I was watching the UGA-Tenn Tech game online and heard Buck Belue make a comment about a lack of senior leadership and talent, especially on the offensive side of the ball. He said that 4-6 years ago, someone really dropped the ball in recruiting.
I had observed the same thing. So tonight I did a little bit of hasty research. Please feel free to correct this if I made any mistakes.
From the 2005 and 2006 six classes, which at the time looked pretty good, the attrition has been pretty painful. The 2006 class was pretty large (25), but 05 was a little smallish (16).
Gone to the NFL:
Stafford, Moreno, Allen, MoMass (note 3 of those could still be with the team this year)
Graduated:
Byrd, Chandler
Injured this year or during a significant portion of his career:
Battle, Coates, Banks, Dewberry, Wilson*, Durham, J Miller
Transferred or never entered:
N Ward, Lemon, Wilson*, Hebron, Kearney, C Moon, Sesay, Baldwin, I Smith
That is 21 players out of 41 that are no longer playing for UGA.
Add to that players that are mainly bench players or have spent more time switching positions than actually playing:
Perez, Washington, Tripp
And players that would at this point be labeled busts or disappointments:
B Wood, Evans, Miller, Crawford
And what you have are mostly a bunch of roll players with a few strong players on defense:
Owens, Weston, R Jones (probably should be in the group above), Dobbs, Gamble, Dent
And starting on offense:
J Davis, C Davis, Chapas (or Munzenmaier), Moore, Cox
That's not the strongest group and is probably one of the reasons we are so crappy this year. Of course, it is the coaches' job to evaluate talent and help players to improve.