Our society in 2011 thrives on rumors, thrives on getting information immediately-we can't or don't want to wait on anything because we HAVE TO know right now what is going on. I can only imagine how tough it must be for a young person today to imagine life without a computer, life without an iphone, ipod etc. Now we have instant gratification and even that is not instant enough for most it seems. This leads me to the latest and greatest rumors surrounding the UGA football program.
First most rumors centered around Isaiah Crowell. He has used up his welcome in Athens, Richt is going to dismiss him. OR, he is going to ask for his transfer because he has had enough OR he is having academic problems and thus will ask for his transfer because he going to be leaving Athens ASAP. Also, he smells like pot all the time so he is going to fail another drug test and be gone. I mean, I have heard just about everything possible except Crowell has been taken by aliens and will not play next year because they have said they will not bring him back until UGA meets certain demands!! Now, all the Richt to Texas A&M garbage is running rampant on the message boards-primarily driven by "those in the know" at A&M-as in their message board insiders. Richt and his wife have already made the trip to College Station, taken the tour, met with the AD and boosters have put together quite a package to land him-oh and he will make a decision before Monday. Ok, you NEVER say NEVER but this is about as close NEVER as I will go. Coach Richt is NOT going to A&M and I think that is pretty easy money were I a betting man. Now, I would love to offer up one Kirby Smart to the fine folks at A&M. I have NO IDEA whether or not he will be a good college head coach, but I do know I want him away from Bama. He is a former UGA player obviously but if there is anyone around the southeast that recruits more negatively towards Georgia than does Smart, I would like to know who he is. Kirby is the prime Bama recruiter in Georgia for Sab(t)an. Losing him would help our cause without question. Bama's D on the other hand would not miss a beat if he left, Sab(t)an would promote someone or hire someone and then Nick would still be heavily involved and little to no change would happen. So, let's just go ahead and say, Smart to A&M please. Speaking of coordinators leaving, Front Butt Charlie Weis left the Gators and Muschump after one year. When Mussy hired Big Charles, I thought what....., why would a offensive coordinator leave the NFL to come be an offensive coordinator in college, the only reason was to get another head coaching job-mission accomplished for big Charlie. Course little did I think that after UF had such a lousy offensive year that Charlie would get a gig this quick but we are talking about Kansas football here.
On the recruiting front, Keith Marshall is the big news this week and then we have the Gala this weekend-which is the prime recruiting tool Richt and company like to use. It is the tux party of the year, where our players get to eat some nice food and get awards while reviewing the season just completed. The atmosphere should be very positive this year, very upbeat. A lot of top recruits will be there including Avery Young the massive OT from Florida, also the committed LB from Stn Mtn-Eligwe, he committed to FSU, also Josh Harvey-Clemons is supposed to be there, and many more. A lot of our current commits will show up as well so this weekend should be a very positive experience for UGA football.
On a not so postive note, the mens hoops team was very bad the other night. Let me share my thoughts on this team-I posted on the Dawgpost earlier today-rather than type it over again, let me paste it below.
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Posted: Today 9:25 AM
What can Fox do??
Greetings all, I post on the football forum but do come here during basketball season (maybe some remember me from last year) as I am huge hoops fan as well. I will admit, due to kids activities etc I have not really got to see a lot of our games this season-just bits and pieces, but did catch most of the GT game. What I saw was a team with very little offensive firepower, toss the ball around the perimeter and then hoist up a 3 as the shot clock expired. If not for Robinson slashing to the basket and actually hitting some jumpers, this team scores about 30 points in the game. Ware can't shoot this year-I think mostly because we no longer have the inside guys that would give Ware space to shoot. Robinson looked good but at times is out of control. Caldwell-Pope you can tell is a solid player but he forces a lot of shots and is not shooting a very high percentage-he also has missed some FT's when I have watched which bothers me. Thornton has no offensive game at all-he rebounds and typically defends pretty well but offensively, really nothing. Donte' has been more impressive on the offense end but he is still prone to fouling. Nemi-the Euro kid hasn't met a 3 he doesn't like to shoot but he is a decent looking player overall. Williams has been a nice surprise.
My point is, this team is lacking offensive firepower in a big way. So what can Fox do?? I would imagine it is back to the drawing board for him this week and a half, with final exams and 10 days between games, he is going to have to come up with something, anything to try to create offense. I just don't think he has many options to turn to. I honestly think he is going to have to abandon his triangle offense and at least try something else-a variation maybe but I just don't see this as a work in progress as much as just a lack of parts. If our outside shot is not falling, we are sunk. Teams are going to zone the heck out of us because we really don't have a lot of great shooters-and then we don't have a great inside game either. Heck, against GT we didn't even play good defense and rebound the basketball-which is more about effort and attitude than skill.
When Mark Fox was hired, I really didn't question his coaching ability-and after year one I still didn't question it. Last year I felt like we underachieved based on the talent we had but still, we made the dance and that was a big deal. This year though, I feel like the program has really hit rock bottom and the one worry I have had all along with Fox, could he recruit, seems to be a legit concern. While he has picked up some talent during his time here, it has become evident that others around us are out recruiting him in state. I think the obvious choice of comparision with Fox is going to be Anthony Grant at Bama. His team beat us twice last year but we got the NCAA nod, but if you look at where both programs are right now, you have to say Bama is ahead. I personally like Fox and want him to succeed here but I admit I am worried. I am more than curious to see how this team plays the rest of December heading into Jan and the SEC. GT is NOT a good basketball team this year, they came into our building, trailed by 4 at the half and beat us by 12. Never did we really get the lead below 9-10 pts down the stretch, and again, our lack of offensive scoring ability is just really scary. So, you guys that know a lot more about hoops than I do, I say, what can Fox do??
My suggestion that I also posted later is to play up tempo, press, try to score in transition as much as possible. We do have depth, we need to use it and try to tire teams out. When a player is tired in hoops, that is when bad passes are made, fouls start to add up, and you can maybe steal a few wins here or there. With Jay Rome and Nick Marshall also coming to add more depth, the only way I can see us having a chance to competete is press, aggressive defense and then try to use Robinson and Williams to penetrate zones and find open shots. Teams are going to zone us because we simply can't shoot from the outside and our big guys are not really scorers. We need everyone to buy into press, play great defense, and rebound the basketball-do the things that require effort, hustle, attitude to make up for lack offensive skills. Besides Caldwell-Pope and Robinson, we really don't have a lot of offensive weapons.
Tomorrow I am going to watch my hometown Grayson Rams try to win the schools first state title. Last year, my alma mater, Brookwood won the title so it would be really cool to have my new adopted school win it this year. The Grayson/Colquitt game was last week, I was there and it was on TV as well. I have to say, Grayson was VERY fortunate to win that game. The combination of some bad coaching decisions in my opinion-faking a punt on your 38, not trying an easy FG, and some very questionable home cooking calls, helped the Rams pull off the win with under a minute to play. If Coach Conn doesn't watch it, he might end up losing out on a state title that I firmly believe he SHOULD win. That being said, I don't know a lot about Walton but I do know they have talent. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Go Dogs!
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