So the Dream team is now in the books, it is time to start looking at next year as recruiting starts so early now, wouldn't surprise me if soon we are talking about 8th-9th graders being heavily recruited. Crazy to me but oh well. Here is a list from Rivals, top 250 for 2012, I believe there are 15 or 16 Ga kids on the list. One, Dakota Ball, has already committed to Bama. Several others on the list I have read have family connections also to Bama. Let me just say, I know all about the tradition of Alabama football, the Bear, national titles etc etc, but to me looking through my red and black glasses, UGA offers just as much if not more for in state kids-a better education for one, a chance to stay in your home state and make connections which will pay off in future years, great facilities, stadium, UGA offers a rich football tradition as well, beautful campus and women, all things being equal, I am just having a hard time figuring how why all the sudden Bama has become so appealing for so many Ga kids. I guess I am just not used to it, I almost expect AU, SC, Clem, Tenn, and UF/FSU in South Georgia to come and attract some of our talent-in many cases those schools are much closer to the kid than is UGA. But Bama, they are a new player on the scene thanks in large part to Kirby Smart. Anyway, here is hoping that we have a strong year this year, Bama struggles and we get Dream Team II coming to Athens next Feb.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/rankings/rank-2851
My son has his first baseball practice today, Braves pitchers and catcher have their first workout today, the weather in the ATL is beautiful, highs in the mid 60's. This means baseball is in the air. Certainly is the case in Athens where Dave Perno tries to get the program back to the level it was a couple years ago, at the College World Series. Last year was HORRIBLE, 16-37 and the culprit was an incredibly high 8.48 team ERA but I also thought the team just had no pop-the year before we have big bats and last year it was almost like we were using wiffle ball bats. The starting OF should be pretty good with Zach Cone, Jonathan Taylor and Peter Verdin back, also Colby May should be back to full strength after having nagging injuries last year-he was big for us back two years ago on the CWS team. Also, hopeful we can get some power from Chase Davidson who had a lot of injury problems last year as well. This kid was good enough to be drafted in the 3rd round out of high school, this being his JR year in college, this is a big year for that kid. Of course the pitching has got to improve and I am not as optimistic about the staff as I am about the offense. If you look at the starting pitchers for the upcoming weekend series, downright scary numbers-Michael Palazzone(4-6, 8.66 ERA in 2010), Alex Wood-no stats from last year-maybe that is a positive, Ben Cornwell (1-1, 15.68). This weekend UGA takes on Stetson down in Deland, Florida. This is NO gimme series as Stetson is a regular in the NCAA tourney. A couple of interesting series in Athens will be Baylor the weekend of 25th, and then FSU the weekend of 3/4. We also make a trip to Los Angeles to take on UCLA, USC and Saint Mary's in Dodger Stadium. We also play Bama on March 9th at Coolray field-home of the Gwinnett Braves. First SEC weekend series is weekend of March 18th, at South Carolina. For those wondering when we play the Nerds, well that would be March 22nd in Athens, April 12th in Atlanta, April 26th at Turner Field. SEC tourney will start May 25th, once again in Hoover, Alabama. As the baseball season progresses, I will certainly be keeping a eye out on the team. I love baseball, that was my sport growing up so obviously I follow college baseball and pro baseball with the Braves. So, you might catch some Braves stuff here from time to time during the slow/down times.
Tomorrow of course is the biggie in Athens, UGA/Vandy in the rematch. I am not going to go into a detailed scouting report of Vandy this time, just try to look at what they have been up to lately, who has been playing well etc. To be at 7-4 in SEC play with 5 games to play, that would allow our guys the luxury of relaxing as we hit the tough back to back. This is not to say that means we would not try to win the games, just simply that it should take the pressure of HAVE to win the game off their mind and in that sense, maybe help them just play basketball and not sweat the small stuff. I believe sometimes, teams respond well to pressure and then sometimes teams obviously don't. But most teams WILL play better when they are just relaxed, having fun and just playing the game. Our team has a 3-2 SEC record on the road so far this year, even the two losses were not blow outs, so this team does have some confidence to win on the road. Now, we are also 3-2 at home, we really need to close out strong winning these last 3 home games. That starts tomorrow night.
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