Am I being overly sensitive? Am I taking something to heart that really isn’t that big a deal? Am I a delusional fan that cannot view his beloved school objectively? Should I actually do what my wife suggests and apply all the brain power I use on UGA football toward making more money?
I say an emphatic “No” to all. I’ve taken a little over a month off from writing blawgs for several reasons. One of those reasons was that I knew the main story line for most of December would be speculation surrounding Georgia’s new defensive coordinator. I have no “insider” knowledge into the Georgia football program so, without much if any additional information to provide, I planned to sit back and wait to blawg my reaction to the person Richt hired. Well, it’s been 40 days since my last post and I’m really upset about the current state of our program. How could we have possibly fallen from #1 in the nation with a Sports Illustrated cover in August 2008 to an unranked 5-loss team who 4 assistant coaches have USED as leverage to get raises/other jobs??? Injuries, scheduling, bad luck, early NFL defections and other excuses are valid reasons for the fall, but, at the end of the day, they are exactly that….excuses. IF Georgia is in fact among the nation’s elite (as I absolutely have believed over the last 7 years but am now starting to question), then those things should not be enough to land us where we are today. I’m not campaigning for any additional changes to the program, but I am saying that it is time to bounce back or take a back seat.
At this point, the egg on our face from this DC search is not going away. Whether we hire Tim DeRuyter of Air Force, Grantham from the Cowboys or make some lucrative play at Brian Van Gorder, nothing will take away the sting of being (at least in appearance if not reality) rejected by Koenning, Foster, Chavis and Smart. We look like a mid-tier program that top assistants view as a means for leverage rather than the destination job we all want to believe it is. UGA desperately needs this off season to go quietly and quickly. The only cure for Georgia’s situation is to hire a DC, try to re-solidify the 2010 recruiting class, keep out of the news this spring and summer and then go into fall practice with a chip on our shoulder.
And, I can’t help but let other things right now bother me as well. I know I’m correlating things that have no correlation, but I can’t help it. Potential rookie salary caps, taking care of family, wear and tear on your body…all valid motivations for entering the NFL draft early for underclassmen. Having said that, it pains me to see that we can’t keep an underclassman in school. Last season there were 4 guys that looked like potential NFL early entrants: Stafford, Moreno, Allen and Jones (Jones and Moreno RS Sophomores). Jones was the only one to stay. This year there are really only 2 guys that are potential NFL early entrants: Jones and Curran. Both are leaving. That is 5 out 6 (and really 5 out of 5 considering unique individuals) that have left early. Add to this, the fact that we have recruits for 2010 looking elsewhere. BJ Butler had been committed to UGA since April, and now he all-of-a-sudden switches to Louisville. Louisville??? Says he just really wants to play for Charlie Strong. What? Butler is from Florida and Strong was the DC at Florida before he got this Louisville head coaching position. So, why wasn’t Butler previously committed to Florida if he feels so passionately about playing for Coach Strong?
Yes, I know….he’s an 18-year old kid, and he’s just one case. I’m not really that upset about Butler’s situation, but it’s just one more jab in a round where UGA is really getting pounded. Let’s just hope Richt is familiar with the rope-a-dope strategy and somehow comes out with a big 2010 season. After all, winning cures all ills, and I sure as hell don’t want to start using my brain power for anything other than UGA football.
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