According to the Orlando Sentinel, FSU athletics director Randy Spetman said that “talks between the schools about a neutral-site 2016 game are ‘moving along.’” That game would likely be the season opener at the Georgia Dome.

The fate of this game might hang on what happens with the SEC schedule. The possibility of a nine-game conference schedule has been discussed for a while and could heat up during SEC meetings later this month. If a ninth conference game is added, it’s less likely that Georgia would agree to 1) give up another home game in order to play this neutral-site game and 2) add a team like FSU to one of the two available nonconference slots. As Mark Richt put it, “if we have nine, plus Tech and then if we want to do something like Clemson like we did this year, you’re talking about 11 out of 12 games that are pretty stout.”

Georgia and FSU last met in the 2003 Sugar Bowl, but there are still ties between the programs. Coaches Richt and Lilly had long stays in Tallahassee.

Looking at another angle, does a possible future date with Georgia make FSU that much less likely to release highly-touted linebacker Matthew Thomas? Georgia is one of the schools Thomas would consider if he were released. FSU’s reluctance to release Thomas to a school like Georgia takes on a slightly different light if the Dawgs are a possible future opponent.

It’s been a long season for Georgia baseball fans, but there’s something to smile about today.

Robinson announced today that he’ll be returning to the Georgia program as a graduate assistant. He’s been one of our favorites to follow over the past couple of years, and we’re glad he’ll still be around the program for a while longer.

• The deal will run for 20 years, through 2034.*
• The network will not mean additional Thursday night football games. Commissioner Mike Slive declared, “we’re a Saturday league.” Amen.
• CBS will still have the first pick of games with the rest to be distributed by a “content board.” But while CBS will still have the big game, the SEC Network will run games that overlap the 3:30 time slot.
• AT&T U-verse is the only carrier currently signed on to carry the network, but negotiations are underway with everyone else. You can be sure that more agreements will be worked out over the next year.
• The aim for distribution is nationwide, but initial emphasis will be on widespread coverage in the SEC footprint.
• There will be 1,000 sporting events broadcast each year – 450 on the network and an additional 550 online. The network will carry 45 football games – three per week.

Additional coverage:

• Official SEC Release
• Coverage from the Athens Banner-Herald
• Coverage from the Macon Telegraph

* – this is way off-topic, but you start to wonder what the product will look like in 20 years. Will athletics be one of the few physical remnants of universities that will have otherwise moved online? Will safety concerns transform the game of football into something far different? Will some of this money begin to trickle down to the student-athletes and bring a whole other set of equity questions that reshape college athletics? Will the success of these major conference networks further pry apart the top schools from the rest of the NCAA?

Marc Weiszer reports that the 2013-14 men’s basketball game against Georgia Tech in Athens will be on Friday November 15th. As Weiszer notes, it’s the Friday before the football game at Auburn. It’s very close to the beginning of the season which usually tips off in the first week of November, but Weiszer notes that Greg McGarity doesn’t expect the Tech game to be the season opener. The teams last met in November on Nov. 27 2002, an 83-77 Tech win. Of course the following Saturday was a much happier day for Georgia fans.

We’ve also learned that the women’s game against Tech will likely be on Sunday November 24th, the day after the home football game against Kentucky. This game was usually an early December contest, recently played the day after the SEC football championship game. Andy Landers’ squads are a little more used to big home games in November, hosting teams like TCU, Texas, Oklahoma and Rutgers in recent years.

But as soon as 7 months after the completion of the project, several of the large glass panes that made up the stunning exterior of the renovated coliseum < a href="http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2012-08-10/officials-want-know-why-glass-panels-break-stegeman-coliseum">began cracking. Though the broken panes were replaced, the north and south entrances to the arena have remained covered with unsightly scaffolding and protective barricades while the contractor figured out the reason for the broken panes. Though the protective structures have kept patrons entering and exiting Stegeman Coliseum safe since the problem was discovered, the centerpiece of the Coliseum improvements has looked like a perpetual construction zone.

The good news is that there are signs of progress. The Red & Black reports that the scaffolding could come down “in the next few weeks.” Choate Construction, the contractor responsible for the renovation, believes that they may be close to proposing a solution. At worst, it seems as if the scaffolding will be down before basketball season comes around again.

The not-so-good news is that there is still uncertainty about the safety of the glass going forward. The Red & Black added, “Choate said he thinks they have narrowed down what caused the glass to break in the past but they are still trying to determine if the glass is a risk to students and patrons in the future.”

• LB Jarvis Jones: Selected with the 17th pick by Pittsburgh
• LB Alec Ogletree: Selected with the 30th pick by St. Louis

Georgia’s first defensive players selected in the first round in eight years came as no surprise. Jarvis Jones and Alec Ogletree were the stars of a talented defense, and both were projected as high draft picks well before the 2012 season.

It might’ve been a mild surprise that both dropped into the bottom half of the round, but each had areas of concern. Jones is a little undersized, he didn’t test well during workouts, and there’s the longterm uncertainty over his neck injury. Ogletree had plenty of off-field issues from the suspension to the poorly-timed DUI leading up to the draft, and there’s a twinge of doubt about a converted safety thriving as an NFL middle linebacker. Still, those concerns pale against the obvious talent and production each of them showed at Georgia. They’re the best prospects at their positions, and each should expect to play right away.

For an organization so closely tied to its defensive identity and 3-4 scheme, Jarvis Jones had to leap off of the Pittsburgh draft board. Jones was drafted to replace James Harrison, a veteran Pro Bowl linebacker and team leader that was released earlier in the offseason. With Harrison’s role open, Jones has the opportunity to become as important to the Pittsburgh defense as Hines Ward was to the Steeler offense. Jones joins former Georgia punter Drew Butler in Pittsburgh.

Ogletree’s immediate future is a little less clear. The Rams might be set at middle linebacker with former Buckeye James Laurinaitis. Ogletree would be a big speed upgrade at the position, but it’s also possible that he could move to a weakside linebacker role in St. Louis’s 4-3 system. He’ll be the only Dawg in St. Louis.

Orson Crowded Out?

One of the picks with implications for a former Bulldog was Cincinnati’s selection of Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert. Eifert was the top tight end on the board, but the Bengals already have Pro Bowl TE Jermaine Gresham and, of course, Orson Charles. The selection of Eifert doesn’t mean that Charles is on his way out; teams carry at least three tight ends. But with Gresham firmly established as the starter and a highly-paid first round pick coming in, it’s going to be a fight for Charles to remain on the roster, let alone find much playing time. Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden wasn’t terribly reassuring. “Orson (Charles) was coming along, but we need another tight end.”

What’s Next

Round 2 kicks off Friday night at 6:30 p.m. with Round 3 to follow. The draft concludes on Saturday with Rounds 4-7 beginning at noon. Several other Georgia defenders, including John Jenkins and Cornelius Washington, could be selected on Friday evening before the end of the third round.

Certainly most of the recruiting process comes down to athletics – will I play, will I go pro, will we win titles? For some prospects that might even be enough. But most prospects, and especially their families, have a lot more on their minds. They’ll be going off to school for three or four years where they’ll be expected to take classes as well as play ball. To help families understand that environment, most schools have prospects meet with professors and other people outside of athletics. Georgia is no exception.

What is exceptional about Georgia is one of the people Mark Richt prefers to seek out for that role. As Radi Nabulsi puts it, associate professor Dr. Gary Green of the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources is “a high school dropout from England with zero knowledge of football.”

He’s also, according to parents, prospects, and current players, “genuine.” Prospects can get their fill of football from their contacts on the coaching staff. Green’s role is to prepare the prospects for success in the environment in which the student-athlete will be immersed for the next several years – whether or not it’s at Georgia. Green points to Mark Richt’s open and honest style and has tried to incorporate that both into his teaching and in his dealings with recruits.

Give the whole thing a read if you can, and you’ll see why one of the more important people in the recruiting process wore yellow to his first Georgia game.

The questions come from UGASports.com subscribers and touch on everything from the future of the baseball program to shuttered concession stands inside of Sanford Stadium. Will Georgia join the football staffing arms race? What are the expectations for the competitiveness of the basketball program? It’s a comprehensive survey of topics of interest to Georgia fans.

If you’re itching for an indoor facility or want to see Georgia’s drug and alcohol policy scaled back, you might not like McGarity’s answers. I give him credit for his candor – some of the questions are fairly pointed, and McGarity doesn’t avoid them.

Fans might be frustrated with the lack of a grandiose facilities construction plan or impatient over the direction of the baseball and basketball programs, but McGarity stresses that the lines of communication are open. This quote was in response to a question about the football game day experience, but it applies to just about any concern a fan might have. McGarity, in our experience, is often quick to respond.

But it’s important for fans to let us know where they are experiencing problems. We want to be responsive. If someone is having a problem with a certain area, let us know and we’ll certainly try to address it. We may not be able to solve it, but it will certainly have our attention.

At the macro level, the money says to go to nine games. The fans want it, and the TV contracts will demand it. The payouts will more than make up for any home games lost. Richt realizes this and admits, “If we go to 16, I can’t imagine us not going to less than nine games. I think we would have to go nine.”

But there are incentives at the individual level, too. Richt is a coach who gets to keep his job by winning games. His incentives reward wins and titles, not impressive schedules. He’s likely to resist things that make his job tougher, so it’s reasonable that he resists supporting an additional conference game.

I voted against it because if we have nine, plus Tech and then if we want to do something like Clemson like we did this year, you’re talking about 11 out of 12 games that are pretty stout.

We know that even the head coach answers to someone, and the larger interest will eventually win out. The coaches will come along reluctantly. Still, some of those same incentives that govern Richt matter for the school. More wins mean better bowls, larger payouts, and happier fans who donate more money. How do you get there while taking on an additional conference game? Your conference schedule might be set, but you still have three games with which to play. As Richt noted, an out-of-conference rivalry game leaves you with little flexibility.

Unfortunately I expect that it will come at the cost of aggressive nonconference scheduling. There is little incentive to play anyone of note in those remaining games because an SEC team is still going to end up with a respectable strength of schedule, especially with an additional conference game. There are a few things that could make teams go against their best interests in scheduling those remaining games:

• Rules: The Big Ten is doing away with games against FCS teams. Similar steps by other conferences or even at the NCAA level would affect scheduling (or cause a rush by under-qualified FCS schools to join the FBS.)
• TV Money: Networks, who are now in partnership with several conferences, will put a lot of pressure on schools to schedule games that provide attractive matchups for programming.
• Neutral site games: Did you notice the price of Georgia-Florida tickets this year? They’re not done rising. Neutral site games are money-making machines for top-level teams.
• Ego: Remember who the decision-makers are. As silly as it is to attach notions of manhood to schedules perceived as weak, it works.

Is the Tech game untouchable in the world of nine conference games? I’d like to think so, but let’s ask the Aggies and Longhorns. If it came down to it with nine conference games, would you prefer to keep the Tech series so that interesting nonconference games are less frequent, or would you rather drop the series if it meant a larger variety of quality opponents?

Hassell, James, and Armstrong were part of an accomplished senior class that played in four NCAA Tournaments. They reached the Sweet 16 twice and were an overtime loss away from the Final Four this year.

These three draft picks make 16 Lady Dogs drafted in the last 13 years. Georgia’s three draftees are the most for the program in a single season since 2001 when Kelly Miller, Coco Miller, and Deanna Nolan were all selected in the first round.

Would Caldwell-Pope had improved with another year? He definitely had things to work on. His ball-handling sometimes caused him problems. He could be better at driving rather than settling for the jumpshot (but if you could shoot like he can, you’d take the jumper too.) He wasn’t much of a threat to leave after his freshman season, but his decision to stay paid off: he became a much more complete player with improved defense and patience to go along with the shot that was there from the beginning. I can believe that it was a tough decision. If he improved this much from a year ago, what would one more year do?

It’s not as clear that another season would have paid the same dividends. He’d be working on growth in some specific areas against defenses whose first priority would be to deny him the ball. We had already started to see some of this by the end of the season, but it didn’t take much scouting to figure out that you could dedicate one or even two defenders exclusively to locking down KCP. To his credit, and to our amazement, he still put up impressive numbers. Still, that defensive strategy led to stretches and entire halves in which KCP struggled to score, and it was all the rest of the team could do to stay in the game until KCP found his stride.

With Georgia’s outlook and personnel for next season roughly unchanged, it had to be easy for Caldwell-Pope to envision an entire season that looked like the last month of the 2012-2013 season. He’d be harassed as the primary target for every opposing defense – nothing new, but also not particularly fun. It’s reasonable that he’d put up similar numbers, but that’s not the kind of growth that would elevate him from his current draft outlook to a sure lottery pick. It’s hard to focus on specific elements of your game when the team finds itself in survival mode night after night and needs you to score by any means necessary.

Caldwell-Pope leaves Georgia as the reigning SEC Player of the Year. With even a comparable season it’s less likely that his stock would be as high as it is now. He’d have the benefit of instant name recognition, but the competition might be tougher to repeat as SEC POY. Eight SEC schools have signed members of ESPN’s top 100 prep players, and Kentucky’s class alone will produce several likely candidates. He’s going out on top, at least individually.

Of course his departure will affect next year’s team. The Dawgs struggled to put points on the board even with KCP on the court. The funny thing is that his position, shooting guard, is one of the deeper and more talented spots on the roster for Georgia. Kenny Gaines had his moments as a freshman, and incoming guard Juwan Parker is a 6’4″ scorer. But while we can expect important contributions from both Gaines and Parker, it’s asking a lot for either to become a 15+ PPG player right away. Georgia must still deal with a limited skill set on offense among the frontcourt players, and that’s where the biggest gains would have happen. You need guys like Morris, Williams, and a healthy Thornton to step up. You need Djurisic to be more consistent. The Dawgs can still sign up to two players during the spring, and they might even dip back into the JUCO ranks as they did with Florveus.

There’s mention over the struggle between Adams and Dooley, and Dooley avoided the opportunity to score a shot on the outgoing president. Dooley provides some perspective on Richt weathering the storm of 2010 and 2011, and both he and Richt have positive things to say about Adams’ replacement, Dr. Jere Morehead.

I wanted a chance to watch the broadcast before writing this up and finally got a chance to do it. Enough has been written by now that we’ll hit just a couple of positions and finish with some other notes.

Receivers

Give me Mitchell, Bennett, Conley, and Rumph as the first four receivers, and I feel about as comfortable with that position as I do with Marshall and Gurley at tailback. Rumph needn’t have a Cordarrelle Patterson type of impact – he’ll be a tough matchup for anyone as a 3rd/4th receiver. The combination of size, decent speed, and the ability to fight for a few extra yards after contact give Georgia a nice option even if he might not yet be polished enough to be a starter.

The receivers were a big question that lingered into the season as we wondered whether King and Brown could handle larger roles. As we learned that they could, the position became a strength, and the offense prospered. Replacing those seniors was the question entering this season, and we seem to have the answer much sooner this year.

With a nervous eye on Bennett’s recovery (on track) and Mitchell’s meniscus surgery, we also saw last season that the depth has to go beyond just the first four. I’m fairly comfortable with the next group – Wooten and McGowan are seniors who are more than familiar with the offense, and Murray seems to have confidence going to McGowan. Justin Scott-Wesley continues to develop and had some nice catches on Saturday; I doubt the coaches will hesitate to call on him during the season. Tibbs had a rough start – a bad drop followed by a personal foul out of frustration. We heard enough about Tibbs in practice last season to want to see more, but the depth is solid enough for now that he won’t be thrown into the fire yet.

Defensive Line

It wasn’t so much that a defensive lineman was dominant. It was that several players look ready to contribute. That was the main concern – after losing Jenkins, Geathers, Jones, and Washington, there had to be more than one player emerge to help Garrison Smith. That’s what happened at both tackle and end. Thornton and Mayes were active inside, and Mayes looks like he will be the second JUCO (after Rumph) to see a fair amount of playing time. Ray Drew seems to have found a home at defensive end, and every time we looked it seemed as if he was chasing quarterbacks in the backfield. We were interested to see how Taylor’s size would affect his move to defensive end, but he thrived there with two sacks and seven tackles in the G-Day game. Taylor has earned the attention of his coaches, and it will be tough to keep him off the field.

One thing you couldn’t get a handle on thanks to the format of G-Day is how Coach Wilson will approach the rotation for the line. Garner was known for his doghouse and a very conservative approach to substituting. Georgia still isn’t especially deep along the defensive line, but its strength might be in a pool of at least six capable guys (depending on Toby Johnson’s recovery from knee surgery). We’re at least encouraged that Wilson, like Friend on the other side of the line, will have some options and choices at his disposal.

The rest…

• Bobo wasn’t especially down on the offensive line, but it was hardly a dominant performance. This is the classic spring game conundrum, but it’s hard to imagine noticing the play of so many defensive linemen without some help from the OL.
• Bobo put some of the defense’s nine sacks on quarterbacks holding onto the ball too long. I can’t remember ever seeing so many quarterback scrambles – the game’s leading rusher at halftime was Hutson Mason.
• Speaking of Mason, the scrimmage did little to change the outlook at quarterback. Mason was shaky in the first half (and the interception he threw was just a bad decision), but at least he settled in. Mason eventually brought the black team back for the win and ended up completing 16 of 27 attempts. It’s a bit of a toss-up after that though. Ramsey is headed for a redshirt. Going just by this game, Welch seems to be the better option at #3. LeMay had a couple of passes (including the interception) that should have been caught, but those were his passing highlights.
• Chris Conley has talked about adding some moves to go along with his speed, and he got the chance to show off a little shiftiness on a nice reception down the south sideline.
• The order behind Gurley and Marshall is something that will have to be revisited closer to the season once the freshmen get here. It’s G-Day tradition to overstate a performance by a reserve tailback, but Karempelis at least saw the field in 2011. J.J. Green didn’t look lost in his debut, and that’s more than you can expect from an early enrollee.
• A lot of eyes were glued to Matthews and Harvey-Clemons in the secondary, but Quincy Mauger quietly had a nice day with eight tackles. Mauger also made a very wise decision: he could have had the hit of the day on an unsuspecting Rumph but spared his teammate. Reggie Wilkerson was put in a tough spot as an early enrollee going up against the first team offense, but he looked surprisingly confident and capable.
• As always, the most important thing about G-Day is getting through it with no serious injuries, and that looks to have been the case. Atkins sprained his knee, but that won’t be a long-term problem. Mitchell and Bennett should be ready to go by early summer, and we should have a fairly full and healthy roster ready to put in work over the summer.

One more thing…it was great to see a nice turnout for Rennie Curran’s book signing. The book had sold out by the time we dropped by, and they were adding to a waiting list. I’m looking forward to reading and reviewing it. You can find out more information and pick up a copy of the book by visiting Curran’s web site.

Defensive Line

G-Day is the public debut of new defensive line coach Chris Wilson. Wilson has a fairly blank slate with which to work – the only established player is senior end Garrison Smith. It will be hard to replace the size of Jenkins and Geathers at tackle, so Georgia will go with the combination of Mike Thornton and Chris Mayes. Mayes is a JUCO transfer who looks the part but might still be a little raw. Thornton played well in limited action last season, but he’s much lighter than the duo Georgia had in 2012. That lack of bulk isn’t necessarily a liability, and Thornton is counting on his agility and experience to make up for the difference.

With Smith established as one end, the other spot looks to be a competition between Ray Drew and Sterling Bailey. It’s unfortunate that Drew is already having to answer the “bust” questions at only the midpoint of his career, but this is his time. He’s long since moved from the outside linebacker spot that gave him trouble, and he’s more comfortable as a down lineman. Drew finished the 2012 season well, and I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do with a starting role. Bailey, also a converted outside linebacker, played sparingly as a redshirt freshman while nursing an injured foot but has had a promising spring. John Taylor has moved to end from tackle – a strange move considering his size, but playing at end might be a way to get him on the field with Thornton and Mayes set on the interior.

Linebacker

We know about half the picture at linebacker. Herrera is now the veteran on the interior, and Jordan Jenkins is already the next great outside linebacker. Fans at G-Day might want to keep an eye on the other two spots. James DeLoach has made a move for the other outside linebacker position opposite Jenkins, but TJ Stripling is another player to watch outside. The closest position battle on the defense is at inside linebacker where Ramik Wilson is a veteran trying to hold off newcomer Reggie Carter.

Secondary

The biggest unknown on the team at this point is the cornerback position. Swann is established, but the other starter is very much unsettled. Sophomore Sheldon Dawson had been favored to hold down that spot, but he’s out injured for G-Day. Watch freshman Reggie Wilkerson, another early enrollee, in place of Dawson.

Few stories have taken off this spring like Tray Matthews at safety. His hitting has become the stuff of legends, and, more importantly, he seems to be an answer at one of the two vacant safety spots. Corey Moore has, much more quietly, emerged as a likely option along with Matthews. Don’t count out veteran Connor Norman who saw lots of time early last season during the suspensions.

The plan for Josh Harvey-Clemons has been a story since the highly-touted defender arrived on campus last year. Thanks to him we learned about the “star” position, but it wasn’t something we saw much of last season. Then as Georgia prepared for option teams, we heard about Harvey-Clemons deployed at outside linebacker to attack those unique offenses. Again, the talk never materialized on the field.

The stories have started again, though Harvey-Clemons still doesn’t have an established position. The hybrid safety-linebacker “star” position is back in vogue. The trouble with the star, especially last year, is deciding who comes off the field. Do you sub out a safety or a linebacker? Georgia coaches may have an answer – at least for the first part of the season.

An alignment that looks more 3-3-5 than the traditional 3-4 would open up a place for Harvey-Clemons – not necessarily as a typical nickel back but definitely the fifth defensive back. Knowing Grantham’s history of unconventional fronts (remember the Jenkins-Washington-Jenkins look last season?), a 3-3-5 look doesn’t necessarily imply three linemen and three linebackers. Keep an eye on the alignments Georgia shows at G-Day, especially when Harvey-Clemons is in the game.

Top Three Things to Watch

• How does Chris Wilson plan to rotate and shuffle defensive linemen?
• Can Tray Matthews announce himself to Georgia fans (without injuring a teammate)?
• How will Harvey-Clemons be used, and how will his presence on the field affect the defensive alignment?