Just a day after Georgia lost its most experience defensive back in Asher Allen, safety Reshad Jones is poised to leave school early and enter the NFL draft as well.
Georgia sports information director Claude Felton released a statement Tuesday saying that Jones, a third-year sophomore, was certain he was staying at Georgia, but the safety confirmed Wednesday that he has changed his mind and is leaning toward heading to the NFL.
"I'm probably leaning toward leaving, but I'll know for sure in the morning," Jones said.
Thursday is the deadline for underclassmen to declare their eligibility for the draft, and Jones said he will have an official announcement then.
Jones said in November that he had submitted his paperwork to the NFL review committee for underclassmen, but said at the time it was strictly for informational purposes. He declined to discuss what he learned from the committee Wednesday.
Jones said that Allen's surprise decision Tuesday to forego his final year of eligibility to enter the draft did not play into his reversal on remaining at Georgia.
"Not really," Jones said. "I'm making my own decision and just doing what's best for me and my family."
Jones finished second on the team in 2008 with 76 tackles and was the only member of the Georgia secondary to record an interception. He finished with five picks for the season, including one in what appears to be his final game in the Capital One Bowl.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
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11 comments:
Wow. Horrible decision.
First of all, love your blog and have been reading it all year. Great job with the content and timeliness!
On the departures of our DB's, I'd posit two theories for their leaving. First, these guys do read the blogs, and Jones particularly has been skewered more than once. The comments after Tech were plentiful, and I guarantee that does affect them, has to.
Second, I heard from a former player earlier this season that we had some players on the team that were incredibly selfish and wouldn't have sniffed the field under BVG. This source who played at an extremely high level at UGA and was drafted first day in the NFL (I'm not into this anonymous source stuff in general and didn't post anything before now because of it) was asked to name specific players, and two of the names have now declared as underclassmen this week.
CMR made a statement before the press conference for Knowshon and Stafford that he only wanted them back if they were totally committed to winning championships and to UGA. I would bet the staff has issued a similar edict to all players. We're going to play next year the UGA way. If you're not on board, get going.
This isn't an indictment of any player, those leaving or staying, because I know it's got to be a hard decision. They also sacrifice much to play for the Red and Black. Seeing these folks leave though actually makes me more confident for the future. Sure we may struggle next year because of the experience gap, but I think CMR and the rest of the staff are going to make a concerted effort to get the right folks on the bus from this point forward.
Great post, Anon. I think you are dead on in your points, and I agree with you that some folks probably saw the writing on the wall from the coaching staff and hit the road. Like you said, if you don't want to stay, you shouldn't feel obligated to. Both player and team are better off if the player is where he wants to be.
I hope you are correct but if a player can not learn another thing from a set of coaches then they should consider what they should do next. There is a problem here and I do not know what it is. Is it the players or the coaches? I hear accountability over and over about the players but I do not believe it applies to the coaches. Next year will be telling. You can whine about loyalty but leadership reflects attitude. These coaches pick these players and coach them so they are ultimately responsible for their performance.
I'd like to hear more about the rumors of certain players being "selfish" and realizing they might be riding some pine next year.
Vague accusations like that bother me - especially when names are not named. If there isn't some more solid info, and specific people named, I think it is irresponsible to say it.
Furthermore, it means 2 of those 4 weren't selfish, but people reading this might guess the wrong 2 and their opinion of those 2 is lowered unfairly.
I hate to speculate but I think something is wrong - very wrong.
By the way - this is a great site - thanks for your efforts.
Muckbeast, the conversation I had with the former UGA player was off the record, and I was asked to not attribute his name. I'm not a reporter, just a lifelong UGA fan. The two players were Asher and Jones, not Knowshon and Stafford. I was surprised by Asher really. I'm not into conspiracies or innuendo either. The only reason I mentioned the former player is because he was totally correct, and this was after the third game of the season.
When a kid plays as bad as Jones did against Tech and the next week submits his NFL paperwork, I think it says a little about his character and dedication to the program. He should of had his ass in the film room and on the practice field form tackling. He has raw skills but mentally I don't see how he could possibly be ready for the NFL. Free the scholarship up so we can find fill it with a 4 year guy.
Ya'll remember all of this when you get upset that we didn't get Joe 5 star next month.
I'll take the 3 star David Pollack for 4 years over a 2-3 year 5 star anyday.
Ya'll remember all of this when you get upset that we didn't get Joe 5 star next month.
I'll take the 3 star David Pollack for 4 years over a 2-3 year 5 star anyday.
Would you take 3-star Kris Durham over 5-star A.J. Green as well?
For all of you wondering why Reshad changed his mind since Tuesday and has since decided to go pro, I have a little bit of info from the defensive meetings yesterday that may or may not help explain his reasoning.
According to my buddy who is a LB who shall remain anonymous, Reshad showed up late to a meeting and CWM started tearing into him. He criticized everything from his tackling to his poor attitude and said things like he was squandering his talent and didn't learn his no-arm tackling technique at Georgia. He basically made an example of him for the rest of the team and wouldn't let up all afternoon. My buddy got the impression that the coaches are trying to make wholesale changes in the attitude of the team... the staff has made it clear that nothing is given to you and that if you aren't prepared to put your ego aside, work hard, and be committed to win the Georgia way, then it will be a long season for you next year.
Although I hate to lose Reshad, it's encouraging that the staff recognized the problem with our performance this past year and will have no more of it. And although we may suffer the consequences next year, we should be a better team down the road.
Good luck to Reshad though. He was a solid contributor and one of my favorites on defense. I hope he tears up the combine, is drafted in the first 4 rounds, and goes onto to have a productive NFL career and make the bulldog nation proud.
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