Hello? Is this thing on?

dapolla, great post and I TOTALLY agree with everything you said about Richt. He has this program back in the NC hunt and receiving the national respect we once had (at least by most). Last year was painful but the way we finished was fantastic and hopefully a prelude to the next several years. People have to remember one thing about college ball (at least in my opinion) and last year's struggles, the QB in college is CRUCIAL to a successful season. Richt made the right decision sticking with Stafford and MADE him grow up and mature in a hurry. Now we will see the fruits of his decision. Richt will bring us a NC back to Athens.

You got that right, brother. Richt is the man.

wlayton, I absolutely agree with you on Stafford's maturing process. I must admit I was a little wary when I heard that CMR had burned the shirt on Stafford, especially with a vet like Joe T and two(!) top QB prospects already waiting in the wings in Cox and Barnes. Of course, it turns out both Barnes and (unfortunately) Joe T were busts, but conventional wisdom says let him play behind the vets first. I didn't get to see the WKU game (was out of town at a family reunion where the game wasn't on) but watched him when he came in for Joe T against SCarolina. \"Amazing arm strength,\" I thought. \"Beautiful spiral,\" I thought. \"He can run the veer!\" I thought. But he didn't look INCREDIBLE.

I think we all agree that the problem with Quincy Carter was that he never matured. QC was Georgia's most highly touted QB prospect until we snagged Joe Cox, but under Donnan he never gained the discipline or the smarts to succeed. Richt turned an overlooked QB (David Greene) into the winningest QB in D1-A history. He turned a standout athelete who would have been simply a running QB at any other university (DJ Shockley) into a thinking, disciplined pocket passer who oh by the way could DEVASTATE you given three inches in which to run, and now he's turning a guy whose arm and accuracy originally reminded me of Preston Jones into a veer quarterback with touch and decision-making skills.

Man, I hadn't thought about Preston Jones in years until that SCarolina game. That boy could throw a thousand miles an hour directly into the ground four feet in front of the receiver, or five hundred miles an hour directly into the 300 section of Sanford Stadium. Thank God for Eric Zeier.

Back to Stafford. We were blanking SCarolina, but that was more on our defense honestly than our offensive play, otherwise the score would have looked more like the UAB 34-0 rout. The first thing I thought after the game was, \"This kid has got to learn some touch.\" Boy, did he! Does anyone remember that fourth-down touchdown pass he threw to Tripp Chandler against MSU? Given the authority to make such choices, I'd pick that TD pass as my favorite on the year, narrowly beating out the winning TD to Massaquoi against Tech. That throw to Chandler was a thing of beauty.

Back to Richt. The man's a quarterback-shaping genius. There, I said it. The hell with David Cutcliffe. You give Erik Ainge to Richt and he'd have three Heismans right now. I'm hoping Stafford stays around long enough to get his three.

I think Stafford will stay at least 2 more years to let Richt and Bobo mold him into his phenominal potential. The next few years are going to be the most exciting of Richt's career and hopefully the most fun as well as we march to a NC.

HEY, where's kentdaddy and UnderDog37 ???? I think we would all like to hear their thoughts on the G-Day game. Right? Where have you 2 been lately? I, for one, miss you 2 guy's posts, come on back to the forum.

I also think Stafford will stay at least two more years and will definitely continue to grow and mature under Richt and Bobo. I think he could be a Heisman dark horse by the end of this year and should easily be on the top of watch list for the '08 season, which as I think we all agree, is our NC season. Watching him mature and his decision making improve throughout '06 was amazing, and will only continue to get better. We will definitely be watching him on Sundays, hopefully not until 2010 though.