The Loyalty Factor

Didn't link to it this morning, but I wanted to point out Chip Towers' great blog post today about the complete insanity of teams like Ole Miss completely ignoring signing limits this year. The Rebels inked 38 players on signing day, despite an NCAA limit of 25 (and perhaps fewer depending on your total number of available scholarships). They were the high-water mark for signees, but they were hardly alone in going a bit overboard.

For anyone who has complained about the quality or size of Georgia's class this year -- and I can't believe there are many complainers -- keep in mind that this kind of overkill on signing day is something Mark Richt never does.

At the end of the day, a number of those Ole Miss recruits are likely not to qualify, but regardless, there's a good chance that at least a few will end up having their scholarship offers pulled. If they don't, the alternative is to pull the scholarship of a player already on the team.

Without naming names, there are probably a few guys on the UGA roster right now who aren't exactly earning their scholarship dollars, but Richt has made a point of repeatedly saying that he will never pull someone's scholarship once it is offered. Richt, Rodney Garner and the other UGA coaches are very deliberate in their approach during recruiting, and they only make offers to kids they want in Athens. Once the offer is made, it stays on the table until the kid graduates (assuming he doesn't run afoul of the law).

True, this approach can be problematic when you lose six underclassmen as Georgia did this year (Michael Lemon, Walter Hill, Donavon Baldwin, Asher Allen, Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno), but the fact remains that the sort of loyalty UGA has shown to its recruits pays off in the long run. When a guy commits to Georgia, he knows its a two-way street.

(SIDE NOTE: At the end of Chip's blog, he links to Jeff Owens' new blog. It was really just a matter of time, and I can't think of a player on the team better suited to do it. Still... what's the over/under before Jeff gets into hot water for divulging something he shouldn't? Let's just hope he does't pull a Chris Cooley.)