National Signing Day Liveblog - 2015

Today ends a process the coaches started years ago. Building relationships and building this class of new players. Hopefully tailored specifically to the team's needs. And for the players faxing forms today, today ends a process they started many years ago. Congrats to all of them!

Here's some links of interest, if you were to ask me.

- Wanna know what it's like to fly under the radar? MaconDawg interviews preferred walkon commit Nick Robinson, who is coming all the way from California!
- Preach Blutarsky! There's recruiting for stars, and then there's recruiting for prosperity. Hopefully we get a very well-rounded class today.
- Dude You Crazy was kind enough to link every post he's written about this class.
- The Dawgbone, as usual, will have all the updated links.
- You can follow my NSD list here. Or just use the widget below.
- And if you really get bored, you can find some of the fun we got into previously in 2014 2013  2012  2011  2010 & 2009.

Tweets from https://twitter.com/BernieDawg/lists/nsd

I'll post some pics and try to have the coaches' video posted later on. For now, I'm off to grab some coffee and hit the road! Go Dawgs!!

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First things first...

Light crowd, but building.

- 10:30. Two big targets announce in the next 45 minutes, both for positions of need. Do we get both Roquan Smith and Rico McGraw? (I say yes.)

- btw, Yall see Coach bUTTchugger...

 Definite two star.

- Richt to speak in about twenty minutes.

- Nope, he's early. Let's see if I can get these loaded.

- videos will take a while from my phone, but will be posted asap.

- can't embed from my phone. And I got a call in the middle of filming. That evidently stops the camera. Wtf. Anyway, here's the link to part one - http://youtu.be/ccFysWISUyw

- part two - http://youtu.be/QH4LQlYENVM

- Rico is a huge get. Glad he flipflipflopped.

Dustpan. Mops. And a broom.

Just a quick housekeeping note. Sorry posting has been lighter than usual. That's due to a mixture of the time of year and other projects up in the air. Plus, just some flat out fatigue.

Although I don't "cover" recruiting anymore, I still go up to Athens on the first Wednesday of February. There's no getting around the fact that it is the lifeblood of a tackle football program and I do enjoy the excitement in and around Butts-Mehre on the day of.

So tomorrow I'll have some kind of NSD central posted, mostly links to other places with stuff going on and stories of note and interest. Then I'll aim the company car towards Athens and at least provide some pictures and commentary.

The recruiting gurus promise an exciting day tomorrow. Here's to hoping it's the good kind!

Football. Groundhogs. And buttons.

So, on Sunday night football ended again. The next step in the cycle is something we refer to as the off season, which is of course sprinkled with football related news here and there. For instance, tomorrow future college players will dominate coverage, gymnasiums, and fans' attention. Later, we hope and pray that Ray Rice can avoid elevators this year. And if not, maybe Roger Goodell will pay better attention to his incoming mail.

I listened to RadioLab's most recent episode on "Football" this past weekend. It throws the sport up against the history of the nation and introduces listeners to the Carlisle Indians, arguably the most successful team in football's infancy. In fact, due to Pop Warner's, ahem, innovations as coach of the Indians, we now have many rules that have helped shape the game. Such as, you can't alter a player's jersey so as to be able to hide a football inside of it. Also, a receiver can't disguise himself as a benchwarmer only to re-enter the field of play forty yards downfield as an open target and easy touchdown.

But the episode also explores more recent issues that football is facing. Most notably it discusses the health implications current and former players face. They interview one mom whose son has the size, skill, and strength to play football, but lacks the interest. It puts her in an especially unique position as football is deeply embedded in her family's history. Her dad, uncles, and many other male relatives not only played football but made a career of it in the NFL. Now she's started to see signs of dementia, depression, and memory loss in her uncle and father. On one hand, she doesn't want to expose her own son to the risk factors. On the other, she's been raised to believe that football is a way of life.

And then there's the "reset button". Studies show that more and more kids are not participating in organized sports. It seems it is just easier to not have to be confronted with the idea of losing when they can just sit at home and play the sports on a game console. If they're not performing well enough with the joystick while sitting on the sofa, they simply hit the reset button and it's like that bad performance never happened.

Life's not like that. No wonder there's so many people that can't come to grips with reality when their team loses. We're fostering a society of near-sighted, un-athletic, impulsive youth with no clue as to the value of active participation much less the honor in giving one's best to a competition. Are there enough jobs out there that have built in buttons allowing them to start fresh when their first effort wasn't good enough? Are there enough mates out there to suffer through their delusions of perfection alongside them until death do them part? Most importantly, will their progeny break through these falsehoods to right society once again?

Then again, reset buttons can be healthy. They can be necessary even. For instance, as much as I hate to see football season end, the first few weeks of the year are a reset button of sorts; a chance to put the last few months in a mind's drawer somewhere for later reference and look forward to the next season in Sanford Stadium. And some other venues. Have you hit your reset button? Are you looking forward? Or backward?

Me, I'm looking forward now. I'm pretty sure.

Happy Demarcus Dobbs Day!

He's the only Dawg in the fight. But I thought this video was pretty funny. Enjoy. (h/t Rex)

Montana to Appleby to Washington...??

According to this tweet from the Dan Patrick Show this morning...

Joe Montana said if Notre Dame didn't offer him a scholarship, he probably would have gone to @UGAAthletics
— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) January 29, 2015

...the famous Munson call may have begun with the legendary Joe Montana taking the snap, giving the ball to Richard Appleby on the end around, before it was hurled to Gene Washington for the touchdown in Jacksonville. All while Ray Goff held his helmet and watched from the sideline.

Montana signed with Notre Dame in 1974 when Ara Parseghian was coach. Freshmen weren't allowed to play back then. And by the time Montana was a sophomore Parseghian had retired, due to health reasons if I recall correctly. Hard to believe the Hall of Famer would have any regrets. Like, at all. But pretty cool to imagine what might have been.

Okay. That's enough nostalgia. You can all leave and go back to more present type day recruiting stories...

Trickeration at the WLOCP. (via Anti-Orange Page)

"Just putting on the G, to be honest."

I've mentioned my affection for Dash's exit interviews before. After yesterday's sour taste of things, I found his sit down with AJ McDonald quite refreshing. Someone who never got onto the field, yet still sees a lot of value in his time in Athens:

UGASports: How would you sum up your career with the Bulldogs?

McDonald: "It was great. I transferred in (from Appalachian State) and only played for three years but it was fun. I had a lot of fun, learned a lot of things, learned a lot from Coach Richt and made some of the best friends I'll have for a while."

UGASports: What was the best part of your career?

McDonald: "Just putting on the G, to be honest. Game Days was a lot of fun, Dawg Walk, the fans, the atmosphere, those were things I never experienced before."

Meanwhile, up on Rocky Top...

...crickets.

Less than a week before National Signing Day and Butch still hasn't replaced Bajakian.

"Hear it might be decided tomorrow…maybe not for another day or so," Roussel tweeted in response to a question regarding updates on the Tennessee search.

That "tomorrow" ain't Friday. It was actually yesterday. So rumors that the big time HillBilly donors aren't happy with Jones tapping Mike Debord as the new OC might be true. Can't say that I blame them as Debord's last bit of experience as a QB coach and OC was way back in the mid-80's...at Fort Hays State. (I'll save you some internetting and tell you that FHS is a Division II program in Kansas. Although for all I know back in 1986 it may have been a penitentiary.)

Then again, shouldn't Butch know who would be the best fit for his staff? Tennessee is a program with some momentum. Jones hasn't blown the doors off up yonder, but at least he's opened some of them back up and got the Vols back into post-season play. Nothing kills momentum for a program like a lackluster recruiting class. And I can't imagine many offensive players with stars by their names and on the UT radar feeling completely settled at not having an offensive coordinator.

No wonder Coach Jones sent a spy to Auburn last weekend.

Recruiting recruitniks to click

This was unfortunate. I believe the sports staff at ABH is above that. Not sure who was responsible for the "slideshow news story", but it made my skin crawl. Especially when I got to Ray Drew's picture. Talk about a guy that is all Georgia and doesn't deserve any bad press. And TJ Stripling? I was there in Boulder and watched him crumble like a six foot six inch twig right before my eyes when he was injured.

On one hand, sure, those players may not have lived up to the hype that surrounded them a few years ago. But, who's fault is that? In some cases it's the players. Especially the ones that shoot themselves in the foot. But mostly it's the fans and the media.

In many ways, I didn't live up to my collegiate potential. There are some parents and some professors and former UGA advisors that would wholeheartedly agree with that last sentence. But I finished it out and didn't have the displeasure of getting my picture in the local paper as part of a dishonorable slideshow.

Speaking of Ray Drew. Saw him standing outside Stegeman after the Lady Dogs' win against Vandy a couple weeks ago. He was talking to a couple of ladies, and smiling as usual. As we approached I told my daughters who he was. My youngest, perhaps misguided by the fact that he didn't seem as tall from a distance as he stood on the street and we approached on the sidewalk, said, "No it's not." As we passed I said "Best of luck Ray. And thanks!" He smiled wider and offered his appreciation.

I love that guy. The sky's the limit for him and I can see him making UGA nothing but proud in the years to come.

Humpday Hilarity - Justified and The Stranger

Second episode of the final season aired last night. I hope by now you've caught up to what is one of television's greatest series. This is the wife's favorite part thus far:

Little disappointed that's the best video the internet has. And for those of you into the show, how'd you like the addition of Sam Elliott last night? Mrs. Bernie said he's got fake teeth; looks like he's trying to hold some dentures in. I said no. You're just not used to seeing him without a mustache.

See?

The seasonal affective disorder in Athens meme

Yes. It's that time of year. The time of year that's so consistently depressive that you can set your calendar to it. The one that's so typically nerve-wracking that you can pre-schedule your therapy sessions. Its so much a part of the off season discussion that Estes is naturally compelled to include it on the laundry list:

Are there any more transfer concerns? 
It's pretty common to see players choose to move on after the season (and fall semester) in search of better opportunity at another program. Then another window for that opens at the end of spring practice (and spring semester). Could Georgia have some others leave the team? Sure, it's possible. Running back, wide receiver and the secondary still seem to be potential hot zones for those types of things, but you can't ever rule that out at any position.

Can everyone stay out of trouble? 
And sadly, there is this. OK, this is an annual topic for pretty much any college football program. There is a long time between the bowl game and the next season's opener, and there will surely be some off-the-field issues pop up during that time for the Bulldogs. If there is a difference this year, however, it is that Georgia's first two games are not against teams like Clemson and South Carolina. Instead, the Gamecocks dropped to the third game on the 2015 schedule behind a home date against Louisiana-Monroe and a week two game at Vanderbilt. It might be a bleak view to point this, but the start to this year's schedule could help Georgia when it comes to any possible suspensions.

Nothing says winter blues and spring discontent like attrition and police blotters. Hopefully some meaningful madness in March can hold our gaze through April Fools.

Hopefully.