Georgia needed some wins on the recruiting trail, and it got a couple big ones on Thursday night.
Valdosta High School teammates Jay Rome and Malcolm Mitchell, each a consensus top 100 prospect, offered their commitments to Georgia within hours of each other.
Rome, the top tight end recruit in the country, announced his commitment to the Bulldogs during a broadcast on ESPNU. He had been considered a strong lean to Georgia for awhile, so it was no surprise when - after first saying nice things about Alabama, his second choice - he pulled out and donned a Georgia hat.
“Georgia’s a great school, they have a great football history," Rome said on the air. "People call it Tight End U. And at the end of the day I wanted to stay in state.”
A short time later, Mitchell announced his commitment, also picking Georgia over Alabama. Mitchell's leaning were more of an unknown, according to recruiting experts, so that was perhaps a bigger lift to the Bulldogs.
Mitchell is the nation's 30th-ranked overall prospect, according to Rivals.com. The 6-foot-1, 187-pounder projects as a defensive back who can also play offense and special teams.
The pair were a huge coup for the Bulldogs, and they might not be done: They're still in the running for tailback Isaiah Crowell and DE-LB Ray Drew, another pair of in-state top 50 recruits.
Rome was asked about the pair by the ESPNU crew.
“Isaiah, Ray, come be a Dawg," Rome said. "We can have a dream team, and we can do it.”
Georgia is aiming for a strong finish on the recruiting trail, after a 6-7 season that left many expecting head coach Mark Richt to be on the hot seat in 2011. Rome was also asked about that during the broadcast.
“I believe Mark Richt is a great coach, and I just don’t’ believe he’s going anywhere anytime soon," Rome said. "I believe if we get a couple more guys that we need this class, we’ll have everything we need … to be a great football team.”
Rome fits a long-term need for Georgia, but short-term the Bulldogs have junior Orson Charles and seniors Aron White and Bruce Figgins at tight end. Arthur Lynch, a sophomore, also redshirted this season.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
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37 comments:
This is great, but at the same time I have a hard time getting excited about another tight end
Yes sir dream team alive
how about some two tightend sets? Mix it up with all the talent at that position.
GREAT NEWS
if orson leaves early i wouldn't be surprised to see jay become the starter as a sophomore or redshirt freshman.
he's a great receiving tight end and an awesome pick up.
Mitchell is next...
Remember what Aaron Hernandez did to us and the rest of the East last couple years? That's gonna be Rome for the next couple years.
Need to start using Charles in the slot like Indy uses their TE's. Can go 3 wide (including Charles) then a TE and Rb. Great pick up for Richt and hopefully it will get rolling and we can get a few more guys like Crowell, Jenkins, Mitchell and Drew.
Forget the 2 TE set, how about the 3 TE set? Stanford ran it last year and smoked VT with it in the bowl game. You think Bobo noticed it? Could also boost the run game. YO, EMERSON, CAN YOU ADD THAT TO THE QUESTION LIST next time you talk to Richt, Bobo, et al and see if they have thought about that? Sorry for the caps but wanted to draw attention to it.
Also, all you bandwagon Dawg fans saying who cares about another TE and bashing Strickland, whom if you know anything about what that KID has gone through is a DGD. And for those who don't know what DGD is, please never visit this site again, sell your UGA garb on Ebay and stay out of Athens.
Where are the posters complaining about CMR closing with recruits now?
3 TE Set? how bout the "jumbo jet formation" Rome, White, Charles, Figgins. split em all out.
I was really surprised that they didn't use Charles in more H-back roles while AJ was suspended (Think Dallas Clark at Indy). My only thoughts are 1) that they didn't want to make such serious shift in offensive philosophy to address a situation which would only last 1/3rd of the season, and 2) they didn't feel that they should put such extra responsibility on Murray his first year as a starter.
Given that Murray has shown he can handle it, and given that the depth of talent at TE far exceeds what we have a WR at the moment, I'm hoping that Bobo will give it some thought this year.
SETH: if you could, next time you have an interview with Richt or Bobo, could you slip in the question "With all the talent the Dawgs currently have at Tight End, have you or Bobo considered moving one to WR, or implementing a H-Back role like the one Dallas Clark plays in Indianapolis?"
Very surprised by the Mitchell decision. Go DAWGS!!
Awesome news! I hope everyone stays on board until signing day. Let's get Ray Drew, that beast Jenkins, and Isaiah Crowell. That would surely be a talented team capable of a championship.
The 2 Rome were referring to had to be Crowell & Jenkins. Get those 2, and this team will be great eventually. Grad Dew on top fo that, and it's a slam dunk #1 class.
let's hope this gives us some momentum and inspires the rest of the "dream team" to come on board!
Give A TON of credit to Richt and especially Bobo. They did a great job landing Mitchell. What happened today was a big coup against Bama.
Aint nothing done till its official anyway. I dont get too excited about recruits till they play a damn down in college football. you can look at highlight films all you want but remember its against high school competition. Some guys look like world beaters till that get into SEC play which is a big difference. These recruiting sites have been blowing smoke up UGA's rear end for the last 5 years and nothing has panned out yet.
Yeah.... wish folks would cut out this "Dream Team Crap. All its doing is setting up UGA to be a laughing stock once again. Im so sick of "Finish the Drill" Lets stop the gimmicks and start learning to play some smash mouth football first.
hey anonymous, great negativity there. For the love of it, just enjoy some good news about the program with some talented and sought after kids.
I hate the small segment of UGA "fans" that are gonna bitch and find the glass half full no matter what....
GO DAWGS!!!
Anon generally = negative dickhead.
Thanks for wasting UGA fans' time.
http://dawg-extra.blogspot.com/2011/01/barnes-youre-not-gonna-get-that-call.html?showComment=1295417724479#c2754728180305939254
“I'm not a big fan of Mark Richt or of the current status of the football program.”
by Rick
CSA,
Championship CSA ? Who is the Fullback ? Who is the Tailback ? Who are the OL ? Who is Strong Safety ? Who is Free Safety ? I hardly think 169 lbs guys are the bruisers we need at Safeties.
2 best recruits are QB with us having Aaron Murray who will take every snap for the next three (3) years you told me. And, at TE where we now have Five (5) of those. Redshirt, then, Jay Rome ? We threw the football 2 times a game all season long to Orson Charles TE. The next TE had 9 catches all season long. The 3rd string TE had 4 catches all season long.
We now have 3 cornerbacks committed. Which 1 of them is odd man out ?
2 TE sets ? That is what you said this time LAST YEAR about Aron White who made all of 9 caches 2010.
I give Mark Richt a ton of credit - for recruiting all these players here and then LOSING 21 games the last Five (5) years, an average of more than 4 losses per year.
And, he gets a ton of credit for being # 4 vs SEC teams in the Mark Richt 10-year era.
And, for the 120 arrests in his 10 year career to-date.
Will we beat South Carolina, Missy State, Florida and Auburn - we absolutely had better win the rest. But at 3-9 vs teams finishing in the Top 10 AP Poll the entire Mark Richt era and another 10 losses to teams not even finishing in the Top 25 AP Poll - what ?
9-4 good for # 32 in nation won / lost
Stacy Searels left because he hates Mike Bobo - for making his OL look so bad all 4 years here.
Here is 1 you will enjoy :
http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/2011/sec-coaches-power-ranking-jan-20/
Too bad some "fans" can't enjoy starting off with a good off season. Go Dawgs!
Some of you kool aid drinkers just dont get it. We've been through these supposedly great great recruiting classes before. Let me clue you all in on something. Its the damn coaching period and it aint getting done. But all of you kool aid drinkers will be welcome to join in 2012 when UGA has a new head coach and see the real changes.
Like Fran said UGA is in BIG BIG trouble. This recruiting class isnt ranke in the top 10 while Bama ,South Carolina and Clemson are cleaning our clocks.
If you have anything negative about us landing two top 30 overall players in country(rivals) than you need some happy pills. If you love UGA and dawgs then it is good news. Having to weed out some fair weather fans that came on board at beginning of richt era. This is great news!!!
Go Dawgs!!!
So anon... Are you happy with the status quo for the last 4 years? Go drink your Kool Aid and I'll take a "Happy Pill".
Mark Richt won with Donnan recruits and coach BVG. He hasnt done squat since and that includes 2007 when UGA lost at home to pathetic SC without scoring a friggin TD.
Seth, what have you heard about the recruitment of Stephone Anthony, the LB from Anson H.S. in NC? I know we are investing a lot of time into Drew, but considering we're rather thin at LB, I do not see why Anthony wouldn't be a top priority, too.
Mark Richt. It's sad really. ALL COACHES HAVE BAD YEARS! You can't win 10+ game every year. Look at all successful coaches and you will see that they have had bad years. Dooley had bad years, Bowden had bad years, Paterno had bad years, and the list goes on and on. Have a little patience for once and you will see that good things come to those who wait.
Anon I said it is an good thing got two commits from top 30 players. You may not like Richt and think needs to be change but to say getting two top recruits is bad don't understand. I think your anger is at Richt and coaches for last couple year performance I get that but landing these two guys are a good thing whether Richt is there in 2012 or not!
Georgia is cleaning up in state. They have 4 of top 6 and could wind up with all 6 of the top players in the state. So far only LSU and Bama have better classes in the SEC, and we could surpass them. Even if we don't, they don't play in our division. Looks like the bitter Charlies on here are afraid they won't get their wish. Haha.
Nice to see that some are sticking to the negative toughguy on the internet.
Thanks for the humor.
And to the current commitments we have, I'm glad to have you on board.
I don't get it. Are all the negative posters insane?
I'm serious: why in the hell are you people investing so much time and energy into something you clearly hate? You hate it that much, stop following the Bulldogs until the changes you want are made, because things aren't going to change just because you're bellyaching anonymously on the Internet!
Seriously, I can't imagine how bad your life must be if you are incapable of being happy about any successes the football team has.
Take your petty bitterness and your crap attitude elsewhere, please.
Oh, and that Saturdays Down South blog post ranking SEC coaches? Utter garbage shot through with contradictions and flawed reasoning. Thank you for pointing it out to me, I needed to kill off a few extra brain cells by reading that mess.
Josh said...
“Mark Richt. It's sad really. ALL COACHES HAVE BAD YEARS! Have a little patience for once and you will see that good things come to those who wait. “
Based on the fact that we really haven’t done anything against the teams who finished that season as 1 of top teams any year of the Mark Richt era, and based upon the fact that we lose a game to a team not finishing ranked at all at a pace of 1 a year the entire Mark Richt era, along with being the 2nd worst University in the nation in Arrests / Suspensions over the entire Mark Richt era – indeed, it could not possibly get any worse.
Therefore that means we will beat the teams finishing in the Top 10 and Top 25, while not losing to the teams finishing not even ranked, you win the DISNEYdawgs.com Award of the Day to invoke a Heinz ketchup commercial from 30 years ago.
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