New Beginning, Go Dawgs

As the draft was taking place, Saban managed to broadcast his face in to the living rooms of thousands of potential recruits and their families as he congratulated four players from his most recent National Championship team on their first round selection.  A National championship and four players taken in the first round of the NFL draft, all broadcasted in prime time; that’s a hell of a recruiting statement made by Saban.
Imagine if you were a blue chip high school junior with aspirations of playing professional football someday.  In January you watched Saban lead Alabama to a BCS title and then four months later you watch four of his players go in the first round of the NFL draft.  Why wouldn’t you want to go to Alabama?  Nick Saban can make all your dreams come true.
Saban is a recruiting genius.  Because of his team’s success and the value the NFL places on his players he doesn’t have to go find recruits.  They’ll find him.

Picked the above three paragraphs up on the internet. Probably many of you including myself felt the same when we watched the first round of the NFL Draft. Saban will always have the best of the best looking closely at his program. Many will end up playing for Saban and his coaches, one of which is Kirby Smart, another UGA football person that got away from Athens. Deep down, I do not think that Kirby Smart will leave Saban. Kirby Smart took a look in the recent past at UGA and he realized he was in the best possible situation. He was and is attached at the hip with Coach Saban. If Saban was ever to leave or stop coaching Alabama, Kirby Smart would be the next head coach in Tuscaloosa. Time will tell.

I always wear a happy face when we are able to move a special recruit away from Tuscaloosa and have him end up in Athens. We (UGA) are on a better footing in my opinion because there have been some major changes made in the coaching structure at UGA.

Coach Grantham has had a dramatic effect on defensive football at UGA. Hard to argue that point. Not mentioned too often in the media is the supporting cast that Grantham has put together to help him and our football team move into the elite when discussing defensive football at the college level. Appears to me that he has his right hand man or men when I look at our defensive coaches. Olivadatti in my mind has become somewhat of a “Kirby Smart” type to Grantham.

The NFL Draft would have looked a bit different had some of the UGA players opted for the league over one more year in college football. Sure hope that we can stay injury free and play heads up football this coming season. Means not only a lot to the young men in the draft, means a lot to the recruiting efforts of the Red and Black. I certainly hope that the results of Alabama having four men drafted in the first round does not work against us before the 2013 Class is officially on the dotted line. Have this strange feeling that we might be in for some serious disappointment with the results that Saban is posting on his making it to the NFL stats.

Time for the offense and defense to step it up another notch. Lots of talent on both sides of the ball, however the following season might be somewhat of a toss up, many proven players will be in the draft.

Still believe that we are going to be in for some serious Dawg Fights this season. Hoping that we can play a lot of folks and build for the future. Many of the talking heads are saying we have an easy schedule, not going to agree with that. There are several teams on our schedule that love beating us and they usually play good football or over their heads when we meet up. Florida, Auburn, South Carolina to name a few. There are others on the schedule that need to be watched closely.

This season could be a very special year for Georgia Football and I for one hope that we pull all stops out and let these young men play.

Go Dawgs, Lots of Talent . . .

It "feels" to me that the Dawgs have a chip on their collective shoulders this year.......not only with the coaches and players but the whole Dawg Nation.

There seems to be a team chemistry that hasn't been there for a while now. The coaches look to be on the same page, focused, working together and know they have something special going on in Athens....... the players appear to me that they have made the decision to play for each other rather than just themselves.

Is it just my imagination or does it "feel" like TEAM is back in Athens........coaches and players with a little swagger and an "us against the (CF) world" silent mission going on undetected.........hmmmmm

wlayton, I am in agreement with the "chip on the shoulder" statement. I have one, (or several chips) been around for a couple of years and want to see some changes or adjustments in attitudes. This group has a solid chance to be very special. Say that again . . . . VERY SPECIAL, if they believe in TEAM . . . . .

Hard for me not to agree with the young men in Athens. AM and others have said on more than one occasion that this team is preparing for “big things”.

Cornelius Washington would have been selected in the second round of this years NFL draft had he chose to go that route. Could be a first round selection if he has the year that I believe he will have this season.

Abry Jones on the opposite end of the defensive line is going to be an absolute beast this season. Run stopper with an attitude. Love Abry Jones.

All of us know about #29. When Grantham goes to a four man front, even when it is evident to the offense that four are there and coming, would scare the hell out of me. Lord knows I need some of that.

I truly wish that some of the young men that found themselves in a bad situation this year with the law and our internal forces had paid closer attention to TEAM rather than SELF. That however is over and done with, this could benefit not only these young men, could pay dividends down the road for UGA Football. That last statement was made in hopes that the “light” will go on for these young players.

These young men need only to look at Janoris Jenkins who was booted off of the Florida football team and attended North Alabama to finish his college football. He was definitely a first round pick and ended up I think the 39th pick, not a top 10 or 15 selection. Below is a statement that Janoris Jenkins made after his selection, I hope that he is sincere and maybe some of the young folks at UGA might benefit from his thoughts.

Janoris Jenkins, a cornerback at North Alabama who was kicked off the team at Florida, went to the Rams six picks after they took Quick. Jenkins, holding an infant in his arms, had tears in his eyes as he spoke by phone with the Rams.

"I just be honest," Jenkins said about talking about his past transgressions. "I don't have nothing to hide. That was my past, that was a year ago. I took my second route to go to UNA for a reason, to show people I wasn't a bad kid and I wasn't running from my problems."

Won't go into a long and drawn out affair about Urban Meyer, however Jenkins was an "outlaw" from his first day on campus and Meyer was more than aware as were some that were higher up in the administration. Not going to call names at this point.

For some of our young players, this is not the first slip and if they don’t realize that the NFL is looking at this kind of behavior, then they are truly past help. No I did not correct the words that came out of Jenkins’ mouth in the bold paragraph above, another good reason to do what he does best, he will not be writing articles for any publication. That is not a slap at Jenkins, it is the truth, the young man needs to understand how he can take care of his child. Too many of these young men fail to realize that this might be their only chance to move forward. Many choose athletics and not academics, what sense does it make to lower your odds any further. Not a time for "tears", time to get your BUTT IN GEAR and do what you do best.

Noticed that one time UGA football player now with the Vikings has found himself in trouble again. He won’t be writing articles after football either. Wake up young men and I have to say this, probably pping some off . . . . #9 you have everything that the NFL is looking for, GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR BUTT. Even you don’t get that many chances. (Number two for you #9 at this point) Talent is one thing, stupidity does not take TALENT . . . Ogletree. You are selfish along with your teammate, #18 Bacarri Rambo, who will be lucky to be drafted before the 7th round next season because of his excuse making for a lack of being a responsible young man. Some of your teammates want to do something special this season, join them, could really do a lot to improve your chances at the next level.

Lots of chirping in Missouri, get ready, they will be prepared, even though some of our talent is "self centered" and not ready to be "team players", maybe some of the "real team players" will be ready for Columbia and proudly wear the Red and Black.

Go Dawgs, Lots of Talent . . . . this needs to be the year.

Have wanted to comment on Garcia selecting Florida for his next team to play for. Took a period of time for me to understand or try to understand his choice. Think that I have a grip on his decision, at least this is what I think part of his reasoning might be.

Garcia chose to cast his lot with Maryland rather than signing on with UGA coming out of high school. Do not have a clue as to why, from all I have read since he left Maryland and put his hat back in the ring. He said that he wanted to play for UGA, but he had that chance before leaving the State of Georgia. Appears to me that he saw some changes in the UGA recruits that would be coming to campus. Garcia has to sit out a year, so who is he going to replace after these young pups have a year or two under Friend, not sure he could replace anyone two years from now. Maybe Garcia is that good, guess we will find out in due time.

I want to believe that we have the right coach teaching and leading the offensive line in Athens. I look at the recent draft and I see our two top offensive linemen going in the latter rounds. Understand that offensive linemen usually go in the latter rounds or further down the line unless they are very special.

Leather Helmet has an article on Coach Joe T sending a letter out to the incoming players letting them know that they had better bring their lunch boxes and hard hats with them when they check in. I really believe that the changes that have been made in the S&C area might be the most important changes that UGA has made in several years. Just believe that we had become a bit lax in certain phases of our football program. That was noticeable on the field, especially when we discuss running out of energy after the half and Florida players pointing out the fact that we were winded. Even after the Florida players were pointing that fact out, it continued until some changes were made in the recent past.

Who knows, maybe we have the right folks leading our young men in the right direction now. Over the years we have seen many talented young men come to UGA with high expectations, only to be disappointed with the outcome. Maybe now we have hitched our wagon up to coaches that want to move up and be all that. I sure hope so.

Go Dawgs . . . . Build That Offensive Line . . . .

The following article taken from Seth Emerson reporting for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer keeps the fire burning. All parties seem be on the same basic page. Really like Hines Ward's thoughts about young men leaving the State of Georgia.

www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/04/30/20309...e.html#storylink=rss

Speaking of a NEW BEGINNING, below is one poll that is very interesting to me. One college named here in the top 25 has film for all to see. All part of the Urban Meyer/Ohio State privileged coverage.

College Football Live's 2012 preseason top 25:

1. USC
2. LSU
3. Alabama
4. Oregon
5. Oklahoma
6. Georgia
7. Florida St.
8. South Carolina
9. Arkansas
10. Michigan
11. West Virginia
12. Michigan State
13. Kansas State
14. TCU
15. Stanford
16. Wisconsin
17. Nebraska
18. Clemson
19. Virginia Tech
20. Ohio State
21. Oklahoma State
22. Texas
23. Boise State
24. Notre Dame
25. Florida

Edit: Noticed that the film I mentioned, Ohio State/Urban Meyer did not show in this post. ESPN site has the film.

Site posted below, commercial runs, when over move down the college list to Ohio State, should be able to see what is mentioned above.

espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/...ive-preseason-top-25