Georgia's top talent eluding Coach Richt? - part one

This turned out to be quite lengthy, so I'm cutting it into two posts. (I'll thank Brad for that as he has definitely sparked a curiosity here.) The second of which I'll clean up some tonight. But one of the holdover discussions after signing day almost every year has been Coach Richt's (and his staff) inability to close strongly. Depending on the year, that can been seen just as an innocuous claim or something extremely harmful to the program and its current roster. In this past 2013 class for instance, most of the signees were sewn up well before signing day, which made for a rather dull day in terms of excitement. Then when we missed on some "day of decisions" it really didn't hurt the roster as much as it did our heightened expectations and emotions.

Of course, that can be argued both ways in any given February. But the fact of the matter is that Richt has brought in plenty of talent during his tenure. And still we wonder why some kids cross the borders to wear different colors. The popular conclusion is that Richt isn't aggressive enough within the state. This battle cry rings out over social media and every message board out there. And it is as loud today as ever, despite signing some of Georgia's top players each year.

So for arguments' sake, here are the last eight years with the top ten players in the state listed (according to ESPN 150) with UGA signees in bold. Spend a few minutes looking over it this evening and then we'll compare conclusions tomorrow.

2006	2007	2008	2009
Marcus Ball	Eric Berry	Josh Jarboe	Greg Reid
Reshad Jones	Allen Bailey	Brice Butler	Branden Smith
Jermaine Cunningham	Israel Troupe	Richard Samuel	Eric Fields
Carlos Brown	DJ Stafford	Terrance Parks	Darren Myles, Jr
Justin Anderson	Caleb King	Omar Hunter	Prince Kent
Asher Allen	Cameron Newton	Brandon Thompson	Chris Burnette
Darryl Gamble	Johnathan Dwyer	DeAngelo Tyson	Jarvis Jones
Quintin Banks	Ted Laurent	Jamoris Slaughter	Washaun Ealey
Brandon Wood	T-Bob Hebert	Daniel Franklin	Gerald Demps
Toryan Smith	Conrad Obi	Toby Jackson	Donovan Tate
2010	2011	2012	2013
Storm Johnson	Isaiah Crowell	Josh Harvey-Clemons	Robert Nkemdiche
Markeith Ambles	Ray Drew	Brandon Greene	Carl Lawson
Ja’wuan James	Jay Rome	Geno Smith	Montravius Adams
Alec Ogletree	Xzavier Dickson	Johnathan Taylor	Alvin Kamara
Da’Rick Rogers	Gabe Wright	Dillon Lee	Shaq Wiggins
Mack Brown	Quan Bray	Mike Davis	Trey Johnson
Antonio Goodwin	James Vaughers	Jordan Jenkins	Vonn Bell
Adrian Hubbard	Malcolm Mitchell	Ricky Parks	Demarcus Robinson
Tai-ler Jones	Avery Walls	Vadal Alexander	Tyren Jones
TJ Stripling	Damian Swann	Joshua Holsey	Kelsey Griffin

What stands out to you? I'll go ahead and let you know that it wasn't nearly as alarming to me as some comments I hear and read from people upset about great young football players leaking out across borders. And also, I'm glad some of these guys went elsewhere. Ya know?