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Recruiting decisions and injuries that changed UGA’s trajectory
Bankwalker
Posts: 5,348 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
Im going to go back as far as Ray Goff. If Robert Edwards hadnt broken his foot against UT, then I firmly believe UGA would have won the SEC in 1995. Recruiting would have surged again, and ole Ray would have been given an extension and lasted at least another 5-6 years. Probably longer with the way the AA works. Heck, he might have lucked in to another SEC title and probably signs the kids who wound up leading Tennessee to a NC. At a minimum, the Edwards injury led indirectly to UT winning their NC. Guys from GA such as Cosey Coleman and Deon Grant were the heart and soul of that Vol team.
Donnan would have never been HC for Georgia, which also means Quincy Carter doesnt start at QB against S Carolina. Would that have been our year? The same talent, and possibly more, would have still been on campus.
What if UGA had chosen to sign Jamal Lewis alongside, or perhaps instead of, Jasper Sanks? It is hard to imagine not trying to sign Sanks at the time, but having Lewis in Athens instead of in Knoxville would have been significant.
Would Richt have still been the choice by the time Goff was either fired or stepped down? Do we ever get to Kirby Smart? Richt would certainly still be the coach if Aaron Murray had been able to guide the team 5 more yards against Bama in 2012. We would all be fine with that scenario, too. Well not “all” but anyone with half a brain would trade a 2012 natty in exchange for not having Kirby today.
What if Terrence Edwards had caught the pass against UF in 2002? That was another national title shot down the drain.
What if Richt had signed Deshaun Watson instead of Brice Ramsey? At a minimum, those idiots in orange to our East dont have their NC banner, which by itself would be nice. We also wouldnt have seen Ramsey out there running around on 4th down trying to decide whether to punt or pass in the NC game a few weeks ago, before finally squibbing a punt.
A play here. A key injury there. A decision to sign one kid over another. Im tired of being close and would like to think all of these years of heartbreak will someday be paid back to us with years of tears of joy.
Comments
Or even further...what if they hired Erk Russell instead of Ray Goff?
Perhaps a little less obvious... but what about DJ Shockley's injury in 2005? We lost two games that year. The game he missed (against Florida) and the first game he came back (Against Auburn). He played great against Auburn... but if he weren't recovering from a MCL sprain could we have won that game rather than losing by 1 point? Would we have won vs. Florida instead of having a 10-14 loss with Joe Tereshinski?
That team was very close to a perfect regular season, and the two losses were right when Shockley was hurt or coming back from injury.
And we could’ve avoided West Virginia in the sugar bowl. Don’t think the BCS lets us party with Trojans and horns on a collision course that year
Well....yeah. There's that, too. (Sigh)
Interesting thought. That would make an excellant poll question. Would people trade one possible NC (remember we still would had to bear ND.... but i believe we would have) for still having Richt here.
True... we very probably would have gotten Auburned.