Thoughts of the Week - Feb. 19

With the current dead period before spring practice and work keeping me busy, posting on the blog will continue to be light for the next few weeks. Here are my quick thoughts for this week:

1. If the NCAA comes down hard on USC for transgressions during the Pete Carroll era, what will happen to the program if it gets in trouble under Kiffin (which it eventually will)?

2. The Winter Olympics...still not as cool as the Summer Games. And Canada, no one expected you to live up to China's opening ceremonies, but come on. That was PATHETIC.

3. Dawgs drop another one on the road after leading at half. If this team had any depth, we would be sitting near .500 in SEC. Instead, we are 3-8. Fox's team will turn that around next year.

4. Georgia baseball season kicks off this weekend. Georgia is ranked #22 and has one of the toughest schedules in the country. It is an even year, but I don't see this Georgia team having the success that the '08 team had.

5. The quarterback battle is coming into focus. Logan Gray is staying at QB, which I think is a mistake. I would be very surprised if Aaron Murray did not win the job, but if Mettenberger really has improved as much as they say, there may be a real dog fight (no pun intended).

6. 9-3. That is my prediction for the worst record they Georgia will have next fall. Easy schedule combined with 10 of 11 starters back on offense and a new defensive scheme = New Year's Day Bowl. Count on it.

What’s on My Mind – The NCAA is Dumb, Winter Sucks, and Other Thoughts

1. The NCAA is talking about some stupid rule changes for football.
a. The NCAA wants to band players writing messages on eye-black. As much as I dislike Tebow, I had no problem with him putting bible verses on his eye black. This seems very stupid to me.
b. The excessive celebration penalty would cause a touchdown to be taken off of the board. This is ridiculous. The 15 yard penalty was already a judgment call that could have potential major impact on a game (see the Georgia-LSU game last year). Now you want to make a judgment call take points off the board. NCAA, please see this is a dumb idea.
2. The Winter Olympics are starting…and no one really cares. In my opinion, the Olympics rank third on the most important sporting events of the weekend behind the Daytona 500 and the NBA All-Star game. No matter how much figure skating NBC puts on over the next few weeks, I still don’t care.
3. What a letdown for the Georgia basketball team against Auburn the other night. How can a team that has victories over 4 ranked opponents and took #2 Kentucky to the brink lose by 21 to Auburn? Mark Fox has made major strides with the program, but we still have a lot of work to do.
4. Tom Glavine officially retired and joined the Braves front office. I am glad to see Tommy put his anger from last year aside and come back to the Braves. Now, it’s the Atlanta fans’ turn to get off his back. It was an amazing career for Glavine, including 300 wins seen in the video below:



5. Football season is over. Congratulations to the Saints, but when the Falcons’ biggest rival wins the Super Bowl, I kind of get the same feeling as Florida winning the National Championship.

6. 4 weeks til spring practice. Let the talk about Grantham’s D, the quarterback competition, and whether Richt is on the hot seat (which he is NOT) commence.

Hershcel Walker - 1992 Winter Olympian

While there have been many Olympians who spent years at the University of Georgia, none are as famous as the greatest football player in Georgia history, Herschel Walker. Herschel was amazing both on the football field and on the track during his years in Athens, but in 1992, Herschel would head to the Winter Olympics to compete in another sport: Bobsled.

The United States Olympic Committee granted Herschel a late tryout following the completion of the 1991 NFL season. Herschel's team at the time, the Minnesota Vikings, missed the playoffs and Walker immediately went to try out for the US team. He made quite an impression on US Coach Jim Hickey, who was quoted as saying, "It takes a great athlete to be a pusher, combining speed and strength." But it was not just his physical abilities that allowed Herschel to make the team, it was also his effort and attitude. Hickey said, "He brought a desire to win. It was something he conveyed in meetings. The guys were very attentive to what he had to say."

Herschel was named the brakeman for the #1 sleds for both the 2 and 4 man bobsled teams. CBS ran this story leading up to the games. Just two days prior to the competition, Herschel was taken off the 4 man team at the request of driver Randy Will. Herschel had replaced Will's friend, Chris Coleman, on the team and despite being the better athlete, Coleman ultimately took Walker's spot. (More on this story can be found here.)

Despite the drama that surrounded Walker being replaced, he (along with partner Brian Shimer) finished seventh overall at the Albertville games. The four man team which he was removed from finished 9th.

As we have seen in recent days, Herschel continues to excel a many sports outside of the football field. When the Olympic Opening Ceremonies take place later this week, don't forget that one of Georgia's favorite sons made his mark there 18 years ago.

GO DAWGS!!!

Where are they now? Blake Barnes is Playing Football ...in France?

Originally saw this mentioned over at Dawgsonline and I had to repost it here. Blake Barnes is now playing football in France (I didn't even know they played football in France.) While some of the players do get paid, they actually have to pay to join the team at first. Sounds kind of like my men's baseball league, except for the whole being in France thing.

The 2008 Sugar Bowl was Barnes' (15) last game at Georgia before transferring.

Check out the CBS story here.

Hoops: The Other Star of the Georgia Basketball Team

Under Mark Fox, the Georgia Bulldogs men's basketball team has shown a great amount of progress the team has made under the first year coach. Despite the record, the team is much better than in year's past and is getting some attention from the media. Most of the attention is on Georgia's two stars, versatile big man Trey Thompkins and the high flying Travis Leslie. While watching Georgia upset #18 Vanderbilt on Saturday night, I noticed another player who really seemed to make an impact on the floor: senior guard Ricky McPhee.

McPhee hails from Lilburn, Georgia where graduated from Parlview High School in 2005. Despite being 12th all time in Gwinnett County in scoring, the county all-time leader in 3 pointers, and finishing second in state in scoring his senior year, McPhee did not have a local basketball scholarship offer. This was mostly likely due to three other Gwinnett County players who graduated at the same time as McPhee who all accepted scholarships to Georgia: Dacula's Billy Humphrey and South Gwinnett's Louis Williams and Mike Mercer. In a twist of fate, McPhee is the only one of those three players that will end his college career at Georgia.

McPhee committed to play a Gardner-Webb, where he made an impact during first collegiate game. Ricky scored 21 points against national powerhouse North Carolina. He would play the next years at Gardner-Webb, averaging 8.9 points a game. He even scored 12 points against Georgia in a near upset of the Bulldogs (the final was Georgia 97, GW 96). McPhee then transferred to Georgia as a walk-on, where had to sit out the 2007-2008 season.

Once eligible to play, Ricky did not see the floor much during the first half of the 2008-2009 season. But once January came around, he gradually began to see his role increase. McPhee hit the game winning three pointer in a Georgia victory over Vanderbilt. A few weeks later, he scored a season high 15 points in a loss to Mississippi State. For the year, he averaged 11 minutes per game and hit 36% of his shots from 3 point range.

Under Mark Fox, McPhee has become a starter and one of the constants of the floor for the Dawgs. He has started all 21 games at guard and is averaging over 31 minutes per game. He is third on the team averaging 10.3 points per game, third in assists with 41, and leads the team in steals with 31. McPhee is one of the top deep threats in the SEC, hitting on nearly 41% from downtown (44 of 108). McPhee played a key role in Georgia's upset victory over #8 Tennessee, scoring 11 points. He also had a big game in Georgia's loss at Florida where he scored a season high 21 points on 8 of 11 shooting (5 for 8 from 3).

Ricky McPhee has been one of the true surprises on this year's Georgia team. It is a shame that he only got to spend two years on the court in Athens. "McThree" has certainly lived up to his nickname this season.

GO DAWGS!!!

Signing Day Wrap Up - A Look Back at Recent 5 Star Recruits

When Georgia lost Da'Rick Rogers to Tennessee, it left the Dawgs with only one commit, safety Alec Ogletree, who was rated as a 5 star recruit (I am using Scout.com ratings here and during the rest of this article). Since recruiting information became widely available on the Internet beginning in 2002, Georgia has received commitments from 19 five star recruits (through 2009). And while some of those players have turned in fantastic careers, some did not pan out the way most though they would. Here is a look at the 5 star recruits Georgia has had since 2002:

2002

Kedric Golston

2003

Sean Bailey

Leonard Pope (originally committed in 2002)

2004

Brandon Miller

Charles Johnson

2005

Kade Weston

CJ Byrd

2006

Darius Dewberry (originally committed in 2005)

Akeem Hebron

Matthew Stafford

Brandon Wood

2007

Caleb King

2008

Deangelo Tyson

Richard Samuel

AJ Green

2009

Orson Charles

Branden Smith

Aaron Murray

Marlon Brown

Quotes from Signing Day 2010

Signing Day 2010 has come and gone. As the Georgia Nation moves on to the next big event, spring practice, here is a collection of my favorite quotes from this year's signing day.

Richt at Butts-Mehre

Coach Richt on how great players can come from unexpected places:
“Tra Battle was a walk-on, and he starts in our nickel package as a freshman. We offered Tim Jennings a scholarship the night before Signing Day — he was going to South Carolina State — because we’d seen him in an all-star game and he was the best player on the field.”

Coach Right on moving to the 3-4 defense:
“We're very confident and trying to do the right thing. We're also confident in that a lot of NFL teams and college teams are moving toward this trend, so we're moving to the front end of this trend."

Rodney Garner on why Georgia signed a smaller class:
“We could have gone out and possibly signed other guys and fulfilled that number if we just wanted to meet a quota. But we felt good about the nucleus that we put together, and we felt like at this point we wanted to stay status quo and be able to evaluate to make sure that going into the future, we'll be able to have the personnel in place that's going to fit with the scheme coach (Todd) Grantham wants to run, so I think strategically we made some decisions on where we wanted to stop the number."

Buck Belue on how he felt about the recruiting process as a high school senior:
“Strangers making big promises were never for me. I was scared off by that.”

Bacarri Rambo, via Facebook, on the Da’Rick Rogers decision:
"Bacarri Rambo thinks is messed up how all of UGA high school commitments back out on us but I'm telling you now when I catch you on the field I'm going to knock fire from you."

Rogers can ask Mario Fannin what it feels like to get drilled by Rambo coming across the middle.

Jakar Hamilton’s reaction to Bacarri’s promise of a big hit:
"It's going to happen. Especially if he's going to play right off the bat. I just hope he's ready for it, because there's going to be a lot of people on the hit for him on this team."


Coach Richt on Richard Samuel’s move to linebacker:
"He was anxious to make that move and we’re going to see how that works out."

Samuel can now focus his attention on making tackle instead of avoiding them.

Perry High School head coach talking about Wilcox WR Lonnie Outlaw who signed with Georgia:

"Lonnie Outlaw makes Fred Gibson look like a girl. He’s the most demoralizing player I have ever coached against. We triple-covered him, and he still caught everything. "

National Signing Day

Its been a while, but you're good friend from the west (SEC West that is) is back to say hello. Just in case you didn't know, or you've had you head burried in the sand, which from the looks of it some of you might, Auburn has come along and built the #4 recruiting class in the nation! That's right, two years removed from being 5-7, Auburn has a recruiting class ranked just below the past two national championship holders, and the former national championship contender! Beat that!! WAR EAGLE!!

Richard Samuel and His Pygmy Goat are moving to Linebacker!

Coach Richt announced today that Richard Samuel will indeed move to linebacker under Todd Grantham's 3-4 defense. Coach Richt said Samuel was anxious to make the move and I think this will definitely help turn his career around. While Samuel had some decent plays at running back, I think he always had the mentality of a linebacker. This play will go down as Samuel's most memorable on the offensive side:

When Earl and I went and saw him play at Cass in '07, he was definitely more impressive on the defensive side of the ball. We were there to witness what people simply called The Play, when Samuel blocked a 20 yard field goal attempt at the end of the half by jumping over the Sandy Creek offensive line. He then picked the ball up and ran it back for a 96 yard touchdown. If Samuel can bring plays like this one to Georgia's defense over the next two years, he will make himself one hell of a linebacker.

Of course, with Samuel moving to defense, it means he will not be scoring too many (if any more at all) touchdowns. With that, I am retiring the Richard Samuel Touchdown Pygmy Goat:

Give 'em hell on defense, 22!

GO DAWGS!!!

Signing Day - Why I am not worried about losing Da'Rick Rogers

As everyone knows by now, five star recruit Da'Rick Rogers from Calhoun switched his commitment from Georgia to Tennessee this morning. Rogers had been committed to Georgia for nearly a year and, according to Claude Felton, this is the first time a five star recruit has switched away from Georgia on Signing Day. While losing Rogers may make Georgia's 2010 recruiting class suffer in the rankings, is the loss of Rogers really that big of a deal?

While losing a 5 star receiver always sucks, wideout is one position where Georgia has enough young talent to make up for the loss. In case you have a short memory, Georgia picked up a commitment from Marlon Brown on signing day last year. Brown, who like Rogers was rated a 5 star recruit, appeared poised to sign with the Vols. (Maybe it is Karma?) While Brown did not make a huge impact in 2009, he did appear in a number of games and appeared to be solid in the run block department.

Rontavious Wooten enjoyed a successful first year in Athens, catching 10 passes, and scoring twice in the Kentucky game. His speed makes him a scoring threat every time he touches the ball. And many people forget that Tavarres King will only be a sophomore in 2010. He caught two passes in the '08 season, but received a medical redshirt from the NCAA.

With Wooten, King, and Brown all around for the next seasons and the addition of Michael Bennett, I think the Dawgs still have a bright future in Athens. Just as I did with Kirby Smart, I wish Da'Rick Rogers the best of luck at UT. I just hope he remembers that he could have been playing in red and black when Alec Ogletree lays him out over the next few years.

GO DAWGS!!!