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Monday, January 24, 2011

Recruiting: Where things stand

The stretch drive is upon us, with National Signing Day just a little more than 200 hours away, as of blog press time.

For those of you who are breathlessly following every little recruiting detail – “OMG breaking news, Jonathan Jenkins had a great time on his visit to Athens, OMG OMG OMG!!!” – there won’t be much new here.

But for everyone else, hopefully this is a decent catch-up. As in our previous versions this is broken into three parts:

- First, a ranking of the most important current Georgia commitments. The criteria for “most important” is a combination of immediate impact, long-range potential, and filling a need position. A list that is purely a snapshot in time and a wild guess into the future. In other words, a list I guarantee to eventually be wrong.

- Next, the top remaining targets on Georgia’s big board: Not to say anyone not on the list has no chance of signing with Georgia, but according to the experts, these are the main focus at this point for the Bulldogs.

- An update on what to watch this week, in terms of potential announcements.

The most important current commitments (With height, weight and star-rankings by Scout.com, Rivals.com and 247.com)

1. DB-WR Malcolm Mitchell, Valdosta, Ga.
6-1 …… 190 ….. 4-4-4
2. TE Jay Rome, Valdosta, Ga.
6-6 ….. 240 …… 5-4-4
3. QB Christian LeMay, Matthews, NC (enrolled)
6-2 …. 188 ... 4-4-4
4. MLB Amarlo Herrera, College Park, Ga.
6-2 …. 215 …4-4-4
5. CB Nick Marshall, Rochelle, Ga.
6-2 …. 186 ….4-4-4
6. DB-ATH Damian Swann, Atlanta, Ga.
6-0 …. 175 … 4-4-4
7. S Corey Moore, Griffin, Ga.
6-1 …. 185 ….4-4-4
8. OT Zach DeBell, Tarpon Springs, Fla.
6-7 …. 265 ….3-4-3
9. C David Andrews, Norcross, Ga.
6-2 …. 276 ….3-3-3
10. S Chris Sanders, Tucker, Ga.
6-0 …. 173 …4-3-3
11. OT Watts Dantzler, Dalton, Ga.
6-7 …. 310 … 3-3-3
12. WR Justin Scott-Wesley, Camilla, Ga.
5-11 … 202 …3-4-4
13. WR Chris Conley, Dallas, Ga. (enrolled)
6-2 … 185 …..4-3-3
14. DE Sterling Bailey, Gainesville, Ga.
6-4 …. 230 …..3-4-3
15. DT Chris Mayes, Griffin, Ga.
6-5 …. 292 …..3-4-3
16. LB Ramik Wilson, Tampa, Fla.
6-3 …. 218 …. 3-3-3
17. G Hunter Long, Memphis, Tenn.
6-4 …. 290 ……3-3-3
18. CB Devin Bowman, Ridgeland, Ga.
6-0 …. 175 ….3-3-3
19. WR Sanford Seay, Leesburg, Ga.
6-2 … 198 ….. 3-3-3
20. LS Nathan Theus, Jacksonville, Fla.
6-3 …. 252 ….. 2-2-2
21. LB Quintavious Harrow, Columbus, Ga.
5-11 ….. 190 ….. 2-3-2

Mitchell and Rome, who committed last week, immediately moved up and bumped LeMay from the top spot. Mitchell, whose position destination is unknown, becomes the highest-rated commitment for Georgia so far. Rome is regarded by most experts as the nation’s top tight end prospect, so his value is more long term.

Harrow arrives at the bottom of the list, but for all his family and friends reading this, a lot of people viewed Zander Ogletree as a throw-in too, but he could be the starting fullback as a true sophomore.

(I also realize that I could rank Harrow higher because of the importance to getting Crowell. But I could also rank Theus higher for trying to get his brother next year. Frankly, we could say that about a lot of these kids and their friendships, so I’m just not including that as a factor here.)

The most important (known) players left on the board

1. RB Isaiah Crowell, Columbus, Ga.
6-0 ….. 210 …. 5-5-5
2. DE Ray Drew, Thomasville, Ga.
6-5 ….. 248 …. 4-5-4
3. DT John Jenkins, Mississippi Gulf Coast JUCO
6-4 …. 340 ….. 4-4-NR
4. OT Antonio Richardson, Nashville, Tenn.
6-6 …. 310 …. 4-4-4
5. ILB Kent Turene, Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.
6-3 …. 230 ….. 3-3-NR
6. Taylor Gadbois, Dallas, Ga.
6-8 …. 295 ….. 3-3-NR

Four of these guys (Crowell, Jenkins, Richardson and Turene) were on their visits over the weekend. Richardson, Turene and Gadbois are new additions to this list. Richardson would be a huge get, but he’s still considered a longshot for Georgia. Turene did not commit on his visit, despite some rumblings, so who knows what eventually will happen there.

Gadbois is committed to Miami but just got offered a scholarship by Georgia. (Interestingly enough, despite Cordy Glenn and Trinton Sturdivant announcing their returns, the Bulldogs have continued to offer offensive line prospects.)

- What to watch this week:

Drew is set to announce on Friday. Most people think he’s leaning towards Georgia, but Drew has sent some mixed signals.

Crowell is still slated for signing day. Jenkins could announce any day. While Georgia is technically limited to 25 new freshmen on scholarship next year, as I explained in the over-signing blog, there's some leeway here. So if Georgia wants to extend scholarship offers to Crowell's entire offensive line at Carver High School, it can and then sort it out later.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not a big deal or anything, but Rivals has released updated rankings and both Drew & Crowell got a 5th star. Also, Harrow is now a 2 star on Scout and a 3 star on Rivals.

Gravidy said...

Ahhh, Anon beat me to it. I was gonna post about Cootie suddenly getting some "star love" from Scout and Rivals. Funny how that works, huh?

Anonymous said...

The new offensive line offer(s) makes me wonder if one of the guys currently committed is wavering in light of Searels' departure. We shall see.

CSA said...

Thanks for the update, Seth. When can we expect to hear more information in regards to our offensive line coach vacancy?

bigeasydawg said...

That's funny about Harrow. The time that I realized how sketchy recruiting rankings (I always knew this deep down, but pushed it to the back of my mind)was 2006. I seem to remember that Stafford was the #1 or #2 qb, but both Mustain and Tebow passed by him (after all games were played) because he'd been committed for basically a year and Mustain and Tebow weren't. I think in the end it settled back to Tebow #3, Stafford #2, and Mustain #1, but it seemed like they moved around a lot after their respective seasons. I could be misrembering.

Anonymous said...

BREAKING NEWS: John Jenkins really liked the landscaping in North Campus!!! OMG-e-o-r-g-i-a!

Anonymous said...

can never have too many offensive linemen

Anonymous said...

Offensive lineman are generally the hardest recruits to evaluate and consequently have the highest bust/ surprise ratio. Saban hedges his bets and signs lots of lineman and dumps or in his words " manages" the numbers. Over the last 3 years he has signed 8 3 stars and has commitments from 2 more who are 3 star this year. Georgia looks like they may be pursuing a similar srategy now that Sereals is gone. Concentrate on quantity instead of a few high profile lineman and let the competition settle it.

A-Phiz said...

I think I remember hearing the same thing happened to Kelin Johnson. He wasn't even ranked until he committed to UGA then suddenly had two stars. They must be at least decent if they are offered a scholarship to an SEC team, right? And as for Crowell and Drew suddenly being 5 stars...all just adds to the hype machine. Did they play some top secret pick-up football game in front of some Rivals employees last night?

Anonymous said...

It's all about the web hits and money for the recruiting services. Most of the guys giving away stars never played beyond H.S. if that.

jferg said...

I know sometimes stars aren't assigned until a guy looks like he will qualify...and qualifying usually coincides with offers...Cootie got his stuff in order, looks good to qualify, gets offers and stars. I agree that the stars are marketing tools (see the Stafford/Teabow/Mustain post) but sometimes there is no conspiracy.

ReservoirDawg said...

A-Phiz

The "secret" pick up games you mention are actually the Under Armour and US Army All American games. These games match the best of the best against each other and offer scouts a unique perspective as to how a recruit will perform on the next level. Drew and Crowell both performed well and were bumped to 5 star status.

BZ said...

Xavier Ward committed today, that probably throws a monkey wrench in the numbers game

Anonymous said...

Last I heard, Ward was offered a gray-shirt which means he'll delay entry and count toward the 2012 class. Strickland is graduating early so that might also lend itself to the increase in offensive linemen offered.

Anonymous said...

The reason Georgia has recruited so many offensive lineman this year is because the offensive has sucked for three years!

Anonymous said...

Richt is knocking it out of the park on recruiting this year.