by Rex Robinson
A Canine Resurrection

Well Georgia fans, it seems that from the end of the Georgia Tech game, when I thought Bryan Evans was about to get the “Baco Raton Beatdown”, til yesterday, Mark Richt is apparently over it. He doesn’t like to lose. Neither he nor his staff are in any way “complacent”, as some dumbass “fan” suggested at Butts Mehre on signing day. How he got out alive, I’ll never know.
CMR has gone full bore for what he thought would right the ship. From pretty much cleaning house on his defensive staff to his hirings of late, he’s all “bizness”. As I stated a few weeks ago, there is nothing wrong with swinging for the fences and ultimately Coach Richt hit his homeruns with Todd Grantham and Scott Lakatos(click here).
Many look at the 2010 signing class as a disappointment. I really do not. Since I started writing this blog and paying attention to the Dawg Nation in general, most often I have heard the cries that our talent was not getting coached up. That problem has been solved on defense, so let’s move on.
I swear we have focused way too much on the numbers of stars in a bio and not enough on the intangibles that make a player great. Da’Rick Rogers was interviewed by Radi Nabulsi of UGASPORTS.COM a few weeks ago and a few things stood out to me(click and join). Although DR had his Georgia ball-cap on, he was already planning his trip to Knoxville. He down-played the significance of it all, but when asked about signing day, he said he would have a UGA hat, a Tennessee hat and maybe an Ohio State hat, “just to throw people off”. That interview let me know that he was enjoying the process a little too much, jacking people around. That’s not someone sold out for Georgia and that’s what we need, kids that take seriously the traditions and the future of THE University of Georgia.
When I started going through the recruiting process all those years ago, I was not a Georgia guy. There did come a point in early November 1976 that my conversations went from referring to “them” as “us”. I didn’t even notice it, my parents called it to my attention one night. I had not told them of any decision, but my paradigm had shifted, and I was all in. That fact did not change a month later when Notre Dame offered a visit to South Bend.
That’s what we need, but it’s tough to find. When a player’s focus is on who can get him to the next level(NFL), how can there be a seed of love for your school. It’s a means to an end. The Georgia Bulldogs will be much improved in 2010. I believe that with all that I am. But, it’s not always about getting what are perceived as the best guys, it’s about getting the right guys and I believe we did.
Go Dawgs!
| Print article | This entry was posted by Rex Robinson on 02/04/2010 at 12:59 PM, and is filed under SPORTS. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |






















about 7 months ago
I agree and have high hopes for Coach Grantham and the defense, however I still have grave concerns over direction of the offense and general lack of discipline,penalties, etc. that seems to be have plagued us for the past several years. Richt assured us that these issues were addressed at the end of 2008 and we all saw how that turned out… It was as if nothing was done at all and may have gotten worse.
Given Coach Richts personal feelings and statements about penalties not being that important to him it shouldn’t come as a surprise however I find it very disconcerting that we are now consistently one of the most penalized teams in football.
about 7 months ago
Well said, Rex…Couldn’t agree more about ‘crootin being WAY over rated. I care more about what you do, with what you’ve got.
about 7 months ago
Maybe I’m old fashioned but when did honesty, integrity, standing by your word, sportsmanship, etc. become disposable?
Lonnie Outlaw is prolly 6′ 6″. A fine basketball player as well as football.
about 7 months ago
I heard Buck and Kincaid interview Matthew Stafford on 680am today. Every time Stafford referred to the current University of Georgia football program, he said “we”. I was very glad to hear that. He is a true Georgia Bulldog!
about 7 months ago
Great post, I think sometimes raw talent gets too valued while the internal makeup of a player gets over looked. David Pollack was never the most talented guy on the field but his passion and work ethic made him one of the most dominant players to ever play. Can be very hard to evaluate that when you only get so much face time with a recruit. Also for the stars and comparing who we got head to head against other schools, Tim Jennings (2 star I think) was headed to South Carolina St until we offered him at the last minute. You will see him this Sunday playing for the Colts in the Super Bowl. Don’t ever want to lose a 5 star guy but it doesn’t always turn out bad. Maybe this Outlaw kid turns into a future star and Rogers is a bust, who knows.
about 7 months ago
In this ESPN soundbyte world, we’ve lost sight of intangibles.
When it comes to football, I’ll take 22 blue collar, lunchpail guys vs. 22 pampered high school all-stars any day. Let’s hope that what we lack in “stars” we make up for in heart.
We can all talk in 4 years about what a “great” recruiting class this is…..
meanwhile,
the hype machine just keeps on churning
about 7 months ago
Dooley once said you can only evaluate how good a recruiting class is after four years. I think we did well, especially with the defensive players. But after reading the class comments of Jeff Whitaker that Brad posted….damn….I wish he would of picked Georgia. By the way…does anybody know anything about Lonnie Outlaw? I’ve read somethings on some other posts….but the only thing I know for sure is the so called experts listed him at two stars…they also said he was 6-5 but he plays Basketball for Wilcox County and they have him at 6-7 on their roster. Know he has to go to Georgia Military for a year because of academics but wouldn’t it be something if the kid works hard comes to us and outshines the all everthing 5 star up in the Yucky Orangeland.
Besides what a great name for announcers to play with. “The Outlaw is in the Bank(endzone)again….give us six more big ones. The Outlaw just stole that pass from the defender.” Makes for a Great Story. As for all these kids…..we’ll see.
about 7 months ago
I love your blog today. I feel like you do. I hope that the kids who chose us are mature players with the right type of attitude. I don’t care why Rogers didn’t sign with us it was how he didn’t sign I didn’t like which makes me glad he went to UT. I am ready for our team to practice and I know we will do well next year. Mark Richt has assemble a great staff and the players had some big success the last two games. They know they can win big and will be ready to show it.
about 7 months ago
thanks Rex, great comments. I get so sick & tired over the constant things that people say about our players & coaches.
about 7 months ago
My problem with the whole thing, other than the ‘rotten fish’ smell about Nance’s and DaRick’s situation, is that we have lost the #1 recruit in the state of Georgia for FOUR YEARS STRAIGHT. That is completely unacceptable! Period!
There is something that we are not seeing here that they apparently are….flash and glitter? Early playing time promised? Their jersey # being held for them? I don’t know and if that is what they want, I don’t want them! However, the fact remains that CMR is not shutting down the borders of this state like we became used to for the last few years.
I believe, like others have stated, that we were under an unprecedented amount of negative recruiting this year, given the Asst. Coach’s vacancies, uncertainties, Kirby’s stringing us all the way to the altar (lying scum. That coupled with our admissions standards for atheletes that is different than most schools (Adams’ crew)…well…things will have to change before we see something positive recruiting wise…..
What can change? Win an SEC championship…go to a bowl in some place other than Shreveport…..then we will see the good old days again.
Off my soapbox…complain if you guys want…I am wearing my asbestos underwear.
about 7 months ago
I welcome your comments. I don’t anticipate too much flaming, this is not the Vent. I do expect our team’s attitude to continue down that road we took with Tech and Texas A & M. Grantham is going to great.
about 7 months ago
I believe you are right as well….terribly excited about Grantham. Might be the second coming of Erk. He might be the spark we have been missing.
about 7 months ago
This whole “hat” thing is complete crap. I was sorry to lose Jeff Whitaker to AU, but he was classy. He said he wasn’t going to line up a bunch of hats because every school recruiting had time and money invested in him. He felt it was a slap in the face to the teams who had recruited him to have their hat on a table and not choose them. I wish more kids would adopt that mindset.
about 7 months ago
I agree 100% Brad…I hated to lose
whitaker a lot more than Rogers….primarily because of his classy demeanor. He seems like a mature kid with great character and I hope he succeeds..even if he diod choose the “barn”.