NFL draft first round was last night, UGA OL Cordy Glenn was asked to attend-well, not really sure the process but bottom line, the NFL asks a certain amount of prospects to attend the draft in NYC each year. Usually attending are the guys most assured of being drafted in the first round, although that doesn't always happen-unfortunately for Cordy he didn't get drafted in the first round. Granted, it is tough for OG's to get drafted in the first round, BUT, that being said there were a couple OL drafted in spots I really thought Cordy should go. Lions selected tackle Riley Reiff from Iowa, Steelers selected G David DeCastro from Stanford, Bengals took Kevin Zeitler from Wisconsin. Of course all three of those guys are also solid prospects but I really believed Cordy would get the call. Also thought the Texans might grab him at 25 or 26 but they went with a DL instead. Granted, now that the rookie salary cap is in place, gone are the days of the HUGE contracts for rookies-but certainly first round money is still MUCH better than second round money. A kid like Cordy, who came in right away from high school and started games, a kid that was verstile enough and willing to move to play both guard and tackle during his career, who stayed for 4 years, you have to pull for a kid like that. I feel certain he will be one of the first picks of the second round but still, I was hoping for more.
Alabama ended up having 4 kids drafted in the first round, same as last year I do believe. But UGA's time for the NFL draft is coming, and coming soon. Next year, I think we can put 2-3 kids in the first round. The SEC overall is just dominating conference, with 9 first rounders total out of 32 picks. LSU had a couple, SCarolina had a couple, Miss State had the other. I think the next two rounds, you will see even more SEC kids get drafted. Besides Glenn, I think Orson Charles and Brandon Boykin could go in rounds 2 and 3. In case you are wondering, the Falcons have the 55th pick overall, which is middle to late second round. I would LOVE for them to move up to grab Cordy, but I am sure that will not happen.
Baseball team had a tough weekend last week at UF, losing in 16 innings but rebounding to win Saturday and then losing in pretty tight game on Sunday. Doesn't get any easier this weekend with a trip to Baton Rouge. LSU is a very good team this year, and playing them over there, TOUGH task. Course we also dropped a tight game at Turner Field to Georgia Tech. I really do believe Perno is coaching for his life this year-our program is just not producing at the level I believe it should. It is not like DP is doing a bad job, but he just can't seem to get us over the hump-I mean he did lead us to the national title series a couple years back but there is just not a lot of consistency with our program. We should be a baseball elite with the talent this state produces, the ability we have to use the Hope scholarship to help with the recruitment of in state kids. I hope things can be turned around for this year, I had really high hopes for this season but so far, I would say this season has been a disappointment.
Speaking of disappointments, Tony Parker selected UCLA over UGA, Duke, and Ohio State earlier this week. I know all about UCLA tradition, I know that they win a lot more than UGA has historically, and they have a great class coming in with Parker. BUT, I went to Los Angeles last summer-I LOVE LA (well actually scratch that, I LOVE San Diego) and southern California. The weather is just the best, you have beach close, moutains close, just beautiful country. That being said, you almost feel like you are in another world when you are an east coast guy going west. It really is a big adjustment, even if just staying for 3-4 days like I did. I just can't imagine moving out there and the rest of my family staying here. It is not like moving from Lawrenceville to Elijay or Macon, where you can hop in your car and be there in a couple hours, that is a long flight. Not only that, for all his family/friends, they will have to stay up late night on the east to be able to watch him play on the west coast. He had friends already in Athens, his Mom was a fan of Coach Fox, he could have been the face of our program but he said he didn't want that. It is just very frustrating being a UGA hoops fan. We have to start winning and show that we are taking it serious. If we win, the fans will come out, but every time we win, something happens it seems. We simply can't sustain the level of success we need to build our program up to a level where we are competitive year in and year out like we are in football. The good news is, Greg McGarity watched a school that was viewed as a "football" school be transformed into a school that was both a football and basketball school-it CAN be done. You have to find the right coach and then keep him in place. I like Mark Fox the coach, but I am still very unclear if I like Mark Fox the recruiter.
Well, take care everyone and have a great weekend. GO DOGS!
Friday, April 27, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
GDAY observations, baseball needs to kick it in gear
So, another year, another GDAY has come and gone. The best news out of the entire day, NO INJURIES. I watched the game via tape delay and my trusty DVR (thanks to the Bama game going over, I ended up missing the last portion of Gday-yet another reason to dislike Bama). Speaking of which, why in the world does Saint Nick feel the need to wear a suit for a spring football game-to borrow a classic line from Will Ferrell, playing the character of Chaz from Wedding Crashers, "what an IDIOT". Yeah, he is such a classy guy, he needs to be walking the sidelines in his suit during spring A-Day. Hey, the man can coach there is no doubt but there is very little to like about him otherwise.
Back to our spring game, it was pretty ugly like most spring games tend to be. I did like the play of several of the young guys-LeMay looked really good to me, so did Jay Rome and Justin Scott-Wesley. There was also a white WR name Erdman that was quite impressive. I liked the way Malcome, Crowell and Samuel ran the ball. On the defensive side, Ramik Wilson looks like a beast, I think Jenkins/Geathers looked really good-or was that Andrews at center looking really bad-I will go with the former. Swann looks very capable of playing corner for us as well. Some folks I believe were a little worried about the point total but I didn't come away worried at all. We have some really incredible athletes on our defense, more waiting in the wings, Grantham is going to get those guys ready to play without question. The one thing missing to me is more quality depth-so that we can keep guys fresh and not wilt late in games like we did at times last year. With more quality guys getting reps and more quality guys being recruited on defense, I REALLY like the direction we are headed on the defensive side. As for the offense, with Scott-Wesley looking like yet another quality WR, Rome looking like the next star TE for us, I believe that is going to give us the luxury of getting Mitchell a lot of PT on defense, especially early on when he will be needed there. But, having him play both ways, that is just a bonus. The improvement of Malcome, Crowell looks to be much stronger/thicker to me, I believe his work ethic and size will hopefully make him more durable this year, Samuel is just a bruiser, Marshall and Gurley also being ready to go, the OL will of course be the key component to our offense being incredible of average. Those guys don't have to be GREAT, just adequate. Because they have a very experienced QB behind them, a lot of depth and talent at the WR and RB positions, just provide those guys a little bit of area and we can be very explosive. I am excited about the potential of this football program moving forward. I feel like 2010 was Richt's bump in the road and now I feel like we are moving back to the top of the hill again.
Recruiting has really picked up for the 2013 class, we all knew it would be a large class but don't think anyone could have expected us to have 15 commitments in April also three kids for class of 2014 have already said they would play for UGA. Granted, things can change between now and signing day but in most cases, kids keep to their word.
Ok, I had a lot more stuff on this blog but for some reason I am having issues publishing my blogs here lately so I am going to stop here. A few more tidbits, good luck to the Gymnastics team today as they compete at Gwinnett Arena for a national title. They first most finish top 3 (out of 6) in their session, then will compete with the top 3 from the other session for the title on Saturday. IF they can make it to tomorrow, they will be going for their first national title since 2009 which was Yoculan's last season as coach.
The baseball team travels to Gainesville for a weekend series with the Gators, the Dogs are now 23-15 and 7-8 in SEC play. They did win the series last weekend with Ole Miss but then lost a Tuesday game to Furman-that is NOT good. It will be hard to take this series against the #1 ranked Gators but at least one win is almost a must. This team to me has underachieved and you have to wonder how the future of Dave Perno if this team fails to make the SEC and reginonal tournaments. They should make both but this team has been hard to figure out this year.
Finally, Tony Parker, the stud PF basketball prospect is set to make his choice Monday. At one time, it was thought to be a Duke/Kansas/Ohio State battle but now most believe it will come down to UCLA or UGA. I still think Duke could have a shot but UGA does have a realistic shot to snag him. His only complaint about us is lack of fan support but he signing with UGA helps to improve that. He can stay close to home, play with two high school teammates and help drastically change the direction of our hoops program. Let's hope he picks the red and black on Monday.
Have a great weekend, happy bday to my daughter tomorrow and my son on Monday. Go Dogs!
Back to our spring game, it was pretty ugly like most spring games tend to be. I did like the play of several of the young guys-LeMay looked really good to me, so did Jay Rome and Justin Scott-Wesley. There was also a white WR name Erdman that was quite impressive. I liked the way Malcome, Crowell and Samuel ran the ball. On the defensive side, Ramik Wilson looks like a beast, I think Jenkins/Geathers looked really good-or was that Andrews at center looking really bad-I will go with the former. Swann looks very capable of playing corner for us as well. Some folks I believe were a little worried about the point total but I didn't come away worried at all. We have some really incredible athletes on our defense, more waiting in the wings, Grantham is going to get those guys ready to play without question. The one thing missing to me is more quality depth-so that we can keep guys fresh and not wilt late in games like we did at times last year. With more quality guys getting reps and more quality guys being recruited on defense, I REALLY like the direction we are headed on the defensive side. As for the offense, with Scott-Wesley looking like yet another quality WR, Rome looking like the next star TE for us, I believe that is going to give us the luxury of getting Mitchell a lot of PT on defense, especially early on when he will be needed there. But, having him play both ways, that is just a bonus. The improvement of Malcome, Crowell looks to be much stronger/thicker to me, I believe his work ethic and size will hopefully make him more durable this year, Samuel is just a bruiser, Marshall and Gurley also being ready to go, the OL will of course be the key component to our offense being incredible of average. Those guys don't have to be GREAT, just adequate. Because they have a very experienced QB behind them, a lot of depth and talent at the WR and RB positions, just provide those guys a little bit of area and we can be very explosive. I am excited about the potential of this football program moving forward. I feel like 2010 was Richt's bump in the road and now I feel like we are moving back to the top of the hill again.
Recruiting has really picked up for the 2013 class, we all knew it would be a large class but don't think anyone could have expected us to have 15 commitments in April also three kids for class of 2014 have already said they would play for UGA. Granted, things can change between now and signing day but in most cases, kids keep to their word.
Ok, I had a lot more stuff on this blog but for some reason I am having issues publishing my blogs here lately so I am going to stop here. A few more tidbits, good luck to the Gymnastics team today as they compete at Gwinnett Arena for a national title. They first most finish top 3 (out of 6) in their session, then will compete with the top 3 from the other session for the title on Saturday. IF they can make it to tomorrow, they will be going for their first national title since 2009 which was Yoculan's last season as coach.
The baseball team travels to Gainesville for a weekend series with the Gators, the Dogs are now 23-15 and 7-8 in SEC play. They did win the series last weekend with Ole Miss but then lost a Tuesday game to Furman-that is NOT good. It will be hard to take this series against the #1 ranked Gators but at least one win is almost a must. This team to me has underachieved and you have to wonder how the future of Dave Perno if this team fails to make the SEC and reginonal tournaments. They should make both but this team has been hard to figure out this year.
Finally, Tony Parker, the stud PF basketball prospect is set to make his choice Monday. At one time, it was thought to be a Duke/Kansas/Ohio State battle but now most believe it will come down to UCLA or UGA. I still think Duke could have a shot but UGA does have a realistic shot to snag him. His only complaint about us is lack of fan support but he signing with UGA helps to improve that. He can stay close to home, play with two high school teammates and help drastically change the direction of our hoops program. Let's hope he picks the red and black on Monday.
Have a great weekend, happy bday to my daughter tomorrow and my son on Monday. Go Dogs!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Finish up from last blog
Ok, for some reason my last paragraph did not show up on the last blog report I posted-and if it does eventually show up, I apologize for posting it yet again. Here is my closing paragraph-mostly personal stuff but perhaps those that read will be able to relate to me. If you can't read it here, I tried to also post on the comments. I think this blogsite is having issues today as I can view when I publish my post but then can't view it otherwise-guess I am doing something wrong but oh well not smart enough to figure it out.
GDAY game right around the corner, we should all be thankful for who we have
So tomorrow is G-day in Athens. Another excuse to head to a beautiful college town and watch a scrimmage football game in what is going the be chamber of commerce weather. I unfortunately will not be there because my son has a baseball game and I can't drive over in time to catch it. A little surprised and disappointed the game is not airing live this year on CSS as it has now for years. But, at least it will be airing, tape delay beginning at 5p-game starts at 3p. As for the game itself, you have essentially the starting defense on the black team, the starting offense on the red team. Based on the fact that the defense has pretty much controlled the offense this spring, you have to figure the black team is the favorite. That being said, I am just glad they will have 1's going against 1's. In springs past, you have sometimes had 1's against 2's and I prefer to see strength against strength to better guage how these guys are going to perform against the SEC level compeititon. For those that have not see the rosters, here you go-
http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/878/1234859.pdf
Unfortunately, a few of the players I really wanted to see will not be playing due to injury-Keith Marshall and Malcolm Mitchell. There are still quite a few players I really want to keep an eye on tomorrow-Christian LeMay will be the QB for the black team. Obviously he did play last year in the spring game but this year should be different, considering Hudson Mason wants to redshirt, LeMay looks to be our backup QB unless Murray goes down with a significant injury. Also, with Mitchell playing DB this spring, I am looking to see what the redshirt FR track start Justin Scott-Wesley brings to the table. Course also want to see Crowell and Malcome run behind the #1 OL, of course see Artie Lynch play-for the red side. Besides LeMay on the black squad, I want to see Jay Rome at TE offensively. On the defensive side, I want to see Ray Drew and Cornelius Washington playing DE-see how they do. Michael Thornton at the nose, I am interested to see how Corey Moore does at safety as well as how Devin Bowman does at corner-those two guys are key players considering the early suspensions of Rambo, Commings and Smith. There are a few more kids I want to see what they can do, kids that have been at UGA for a while and we are still waiting on them to shine-TJ Stripling, Brandon Burrows, Dexter Morant, of course the JUCO Mark Beard. I wish our new kickers could be there to compete and show us what they got, but we can at least check out the walkon kids and see if they can push those two kids coming in from HS. Here is a recently released list of spring practice awards, from the Athens newspaper-
The list of 2012 awards is as follows:
MVP (offense) – Aaron Murray, QB, Tampa, Fla.; Hutson Mason, QB, Marietta, Ga.
True Grit Award (offense) – Arthur Lynch, TE, Dartmouth, Mass.
Coffee County Hustle Award (offense) – Kolton Houston, OG, Buford, Ga.; Michael Erdman, SE, Merritt Island, Fla.
Most Improved Player (offense) – Ken Malcome, TB, Decatur, Ga.
Outstanding Walk-On (offense) – Merritt Hall, FB, Alpharetta, Ga.
MVP (defense) – Jarvis Jones, OLB, Columbus, Ga.; John Jenkins, N, Meriden, Conn.
True Grit Award (defense) – Shawn Williams, SS, Damascus, Ga.
Coffee County Hustle Award (defense) – Garrison Smith, DE, Atlanta, Ga.
Most Improved Player (defense) – Damian Swann, CB, Atlanta, Ga.; Ramik Wilson, ILB, Tampa, Fla.
Outstanding Walk-On (defense) – Connor Norman, SS, Duluth, Ga.
The main thing about spring practice is repping the young guys for the most part, getting some conditioning work in and then hoping like crazy no one gets hurt. UF lost one of their best DL in their spring game last weekend-horrible. So, hopefully we can see some guys we have yet to really see in actual game action, get some snaps and see what they have. Granted, this is a scrimmage so you can't really make too many assumptions but still gives you a look at the kids that you wouldn't get normally.
Wow, the Bobby Petrino thing is a mess, just today another possible woman has surfaced-to go along with the woman that got him fired in the first place. I think EVERYONE knew Petrino was a slimy guy but wow, a married man with 4 kids, involved with a woman that could easily be his daughter. In fact-here is a rundown of the Petrino kids-
Petrino has two sons and two daughters with his wife, Becky. His oldest daughter, Kelsey, graduated from the University of Louisville, his oldest son, Nick, currently attends Louisville. His youngest son, Bobby Jr., attends the University of Arkansas and his youngest daughter, Katie, is on Louisville's golf team. He also has one grandchild.
I am not sure how old his oldest daughter is but she more than likely is very similar in age with his lady friend that was on the motorcyle with him. Amazing that this guy could hire this young lady, have an affair with her, give her 20K cash as a gift, and then try to cover it all up-only releasing the information because he had to knowing the police report would come out within minutes of him admitting the truth.
You see this all the time though with guys that have money and power-you see in on TV, you see in real life, it is pretty common so it really shouldn't shock any of us that this happened. Guys that have money, it gives them power, and it gives the what they believe is the ability to cover up any wrong by buying their way out of it. So, you give someone a gift to stay quiet, or you buy your spouse nice gifts to cover for your behavior, you buy your way out of the situation and then you deny everything UNLESS you are caught in which you have to then come clean. The old saying money is the root to evil I do believe applies. Money is one area in life that can really make people do bad things, can make good people turn bad, can make one time friends become enemies, heck, it can split families in half as well. I guess for those reasons, I am glad that I will never be a rich man, I don't work in a career that affords me the opportunity to make a ton of money-the only way I can where I work is move into a management position-and then keep moving up. But, because I value my family/kids and being at home more than I value working and making money, no worries for me. That is not to say I don't value my job, it is just to say that my priorities have and will always be that my family comes first. I work for a company thankfully that truly believes in a work/life balance so that is good for me. This leads us to Mark Richt.
For all of the fans that want him gone because he has not won a title, well, just take a look at those around us. Nick Saban, has he had an affair-not that we know of but he is miserable human being. Petrino-we all know about him. Paul Johnson, look at the way he speaks to his players on the sidelines, Spurrier, the man calling us out for players being suspended but then gives his former QB what, 5-6 chances to get his head out of his behind. Point blank, we have a great man and a great ambassador for the University of Georgia leading our team. We might not always agree with him, we might believe at times he doesn't coach in the manner we wish he would or think he should, but the fact remains-Mark Richt is a man of character. He is a man of faith, he is man that values his job, values his role in shaping the lives young men but he also knows that his family is most important, behind his spiritual beliefs. Every time you hear about a guy like Bobby Petrino, a guy like Saban, Neuheisel at UCLA, Pete Carroll at Southern Cal, Urban Meyer, I mean the list can go on and on about these just plain SORRY guys coaching other schools. Yes, most of the guys are winning at a high level but is winning at all cost truly what we want at our school. I know for me, NO WAY. I want Richt to win and then I want to say, we did it well and we did it the right way.
Baseball team got a nice road win at Clemson earlier this week and took game one of the home series against Ole Miss last night, they look to win the series tonight with their ace pitching, Alex Wood. The Dogs record is now 21-13, 6-7 in SEC play. They really could use a series sweep considering they have now lost series against Vandy, UK and Arkansas. With upcoming road trips to UF and LSU, they need to get wins where they can-they also have SCarolina coming up and series at home against Auburn and at Alabama. In case you are wondering about the SEC baseball standings, see below.
http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/878/1234859.pdf
Unfortunately, a few of the players I really wanted to see will not be playing due to injury-Keith Marshall and Malcolm Mitchell. There are still quite a few players I really want to keep an eye on tomorrow-Christian LeMay will be the QB for the black team. Obviously he did play last year in the spring game but this year should be different, considering Hudson Mason wants to redshirt, LeMay looks to be our backup QB unless Murray goes down with a significant injury. Also, with Mitchell playing DB this spring, I am looking to see what the redshirt FR track start Justin Scott-Wesley brings to the table. Course also want to see Crowell and Malcome run behind the #1 OL, of course see Artie Lynch play-for the red side. Besides LeMay on the black squad, I want to see Jay Rome at TE offensively. On the defensive side, I want to see Ray Drew and Cornelius Washington playing DE-see how they do. Michael Thornton at the nose, I am interested to see how Corey Moore does at safety as well as how Devin Bowman does at corner-those two guys are key players considering the early suspensions of Rambo, Commings and Smith. There are a few more kids I want to see what they can do, kids that have been at UGA for a while and we are still waiting on them to shine-TJ Stripling, Brandon Burrows, Dexter Morant, of course the JUCO Mark Beard. I wish our new kickers could be there to compete and show us what they got, but we can at least check out the walkon kids and see if they can push those two kids coming in from HS. Here is a recently released list of spring practice awards, from the Athens newspaper-
The list of 2012 awards is as follows:
MVP (offense) – Aaron Murray, QB, Tampa, Fla.; Hutson Mason, QB, Marietta, Ga.
True Grit Award (offense) – Arthur Lynch, TE, Dartmouth, Mass.
Coffee County Hustle Award (offense) – Kolton Houston, OG, Buford, Ga.; Michael Erdman, SE, Merritt Island, Fla.
Most Improved Player (offense) – Ken Malcome, TB, Decatur, Ga.
Outstanding Walk-On (offense) – Merritt Hall, FB, Alpharetta, Ga.
MVP (defense) – Jarvis Jones, OLB, Columbus, Ga.; John Jenkins, N, Meriden, Conn.
True Grit Award (defense) – Shawn Williams, SS, Damascus, Ga.
Coffee County Hustle Award (defense) – Garrison Smith, DE, Atlanta, Ga.
Most Improved Player (defense) – Damian Swann, CB, Atlanta, Ga.; Ramik Wilson, ILB, Tampa, Fla.
Outstanding Walk-On (defense) – Connor Norman, SS, Duluth, Ga.
The main thing about spring practice is repping the young guys for the most part, getting some conditioning work in and then hoping like crazy no one gets hurt. UF lost one of their best DL in their spring game last weekend-horrible. So, hopefully we can see some guys we have yet to really see in actual game action, get some snaps and see what they have. Granted, this is a scrimmage so you can't really make too many assumptions but still gives you a look at the kids that you wouldn't get normally.
Wow, the Bobby Petrino thing is a mess, just today another possible woman has surfaced-to go along with the woman that got him fired in the first place. I think EVERYONE knew Petrino was a slimy guy but wow, a married man with 4 kids, involved with a woman that could easily be his daughter. In fact-here is a rundown of the Petrino kids-
Petrino has two sons and two daughters with his wife, Becky. His oldest daughter, Kelsey, graduated from the University of Louisville, his oldest son, Nick, currently attends Louisville. His youngest son, Bobby Jr., attends the University of Arkansas and his youngest daughter, Katie, is on Louisville's golf team. He also has one grandchild.
I am not sure how old his oldest daughter is but she more than likely is very similar in age with his lady friend that was on the motorcyle with him. Amazing that this guy could hire this young lady, have an affair with her, give her 20K cash as a gift, and then try to cover it all up-only releasing the information because he had to knowing the police report would come out within minutes of him admitting the truth.
You see this all the time though with guys that have money and power-you see in on TV, you see in real life, it is pretty common so it really shouldn't shock any of us that this happened. Guys that have money, it gives them power, and it gives the what they believe is the ability to cover up any wrong by buying their way out of it. So, you give someone a gift to stay quiet, or you buy your spouse nice gifts to cover for your behavior, you buy your way out of the situation and then you deny everything UNLESS you are caught in which you have to then come clean. The old saying money is the root to evil I do believe applies. Money is one area in life that can really make people do bad things, can make good people turn bad, can make one time friends become enemies, heck, it can split families in half as well. I guess for those reasons, I am glad that I will never be a rich man, I don't work in a career that affords me the opportunity to make a ton of money-the only way I can where I work is move into a management position-and then keep moving up. But, because I value my family/kids and being at home more than I value working and making money, no worries for me. That is not to say I don't value my job, it is just to say that my priorities have and will always be that my family comes first. I work for a company thankfully that truly believes in a work/life balance so that is good for me. This leads us to Mark Richt.
For all of the fans that want him gone because he has not won a title, well, just take a look at those around us. Nick Saban, has he had an affair-not that we know of but he is miserable human being. Petrino-we all know about him. Paul Johnson, look at the way he speaks to his players on the sidelines, Spurrier, the man calling us out for players being suspended but then gives his former QB what, 5-6 chances to get his head out of his behind. Point blank, we have a great man and a great ambassador for the University of Georgia leading our team. We might not always agree with him, we might believe at times he doesn't coach in the manner we wish he would or think he should, but the fact remains-Mark Richt is a man of character. He is a man of faith, he is man that values his job, values his role in shaping the lives young men but he also knows that his family is most important, behind his spiritual beliefs. Every time you hear about a guy like Bobby Petrino, a guy like Saban, Neuheisel at UCLA, Pete Carroll at Southern Cal, Urban Meyer, I mean the list can go on and on about these just plain SORRY guys coaching other schools. Yes, most of the guys are winning at a high level but is winning at all cost truly what we want at our school. I know for me, NO WAY. I want Richt to win and then I want to say, we did it well and we did it the right way.
Baseball team got a nice road win at Clemson earlier this week and took game one of the home series against Ole Miss last night, they look to win the series tonight with their ace pitching, Alex Wood. The Dogs record is now 21-13, 6-7 in SEC play. They really could use a series sweep considering they have now lost series against Vandy, UK and Arkansas. With upcoming road trips to UF and LSU, they need to get wins where they can-they also have SCarolina coming up and series at home against Auburn and at Alabama. In case you are wondering about the SEC baseball standings, see below.
| Eastern | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | 9 - 3 | .750 | 30 - 4 | .882 | 22-2 | 7-2 | 1-0 | L1 |
| Florida | 7 - 5 | .583 | 26 - 7 | .788 | 18-3 | 7-4 | 1-0 | W1 |
| Tennessee | 6 - 6 | .500 | 20 - 13 | .606 | 17-6 | 2-5 | 1-2 | L3 |
| Georgia | 6 - 7 | .462 | 21 - 13 | .618 | 17-9 | 3-4 | 1-0 | W2 |
| South Carolina | 5 - 7 | .417 | 24 - 10 | .706 | 18-4 | 5-6 | 1-0 | L1 |
| Vanderbilt | 4 - 8 | .333 | 14 - 19 | .424 | 13-10 | 1-9 | 0-0 | W1 |
| Western | ||||||||
| LSU | 8 - 4 | .667 | 27 - 7 | .794 | 21-4 | 5-3 | 1-0 | W3 |
| Arkansas | 7 - 5 | .583 | 24 - 8 | .750 | 20-2 | 2-5 | 2-1 | L1 |
| Auburn | 6 - 6 | .500 | 18 - 14 | .562 | 14-7 | 3-7 | 1-0 | W1 |
| Ole Miss | 6 - 7 | .462 | 23 - 11 | .676 | 18-5 | 5-6 | 0-0 | L1 |
| Mississippi St. | 5 - 7 | .417 | 21 - 12 | .636 | 19-6 | 2-6 | 0-0 | W2 |
| Alabama | 4 - 8 | .333 | 13 - 20 | .394 | 11-8 | 2-11 | 0-1 | L1 |
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Finally another Haney blog
So, another SEC team wins a title. Second major sport to be won by an SEC school in 2012. UK was the top seed in the NCAA tourney and were the best team by far to me and most that watched college basketball this year. So, they join Alabama who won the football title. I do find it interesting that the two schools that won the national title both have two of the biggest slimeball coaches you will find in America running the show. You also have two of the most over the top fanbases involved as well. UK basketball is every bit as crazy as Bama football in so many ways. I think both fan bases would probably sacrifice a family member to win a national title. They would probably have an arm amputated to win a title, the athletic departments at both schools would hire Hitler or Bin Laden to coach their teams if that meant they would win a national title. I am not joking with my thoughts here. Now, many UGA fans believe our football program should be as cut throat as is Bama's program. I totally disagree. I believe you can win with class and dignity without having to sell your soul to the devil to win. Some UGA faithful probably would call me not a true fan or a guy that accepts average results, that is not true either. I want ALL of our programs to win at the top level but I am also realistic.
Speaking of winning the right way, of course this spring has NOT been a very good one for our football program. Carlton Thomas elects to transfer, Branden Smith gets caught with pot in his car, Bacarri Rambo and Alec Olgetree supposedly fail drug tests after returning from spring break. Derrick Lott and Marc Deas also announce they are transferring. At this rate you wonder if we will have enough defensive players to start the season!! Let me break this down-Thomas, I can see why he would leave because he sees a list of players ahead of him that are BETTER and bigger than he is. Special teams would have been his only real playing time. I have never thought he was and SEC caliber back-he did have a GREAT game against Auburn last year but I still was never sold on him. That being said, he can go to a smaller school and get some immediate PT at running back. Lott and Deas, especially Deas, just not sure what to make of those moves. Both players said they wanted more PT so that had to lead you to believe, even despite the losses in the secondary, Deas didn't think he was going to get any more than special teams work. As for Lott, he does have more competition in front of him so guess he was figuring he would get pushed further down the chart when the freshmen arrived. I wish these guys the best of luck, hopefully they will go somewhere and get more playing time. If a kid is not 100% committed to the program, he needs to leave and find another home. As for the drug issues, this is getting old fast. The problem I have with this is that these kids are being selfish to start with-but kids ARE selfish-and STUPID. But what bothers me the most is that UGA has a much tougher policy than all SEC programs except UK. I applaud the tough stance but I firmly believe ALL schools should be forced to have the same rules-whatever the rules might be, they should be the same across the board. Granted, I am still not sure how or why they choose to drug test the way they do. These kids were on spring break, if they were around kids smoking pot, if they ate a brownie laced with pot, etc, it is hard for me to believe that kids at Bama, UF, UT, AU, etc were not also on spring break trips where they were faced with the same type situations. Did those schools drug test the players immediately after they returned to campus from spring break??? Are we sure that other schools actually use the football players urine for the test?? Again, I am not excusing the poor decisions and behavior by our kids, I just have to question how other schools never have any issues-of course most of the other schools have a get out of trouble card for failing the first test-meaning if a kid does fail a drug test, no one knows he failed it unless a coach or player tells the media because there will be no missed games. With UGA, you fail a test, it immediately becomes news because the kid IS going to miss a game(s).
The baseball team is struggling now, losing two of three on the road to Vandy, losing at home to Clemson, then losing two of three at home to Kentucky. They play at Western Carolina tonight before heading to Arkansas for a weekend series. The problem recently for the team, errors, walks, wild pitches and lack of clutch hitting. In other words, they are struggling and now will no longer be ranked when the next polls come out. I still believe this team has enough talent to get a bid to the NCAA tourney but how far they can go is another story. UGA stands at 18-11 on the season, they are now 4-5 in SEC play, with I believe 3 of those 5 losses being by one run-that hurts. Western Carolina is 20-9 on the season, they very well might beat us tonight (already beat us in Athens earlier this year) and then the trip to Arky could be very tough, things are not looking good at the moment. Perno needs to get this team playing better or he could make for a tough decision by McGarity at the end of this season.
Now that it is April, it is getting closer and closer to the NFL draft. Per almost every mock draft you look at, UGA has one potential first rounder, Cordy Glenn. Next up would be a trio of players, Brandon Boykin, Orson Charles and Ben Jones. I would also suspect a kid like DeAngelo Tyson has an excellent shot to get drafted, possibly even Bean Anderson just simply based on his incredible size alone. I guess also you could see someone grab Drew Butler in the last round if they need a good punter with an NFL name to back him up. Next season, I think it could be perhaps the most incredible UGA draft day of all time. You figure to have about 3-4 guys that could be 1st round picks coming out-Jarvis Jones, Alec Olgetree, Baccari Rambo, Jon Jenkins, and then throw in Cornelius Washington, Branden Smith, Sean Williams, maybe Kwame Geathers, I am not sure any offensive players will be there unless TK, Marlon Brown, Aaron Murray comes out after this season, but our defense will have a lot of guys drafted and drafted pretty high at that. Exciting for our players and program but will leave us with a LOT of depth questions as we head into 2013. Of course this is why the class of 2013 will be so important and will be such a large class as well.
Tony Parker, the top player in the state of Ga, a real true inside power forward, is supposed to make his decision April 11th at his school, Miller Grove. UGA does have a shot but most consider us a longshot, darkhorse candidate with Duke, Ohio State and Kansas the other most likely schools. Most believe Duke because Coach K has personally recruited Tony, because it is closer to home than Ohio State, and the family believes he can be the final piece of the puzzle there. Kansas is a place both Tony and his Dad spoke VERY highly of but now that two of their assistant coaches are leaving to become head coaches-including Danny Manning, that might really hurt their chances. Ohio State is a real possibility with Sullinger likely leaving for the pros and they have sold Parker on taking his place. Then of course there is UGA, where two of his former teammates will be playing this upcoming year, Donte' Williams and Brandon Moriss. Tony's Mom loves Coach Fox, also he has said he would enjoy playing close to home so we have a chance. He has also said he will shock the world with his annoucement. I hardly call an elite talent signing with Duke, Kansas or Ohio State as shocking the world. Not long until we find out but needless to say, IF Fox can land Tony Parker, he instantly produces a very quality class for 2012 and brings the program back to NCAA tourney level immediately. Tony Parker is a game changing, program changing type talent for Fox.
Hope you all are doing well, enjoying the beautiful weather and the pollen is not getting to you. I will try to post again sooner than later. Go Dogs!
Speaking of winning the right way, of course this spring has NOT been a very good one for our football program. Carlton Thomas elects to transfer, Branden Smith gets caught with pot in his car, Bacarri Rambo and Alec Olgetree supposedly fail drug tests after returning from spring break. Derrick Lott and Marc Deas also announce they are transferring. At this rate you wonder if we will have enough defensive players to start the season!! Let me break this down-Thomas, I can see why he would leave because he sees a list of players ahead of him that are BETTER and bigger than he is. Special teams would have been his only real playing time. I have never thought he was and SEC caliber back-he did have a GREAT game against Auburn last year but I still was never sold on him. That being said, he can go to a smaller school and get some immediate PT at running back. Lott and Deas, especially Deas, just not sure what to make of those moves. Both players said they wanted more PT so that had to lead you to believe, even despite the losses in the secondary, Deas didn't think he was going to get any more than special teams work. As for Lott, he does have more competition in front of him so guess he was figuring he would get pushed further down the chart when the freshmen arrived. I wish these guys the best of luck, hopefully they will go somewhere and get more playing time. If a kid is not 100% committed to the program, he needs to leave and find another home. As for the drug issues, this is getting old fast. The problem I have with this is that these kids are being selfish to start with-but kids ARE selfish-and STUPID. But what bothers me the most is that UGA has a much tougher policy than all SEC programs except UK. I applaud the tough stance but I firmly believe ALL schools should be forced to have the same rules-whatever the rules might be, they should be the same across the board. Granted, I am still not sure how or why they choose to drug test the way they do. These kids were on spring break, if they were around kids smoking pot, if they ate a brownie laced with pot, etc, it is hard for me to believe that kids at Bama, UF, UT, AU, etc were not also on spring break trips where they were faced with the same type situations. Did those schools drug test the players immediately after they returned to campus from spring break??? Are we sure that other schools actually use the football players urine for the test?? Again, I am not excusing the poor decisions and behavior by our kids, I just have to question how other schools never have any issues-of course most of the other schools have a get out of trouble card for failing the first test-meaning if a kid does fail a drug test, no one knows he failed it unless a coach or player tells the media because there will be no missed games. With UGA, you fail a test, it immediately becomes news because the kid IS going to miss a game(s).
The baseball team is struggling now, losing two of three on the road to Vandy, losing at home to Clemson, then losing two of three at home to Kentucky. They play at Western Carolina tonight before heading to Arkansas for a weekend series. The problem recently for the team, errors, walks, wild pitches and lack of clutch hitting. In other words, they are struggling and now will no longer be ranked when the next polls come out. I still believe this team has enough talent to get a bid to the NCAA tourney but how far they can go is another story. UGA stands at 18-11 on the season, they are now 4-5 in SEC play, with I believe 3 of those 5 losses being by one run-that hurts. Western Carolina is 20-9 on the season, they very well might beat us tonight (already beat us in Athens earlier this year) and then the trip to Arky could be very tough, things are not looking good at the moment. Perno needs to get this team playing better or he could make for a tough decision by McGarity at the end of this season.
Now that it is April, it is getting closer and closer to the NFL draft. Per almost every mock draft you look at, UGA has one potential first rounder, Cordy Glenn. Next up would be a trio of players, Brandon Boykin, Orson Charles and Ben Jones. I would also suspect a kid like DeAngelo Tyson has an excellent shot to get drafted, possibly even Bean Anderson just simply based on his incredible size alone. I guess also you could see someone grab Drew Butler in the last round if they need a good punter with an NFL name to back him up. Next season, I think it could be perhaps the most incredible UGA draft day of all time. You figure to have about 3-4 guys that could be 1st round picks coming out-Jarvis Jones, Alec Olgetree, Baccari Rambo, Jon Jenkins, and then throw in Cornelius Washington, Branden Smith, Sean Williams, maybe Kwame Geathers, I am not sure any offensive players will be there unless TK, Marlon Brown, Aaron Murray comes out after this season, but our defense will have a lot of guys drafted and drafted pretty high at that. Exciting for our players and program but will leave us with a LOT of depth questions as we head into 2013. Of course this is why the class of 2013 will be so important and will be such a large class as well.
Tony Parker, the top player in the state of Ga, a real true inside power forward, is supposed to make his decision April 11th at his school, Miller Grove. UGA does have a shot but most consider us a longshot, darkhorse candidate with Duke, Ohio State and Kansas the other most likely schools. Most believe Duke because Coach K has personally recruited Tony, because it is closer to home than Ohio State, and the family believes he can be the final piece of the puzzle there. Kansas is a place both Tony and his Dad spoke VERY highly of but now that two of their assistant coaches are leaving to become head coaches-including Danny Manning, that might really hurt their chances. Ohio State is a real possibility with Sullinger likely leaving for the pros and they have sold Parker on taking his place. Then of course there is UGA, where two of his former teammates will be playing this upcoming year, Donte' Williams and Brandon Moriss. Tony's Mom loves Coach Fox, also he has said he would enjoy playing close to home so we have a chance. He has also said he will shock the world with his annoucement. I hardly call an elite talent signing with Duke, Kansas or Ohio State as shocking the world. Not long until we find out but needless to say, IF Fox can land Tony Parker, he instantly produces a very quality class for 2012 and brings the program back to NCAA tourney level immediately. Tony Parker is a game changing, program changing type talent for Fox.
Hope you all are doing well, enjoying the beautiful weather and the pollen is not getting to you. I will try to post again sooner than later. Go Dogs!
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