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- Please no inappropriate usernames (remember that there may be youngsters in the room)
- Personal attacks on other community members are unacceptable, practice the good manners your mama taught you when engaging with fellow Dawg fans
- Use common sense and respect personal differences in the community: sexual and other inappropriate language or imagery, political rants and belittling the opinions of others will get your posts deleted and result in warnings and/ or banning from the forum
- 3/17/19 UPDATE -- We've updated the permissions for our "Football" and "Commit to the G" recruiting message boards. We aim to be the best free board out there and that has not changed. We do now ask that all of you good people register as a member of our forum in order to see the sugar that is falling from our skies, so to speak.
Comments
@reddawg1….Yep, hilarious!
@MikeGriffith on offense, you can't bring in guys who weren't difference makers for mediocre schools and expect them to be for UGA like Kirby did with Dominic Lovett, Colbie Young, London Humphreys, Trevor Etienne and Ben Yurosek. Difference-makers rarely transfer. Guys who are going to be 1st or 2nd round picks stay put to preserve their draft status.
After the first game, Dabo Swinney was criticized for not using the portal to help Clemson. Now Clemson is 5-1, ranked #9 with 4 straight conference wins. Yes, it is the ACC, but if Dabo thought the talent UGA gets out of the portal won't help him against ACC teams, why did Kirby think that guys who never put up 1000 yard seasons for 7-6 teams were going to help UGA in the SEC? Etienne is putting up similar numbers in Athens as he did in Gainesville. Billy Napier may be the guy Dabo fired at Clemson but he isn't THAT bad. Were Etienne as good as D'Andre Swift, Sony Michel, Nick Chubb or James Cook then Napier gives him more carries and the Gators win more games. Also note how UGA hasn't used the portal for defense or OL like he has for RBs and WRs.
You guys at Dawgnation need to admit why RB recruiting fell off a cliff after 2019 and especially why Kirby has almost always failed to land big time WRs beyond the guy that other contenders backed off due to grades. Kirby got lucky in 2021 and 2022 with a combo of a generational defense plus several offense guys (AD Mitchell, Ladd McConkey, Sed Van Pran, even Brock Bowers who wasn't a 5 star) outplaying their high school recruiting rankings. If UGA loses on Saturday, it will be more proof that Kirby's luck has run out. Yes they will still make the playoff because it will now have room for the top 4 teams from the SEC and Big 10, the top 2 from the ACC and Big 12 plus 2 more teams. But UGA and Kirby will have a quick exit.
If Kirby is going to keep hitting the portal to make up for the playmakers at WR and RB that he isn't getting in high school recruiting, he needs to target guys putting up huge numbers for C-USA, Pac-12, Mountain West and FCS schools (so long as those programs aren't running air raid or other stat friendly gimmick systems that won't transfer to UGA's scheme for a title contender) instead of guys putting up just OK numbers at Power 5 schools.
@CTD
Thanks for calling me a genuis!
Though I do need to proof-read my posts a little better so that readers can better understand the intent of my posts. I stated that if MIss St had thrown the ball in the first half (AS) they did in the 2nd they could have beat us. Now notice what I said "as" . What does as mean? It doesn't mean they did not throw it at all in the first half,would you agree? It is a comparison word. The comparison was the way, or the manner, in which they threw it the 1st half compared to the 2nd. Comprende?
THere is a huge difference from being 6-17 passing in the 1st half and 15-23 in the 2nd half, most would agree, maybe not you. At one point in the 2nd half their Fr QB was 8-9 passing. He started the game 1-5 passing.
So, I stand by my statement, though regretfully, I need to proof-read my posts so that some can better grasp my use of simile.
I'm unsure what point you're trying to make.
You guys at Dawgnation need to admit why RB recruiting fell off a cliff after 2019…Why?
Go, Dawgs!
I find this very interesting, @MontanaDawg, and also rather alarming. I've been partially attributing our lack of leadership to the portal losses we suffered. You're pretty much saying we didn't lose anybody, other than the linebacker who went to Kentucky, anybody who much matters as a player (and presumably as leader). I've not looked at how those who left are doing on the teams they now play for.
Why do you think, assuming you do, that "something is off" with our Dawgs this season?
Go, Dawgs!
Seems like SEC Shorts is challenging Georgia against Texas. Well, actually they are challenging every top SEC football team except Texas. Hilarious 😂
@JimWallace…yes, as others have pointed out and noted by the Sports writers, something is definitely OFF with this Bulldogs team - as compared to the teams over the last several years. Even Stewart Mandel, a top writer that has always supported the Dawgs, said in a recent post Sunday that he has "lost confidence" in Georgia.
I think there are a multitude of reasons this team seems a little off, and to me, all the reasons are related to each other. First, we are a very young team this year, and Kirby is playing a lot more inexperienced (or lesser experienced) guys than normal. Second, we have not shown a dominating force on either side of the ball which is unusual - especially on defense. Third, as has been mentioned ad nauseum, many do not see real leadership from any players which, again, is unusual. Just think about how vocal a leader Nakobe Dean was for the Dawgs, even when he was injured on the sidelines. He is just one example. And finally, I have never seen a Dawg team play SO inconsistently from game to game, quarter to quarter, half to half. It's just wierd. We show fleeting moments of brilliance sprinkled with a lot of confusion, poor execution, silly penalties, poor tackling, bad passing routes, poor decisions, bad blocking, etc.
For me, it all comes back to what David Pollack said many weeks ago: I see a lot of very good players on this Georgia team, but not a lot of great.
But why is that the case? That is an interesting question considering our recruiting rankings over the last 3 years:
2024 - #1
2023 - #2
2022 - #3
So, if we aren't losing starting players to the portal then what is happening to the talent we are getting in recruiting? Are they transferring before they have a chance to start? Probably that is what is happening now. We might be losing some really good players that are backups to the portal, because they know they can start on another team. That is the dilemma that Kirby is now facing (along with all other coaches at top programs) with this transfer portal and NIL. Will these guys stick around for 2-3 years, develop into a better player, and wait to become a starter? Some guys will and some guys won't.
So really, this portal is creating more parity to a certain degree, and allowing some teams to get better. And that is one of the goals of the portal.
But could it be coaching as well? I don't know. I question Bobo sometimes, but maybe I shouldn't. Should Muschamp be back in front of the defense? We were spoiled with Monken and Dan Lanning.
“…and process coverages and open receivers quickly.” Really Mike? Three times recently he has literally thrown the ball directly to a defensive back. Admittedly, they were open, but they weren’t wearing a Georgia jersey. IMO that’s not exactly showing an ability to “process coverages.” 🤷♂️
I may be overly optimistic but I really don't see it as lower talent or coaching issues but it does seem to come down to 2 very critical elements (especially on defense) and that is communication and execution. The ability to process looks and react with shifting alignments/assignments has always been one of Georgia's strongest components. Not sure if it is that someone is seeing it and just not communicating or if the communication is there but the execution doesn't follow.
There just seem to be more busted assignments (look at the Mississippi state game - at least 3 or 4 blown assignments on defense) than in the past and I'm just not close enough to know if it is communication or execution failures.
I could nit-pick on specific players in certain circumstances, but I believe @MikeGriffith has raised very valid thoughts on some of these and it may be as good as it gets at this stage. They certainly don't seem to be "coming around" and there seems to be a lack of adaptation and learning from what has been applied to them.
Would love to see a turn around against Texas and get back to rolling. Regardless, Go DAWGS!
@MontanaDawg it is always going to be a challenge for college programs to get great 3-4 defensive players. When Bill Parcells made the 3-4 popular in 80s lots of colleges picked it up, including Bama and Auburn, only to ditch it. The Buddy Ryan 4-6 ruled the next college era (FSU, Nebraska). Saban and Pete Carroll made the 3-4 popular again in the 2000s, but now teams are going with the 4-2-5 to defend the spread.
UGA had issues in the secondary and with the pass rush 2018-2020. 2021 and 2022 made everyone forget this. Bama had the same towards the end of Saban's tenure. May be time for UGA to change schemes. Bama already has. Michigan still runs a 3-4 but Texas, Tennessee and Oregon run a 4-2-5. Why have three big 2 gap DLs and 2 ILBs when no one really runs the football anymore? Muschamp knows the 4-2-5 but raiding another staff or hitting the NFL for new blood might be better.
On offense, mentioned this on a Connor Riley thread @JimWallace. UGA took itself out of recruiting elite WRs when Kirby chose to play QBs who couldn't throw the tough vertical and intermediate passes that NFL scouts want to see those WRs catch in Jake Fromm and SB IV. RB recruiting is more complex. RBs no longer win the Heisman in college or are first round picks with big long term contracts in the NFL. Guys who would have played RB 20 or even 10 years ago are now playing LB, DE, DB and WR. Means there's only 1-2 true big time high school RB prospects a year and at times not even that. UGA hasn't been getting them because they switched from a "pro style with feature RBs" system to a pro-spread hybrid with RB by committee under Monken to fit SB IV's game. As a result UGA went from the #1 RB getting 120 ypg in 2014 and undrafted NFL practice squadder Elijah Holyfield getting 1000 yards as a backup in 2018 to NFL starter James Cook getting 48 ypg in 2021. Nuked UGA's RB recruiting in the process.
Good news is that the years that Arian Smith and Dillon Bell are having with Beck throwing it to them all over the field in Bobo's offense will help the WR recruiting. Bad news: UGA's running game still isn't making a case for choosing them over Texas, Michigan, Oregon, Ohio State (spread team but gives their RBs a ton of carries), Tennessee (see Ohio State) or Texas A&M.
If players want to be developed into draft picks, they had better unpack their bags. The NFL is no longer in the business of developing players. If they are going to spend the bucks for a draft pick, especially a high one, the players had better be ready to play immediately. Their is no better organization to develop players then under Kirby at UGA!
great article. Nailed it! Beck and the two coordinators are our biggest liabilities…
Thanks.
I don't know if what you are saying is correct. I do know it sounds as if you know what you're talking about and that you make a lot of sense.
Still, our recruiting class rankings in recent years have been top tier which leads to the easy conclusion that we should be getting more out of them this season and begs the question as to why we have not been much better this season.
Mike Griffith's article, linked in the OP, addresses some of the problems, but, in my opinion, doesn't answer anything (not blaming Mike). It may be that college football has fundamentally changed such that Kirby's basic plan no longer works.
I knew when we hired Kirby that he would stack layers of talent, develop the layers in waves, and have enormously talented backups, growing and learning while they both contribute and wait to start. What he did worked even better than I anticipated, but it's all been blown up by the transfer portal.
The title of this thread certainly implies everybody is in the same boat, but I'm not sure that's true. Oregon, Texas, and THE seem to be ahead of the rest.
We'll know a lot more late Saturday night.
Happy shaves,
Jim