And I’ve got many questions….Because of all the roster turnover, this off-season is an opportunity to make gains in talent and depth to perhaps close the gap with our SEC foes through portal additions, especially on defense. But with the portal, how well will we retain our better players going forward? A double edged sword.
I also point to coaching turnover…will the new DC and TE coach improve our recruiting AND development?
Will our HC figure out AND embrace the portal and NIL changes to get us closer to where we all want to be? And will our NIL offerings be competitive with the rest of the SEC so we aren’t outbid for top shelf players?
This will start year 4 for CSP, and hopefully we will see continued gains in talent this next few weeks via the portal. This off-season will greatly impact the trajectory and future of our football program and Sams tenure as HC.
There’s an area I think we need to invest in that doesn’t relate to NIL, at least not directly.
In 2019, before NIL, Georgia spent $3.6 million on football recruiting, according to figures obtained by athleticdirectoru.com. We spent about half that much – and at that, we were fourth highest in the SEC and fifth in the country.
From what I’ve read since then, the Dawgs haven’t backed off much if at all on that spending, as two straight playoff bids and a natty attest. Sam was there; he knows what they were spending money on in 2019.
However, in reports of recruiting expenses given to the federal government, UGa reported $800K last school year – combined for ALL men’s sports. Presumably the rest of the recruiting budget is folded into their football expenses, which were reported at $36 million.
I don’t know how, but I just watched TN and Clemson. Man, we are way back in talent. Both teams were playing their backup qbs and both were great. They both have real Dlinemen. TN was subing 4 totally new Dlinemen often with what seemed like no dropoff. TN was about as bad a dumpster fire as we were and now look at them in 2 yrs.
We had better get some real talent fast. I don’t know what went on this year, but we are now at 48 players. This is not good and I love me some Sam. He knows better than any of us what is needed. Does he know how to get them. If he does, he better get them now.
If we believe the game is won/lost in the trenches then let’s allocate most of our NIL money and recruiting dollars to the lineman and QB’s. Great lineman will make 3 star RB’s and LB’s look like 4/5 stars. Invest in the trenches and build from there.
Totally agree with this, especially on DL where we have lacked over the years since we joined the SEC. Sam has started building better OL talent but needs to match it on DL on the inside. They are hard to find and sign, but he needs to make it happen.
Jim brought up TN line in his post…I think Deke will help us sign and develop better DL. I also think TN has signed better DL talent, even through their bad years.
I concur. The Coaches have got to somehow start signing SEC DL! Of course there are about 100 teams thinking the same thing. If they could find 6 in this years portal they need to get every one of them. Like he mentioned, good linemen make everyone behind them a lot better. Can you imagine how much better our secondary would be if the DL consistently put pressure on the opposing QB