Keith Marshall curbed

Although he doesn't exactly say who "they" are, looks like the coaches are suggesting Keith Marshall hang up the track shoes.

Georgia tailback Keith Marshall thinks his days of running track could be over.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t let me run again, but I would like to run again,” Marshall said. “Football’s definitely first.”

Marshall missed the first week of spring practices after pulling a hamstring Feb. 9 while running the 60-meter dash at Virginia Tech.

Herschel continues to be like a Highlander, "There can be only one."

Scarred but Smarter debut

I got a ticket...in my pocket...

After three years the Drivin n Cryin documentary Scarred but Smarter is done (LINK for official trailer). I'm heading down to Atlanta to see it tonight as part of the Atlanta Film Festival. I've heard Eric Von Haessler talk about it periodically over the last year and am pretty amp'd up to see it. Here's a preview from his Vimeo that talks about Kinney's addiction problems during a difficult period for the band as well as his friendship with REM's Peter Buck.

Gonna be good. Tonight's show has long been sold out. So they did add a Sunday showing as well. You may be able to still get tickets by clicking here.

Evil Richt tweets indoors using Minion Murray's phone

How long has it been since Coach Richt has mentioned not having an indoor facility? Years right? In fact, ever since the new Butts-Mehre expansion was completed I have heard nary a word.

But there's evidence that although he may have lost the battle for a full fledged indoor practice field, Richt still has eyes on winning the war. And when you're Evil Richt, with or without a goatee, you have your field generals do the dirty work.

Enter star quarterback, big man on campus, media darling, Heisman candidate - Aaron Murray.

304 retweets. And 96 favorites. Wow. Didn't know sheep could twitter.

No doubt that Coach T has long served to carry out Richt's evil doings. But after participating in a public video where the S&C coach was seen dancing of all things, obviously his rank has suffered a demotion. Ben "turf eater" Jones ain't in town. Fabris is chewing glass on Rocky Flop as a basketball coach of all things. So now that the brand spanking new indoor facility ain't quite so brand spanking anymore, Evil Richt taps the helmet on his famed signal caller. The guy with even more followers than SEC passing yardage.

More importantly, Damon Evans isn't around to fight this off any longer. Where's AD McGarity stand on this i$$ue? My guess would be against dumping money into a newly constructed yet oft abandoned building and more for saving the money for something worthwhile.

I mean wouldn't we get more bang for the buck in hiring minions like the ones Saban uses to spread destruction across the vast college football landscape? Instead of getting them to tweet.

Anyway, back to Murray. Why do I think this is Evil Richt at work? Well, what does Murray stand to gain from UGA building an IPF right now? It's not going to be completed before our potential next indoor tackle football game...which is...let me see...oh yeh, potentially December 7th. Potentially.

No, I think Murray enjoyed his time inside Everest Training Center last week instead of on a beach somewhere getting skin disease and had a conversation with his head coach that went something like this:

AM: Hey Coach. Had a great time with Coach Whitfield last week. That Oklahoma indoor facility is boss!

ER: Really. That's great kid. Get out your phone, open that Twizzer doohickie and hand it to me... 

About that 40 time Jarvis...

So at Pro Day yesterday Jarvis had an awkward 40 yard dash. The official time was a 4.92. Here's how he described it:

“I can’t even tell you what happened. I really think I missed a step like I got outside my steps and missed a step. I don’t know if I overstepped or understepped but it felt weird.”

Also, here's Mike Mayock's take:

“I don’t see a 4.9 guy on tape. I think it is a little bit of a red flag and teams have to go back and teams have to take another look at the tape because 4.9, let’s face it, Manti Te’o got killed for running 4.8 at the combine. I didn’t expect to see 4.9. I thought he looked pretty good in the drill work, though. I think he’s explosive in short areas. I think you’ve got to look at it from a scheme perspective, too. The 3-4 teams are going to like him as an edge rusher and the 4-3 teams are going to have to be ones to say `OK, do we think he can be a Sam linebacker at 4.9.’ I think you go back to the tape and you decide what kind of a football player. A 4.9 scares me a little bit but some guys play faster than they time.” 

Each of the 32 teams in the NFL have their own braintrust. If they put more faith in this 40 time than the body of work they've seen on tape then they'll probably move Jarvis down on their own board.

Did yesterday hurt Jarvis? Yes, but the damage is minimal. He wasn't going to be a top five pick anyway and I think he's answered the one big question teams had for him - are you healthy? That was most important.

So I still see him as early as 6th to the Browns and as late as 15th to the Saints. Yesterday didn't change that.

Woerner for the Hall of Fame, with your help

All you have to do is comment on the BookFace. Thanks to 1980Dawgs for leading the charge here.

GATA!

Bobo on Murray's new target

Jonathon Rumph joins a roster with some talented receivers, but stands pretty tall amongst them. And while he's behind the learning curve a bit I think he's going to be one to watch closely at GDay. And hopefully well beyond.

“He’s got some talent,” Bobo said. “Obviously you can see he’s a big receiver. … You see him thinking out there and a little bit unsure of himself. You try not to judge him too much right now. Just let him get acclimated to what’s going on and learn what to do so he can compete in the fall. Right now, he’s learning and struggling a bit. I do see some talent there, but he’s just got to learn what to do.”

Hard to imagine anyone beating out incumbents Mitchell and Bennett, plus Conley is as good as any coming off the bench. But Rumph has something the rest (McGowan, Scott-Wesley, Wooten, plus newcomers LeMay and Davis) don't have in his 6'5", 215 pound frame. As one of the early-enrollees I'm glad he has an extra few months of acclimation. Once he grasps the playbook and shows he can block downfield, he'll see the field.

Wide receiver is one of the deeper roster spots Georgia has. But with Bennett coming back from injury, Mitchell getting full reps on offense and some experienced depth behind them, it's an intriguing position to watch this spring nonetheless.

Happy Pro Day Dawgs!

Good luck to all the guys participating in Georgia's Pro Day today. May the wind be at your back and the weights as heavy as feathers.

Especially you, Fake Punt Protector, the Ultimate Team Player, the one and only DICKSAMIV! The greatest of all gator destroyers!

Recruiting against Fate for the next John Theus

Georgia coaches are hoping to reverse some "bad luck" in getting top notch offensive tackles to choose the Dawgs. Personally, I have a hard time blaming it on bad luck when it's starting to feel more like our lot in life.

That is not to say that Georgia has not been in the running. It seems as though the Bulldogs are always in a two- or three-team race for a top lineman on signing day. This year, they lost Laremy Tunsil to Ole Miss. The year before, Avery Young jilted the Bulldogs to play for archrival Auburn. On signing day 2011, Antonio Richardson decided to stick with the in-state Volunteers, and he started all 12 games for Tennessee last season.

via

Much of Georgia's ill-fortune can be attributed to the fact that the Peach State does not produce a lot of highly ranked offensive tackles. Since 2006, the state of Georgia has had three offensive tackles ranked in the ESPN 150 -- Justin Anderson, Ja'Wuan James and Brandon Greene. Looking ahead, only one tackle on the ESPN Watch List for 2014 hails from Georgia:Orlando Brown (Duluth, Ga./Peachtree Ridge). Four top prospects in eight years do not exactly indicate a hotbed. 

- Radi Nabulsi of DawgNation 

And the prospects of Orlando Brown becoming a Georgia Bulldog are between slim and none. So once again we'll be looking outside the borders for offensive tackle depth and talent. Add to the recruiting hurdles the Hugh Freeze effect, injuries, coaching changes, position juggling between offensive and defensive lines, more injuries and the numerous guys that just didn't pan out and you've got what feels like Fate hammering you in the depth chart, repeatedly. Thank God we offered Nathan Theus a scholarship.

But regardless of the semantics with which you view the situation, Nabulsi gives a great run down of the prospects we are focusing on. They all have great things to say about the Georgia Bulldogs at this stage of their recruitment. Can they add their signature to that sentiment next February?

We'll see what Fate allows.

Quick start: Clemson, South Carolina or LSU?

Normally with a huge night game away from home as the opener I might agree with Mr. CFB. But given the recent history against Spurrier's cocks I know the way in which I would answer this question. What about you?

Of those three early games — Clemson, South Carolina and LSU — which do you believe will be the toughest for Georgia?

I think its Clemson. It’s the first game, you have all of those new guys on defense and you’re talking about going up against a Clemson offense with Tajh Boyd, Sammie Watkins and all of those guys. That’s a hard way to break in a brand-new defense. And you’ve got to go their house. If they can somehow survive that game, then they come home and play South Carolina, I think they’ll feel better about things. But having to play Clemson out of the gate with a new defense, it’s going to be tough.

No "downfall" in Georgia's defense

I warned you this would be a theme here this off season. And I'm beginning to like this Sheldon Dawson guy more and more.

"Swann, he knows every position on the field. You could put him at linemen and he'd be able to make calls and tell what the linemen do," Dawson said. "But for me, I played field (corner) all last year. So all I had to do was polish up and learn a few more terms and be able to roll with it. Now I'm rolling through it."

And that knowledge is vital to securing a starting spot, because defensive coordinator Todd Grantham values experience and knowledge of the system very, very highly.

"We've got new safeties, so if there's a safety on my side, I feel like I'll be able to call and tell certain coverage to him," Dawson said. "But it's a good feeling that we're out there together and we look good rebuilding. It's no downfall that we're rebuilding. We actually look good." 

In Grantham's system the "boundary" corner has more checks to make in coverage, hence the more experienced Swann cemented in there somewhat. Yet despite all of the greenhorns out there on the practice field, there's a sense of pride in taking over for the departed upperclassmen.

Keep that up Mr. Dawson and Herbstreit and his boys aren't going to know what to talk about come August 31st.

(kidding...of course.)

Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/03/19/2428631/turning-the-corner-sheldon-dawson.html#storylink=cpy

The ball's in Fox's court

Gonna give you three numbers: 4, 31 and 43. Year four, thirty-one wins and forty-three losses. So after Coach Fox's fourth season we've compiled a sub .500 record (in the SEC, including conference tournament; also, please see addendum below about conference record compilation).

Is this acceptable? No. And I would presume that's the answer you'd get from just about everybody, including Coach Fox himself. But like a road trip that has for one reason or another veered off course, this is where we are. Which is probably why this is one of those posts I've written about twelve times and deleted eleven of those.

So I'm just going to throw it out there. Can Fox get us there? "There" being in the hunt for Sweet Sixteens, Final Fours and SEC banners?

In the last four years Fox has proven to me that he can coach on par or better with every other head guy in the league. What separates the others from our stagnant place closer to the bowels is the talent he's bringing in, more specifically the talent he's not able to bring in. We had one player mentioned among the SEC elite for the season. Florida had five. That's the difference between first in the standings and ninth; the difference between 14-4 and 9-9.

Something has to change or we can just continue to get used celebrating individual player achievements.

Addendum: I found numerous errors in Fox's SEC record. For example, on the official website it has our 2010 SEC tourney record as 2-0. That of course isn't possible. Further digging reminded me that we were 1-1 with a loss to Vandy in the second round in that tournament. So all that to say that the record I've compiled above is the best I can come up with using multiple sites, the most accurate of which I believe is SicEmDawgs.com.

Monday's Meatloaf - of fatherly pride and ponytails

We stepped up to the registration desk and I could sense her uneasiness. I've only known her for eight years and 55 weeks, but I know she tenses up in new situations. Especially ones with new faces in new places; surely a character trait I evidently passed down to her. So I put my hand reassuringly on her shoulder, the way a dad does when he knows his kid is the least bit uneasy, and I wondered if she picked up my uneasiness as well.

Because like me, she's also pretty intuitive.

Flag football combine, event 2, distance throw, grade: A+

Months of negotiating had lead us to this point. Of course all of the discussion about playing football had been in private, for the most part. She kept insisting on tackling somebody. And I kept insisting she start with flags on her hips.

It's not that I'm afraid of pads on her shoulders. She can hold her own, trust me. It's just that flags seems the reasonable and logical step. When I first offered that a trail had already been blazed for female place kickers she insisted that she'd be a "quarterbacker" or a linebacker at UGA instead. I quickly recalled it is not in a father's best interest to sell his own daughter short. Ashamed, I quickly told her she could be anything she wants to be, a phrase she and her sister hear about every day from their mother and myself. After all, we'd much rather them reach for the stars than the storm clouds underneath.

So there we were, a year and a half later. Me standing by my promise and her standing at the desk where we knew the question would be raised. I cringed before he even asked. "Okay young lady, are you here for cheerleading?.....(long pregnant pause as the jersey and cleats she's wearing catches up to him)...or flag football?"

"She's here for football," I announced, louder than I had anticipated.

The rest was easy; even easier than the countless minutes of catch in the backyard, the neighborhood games and even the indoor Madden '13 matchups. Yes, as expected, she let her arm and her legs and her knowledge of the game do the talking once we were out on the field. Her pass had a tighter spiral than any of the coaches. Her routes were confident and sharp. She didn't like the cone drill because she didn't get to run it with a ball in her hands - "What's the point of that Dad?" But by the end she had made her point.

Should this experience prove too little of a challenge, I won't push her to continue if she doesn't want to. Just like I won't lower the bar because she's a girl. As far as I'm concerned the most important step is already behind us. And we took it together. Nothing against cheerleading, but she does enough of that on fall Saturdays.

Proud to be her daddy. Her mother, sister and I are pretty sure she will be the best one on the field. Regardless, I have already proven to her that while the world stands and waits for their opportunity to believe in her, I'm already at the front of the line.

Today's Ingredients
- MARCH MADNESS IS HERE!!!!!1 And we're not in it.
- But Tyler has the pool heated up. And here's a link to Kerri's #FBWD pool for you tweeps. Password is "Twittah".
- Hoop Dawg has a season wrap up in a lot more words than I can express.
- And Daugman sums up my thoughts exactly on our early exit from Nashvegas.
- Greg has some communication he'd like to impart, from the line of scrimmage.
- From Blutarsky: Animal husbandry. Cousin lovin'. SEC nuptials. Sometimes they're closer than you think. Maybe that explains WarDamnTiglesmen.
- Dawg Haus looks at the 1984 clash 'tween the hedges of Georgia and Clempson.
- Meanwhile, Kimberly wonders who ya got for the season opener.
- The GymDogs finished the regular season with an impressive road mark.
- Diamond Dawgs...swept out of College Station.
- And the Men's Tennis team took care of the Gamecocks yesterday in Athens.
- Lastly, in case you missed it, make sure you craft beer drinkers catch my talk with Kevin at College Football Zealots. We even sneak in a little spring football talk.

So how was your St. Patrick's Day? Did you end up face down?... in a pool of your own green vomit?...in the middle of Savannah?...with nothing on but a ratty pair of green silk boxers?...three sizes too small?...

I didn't. I mean there were some moments when I guess it was touch and go. I did attend a beer fest after all. And spent a good part of yesterday comparing and contrasting Irish brewing techniques. The products of those techniques that is.

But I think the highlight was eating most of the weekend's meals outside on the patio with the family. There's just something about getting back to nature after being frozen over by these harsh Georgia winters. Like I said Friday...

Y'all have a great Monday. And rest assured I'll let you know when my daughter is signing autographs. Until then, here's your fork. Go on and get after it!

Bernie

Podcastin' with CFBZ

If you like beer and college football, you are in the right place. And you may want to listen to this podcast I had the pleasure of being a part of yesterday. Kevin at CFBZ invited me to join him and we talk about craft beer and a little Georgia football. Make sure you read his blog and follow him on twitter - @CFBZ.

Listen to internet radio with College Football Zealots Podcast on Blog Talk Radio

Diamond Dawgs swept in College Station

May the WOOF!! rise to meet you.

Happy St. Patrick's Day y'all! Hope your day is filled with friends, family and laughter. Sláinte!

"The refreshing morning after pick up"

This would make the perfect set of stickers. Or even as a bunch of decals that describe a drunj lifestyle. After all, five out of five alcoholics dentists approve.

via Buffalo Trace Bourbon BookFace