From Athens- Saturday Morning Thought

Good Morning All,

For the second weekend in row Athens has enjoyed a dusting of snow and ice…. Spring can’t arrive to soon for me..

SD… coffee on the patio watching the bluebirds ….. on hold…..

Athens is still basking in the glow of our Natty… shopping for groceries or pumping gas… it’s like game day… so much Georgia gear everywhere…. Love it

Yes spring ball is just short time away… much remains to be done….hiring new assistants …. Recruiting… portal activities..

Much of this week’s conversation centered around…. Portal … and NIL… and how best to keep them from further destroying

College football….. many ideas floating about…. Not much traction for getting it fixed anytime soon… more like learn

How to survive…. The new normal…..hmmm..

Thanks to the players who decided to return and run it back …. One more time…. Good to have a core of veterans to help grow the younger players…

HC…. Skull sessions will return….

Much more to ponder and mull before September 3rd.. meanwhile… might have to watch fourth quarter of the Natty…again

Pause and give thanks…

Continue to check on family and friends often….

Have a great weekend and a safe week…. Stay well and warm

As always Go Dawgs

Good morning YD...

A frigid 9 degrees in the Queen City this morning. Sun is out - for the time being. Expecting more white stuff tonight & tomorrow all day. Coffee is hot though, steaming from the mug as I type this.

Our national championship offseason proceeds along nicely. Have gotten many well wishes from almost every type of fan - even - hang on for it... - even - Gaytor fans. I've been picking up championship gear here & there as it strikes me. Still having a very difficult time justifying $90 Nike items.

Portal & NIL. Some have posited this will be the death of college FB. It may, or it may not. The transfer portal has morphed in about a nanosecond into straight out college free agency. The end result will yield a near-impossibility to hold a team together for longer than a season. Each season will be a snapshot in time. You build a team season-by-season and hope for 70% retention moving from one season to the next. Attrition is just going to be amplified, and as a head coach of an elite program, this has to be known, accepted and planned for as part of normal business operations.

Those teams that try to avoid the portal (ahem....Clempson anyone?) will be punished for their reticence in using this tool. Those teams who think they're going to build a team in the portal (ahem...A&M, Florida anyone?) will be punished for their foolishness. Recruiting will still be the backbone of team building. Good recruiting will eclipse good transferring all day every day. Our HC knows this.

Lots has been said this week by the talking heads about the one day exit of UGA players. Again - this is to be expected. When you have a team chock full of 4 and 5 stars, the competition is as stiff as it gets for playing time. That's just how things are going to be from now on as long as Kirby Smart runs Georgia's program. In many ways, it's a great problem to have. The problem is that we get to live life from now on as Georgia fans with 20/20 hindsight, because there will be an endless chorus of critics who will spotlight the player that left, flourished in a new system and say "how could Kirby let him get away? What's wrong with Georgia?" Those of us that know college FB will understand that it's unfair to do that kind of critique because it's not just about letting good players get away. It's about players that were beat out for their position by better players, or players that didn't fit into the game scheme our coordinators are designing. Sometimes, players are just better fits elsewhere, and that's a principle of college ball that will always hold true. But unfortunately, a player realizing their potential elsewhere will always be viewed as a slight of the Georgia system, and that is not fair.

I wish all the 2021 Dawgs the best success elsewhere, and thank them for their contributions to this amazing season. But it's next man up. It will always be next man up. Fortunately for us, we have a lot of starry next men waiting.

SD ….l all good points as usual.

Was reading were the portal is a real slippery slope.

Those with the highest star power get fawned over .. those who aren’t sit hoping to get a call…. Which never comes..some have to drop to JR college or lesser conference.. which makes their NFL
Stock questionable …. Scholarships are used to attract star power
Along with bigger NIL contracts..

Maybe the wizards know the best …. is let the market take care of how it shakes out … switching to tea…. Idk might steep a pot of Earl Grey…

Stay warm…. Go Dawgs

Yes.. lots of great players from great recruiting means kids will see the grass being greener elsewhere.

A lot of moves are expected; JT, perfectly understandable even though I think they should limit portal transfers to 1. Some of the secondary.. couldn't get playing time.. got it.

The troubling transfer for me is Burton. 2nd leading receiver only because of a slow start coming off of injury.. poised to possibly be a top guy next year for the defending NC... Had another great kid split for Auburn before him. I figuratively pray our WR room is LOADED, because I still think QB and WR's are keys to prolific offenses now.

God bless and go Dawgs.

Wart …. News is seeping out that JT and Burton want to transfer as a package…. JT loves to throw to the outside…

Burton is an excellent route runner .l… Kiffin was in Athens this week pitching Ole Miss to both of them….

Sounds like the portals version of a Happy Meal

Go Dawgs….