Wow, we sit now at least than 3 weeks to kickoff and school officially starts in Athens today. The team took Sunday off, first day off since the start of camp back in early August. I think the day off will do the guys a lot of good, as it appeared injuries were a big part of the late week practices. Of course Crowell has a slight groin injury, Samuel a quad injury, several guys-Boykin being one, has had hamstring problems. The good news on the injury front, none of our injuries so far have been serious. Nagging injuries can be annoying because each day of practice missed is opportunities to get better but still, I will take nagging injuries above the injuries where a player is lost for weeks or even the year.
It appeared likely Texas A&M would be joining the SEC as soon as 2012 but, as Lee Corso likes to say, NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND. The SEC presidents met yesterday in the ATL and reported for NOW they are happy with just 12 members of the SEC. This is all subject to change of course. I know the SEC would love to expand to Texas because of the TV markets in that state but I don't like going there. It does not help that much in recruiting in my mind, LSU, Arky are the prime states that would recruit in that state currently. I think perhaps a few other schools might try to dip into that Texas talent but in states like Ga and Fla, why go after a Texas kid when you have a kid just as good in your backyard. It also opens up a can of worms in thinking about who else gets an offer. Everyone knows the SEC will not stop at 13, will they go to 14 or will they go to 16. Who gets the invites, rumors of Missouri, Clemson and FSU have been swirling. I personally like adding Clemson and FSU more than A&M and Missouri. But, money is the reason for all this expansion talk in my mind, the new contracts out there for the Big10-now up to 12 teams, and the Pac10-now up to 12 teams, makes the SEC want to jump and do something to get an even bigger TV deal-at least call for renegotiation of the current deal. Between the ESPN and the NCAA, college football will NEVER be the same and what a shame that truly is. Don't get me wrong, now that I have kids in fall sports, TV is the only way I can typically watch a UGA game these days so I am glad nearly all games are on the tube. But, the money, greed, and power of ESPN and NCAA is just too much in my opinion.
A few notes as I close today. Thanks to attrition and UGA NOT oversigning as do several of our rivals, Coach Richt got to award 8 full rides to walkon players. See below.
-BardonHarton soph, who has been getting reps ahead of Ken Malcome in practice.
- Blake Sailors, soph who has been a special teams standout.
- Taylor Bradberry, a junior receiver
- Matthew DeGenova, a senior outside linebacker
- Josh Bodin, a junior guard
- Eric Elliot, a senior cornerback
- Wes Van Dyk, a junior tailback
- Jason Veal, a senior linebacker.
As you notice, only 3 of the 8 are seniors which means, more than likely most of these kids will only get this financial help for one year. But, Richt having the ability to do this, what a great move and I am sure it quite a big moment for these kids to take that pressure off Mom and Dad, if only for a year. Of course there are other walkons that don't get this great opportunity BUT, it does give them hope that it could be them one year.
Just reading this morning, Ray Drew injured is shoulder in a scooter accident on his way back to campus from church yesterday. He is listed as day to day. This follows the scooter accident of Derrick Lott during the summer, Lott is now back at practie by the way. I always thought motorcyles were dangerous but scooters were not a worry in my book, didn't think they went fast enough to do much, if any, damage. But, obviously they are indeed dangerous. Maybe we need to institute for the players driving scooters, they must pass drivers ed for scooter class??
I was watching a little bit of an NFL game the other night, Chargers/Seahawks. Course disappointed that Kris Durham was injured and didn't get to play for the Seahawks but WOW, Darryl Gamble really played well for the Chargers-undrafted free agent. Good for him and I hope he can make the club. If he has another outing like his first, I would say he should make it to final cuts for sure.
Crowell met the media for the first last week and while he admitted he did not like to talk, he didn't shy away from any questions and from the answers given, the kid appears to have a good head on his shoulders-and he certainly is confident he can come in and make a difference from day 1. He think he can do just as good a job as Lattimore did for SCarolina last year. He said his jersey number is not a big deal, both he and Branden Smith have said essentially the same thing so this leads me to believe a number change WILL be made in the next couple weeks.
Jay Rome has said he wants to play this year but then also says he would be ok if he has to redshirt. This has been a big topic for debate amoung UGA faithful. The kid is obviously a great talent BUT he also plays a position that has to be considered our strongest in terms of talent and depth. You have a potential All American TE in Orson Charles, a senior in Aron White that has played quality minutes his entire career, you also have a redshirted Arthur Lynch who is about as physical a speicman as you will ever see at the TE position. You have a converted tight end also logging snaps at fullback, H-back position. Where does Rome fit in. After this year, we know we lose Figgins and White, I personally believe Charles will be gone as well. You then have Lynch and Rome. The question remains, is it better to have Rome as a soph with maybe a few snaps, or a redshirt FR with zero snaps. I lean towards a redshirt but if the coaches can find a way to get him in the game, why not play him. It is not like UGA will likely ever have a problem recruiting at that position.
The latest I have heard on Kent Turene, besides the fact it appears he will not be attending UGA this fall, he will go to prep school for one semister, get his classes out of the way-evidently that is the problem, he didn't make the grade in some classes or something didn't work out with his class work, not his test scores. He will then enroll in Jan. Sounds like a good plan to me, let's hope that works out.
I will be attending the Grayson-Kell game at the Ga. Dome on Saturday. My son plays for the Grayson football program, but no doubt I will be keeping an eye on Robert Nkemdiche. I still think he will end up at Bama but our class of 2013 (Robert's class) IS shaping up to be a great one to start with. Tray Matthews from Newnan is the latest to join the committed class of 2013 which includes the top QB and potential top player in Ga in Brice Ramsey of Camden County, potential top player in Florida, RB Derrick Henry, and a top WR in SC Tramel Terry. It is a long time until Robert makes a decision and of course his big bro is now at Ole Miss but I will be very surprised if Robert ends up in Oxford. If so, that is fine by me because we will not play Ole Miss during Robert's time there unless it is in the SEC title game-we play Miss this year and next year of course. My alma mater Brookwood will play also at the dome on Saturday, trying to defend their state title from last year. Not sure if I will stick around for that or not but it will be cool to be in the Dome-and thinking about how that place will be rocking exactly two weeks from when I am in there.
This upcoming Saturday is also picture day in Athens, the new uniforms will be on display. I am excited to see what they will look like, I just hope they don't look totally different than our traditional look. A little change is ok, but let's not totally go away from tradition either. I am not a big fan of the Oregon stuff and that is what I am afraid of I guess, since we are talking Nike. The players of course love them but with me getting older by the second, that is not really comforting to me because I find I don't have much in common with the kids of today!! All for now, have a great day.
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