Just in case there was confusion, UGA’s Mark Richt made it clear that homegrown talent was his No. 1 recruiting priority.
The Bulldogs coach was asked about this year’s hot start in recruiting by reporters at last week’s announcement about the SEC Network. Last month, Georgia made a big splash by landing commitments from two out-of-state recruits who are ranked among the top five nationally at their respective positions – running back Sony Michel of Plantation, Fla., and tight end Jeb Blazevich of Charlotte.
Richt made a few general statements about the out-of-state efforts, but then realized that he may have made too big of a deal about it. Not wanting to risk confusing any in-state recruits or UGA fans, Richt politely asked a reporter if he could clarify.
“It sounds like we’re spending a lot of time out of state and all that kind of thing,” Richt said. “The thing I explained … is that we were allowed to start recruiting (in the NCAA Evaluation Period) two weeks ago; But (the GHSA) doesn’t practice until now. So it just made sense practically to hit some of those out-of-state guys while we’re waiting for our guys to start practicing. Now we hit a good bit of Georgia, too. But philosophically, the state of Georgia is definitely our priority.
“Sometimes people might read into ‘Hey, they’ve been out of state a lot. Maybe that their priority.’ It’s not the priority as much as the practicality of taking care of business with those out-of-state teams that don’t have spring ball, and making sure to be in our state when it counts the most – when they’re having spring ball. I didn’t know if the fan base really understood it.”
UGA has five commitments for 2014, including three from within the state. Last February, the Bulldogs signed 33 prospects, including 22 from Georgia.
“Recruiting Georgia, that part has stayed the same philosophically,” Richt said. “Somebody was saying ‘Hey, this year in particular you seem to be out of state more.' But what I was saying to him is that our coaches practically are out on the road, a lot of them are out of state because it’s more important that we’re in our state when our teams are actually having spring ball. Now we’re heavily into Georgia for the all the time that our high school teams are practicing football in the spring.
“It’s much better to get an evaluation obviously when they’re practicing, so if anybody is thinking that Georgia is going out of state before Georgia, that’s not true.”
What about UGA’s out-of-state recruiting? Richt initially got on that topic when he was asked about the far-reaching effects of the SEC Network. ESPN said it won’t be a regional network, but a national one.
“There’s a bunch of great players outside of the state of Georgia,” Richt said. “So we’re going to continue to recruit out of state but when we do go out of state, we expect them to be a bell ringer. We expect them to be a national blue-chip guy. And that’s not going to change.
“There’s a good chance that there will be some kid (in) California that’s watching the SEC Network and sees something about Georgia, and he asks his coach how can I get ahold of Georgia. And we may get a call from a kid who is phenomenal and sees something he likes.
“When you go that far away, I think there’s got to be something there, other than just making a cold call. There’s got to be something that resonates with him about your school that’s going to give you a legitimate shot. It’s one thing to get them on a visit, you know, and it’s another to really get a guy to come, and get a guy, once he gets there, to be comfortable and stay because that’s a long ways to go from home.
“But there’s some guys that have come in and done well. And again, when you’re looking for that special player out of state, and they come, their chance of competing and playing, historically our guys from out of state have done pretty well because we’re looking for a special kid."
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