"I'm gonna show you who how great I am"

"Somewhere along the line you changed, stopped being you." I like everything about this video. The history...the highlights...the music...the message.

courtesy of RussDoogin

Newcomer Impact: pretest

Camp's almost here. And I'm evidently in a ranking mood lately. So this will be the pretest for where the newcomers sit in my mind heading into camp as far as their impact on the upcoming season. In about a month we'll re-rank them just before the season, in October we'll give them a midterm and then the final will be in December.


Be sure to let me know who I've missed.

1. John Jenkins - You can make an argument that he's already made the most impact given Kwame Geathers' spring. I think Jenkins was our biggest signee in both stature and importance. Crowell's gained some on him given the RB attrition, but this big guy is going to transform the defense and have a bigger impact in Athens than Mt. Cody did in Tuscaloosa.
2. Malcolm Mitchell - "Tampa" is sounding more and more like the real deal. Not just an eventually finds a role on the field kind of deal. More like he might give Orson a run at grabbing the season's first TD kind of deal. There's a reason Bobo spent more time in the Valdosta HS parking lot last Winter than he did in his own house. He wanted this kid because he can score from anywhere on the field. And now he gets to play with what Santa delivered.
3. Isaiah Crowell - Unlike Mitchell out wide, Crowell doesn't have big AJ shoes to fill but every tailback who comes to Athens is forever in #34's shadow. Crowell could easily be #2 on this list, maybe even #1. He's that good. I think the biggest hurdle for Crowell could be himself. On the one hand it was cool seeing the nation's top RB hold up a bulldog pup on national tv in February. On the other it was a glimpse at just how big the kid had become. The transition to just another scholarship player is a hard one.
4. Ray Drew - The good Reverend will play. Despite OLB's depth of talent he'll be in Grantham's mix. However he has to learn a new skill, covering passing routes. He's a terror rushing the passer, but now that he's moved from a HS defensive end to an OLB he won't be rushing to get into the backfield every down. I'm anxious to hear how quickly this transition goes.
5. Jarvis Jones - While Tavarres King and others try to fill AJ's cleats, Jones is charged with filling Houston's. And all indications are he's more than ready. In fact, it sounds like he's already steps ahead in the locker room and could be even better on the field. Not sure why Kiffin wasn't interested in Jones, but since when has anything that guy done made a damn bit of sense? Assuming the mess in Columbus gets resolved at a reasonable pace, Jones will be every bit the playmaker we need on the defensive side of the ball.

Of course assuming any NCAA process involving UGA goes smoothly and fairly is a stretch. Now, back to Crowell...the starting tailback position has gone from a challenge to obtain to getting dropped in his lap. How well he accepts that responsibility will determine whether he's this season's Lattimore or Carlton Thomas' backup.

Others looking to crack the future rankings - Damian Swann, Corey Moore, Nick Marshall, Chris Sanders and Jay Rome.

Setting the away game table

Was checking out Phil Steele's blog yesterday where he ranked all 120 teams according to home field edges. Naturally I wanted to see where our home ranked; Sanford is 14th.


But as I delved deeper into his explanation for how he arrives at the final ranking I was even more curious to see where our hardest away games would be. Teams' stadium capacity, attendance, % of capacity, and home records are taken into account. So I lined up our schedule with Steele's rankings and here's what we've got:

1. Tennessee - ranked tied for 26th with an edge of 4.5
2. Georgia Tech - ranked tied for 32nd with an edge of 4.25*
3. Ole Miss - ranked tied for 57th with an edge of 3.75
4. Vanderbilt - ranked tied for 104th with an edge of 2.5

First off, we're lucky we get Boise State and Florida at neutral locations. They rank tied for 1st and tied for 6th respectively. Plus it only gives us four true road games this season. This may not seem like a large factor at this point and is gathering dust compared to the fact that UGA evades Bama, LSU and Arkansas in 2011. But should we lose an early game (especially to a conference opponent) it's going to help that the highest team up there for us is a team still reeling rebuilding...and has a quarterback who needs his named ink'd to his back as a reminder.


*one could argue that this one isn't a true road game. All Dawgs eat free hot dogs and guzzle cokes at Historic Mark Richt Field.

Changes...

Some say they're inevitable. If you're not a fan of the new layout, chances are it'll change again soon. Just felt the need to rearrange and fine tune. And there's actually more fine tuning to do...whenever there's time.

Coach T said it was necessary and Thomas Brown insisted I GATA. Stay tuned.

- Posted using BlogPress from Bernie's iPhone

More benefits linked to Jones in latest report

A report released yesterday identifies further benefits to UGA linebacker Jarvis Jones from former Georgia Blazers coach Tony Adams.

A report Wednesday linked possible further financial benefits provided by the former coach of a Columbus AAU basketball team to Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones.
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer cited police records showing that then-Georgia Blazers coach Tony Adams withdrew $700 from an unauthorized city bank account set up for the city-sponsored team.
Adams, the former director of the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department, withdrew $400 from the account on Feb. 16, 2010 and labeled it “Jarvis laptop” and took out $300 on March 12, 2010 and wrote “Georgia Blazers Jarvis Jones,” records showed.
Jones was attending Southern California at the time.
Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity has said the school hopes this week to complete an internal investigation into possible NCAA violations of improper benefits involving Jones and freshman basketball guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, both former Blazers players.
Georgia would then send that report to the Southeastern Conference and NCAA.
McGarity said Monday that he expected the school’s report to include any prior relationship that Jones might have with those involved with the Parks and Recreation Department. That could impact how the NCAA views the Jones case.
Jones played on a team coached by Adams as early as the summer of 2003, according to a published newspaper article.

More "addition by attrition"

It started after losing in Memphis.

“Since we got back from after the bowl game, coach Richt has made it very clear that we’re going to work and we’re going to make everybody understand that you got to pay a price and it’s something special to wear the ‘G’ and be part of the University of Georgia,” Bobo said. “It’s not going to be easy, and we’ve made it extremely tough around here. When you turn up the heat, sometimes you’re going to have guys that don’t want to be a part of it. That’s their choice.”

Richt (with some help from Tereshinki) effectively spent the next few months cutting the cancer out. Now it's time to fret a little over the consequences of losing players like Dowtin, Ealey, Harmon, Benedict, King. As Richt said last week a couple of those were "helped" off the bus. So will the bus run better with a lighter load? Will more yards be gained from subtracting a few players?

“Coach Richt did a fairly good job of letting people go,” Charles said. “I guess they didn’t want to follow the Georgia way. I felt like it was building up and it was time to happen now. Last year, we had a couple of people that didn’t want to follow and they were still on the team. This year, I guess coach Richt said, ‘No, not this year.’ ”

“Some guys that aren’t here, they made their decisions, whether they were right or wrong,” junior linebacker Christian Robinson said. “I think the guys we have here, the guys that are left want to be at Georgia the most. There were some guys that didn’t always fit in and do what they were supposed to do, didn’t behave. Nothing against them, but they didn’t fit into what we need right now.”

My hope is that this won't be an issue once the actual season rolls around. The coaches like the starting offensive line we have and Bobo mentioned yesterday that Dallas Lee is doing pretty well since sitting out much of the spring. As far as running back, we should be good there too. More on that later.

Not so memorabilia

h/t Heath


In case you didn't see this investigative story by Randy Travis at Fox5...I hope none of my readers got taken by this slimeball.

I-Team: Fake Sports Memorabilia - Part 2: MyFoxATLANTA.com

If you missed the whole thing altogether, here's a link to the first part of the report. This POS needs to spend some time worrying about dropping the soap.


On the bright side, if you'd like to contact the real artist in the story, you can email him with this addy: Burchettkl AT yahoo DOT com.

Fist bump for Damarcus Dobbs

"The big man just keeps on running..."

He saved our ass in Lexington a few years ago and now he's signed on as a free agent with San Fran. All of us here at BDB wish Dobbs the very best. Talk about a guy who's made the most from nothing. Damn proud of this Damn Good Dawg!

Coach Richt vs Chris Fowler

Mostly softballs, but here's the interview from yesterday.

Humpday Hilarity

I've seen some crazy (crap) at weddings. But...

...that! That is insane. I mean you just knew from the bride's face early in the clip that something was gonna happen. But I had no idea she'd end up with a bloody nose. I just wish the camera person had caught the Elaine Benes stripper wannabe post apocolyptic catastrophe on film. 


I bet she was already back at the open bar though.