Experts: Recruiting is the least of Bulldogs' problems

By Chip Towers

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Based on the recruiting rankings of thepast five years, Georgia should be standing nose-to-nose with Florida on the football field. Instead, only the Gators are standing -- with their collective foot on the Bulldogs' neck.

Georgia has lost to the Gators  90-27 over the past two seasons and  seven of  the nine times under coach Mark Richt. Yet in virtually every recruiting poll posted over five years, the Bulldogs have been among the top teams in the country, always within a spot or two of Florida, if not actually ahead.

In fact, taking an average rating from the three most recognized recruiting rankings -- Rivals.com, Scout.com and ESPNU -- Georgia actually finished ahead of the Gators three of the last five years.

"If one team is ranked fifth and another team 10th, that's really splitting hairs," said Jamie Newberg, a national recruiting expert for Rivals.com and a former Atlanta resident. "You're talking about, what, one player?"

So what gives?

Newberg believes it's coaching -- in one area in particular.

"I'm a little prejudiced because I'm a huge Brian VanGorder fan," Newberg said of the Bulldogs' former defensive coordinator now with the Falcons.  "I was in Atlanta during that whole time, and I thought what he did defensively was unbelievable. If you look at when he left to now, there has been a slow erosion defensively."

There is statistical evidence to that end. Georgia gave up 30 or more points only once in VanGorder's four seasons as defensive coordinator. The Bulldogs have yielded 30 or more 15 times under Willie Martinez, including 37 or more in nine of the past 16 games.

"I think that has been the biggest difference between Georgia being a great team and not being a great team, defense," Newberg said. "I don't care what happens in this league, that's what is going to win and lose championships. Defense is why Florida has won two of the last three national championships and could make it three out of four."

The Bulldogs have signed highly touted defensive players. Of their regular starters, five earned at least one five-star distinction as recruits: defensive tackle Geno Atkins, linebacker Darius Dewberry, free safety Reshad Jones, cornerback Branden Smith and defensive tackle Kade Weston. Only three starters -- defensive end Demarcus Dobbs, defensive end Justin Houston and linebacker Darryl Gamble -- received any ratings below 4 stars.

"I don't know if maybe those kids were overvalued or maybe they're not getting coached up," Newberg said. "What I believe is it's probably somewhere in the middle. I certainly can't sit here and say they missed out on Player X, Y and Z and that's why they're 4-4 right now because they've gotten a lot of players everybody else wanted."

Tommy Tuberville coached against the current Georgia staff for the past nine years at Auburn. He, too, doesn't think it's recruiting. But he also doesn't think it's coaching.

"A lot of times guys don't pan out, guys that have four or five stars; that happens to everybody," said Tuberville, who is a college football analyst for ESPN after being fired by Auburn last year. "And I'm not saying that's what happened. But I know a lot of times you bring those guys in there that are supposed to be war daddies and they never materialize."

Tuberville said losing Matthew Stafford, Knowshon Moreno and Asher Allen early to the NFL draft was more harmful to the Bulldogs than anything. Conversely, Florida was able to get back Tim Tebow, Brandon Spikes and Jermaine Cunningham for their senior seasons.

"You've got to prepare each team three and four years in advance and that takes a lot of luck," Tuberville said. "The year we went undefeated (2004), I had no idea we'd get Ronnie [Brown] and Carnell [Williams] back. That was lucky. Florida got Tebow and Spikes and some other guys back; Georgia loses Stafford and Moreno and Allen. A lot of it is luck.

"Now it's going to be a transition year for Florida next year. We'll have to see how they do."

But Tuberville said Georgia's recruiting has been more than adequate.

"We always thought if we could get 15 players that could contribute out of the 20 to 25 we'd sign, that'd be a good recruiting class," he said. "They didn't have to be great players, just good SEC players. Then you could win a lot of football games. Some years, you'd get 20 or 22 and that's going to be a group that's going to turn into something. But you're always going to make some mistakes."