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Friday, January 7, 2011

This and that: Recruiting, hoops, pro guys

A smorgasboard of information, notes, links and all that good stuff for your Friday morning:

- A day after cutting ties with one receiver recruit, Georgia replaced him with another, Lee County High School's Sanford Seay.

(Zach Witchett, who had been committed to Georgia since the summer, had his scholarship offer revoked when the Bulldogs decided to go in a different direction.)

Seay may not be a "big-name" recruit, but he helps depth-wise. He's also the first Lee County High School player to commit to play football at Georgia. (That high school, by the way, is the alma mater of reigning National League Rookie of the Year Buster Posey.)

Meanwhile, all the recruiting web sites, including this one, are reporting that Mark Richt and several assistants spent Thursday with junior college nose tackle John Jenkins. He's still officially committed to Oklahoma State, but Richt and Todd Grantham have made clear they want/need a physical nose tackle, so they're putting on the full court press.

- We interrupt your recruiting news to report there's a pretty big basketball game on Saturday. Georgia opens SEC play with a team named Kentucky, which is supposed to be pretty good.

Here's my breakdown of in Friday's paper on the NCAA tournament chances of each team as SEC play opens. It could be another rough year for the SEC, which is top-heavy with teams like Kentucky and other East teams, while the West is terrible. That will help Georgia in its NCAA tournament hopes if it can get some wins against division foes ... like Kentucky.

But speaking to Bulldogs head coach Mark Fox and players on Thursday, they want to avoid using this game as a be-all and end-all for their season.

- Speaking of Kentucky, there's a chance - but only a small one - that it could get a huge addition in time for Saturday's game. Center Enes Kanter, whom the NCAA ruled permanently ineligible for accepting money in Europe, is expected to get a ruling on his appeal on Friday.

Even if the NCAA relents, and that's not considered likely, it's hard to foresee Kanter suiting up at Stegeman. But with John Calipari, you never know.

- Finally, an update on Georgia's juniors considering going pro. Here's what I know as of Friday at (looking at watch) 8:56 a.m.:

- Brandon Boykin tweeted on Thursday night that he hadn't made any decision.

- A.J. Green and Justin Houston's high school coaches each said they hadn't seen their former players and weren't aware of any decisions.

- The official deadline to declare is January 15, while the unofficial deadline is Monday or Tuesday, the start of classes at UGA.

Meanwhile, Andrew Luck is staying in college, Arkansas' Ryan Mallett is declaring, as are Alabama's Mark Ingram and Marcell Dareus.

So it leads you to wonder what's taking the Georgia guys so long, especially Green, who has seemed a foregone conclusion. And the decision by Luck enhances the chances that Green could go No. 1 overall, or close behind.

I suspect a Green announcement is coming soon, while the others may just be legitimately torn.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Frans opinion of Mark Richt and the program!

http://www.stationcaster.com/player_skinned.php?s=87&c=671&f=66449

Anonymous said...

I heard it on 680 this morning,damn thats about right!

CSA said...

I'm afraid even with a nose tackle and returning players, we still won't be much improved. I've lost all confidence in this coaching staff. Hopefully they'll turn it around.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Fran Tarkenton sounded like an Evangelical preacher. It is painfully obvious how desperate he is for media attention and web hits. He makes the idiots at the AJC look tame.

Anonymous said...

Fran was simply telling the truth about the program.Like it or not,the majority of the donors feel the same way.

Anonymous said...

Hey anon @2:09....Fran Tarkenton has it right on the nose. UGA should have cleaned house and fired all of those clowns after the pathetic bowl loss to Central Florida. Blind homers like you are just as pathetic.

Anonymous said...

Fran has been in the Arena!

Paul said...

Well Anon 209 Fran's father was a preacher after all. I think a lot of people are frustrated, myself included. From that perspective he's probably just saying what a lot of other people are thinking. Is he right? I hope not. There are those who believe that everything is cyclical. All programs go through down years so we must persevere. Others feel that salaries being what they are, a couple of down years gets you shown the door. But this much we know. Richt gets one more year to prove him wrong. I, for one, want to see CMR succeed and hope that he does. However, even those of us who staunchly support him doubt that he will be retained if Georgia struggles again next year.

Anonymous said...

In that Fran piece he mentions "the great freshman quarterback...." before the first game this year on the tailgate show Fran gave Murray the what for. He was talking just like he did in that interview saying that "This Murray kid goes 9 for 20 (or whatever) in a scrimmage against the scout team... we are in trouble at the QB position. He should be going 20 for 20 against those guys." He ranted for as long as the host allowed him to on how A. Murray would never make it. So take it with a grain of salt.

Anonymous said...

Aaron Murray didnt play well in his last 3 games. This guy is a freakin midget and will more than likely have a rough year like Kyle Parker did at Clemson. UGA is in Big Trouble. Central Florida Folks.... Central Florida !

Mike said...

Hey Seth are we even looking at Corey Crawford from the JC ranks? I think he is at Hargrave and played high school at Carver.