So for those that do frequent my blog, I have not been here that much and that is likely to continue with the holidays coming up-just too busy to blog. Anyway, there is not much going on with UGA sports this week, with it being finals week. The hoops team had a very painful and quite pathetic effort against GT their last time out. Losing to that program is always HORRIBLE but to lose at home to them, for the first time since I was 7 years old-a LONG TIME AGO, and considering this Tech team is not very good at all-they will be lucky to win 3-5 games in the watered down ACC this year, just can't say how bad a loss that was. Next up is a game in Los Angeles this Saturday against an equally bad Southern Cal team. Hopefully Coach Fox has used his time off wisely and will change some things up going forwad. Here are my suggestions-get the most playing time to the following-Vincent Williams, Gerald Robinson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Donte' Williams and I guess by default, Marcus Thornton. The EURO kid-Nemanji Djurisic has potential if he will stop shooting so many threes. Bottom line, this team is challenged offensively. But, we do have depth-they might not all be SEC caliber players but they can run and jump and that is how I think Fox is going to have to approach this season-PRESS, PRESS and PRESS. Try to wear the other team out-course if teams break the press, they get easy scores but this team needs to get out and try to get offense in transition because we just don't have enough scorers on offense. What ends up happening is we toss the ball around the perimeter for 30 seconds, last man with the ball takes a 3-regardless of whether it is a good shot or not. Robinson and Williams do offer the ability to penetrate a zone and get some open looks but Caldwell-Pope, Ware, Nemanji are just not hitting them at a high enough percentage. This team can play well in spurts, typcially in the first half but then can't do anything after the break. Against Cincy and GT, last two home games, led at half but then dominated in the second half. This team is very frustrating to watch needless to say. A more disturbing thing is, Coach Fox is not recruiting all that well. He has picked up some decent talent but not some of the best in the state-Bama, Auburn, GT, Memphis, UVA, Vandy, they are all coming in here and taking high ranked kids in Ga than we are getting. I have always thought Coach Fox was a good X and O guy-he can coach but a coach needs to talent to work with and of course the person responsible for brining in that talent when it comes to college basketball is the head coach and his assistant coaches. Much has been made about how other schools are using AAU coaches, adding them to their staffs, or coaches that have VERY strong ties to AAU programs. I think Fox needs to look into this, he simply has got to have more connections to the AAU circuit to start building those relationships.
As for football, the Gala was last weekend and all went well. Below are the awards handed out, see below direct from UGA rivals site.
Senior center Ben Jones, sophomore quarterback Aaron Murray, sophomore linebacker Jarvis Jones, senior punter Drew Butler and redshirt freshman Kosta Vavlas took home the top awards at the University of Georgia football annual team Gala Saturday night at the Classic Center in Athens.
Ben Jones was named the recipient of the Vince Dooley Most Valuable Player of the Year Award, Murray was named the team's Most Valuable Offensive Player, and Jarvis Jones received Most Valuable Defensive Player honors. Vavlas and Butler were named Most Valuable Special Teams players.
Sophomore guard Chris Burnette and sophomore linebacker Alec Ogletree of Newnan were named winners of the David Jacobs Award as the players who, by example, portray courage, spirit, character and determination.
Ben Jones was also named the team's overall permanent captain for 2011. Junior tight end Orson Charles and senior guard Cordy Glenn were elected as the team's offensive captains, senior defensive back Brandon Boykin and Jarvis Jones were chosen as the defensive captains, and Butler was named the special teams captain.
The Leon Farmer Award for dedication to the strength and conditioning program was presented to Boykin and Ben Jones.
Outstanding Scout Team Awards went to redshirt freshman quarterback Greg Bingham, redshirt freshman linebacker Corey Campbell, senior cornerback Eric Elliot and sophomore cornerback Luis Capella of Augusta (special teams).
Most Improved Player Awards were presented to senior tackle Justin Anderson and Glenn (offense), junior defensive end Abry Jones, junior linebacker Mike Gilliard, of Valdosta and redshirt freshman safety Connor Norman (special teams).
Newcomer of the Year Award winners were redshirt freshman receiver Michael Bennett, freshman receiver Chris Conley, freshman receiver Malcolm Mitchell (offense), freshman linebacker Amarlo Herrera, junior nose guard John Jenkins of Meriden, Conn. (defense) and freshman defensive back Quintavius Harrow of Columbus (special teams).
Coaches Leadership Awards went to Charles, Murray and Ben Jones (offense), Boykin and senior defensive end DeAngelo Tyson and Butler (special teams).
The Governor's Cup trophy for the victory over Georgia Tech was officially presented by Shelton Stevens from Healthcare of Atlanta.
Of course UGA got the verbal from North Carolina RB Keith Marshall last week, this week from JUCO OL Mark Beard, a kid that has 3 years left to play and will enroll early. So, in two weeks now, UGA has recruited and got commitments from two very strong areas of need-RB and OL and both kids will be in school starting in January-that is OUTSTANDING. The two major areas of concern as UGA heads into 2012 is RB depth and OL depth. With these guys enrolling early, they will get to go through mat drills, spring practice, spring game, and then be on campus all summer-it is a HUGE advantage. We are also still in hot pursuit of Avery Young, the big OT from down in Florida, it is thought to between UGA and AU. With the coaching turmoil in Auburn, that could help our chances. Also Young grew up in Ga, his cousin is former player Thomas Davis. Along with Theus and Beard, getting Young would be a huge pickup considering we need a lot more depth on the OL. Visiting Athens today is Stephenson RB Mike Davis-who decommitted from UF last week. He is also going to visit a lot more schools but we at least have a shot at him. He is more a power/speed back, his brother James Davis was a standout at Clemson-a school that has also offered him so they are one to look out for. I think now that Richt is safe in Athens, our recruiting class is going to finish really strong. Probably not like last year but a top 10 class I feel sure.
I close with a congratulations to my local HS, the Grayson Rams. They totally dominated Walton to win the schools first state football championship. I have enjoyed watching this team play during the year and they did a great job winning the title last Saturday night, 24-0. Of course I continue to be amazed at the talent of the JR Robert Nkemdiche, he will be the top rated recruit in the USA next year. All the Bama rumors are accurate, I do think they lead for him this very moment but UGA is coming on strong and since he is a JR, that gives me hope that we still have time to swing him. I have noted on the Dawpost, Mickey Conn, his HS coach is someone that big Robert LOVES and he wants to please him-that is why I believe Bama leads as there might not be a bigger Bama fan than Conn. That being said, Grayson is a UGA community by and large and Mickey knows this. Also, if there is a HS coach that is more like Mark Richt that Mickey Conn, I would like to see him. This guy is a strong Christian man, he is bigtime family man, his boys are always on the field with him and his wife after the game-his oldest is a ball boy on the sidelines (usually wearing a Bama hat I might add). I don't know Mickey personally but our kids play in the same rec leagues and so I see him quite often-he seems like a very genuinely nice guy who loves his family, I totally respect that. So, I do think in the end Mickey will be happy with wherever Robert goes but I know deep down he wants him at Bama. But, I think if he doesn't go to Bama, Mickey would pick UGA as second choice because of Mark Richt, also because it would give the Grayson community-just about 40-45 miles from Athens, a chance to continue to watch Robert on the next level before he depart for Sunday afternoon football. All for now, hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
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