last three seasons, I have little doubt that he has the tools to become a great pro player and I think the Lions would be making the correct choice if they select Stafford.

What I am unsure of is the impact that Stafford going number one would have on Georgia. While I think I speak for most in the Dawg Nation, we would love to see one of our own go number one, I do question what this message tells future prospects.

Matthew Stafford came to Georgia in 2006 as arguably the highest profile recruit of the Mark Richt era. After throwing a touchdown pass on his first attempt in G-Day that year, the expectations were set high. Georgia struggled through the 2006 season, but both Stafford and the team found their stride by closing with three straight wins over ranked opponents. The 2007 season made Stafford a star, as he helped lead the Dawgs to a number 2 final ranking. And the combination of Stafford and Knowshon Moreno had the entire Georgia fan base excited about a shot at a national title in '08.

As the '08 season played out, Stafford had his best statistical season but the Dawgs dropped games to Alabama and Florida and fell out of the race for the SEC Championship. Despite a great performance from Stafford, the Dawgs lost to Georgia Tech to close the season and I knew that Stafford's career at Georgia was over. He had accomplished what he needed to do to become a top pick (win games on a national stage, display his skills, and improve season to season). For his career at Georgia, Stafford had key wins over LSU, Florida, and Auburn, but he never played for an SEC championship. I can't help but feel that he left with business unfinished.

It scares me that future Bulldog prospects may begin to see the Georgia program as just another stepping stone to the NFL and not as a place to come and win a championship. Having a number one overall pick will be a selling point for Coach Richt and his staff to use to attract the top talent, but will those players come to Georgia to win a championship or just to get to the next level? In some situations, it is a no-brainer that a player will leave early for the draft. There is no better example right now than AJ Green. Barring injury, I see now way that Green is in Athens after the '10 season, but that doesn't mean I hope he leaves early because he will be another top 10 pick for the Georgia program.

I wish Stafford, Knowshon, and Asher the best at the next level but I honestly wish they had returned. I know they will represent us well as high picks in the draft, but if I had it my way, I would take another 7th round draft pick quarterback who leads us to SEC Championships over the #1 pick any day of the week.

Last time I checked, Joey Harrington got cut instead of this guy.

LA Times Says, "Go To Athens"

The Los Angeles Times recently did a list of 29 places to go in 2009.

Among places they included were East Timor, Hawaii, Tibet, Thailand, Australia, Las Vegas, Belize, and...ATHENS, GA!

That's right, even the LA Times says going to Athens is just as important as venturing out to a south Pacific tropical paradise.

And what number were we on the list? 24.

We'll go ahead and assume Knowshon had something to do with it.

BulldawgJosh & Bubba's 80's Music Video of the Week

We apologize for the long hiatus since our last 80's music video. We will make sure that something like this doesn't happen again. We know how much everyone needs their 80's music videos.

I'm dedicating this week's video to Bubba.

Here's Van Halen's, "Panama."

A Great Weekend in Dawg Sports

It's hard to say the University of Georgia athletic program could have done better in one weekend than it did this past weekend.

Over the weekend, UGA teams accomplished the following:

-Gymdawgs won the national championship (5th in a row and 10th overall)

-Equestrian team won the national championship (2nd in a row)

-Diamond Dawgs won the series against Arkansas to retain the lead in SEC baseball

-No. 1 ranked Men's Golf team won the SEC Championship (1st since 2006, 27th overall)

-No. 4 ranked Men's Tennis team defeated Tennessee to claim the SEC Eastern Division title

No. 2 ranked Women's Tennis team won the SEC Championship (8th overall regular season title)

-Marta Silva Zamora won the Women's Golf Indiviual SEC Championship (8th overall for UGA)

-Georgia Track and Field managed 20 wins and 16 NCAA regional qualifying marks


I personally was able to see the Saturday baseball game against Arkansas and the men's tennis team beat Tennessee. Later, I found out the largest crowd of the season turned out for the tennis match. It doesn't get much better than that for a Saturday afternoon.

I want to give a shout out to my friends Keith and Annaka for inviting me to their friends tailgate that was hosted by Tom Stovall and had some great chefs, Gant and Chris. The food they cooked for it was unbelieveably good, came in monstrous amount, and rivaled any tailgate at a football game.

It's great to be a Georgia Bulldawg!

Great Article Sums up Georgia's Situation

There is a great article by Cory McCartney over at Sports Illustrated that sums up where Georgia is following spring practice.

Check it out here.

No News..is Good News?

We are now one week removed from G-Day and 3 months away from summer practice. The best we can hope for over those next three months is to hear very little out of Athens. Last year, most of the news was concerning player arrests or great expectations. This year, I will welcome a little silence as we prepare for the 2009 season.

Here is a glimpse of some other stories that are taking place in the Georgia athletic world right now:

- The Georgia gymnastics team won its fifth consecutive national championship. I repeat, 5 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS in a row. Can you imagine the excitement level of the Dawg nation if the football team won 1 NC, let alone 5?

- The Diamond Dawgs took 2 of 3 from Arkansas to remain atop the SEC standings. At 2-2 for the week, I expect the team to fall out of the #1 ranking in the Coaches' Poll.

- The NFL draft is this Saturday and it looks like Stafford will indeed go #1 to the Lions. The real steal of the draft will be whoever picks up Knowshon in the 20-30 range.

- Speaking of Knowshon and Stafford, both are candidates to appear on the cover of this year's version of EA Sports NCAA Football. They begin announcing the cover athletes today on ESPN College Football Live and will do a different system's version of the game each day. I expect Stafford to grace the cover of either the XBOX360 of PS3 version.

Streit's Quick Thoughts

Here's some things going on in the world:

BOOM! - John Madden has announced his retirement from broadcasting. I would suspect they will continue to make the Madden football games, but I assume this means no more John Madden ads for Vagisil:

Going big time - Matt Stafford makes his late night television debut tonight appearing as a guest on the Jimmy Fallon show. Also appearing tonight, the gorgeous Rachel Mc Adams and the guy who plays the best villain on television, Michael Emerson of "Lost". It would be nice if Stafford gave a shout out to the Dawg Nation, but I highly doubt it.

First place on the line - Georgia baseball hosts the Arkansas Razorbacks in a weekend series in Athens with the overall lead in the SEC on the line. Georgia is ranked #1 in the coaches poll, but they did fall to rival Georgia Tech on Tuesday night. This should be a great battle between the two best teams in the SEC.

Foley Field should see big crowds this weekend

A Family Thing - After being on campus for only a few months, Aaron Murray has already brought the enrollment of the University Georgia up by one. Murray's older brother, Josh, will come to Georgia in the fall and try to walk-on the football team. Josh has spent the past few years playing baseball in the minors for the Brewers. Welcome to the Dawg nation, Josh!

Welcome to the Highlight Factory - Not that I really care about the NBA, but the Hawks begin the 2009 NBA playoffs this weekend by hosting the Miami Heat. You heard that right, the Hawks are HOSTING a playoff series! With Braves off to a good start (until the last 2 nights anyways), the Thrashers playing well down the stretch, and the Falcons coming off a great season, professional sports in Atlanta are finally starting to look good again.

Now Ohio State Fans can hate him too - Former Duke point guard Greg Paulus will be given a shot to win the starting quarterback job at Michigan. Four years away from the gridiron is a long time, but I guess coming off a 3-9 season, Michigan has nothing to lose.

Those Buckeye linebackers are going to hit a little harder than Danny Green.

GO DAWGS!!!

Open Competition: Starting Wide Receiver

With the announcement that Kris Durham will miss the 2009 season, there is an open position at #2 wide receiver opposite uber-receiver AJ Green. G-Day failed to provide an answer to who may pick up the void left with the graduation of Massaquoi and the injury to Durham. Since all of the candidates have very small (if existing) Georgia resumes, high school highlights make up most of the available videos on the candidates. Here's a look at them:

#1 - Israel Troupe - RS Sophomore


#2 - Tavarres King - Sophomore


#3 - Marlon Brown - Incoming Freshman


#4 - Rontavious Wooten - Incoming Freshman


At this point, I would think Tavarres King has the early lead on the position, but it will be hard for him to hold off Marlon Brown. Brown and Green could be an amazing tandem come this fall. Also, look for TE Orson Charles and DB Branden Smith to also get some playing time at receiver.

***UPDATE - As pointed out to me by one of our readers, I left Michael Moore and Tony Wilson off this list. Moore does have a shot at taking the #2 spot after a great performance in the Capital One Bowl, however I think he will perform better in the position he occupied last season at slot receiver. Tony Wilson is an amazing blocker, but I do not see him winning the full time starting position over any of these candidates.

G-Day 2009: Red and Black and Not Much Offense

G-Day 2009 took place in Athens this past Saturday and the Bubba 'N Earl crew made the trek up 316 to take in the game. The weather cooperate this year and it was absolutely gorgeous day in the Georgia foothills. A large crowd (I would guess around 35,000) turned out for the game that was being televised by ESPN.

The teams came took the field with the first team offense leading the Red team against the first team defense leading the Black team. It was cool to see the Black team wearing the black jerseys as opposed to the white jerseys which the Black team has usually wore in the past at G-Day.

As for the action on the field, the game itself was pretty boring. A few turnovers, dropped passes, and bad blocking marred the action. There were however a few highlights. Here are some observations I had from the game:

1. AJ Green is still a beast. A great catch on the first play of the game and another almost amazing catch down the sidelines. Plus, he got into a shoving match with #2 (I think it was Brandon Boykin), which provided the most excitement of the entire game.

2. Logan Gray was impressive. He had nice zip on the ball and moved around well in the pocket.

3. The running backs looked pretty good. Caleb King, Dontavious Jackson, Kalvin Daniels, and Carlton Thomas all had a couple of nice runs.

4. Blair Walsh nailed a 51 yard field goal. Granted, there was no rush but it is still nice to see him make one from that long.

5. Justin Houston and Geno Atkins looked great. Both were constantly in the backfield making plays. I also liked the defense in the 3-4, with Gamble coming off the edge.

Overall, a pretty dull game with only one touchdown scored in the game's final seconds. Final score was Red 13, Black 3. Here some other shots, including Joe Cox to Carlton Thomas, UGA VII, Aaron Murray, and Matt Sattford as a coach.

One last thing, there was a walking Subway sandwich on the field. We thought it was a taco at first.

***Thanks to my brother-in-law, Mike David, for the great pictures

Could this be the best sports week of 2009?

Spring is in the air (despite the temperature outside today) and that means we are in the middle of the best sports week of the year. It doesn't get much better than this:

Major League Baseball Opening Day

The Braves helped usher in the 2009 season by beating the Phillies on Sunday night. New ace Derek Lowe was masterful and homeruns by Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur, and Jordan Schafer helped the Braves to a 4-1 victory. I look forward to some games at Turner Field soon.

The Final Four Championship Game

The end of March Madness culminated in the National Championship game last night. The upstart Spartans of Michigan State were no match for the star-laden North Carolina Tar Heels. The Heels victory cost me the pool I was in (stupid Louisville!).

The Masters

For one week each spring, the state of Georgia welcomes the world to the finest golf course on the planet. There will be plenty of drama this weekend, as we will see if Tiger Woods is truly back from injury or if Padrig Harrington or Phil Mickelson can continue their recent success.

G Day

While the regular football season is still four months away, we get a chance to head back to Athens, set up a tailgate, and watch a little spring football. An added bonus this year: If it rains, we can stay home and watch the whole thing on ESPN.

Whether you love basketball, football, baseball, or golf, the first week of April 2009 is a great one. Enjoy it!