UGA blog finds new home
Morning all. As I’ve said a couple of times this week, we’re converting this blog over to a WordPress platform and it will be a permanent move the first of next week.
Those of you who are regulars probably know that I’m not what you’d call techno-wizard when it comes to these things. But from what I understand the technology offered in this new format should make the blogging and commenting experience better for all. Of course, I’ll be learning as we go along, too. But I’m hoping to provide more pictures and video and things like that which should bring the blog more to life.
Of course, this blog is nothing without all you guys so I want to heartily invite (read: beg) you to come over to the new site by CLICKING HERE ON THE NEW ADDRESS and save it in your browsers. As of Monday, Feb. 23rd, this will be the permanent home of the UGA blog you so love or, in the case of some of you, love to loathe. If you’d prefer to copy and paste or just memorize, the new address is: http://blogs.ajc.com/uga-sports-blog/.
See at the new place!
AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2008 > July > 29
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
More busts than stars in recruiting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A week or so ago we talked about the true freshmen you thought might actually get some playing time this coming season and, as expected, that was a pretty lively blog. I bring that up because I want to revisit the freshmen again today.
Like it or not, there is a huge body of evidence pointing to the fact that, in any given class, you’re probably going to have as more busts as you are true-blue stars. Case in point, check out the 2004 and 2005 classes, some members of which make up the seniors on this year’s team.
For the purpose of this little exercise, I gave the players of those classes three ratings based on the way their careers have gone to this point: OK - which means they have played and/or contributed regularly throughout their careers; Busts — which means Georgia basically got nothing out of them; and Stars — which obviously means they had exceptional careers and perhaps earned first-team, all-conference or All-America honors and/or became early NFL draft selections.
In the cases of both of those classes, the Dogs had twice as many Busts as Stars and about 10 OKs. Now I don’t label a player a star very liberally so you may not agree with my logic. But I feel like at the very least coaches are expecting the players they recruit to be starting as juniors and seniors so that’s not distinction enough to be “star.” I also don’t label somebody a bust just because the recruiting websites gave them 5-stars or whatever. The busts would be through the roof if you did that, which says more about the people doing the ratings than the recruiters or the players. Also I might consider elevating a one or two players to star status depending on how they do this season.
Here’s a breakdown so you can see for yourself:
2004 Class (20 players): OK (10) - OL Chester Adams, DB Remarcus Brown, WR A.J. Bryant, LB Dannell Ellerbe, WR Demiko Goodman, WR Kenneth Harris, S Kelin Johnson, DE Jeremy Lomax, LB Brandon Miller, TB Danny Ware; Busts (7) - QB Blake Barnes, WR Jamar Bryant, DB Michael Grant, LB Josh Johnson, DE Brandon Lang, DB Antonio Sims, OL Seth Watts; Stars (3) - TB Thomas Brown, DE Charles Johnson, FB Brannan Southerland;
2005 Class (19 players): OK (10) - DB Donavan Baldwin, DE Rod Battle, S CJ Byrd, TE Tripp Chandler, QB Joe Cox, LB Darius Dewberry, CB Bryan Evans, WR Michael Moore, LB Marcus Washington, DL Kade Weston; Busts (7) - WR Jamar Bryant (signed again after Hargrave Prep), LB Jamar Chaney, DB Antavious Coates, LB Tavares Kearney, DL Corey Moon, DL Brandon Sesay, OL Ian Smith; Stars — WR Mohamed Massaquoi, DT Jeff Owens.
So you see, while all the players teams sign seem great coming out of high school, only a very few of them actually turn out to be. That applies not just to Georgia, but everywhere. Nothing new there but it hits home when broken down.
Utilizing that same logic, which players from this class do you think will end up being certifiable stars? I’m sure none of you will admit any of these guys could end up being busts but, odds are, more of them will be than will make it big.
Here’s the list of 2008 freshmen to help you along. I’ve omitted ATH Xavier Avery (pro baseball) and DL Toby Jackson (prep school) for the moment since they won’t be on campus this fall: DB Brandon Boykin, DB Sanders Commings, LB Marcus Dowtin, OL Cordy Glenn, WR A.J. Green, DL A.J. Harmon, RB Dontavius Jackson, OL Ben Jones, WR Tavarres King, DE Jeremy Longo, OL Jonathan Owens, DB Makiri Pugh, DB Bacarri Rambo, LB Christian Robinson, TE Bryce Ros, RB Richard Samuel, RB Carlton Thomas, DL DeAngelo Tyson, PK Blair Walsh, DE Cornelius Washington, DB Nick Williams.
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