brownceluse
Senior Member
This has been a hot topic for some Dawg fans and of course a lot of outsiders mostly vols talking about things they don't know about. This is not intended to bring division among my Dawg brothers but some of you need to get off the talent is there.
Recruiting is the issue with this team period. Our cupboard is empty and that falls on the Richt regime, not solely on Richt the person, but it was a problem inherited by Smart.
Senior leadership and game experience is a necessity to win at any team sport at any level. As such, our 2013 recruiting class would constitute our senior leaders and would have 4 years of coaching under their belt. No one can possibly say that doesn't matter.
So I want to end all this crazy talk about us having the talent, we don't. we could have..... but out of the 34 recruits in 2013 only 17 are still with the team. 14 were dismissed or transferred, Floyd graduated early, Rumph and Taylor were JUCO's.
From our 2013 recruiting class, the 5 highest rank recruits that are still on the team are in order - Brice Ramsey, Brandon Kublanow, Reggie Wilkerson, Johnny O'neal, Reggie Carter. Let that sink in and it makes Georgia seem like an overachiever this year.
Taking out all the players kicked off the team, or who transferred and we would actually fall somewhere around 28th in the recruiting ranking. On level with Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Vanderbilt.
Now the picture become more clear - the last 3 or 4 years and vanderbilt has given us fits, North Carolina was an even match up, etc - we do not MAINTAIN SEC caliber talent. No doubt Richt was able to bring it in, but he wasn't able to keep it.
The situation did not improve in 2014. So our Junior Leadership, next years leaders are in short supply. Out of 20 recruits only 13 remain. Our class would still have been around 20 in the rankings because Lorenzo, Nick and Sony were all 5 star recruits. This puts our 2014 class on par with Kentucky, South Carolina and UCLA.
But this doesn't address one of the biggest flaws of the Richt era - the Offensive Line. Who cares if you have 5 star receivers and QB's if the line doesn't buy the time needed to allow passing plays to develop? Who cares if we have a stable of 5 star running backs if the line can't open up lanes or continually allows the back to get hit in the backfield?
Our senior linemen are Kublanow, Aulden Bynum and Glenn Welch. Welch is now at FB. Our Offensive line haul averaged out at .8547 recruiting ranking. For reference, Alabama took 5 offensive linemen in 2013 with an average rating of .9162. Heck, even Vanderbilt had a better recruiting offensive line class with a haul of 2 averaging .8643.
2014 looked better on paper. We recruited 4 offensive linemen with an average rating of .9050, but Jake Edwards has since departed. So our junior and senior leadership on the OL is made up of Kublanow, Aulden Bynum, Dyshon Simms, Kendall Baker & Isaiah Wynn.
Maybe Alabama had a good year in 2013 and decided OL was no longer a need? Not the case they signed 5 and a 6th didn't qualify on grades. The average rating of the 5 signed was .94494. In fact the top recruit for Alabama in 2014 was at OT. Vanderbilt also took 4 OL's in 2014, with an average rating of .8287.
Looking over the two year stretch:
Alabama: Signed 10 OL with .95555 average rating | UGA Signed 7 OL with .8834 average rating (Only 5 on Roster) | Vandy Signed 6 OL with .8405 average rating.
This should adequately answer any lingering questions as to why we are not doing well. Football in the SEC is a game won and lost in the trenches. Our offensive line is closer in talent to that of Vanderbilt and Kentucky and miles away from the talent on Alabama and Ole Miss.
Coach Smart cannot fix this overnight, and it might even take a few years to bring in the talent, keep it and DEVELOP it. There is a reason coach Smart singled out the OL as the greatest need in the off season and Pittman has stated that he wants to sign as many as 6 recruits in the next cycle.
We will get better, but it will take time - I do believe Smart is the guy to get us there, as he understands the importance of the linemen in the SEC, something Richt seemingly overlooked, year after year.
Recruiting is the issue with this team period. Our cupboard is empty and that falls on the Richt regime, not solely on Richt the person, but it was a problem inherited by Smart.
Senior leadership and game experience is a necessity to win at any team sport at any level. As such, our 2013 recruiting class would constitute our senior leaders and would have 4 years of coaching under their belt. No one can possibly say that doesn't matter.
So I want to end all this crazy talk about us having the talent, we don't. we could have..... but out of the 34 recruits in 2013 only 17 are still with the team. 14 were dismissed or transferred, Floyd graduated early, Rumph and Taylor were JUCO's.
From our 2013 recruiting class, the 5 highest rank recruits that are still on the team are in order - Brice Ramsey, Brandon Kublanow, Reggie Wilkerson, Johnny O'neal, Reggie Carter. Let that sink in and it makes Georgia seem like an overachiever this year.
Taking out all the players kicked off the team, or who transferred and we would actually fall somewhere around 28th in the recruiting ranking. On level with Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Vanderbilt.
Now the picture become more clear - the last 3 or 4 years and vanderbilt has given us fits, North Carolina was an even match up, etc - we do not MAINTAIN SEC caliber talent. No doubt Richt was able to bring it in, but he wasn't able to keep it.
The situation did not improve in 2014. So our Junior Leadership, next years leaders are in short supply. Out of 20 recruits only 13 remain. Our class would still have been around 20 in the rankings because Lorenzo, Nick and Sony were all 5 star recruits. This puts our 2014 class on par with Kentucky, South Carolina and UCLA.
But this doesn't address one of the biggest flaws of the Richt era - the Offensive Line. Who cares if you have 5 star receivers and QB's if the line doesn't buy the time needed to allow passing plays to develop? Who cares if we have a stable of 5 star running backs if the line can't open up lanes or continually allows the back to get hit in the backfield?
Our senior linemen are Kublanow, Aulden Bynum and Glenn Welch. Welch is now at FB. Our Offensive line haul averaged out at .8547 recruiting ranking. For reference, Alabama took 5 offensive linemen in 2013 with an average rating of .9162. Heck, even Vanderbilt had a better recruiting offensive line class with a haul of 2 averaging .8643.
2014 looked better on paper. We recruited 4 offensive linemen with an average rating of .9050, but Jake Edwards has since departed. So our junior and senior leadership on the OL is made up of Kublanow, Aulden Bynum, Dyshon Simms, Kendall Baker & Isaiah Wynn.
Maybe Alabama had a good year in 2013 and decided OL was no longer a need? Not the case they signed 5 and a 6th didn't qualify on grades. The average rating of the 5 signed was .94494. In fact the top recruit for Alabama in 2014 was at OT. Vanderbilt also took 4 OL's in 2014, with an average rating of .8287.
Looking over the two year stretch:
Alabama: Signed 10 OL with .95555 average rating | UGA Signed 7 OL with .8834 average rating (Only 5 on Roster) | Vandy Signed 6 OL with .8405 average rating.
This should adequately answer any lingering questions as to why we are not doing well. Football in the SEC is a game won and lost in the trenches. Our offensive line is closer in talent to that of Vanderbilt and Kentucky and miles away from the talent on Alabama and Ole Miss.
Coach Smart cannot fix this overnight, and it might even take a few years to bring in the talent, keep it and DEVELOP it. There is a reason coach Smart singled out the OL as the greatest need in the off season and Pittman has stated that he wants to sign as many as 6 recruits in the next cycle.
We will get better, but it will take time - I do believe Smart is the guy to get us there, as he understands the importance of the linemen in the SEC, something Richt seemingly overlooked, year after year.
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This should be in the excuse thread
