Everyone is all over the announcments of the ESPN/ABC crews for the 2009 season, and the names range from the celebrities (Musburger and Herbstreit) to the familiar (Dave Neal) to the cringeworthy (Matt Millen) to the unknown (Carter Blackburn?).

Georgia fans will recognize two of the names brought on as part of the deal to enhance ESPN’s SEC coverage. Former Bulldog starts Matt Stinchcomb and David Pollack will join the team: Stinchcomb as studio host for the syndicated SEC games, and both Pollack and Stinchcomb as studio hosts for ESPNU games. Both will also be a part of the SEC Weekly show on ESPNU alongside host Cara Capuano.

When Stinchcomb was part of the G-Day broadcast you got the impression that it was kind of an audition, and he came across well. The powers-that-be in Bristol must have agreed. Pollack similarly has built experience on local Atlanta sports radio and seems at ease behind the microphone.

Of all the moves (oy, Andre Ware), I’m glad to see Nessler join the top ESPN crew. It’s not that Mike “Britney Spears” Patrick was BCS on Fax bad, but ESPN has spread him so thin across so many sports that he never really seemed (to me) as someone who could be the face (or voice) of primetime college football. Now of course Nessler isn’t a football-only guy and is as well-known for his basketball work as anything else, but he does have a strong football background and local ties – longtime Falcon fans will remember him as the play-by-play guy in the 1980s.

And of course, you can’t have an early afternoon SEC game without a Dave. Amen to that and Osmose commercials.

ESPN Regional Affiliates

It was announced last month that Peachtree TV would carry the noon ESPN Regional game of the week (can we just keep calling it the JP game to keep things straight?). But that was only for Atlanta. As with JP/Raycom/Lincoln Financial, the ESPN Regional games will be shown on a network of local stations throughout the southeast. Since the Peachtree TV announcement, other affiliates have been announced. This is still a work-in-progress (I don’t see a Macon affiliate, for example), but here’s a partial list:

Georgia

• Atlanta, GA – WPCH (Ptree TV)
• Augusta, GA – WRDW (CBS 12)
• Columbus, GA – WXTX (Fox)
• Savannah, GA – WTGS (Fox)
• Albany, GA – WALB (NBC 10)

Florida

• Jacksonville, FL – WJXT (News4)

Carolinas

• Charlotte, NC – WAXN (TV64)
• Columbia, SC – WIS (NBC 10)
• Greenville/Spartanburg, SC – WSPA/WYCW

Other updates and affiliates can be found here.

The news has been mostly positive during the offseason concerning the Georgia offensive line. Both Trinton Sturdivant and Vince Vance seem to be in great shape and on track to step back in to the first team line in plenty of time for the season opener. The presumptive starting line has, knock wood, been able to work together more or less intact over the summer.

The promise of a relatively experienced and talented line has been one of the steadying factors in an offseason full of concerns and uncertainty surrounding other positions on the offense. The strength of the line though depends on them remaining healthy. We’re well tuned in to the well-being of the starters, but there have been some developments that will affect the depth behind that first team.

Reserve redshirt sophomore guard Tanner Strickland injured his shoulder during offseason workouts and will require surgery which will sideline him for the entire 2009 season. Strickland played in all 13 games as a redshirt freshman in 2008 on special teams and as a backup lineman. Before Vance’s return, Strickland was listed as the starting left guard on the official depth chart.

The availability of another guard, Chris Davis, is still up in the air. Davis is one of the more experienced linemen with starts in 2007 and 2008, and he played through much of last season with incredible hip pain. Davis had surgery on the hip in January and missed spring practice, and he’s still not quite back yet. Vance, Glenn, and Anderson give Georgia a solid trio of guards, but the loss of Strickland and the uncertain status of Davis leaves a bit of a gulf in experience between the rest of the interior linemen. The Dawgs would still have some options in the event of injury, but those options would be much younger and much less experienced than Strickland and Davis would be as reserves. The opportunity is there for someone like A.J Harmon or even a true freshman like Chris Burnette to step forward and earn a lot of playing time in a reserve role.

Even tackle has been affected. The position wasn’t terribly deep to begin with, and Kiante Tripp is back on defense this year. Austin Long, from Memphis, was Georgia’s top tackle signee in 2009. Though we’d hope that the days of a true freshman at tackle were behind us, spring back surgery means that Long will be forced to redshirt regardless of need at the position. Sturdivant and Boling are as good as it gets as bookends, but beyond that you’re looking again at Josh Davis or a repeat of the 2008 shuffle that moved Vance and Anderson outside from guard to tackle as needed.

It’s Georgia week over at SEC blog Team Speed Kills, and they’re following their pattern of light previews leading up to predictions later in the week. Today there’s an interesting look at the “Richt does his best under low expectations” meme. I have to agree with the conclusion – it’s not as if Georgia came from the “Others Receiving Votes” field before Richt’s SEC championship seasons. At that level, we’re often talking about the difference of a single game, and while Georgia might have “disappointed” in 2004 and 2008, a combined 5 losses in those two years wasn’t exactly the faceplant of, say, the 2000 Alabama team. There’s been very little difference between Richt’s “underachieving” teams and those that we celebrate, and at TSK points out, how the other teams in the division fare has a lot to do with it. Would we remember 2005 and even D.J. Shockley the same if Urban Meyer’s first team doesn’t lose to South Carolina?

Keep reading over there through the week. The predictions should be fun with several toss-up games. Even for rabid partisan Georgia fans it’s hard to get a read on this year’s team, so it’s always interesting to see what those less familiar with the team think.

An e-mail sent a few weeks earlier notified fans that July 6th would be the date of the annual stampede to buy football parking spaces in one of four campus decks. Since certain decks, specifically Hull St. and the South Campus Deck, had sold out quickly in the past, the appointed hour of 8:00 AM was an important detail.

So it was a pretty big shock to those who logged on right at 8:00 to see the Carlton Street Deck as the only option for purchase. Nearly half an hour of refreshing didn’t reveal a solution, and the message boards soon became active with complaints from fans with similar stories. Those who were able to reach Parking Services by phone could only say that Parking Services was aware of the problem and a fix was coming. A temporary “hack” was found in the meantime: the missing decks could be located by using the web site’s Search feature, and at least those who knew about the workaround could complete their purchase.

Soon after 8:30, the glitch was fixed and all decks became visible on the correct page. The Hull Street Deck has since sold out.

You can currently buy spaces for $120 in the three remaining decks: Carlton Street (Coliseum), the South Campus Deck, and the North Campus Deck.

I don’t know if it was the best decision to start the parking land grab the Monday morning after a major holiday, but it was a pretty big screw-up on the part of UGA Parking Services not to be ready right at the promised hour of 8 AM. I hope not too many of you were inconvenienced.

UPDATE (9:55 AM): Now Hull Street and the South Campus Decks are sold out. Parking remains available in the North Campus and Carlton Street Decks.

Rivals.com has an outstanding look from a national writer about the job ahead for Georgia’s new basketball coach. It talks about developing a winning culture at Georgia and also illustrates the mandate to recruit well in the state and in metro Atlanta.

Anyone who’s followed the program during the last few years can really relate to this quote:

“He really emphasized that to be a winning team, you can’t have external problems. He really pushed to eliminate any of the simple mistakes you can make.”

While catching up with some friends in Athens a few weeks ago, we agreed that you could pretty much say the same thing about Joe Cox as you could about new basketball coach Mark Fox: everything sounds great so far, but now let’s win some games.

Fox, for his part, has made all of the right moves. His staff makes sense. He’s reached out to the fans whether meeting with local boosters or evangelizing on the football-focused Road Tour. He’s even signed a player at a position of need and hit the recruiting trail hard in the talent-rich state of Georgia. Short of actually putting a competitive team on the court, he seems to be off to a great start.

It’s much the same for Cox. Coaches rave about his attitude and ability. His teammates speak well of his leadership. Strong marks in those intangible areas aren’t a form of homely-person-has-nice-personality; Cox has talent. Greg Biggins of Rivals.com gushed at the 2004 Elite 11 camp,

In fact, with the exception of Mark Sanchez, no one was more impressive than Cox. He won every accuracy contest during the week, showed better than average arm strength, is incredibly smart and is a natural born leader. In fact, the college counselors voted Cox as the Best Leader of the group….He drew raves from all of the college counselors because of his mature game and his keen understanding of the position.

There’s that leadership thing again. Anyway, all that’s left to do is actually take the field, as Jim Donnan was fond of saying, when the band’s playing.

The level (or lack) of experience and quality among SEC quarterbacks is a big topic this week getting play everywhere from Get the Picture to Dr. Saturday to EDSBS to TSK. Without getting too deep into that discussion, it seems that it’s a pretty normal year with a few standouts, some teams dealing with known rubbish, and a healthy group of teams hoping that their young or inexperienced (or both) quarterback is going to develop into someone who can do more than just “manage the game” (a euphemism that usually means you’d better have a strong running game and defense).

Georgia is firmly in that final group. Cox isn’t a proven quarterback yet. Yes, there’s the Colorado comeback. (Everyone remembers the Colorado game, but memories become hazy when his subsequent start at Ole Miss comes up.) Though we’ve seen Cox on the field, he’s still as unproven as any incoming Bulldog starter since David Greene in 2001.

Depending on your level of pessimism, you’ll see Georgia’s quarterback situation in one of Hinton’s scenarios:

If your team has a quality returning starter, or a long history of producing quality starters and strong candidates to continue the line (a la Aaron Corp and Taylor Potts at Southern Cal and Texas Tech, respectively), that’s one thing; you have nothing to worry about except injuries.

The vast majority of offenses are either breaking in new starters or welcoming back a so-so option they’re just hoping will emerge as a respectable within-the-offense type, in which case, don’t get your hopes up.

During the offseason I’ve seen Cox compared to every recent Georgia quarterback but Quincy Carter. The comparisons, I’ve found, have little to do with Cox and more to do with how people view the state of the program. Cox is neither Shockley nor is he Tereshinski (or Zeier or Bobo or Stafford or Preston freaking Jones), but the split is definitely there between those who see him as the next in a long line of quality starters and those who see him as a placeholder until one of the younger quarterbacks is ready.

No one’s claiming that Cox will be able to step in and duplicate the throws we saw from Stafford. We’re talking about someone in Stafford who left as the #1 draft pick after his junior season. It’s hoped instead that a more experienced and healthy offensive line will give him enough time and room to do what he’s able to do well. You don’t need a first-rounder under center to win in the SEC, but you also can’t do much with a stiff. Cox is neither, and Georgia will find out pretty quickly against some quality competition whether he’s up to the job.

How do you expect the season to go for Cox? Will his leadership and talent make him an above-average performer in a relatively weak year for SEC quarterbacks? Will he prove to be more like Snead and Tebow or Crompton and Burns? How much will he struggle with a young group of receivers? Will he make the most of his one year as starter, or could someone else finish the season at quarterback?

On the fifth anniversary of Damon Evans’ first day as Georgia’s athletic director, how things have gone depends on the metrics you choose.

Business can hardly be better. The core “product” of football is second only to Texas in the amount of revenue it generates. The overall athletics program, under Evans’ stewardship, remains one of the few nationwide that are firmly in the black. Additional revenue from SEC television contracts and a new marketing and broadcasting contract with ISP Sports will only strengthen that revenue stream.

Facilities have taken a step forward. There’s been impressive investment in the basketball programs and gymnastics. The football program is about to get a big boost from an expanded Butts-Mehre facility.

Academics are another strong point. The APR is solid across the board, and policies have been put in place that all but drag a kid out of bed to go to class. The Rankin Smith Center is a tremendous resource for student-athletes, and the academic support structure is comprehensive.

So from the point of view of a business, things are great. Meanwhile, fans are most concerned with what’s happening on the field. Business is athletics, and teams are judged not by revenue or graduation rates but by wins and titles.

Since the “Titletown” year of 1999 that brought the program four team national championships and and Georgia’s highest-ever Sears Cup finish, the program has finished out of the Top 10 four times. Two of those instances have come in the past three years.

Georgia’s Sears Cup / NACDA Learfield Sports Cup position

1999: 2nd
2000: 12th
2001: 3rd
2002: 8th
2003: 15th
2004: 5th
(Evans took over on July 1, 2004)
2005: 7th
2006: 9th
2007: 12th
2008: 10th
2009: 18th

Georgia’s spring sports were its strongest this year. Baseball, softball, tennis (M+W), golf (M+W), and track (M) contributed more to Georgia’s point total than fall and winter sports combined. Yes, football counts. No, equestrian does not.

Is it a slide? It looks that way. Is it a collapse? Not at all. If the program continues to slide out of the top 20 next year, there might be a trend worth talking about.

Does the Director’s Cup standing really matter? When Georgia does well, it’s a nice point of pride on a summer’s day. As far as many fans are concerned, the strength of the football team is a proxy for the state of the athletic department, and that area is doing just fine. That’s not to belittle the other sports; it’s just that it’s hard to indict the golf team for not winning the national title or men’s tennis for not three-peating. These are the kinds of sports on which we usually depend for the higher Director’s Cup finishes, and a year in which the Lady Dogs only make the field of 64 instead of reaching the Sweet 16 isn’t the end of the world.

As Evans begins his sixth year on the job, he’s to be commended for having a program that’s strong and successful by every administrative standard. But with much of the focus on “budget” and “brand” these days, the lowest finish in the Director’s Cup in over 10 years is a reminder that athletics is still the point of the athletic department.

See also:

• UGA showing strong progress in Evans’ first five years (ABH)
• The Steady Erosion of UGA Athletics? (GSB)

Kendrun Malcome, a self-described “power running back” from SW DeKalb HS, has committed to join the Georgia signing class of 2010. He’s currently 6’0″ and 215 lb. but also has the speed and vision to be more than just a straight-ahead power runner.

Malcome had offers from Oklahoma, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, FSU, and several other schools. The deciding factor seemed to be Georgia’s style of offense and reputation for putting running backs in the NFL. With Knowshon Moreno going in the first round this year and three other recent tailbacks making NFL squads, the system is in place for a quality tailback to succeed.

“My top two were Florida and Georgia. Oklahoma had another guy commit before me so it was Florida and Georgia. In the end, I felt my running style fit best at UGA. I like the pro style offense they run, and I took a long look at the lifelong benefits of being a Georgia alumnus,” Malcome told UGASports.com.

Georgia running backs coach Bryan McClendon was also a big part of Malcome’s decision. McClendon’s young age and Atlanta roots made it easy for Malcome to relate to the former Bulldog receiver, and that relationship was a factor. Malcome has friends and family like Mack Brown and T.J. Stripling also considering Georgia, so the good news from DeKalb County might not be finished just yet if Malcome has anything to say about it.

If you’re a Rivals.com subscriber, they have no fewer than five features up about Malcome and his commitment:

• Photo Gallery
• Commitment story
• Comments from his SWD coaches
• Malcome stood out at an early age
• Analysis: What is Georgia getting in Ken Malcome? (Short answer: Musa Smith)

Trending younger?

Eric Berry’s 13-year-old brother has committed to play for Tennessee. Of course nothing is binding until Berry signs several years down the road, and we don’t even know who the Tennessee coach will be 4 years from now.

I’m not really worried about football following down the road of basketball and getting involved in earlier and earlier recruiting. You notice how football really isn’t feeling pressure to allow one-and-dones or draft straight from high school, and it’s for the same reason we’re not going to see a slew of offers go out to high school underclassmen, let alone 13-year-olds. Whether from high school to college or college to the pros, the physical development that takes place at each level in football is just to significant to skip over.

The junior year still remains the line in the sand for most of college football recruiting. Coaches are aware of younger prospects, but it’s that late junior year and on into the summer camps where much of the action remains.

Speaking of recruiting…

Georgia’s secondary got a big boost with the commitment of Newnan’s Alec Ogletree, the nation’s top safety prospect according to Rivals.com. The comparison to Thomas Davis was used a lot over the weekend.

It’s been a fruitful couple of weeks on the recruiting trail for the Georgia defense. Will the offense make a statement of their own soon?

We do what gets rewarded

I have no doubt that Steve Spurrier’s team will meet the APR threshold that gives him a bonus. Remember, the APR only measures progress; it doesn’t measure the relative quality of that progress. Spurrier meeting the target will be the story and not the behind-the-scenes wrangling that goes on at a lot of schools to make the numbers work. That’s old news, after all.

Finally…

Law enforcement agencies in Athens used the occasion of Athfest to set up DUI checkpoints over the weekend, and 48 violators were nailed. In a sign that things might really be different this year, it looks as if no Georgia student-athletes were among the 48.

Georgia picked up their tenth commitment of the 2010 class on Thursday, and it’s the Bulldogs’ sixth pledge so far from the state of Florida.

Linebacker Deon Rogers of Treasure Coast High in Port St. Lucie, Fla. committed after attending Georgia’s camp two weeks ago and receiving an offer. Rogers’ offer sheet at the moment isn’t overwhelming – it includes Buffalo, Florida International, South Alabama, and Duke – but Georgia’s offer came only after the coaches were able to see Rogers at camp competing against some of the most talented prospects in the southeast.

Rogers’ position is a little up in the air. Two weeks ago, he told Rivals.com that Georgia was recruiting him as a weakside defensive end. The Rivals.com article on his commitment though has him at linebacker. At right around 200 lb., he’d have to really fill out to play defensive end, but he has the 6’3″ frame to do so. Do the Dawgs see another Marcus Howard in him? Last year Rogers recorded 14 tackles for loss and 12 sacks, so he does know how to get into the backfield.

It has to be noted that Rogers’ teammate is Jeff Luc, the nation’s top-rated inside linebacker prospect. The two are by no means a package deal, but Luc is also considering Georgia.

Robert Dozier, who once committed to play hoops at Georgia, was selected by the Miami Heat with the 60th and final pick in last night’s NBA Draft. For some reason, it seems oddly fitting that the closest Georgia came to the draft was a player who never actually enrolled at Georgia and who was involved in some sort of shady academic deal.

It was a weak night overall for the SEC with only a trio of players from the conference going in the second round (Meeks, Thornton, and Calathes). A couple of individual teams can claim to have had as much of an impact on the draft as the entire SEC.

David Hale and Anthony Dasher both had conversations this week with starting left tackle Trinton Sturdivant about his personal progress since his season-ending knee injury. There’s also some good information about the composition of the starting offensive line. From left to right, the current first team line is:

• LT: Trinton Sturdivant (RSo.)
• LG: Vince Vance (Sr.)
• C: Ben Jones (So.)
• RG: Cordy Glenn (So.)
• RT: Clint Boling (Jr.)

If you’ve heard Mark Richt speak at any of the Road Tour stops, this is pretty consistent with how Richt had the line. The only real question was at guard and whether Justin Anderson would work his way into the starting lineup, and he still might – there’s still plenty of time for things to change before September.

Regardless of the ultimate lineup, if everyone stays healthy (always a big “if), we’re left with two statements we haven’t been able to make about the Georgia line for years: every Georgia starting lineman returns with starting experience, and the Dawgs are going to be able to bring in guys off the bench with multiple starts under their belts.

The biggest unknown with the line has been whether the injured players will be able to step back in at a high level of play. That might be more of an issue with someone like Chris Davis whose more recent hip surgery still leaves him in a likely reserve role. But for Sturdivant, it’s going to be less of a concern. Sturdivant “no longer has to wear the brace on his knee and doesn’t even have to go through treatment any longer,” according to Dasher.

If Vance and Sturdivant are able to return anywhere near full strength, the composition of the line will also allow the Dawgs to bring along newcomers at a more normal pace. In the past two years freshmen like Austin Long, Chris Burnette, and Dallas Lee might be forced into starting roles. Now, if injuries can be avoided, many of them will have the opportunity to redshirt and not hit the field as starters until 2011 when they’ll have had 2+ years of development.

Though the return of Sturdivant is one of the most important developments of the preseason, the depth situation at tackle is still a big concern relative to the strength of the interior line. Sturdivant and Boling are solid starters. After that, Josh Davis was able to step in last year, and Anderson is able to play right tackle. Vance stepped in for Sturdivant last season at left tackle before Vance’s own season-ending injury. Austin Long is an incoming tackle, but he will redshirt after back surgery earlier this year and isn’t an option. Kiante Tripp is back on defense. So there are options in the event, God forbid, of injury, but they’re largely the same as last year and better interior linemen than answers at tackle.

The ability of everyone to stay healthy through the summer and into the season is meaningful not just for depth but also cohesiveness. Though everyone on the starting line has starting experience, this combination of players has never taken the field in a game. “We’re focusing on getting used to the player beside us because last year everybody was mixed up, switching positions every so often every week,” explained Sturdivant. A line full of experienced players is great, but it’s less of an advantage if the quarterback, tailback, and even the other linemen don’t know how the unit will work as a whole. The more time the guys have to get to know each others’ game and the more time Cox and the other members of the backfield have to get comfortable, the bigger positive impact the line will have on the season.

In today’s ABH, a letter writer suggests that the athletic department take some of the large new contract with ISP Sports and distribute it among Hartman Fund donors.

Why doesn’t the athletic association do the right thing and spread the wealth this contact (sic) will provide? …it won’t cost the association a dime. This new contract provides “found money,” and it’s only appropriate that a portion is returned to those who have helped make the program what it is today.

I’m sure this guy has also fired off a letter to Matthew Stafford reminding Stafford of the role of Hartman Fund donors in providing a place where Stafford could hone his skills and land such a lucrative pro contract. If we’re going to pander for a handout, let’s not stop at the Butts-Mehre building.

UGA has announced that the Sept. 19th game at Arkansas will be under the lights at 7:45 ET.

The Sept. 12 Georgia-South Carolina football game in Athens and the Sept. 19 game between Georgia and Arkansas in Fayetteville will both be televised at night by ESPN and/or ESPN2.

The Georgia-South Carolina game will be televised by ESPN2 at 7:00 p.m. ET. The Georgia-Arkansas game will be on either ESPN or ESPN2 at 7:45 p.m. ET.

It would have been an upset if she hadn’t won. Courtney Kupets was awarded the 2009 Honda-Broderick Cup on Monday as the nation’s top female student-athlete. Kupets, who’s won the award twice now, has now cemented her place not only as one of the best collegiate gymnasts of all time but also as one of the most-accomplished collegiate athletes in any sport.

Also, Lady Dog point guard Ashley Houts was one of 12 players named to the USA national team representing the country July’s World University Games. She and Trey Thompkins, named last week to the USA Basketball U19 team, will bring back valuable international training and playing experience against some of the world’s toughest competition.