It's been a while since we talked strictly recruiting in these parts, and with G-Day done, now seems like a great time for it. As you would imagine, there were a lot of big UGA targets in Athens on Saturday, including two of the top ten quarterbacks in the country, Tom Savage of Philadelphia and Aaron Murray of Tampa.
The coaches are looking to bring in two signal callers in this class, which might seem like a bit much given that Stafford and Cox are juniors and Logan Gray will be a redshirt freshman. Why not bring in one this season (giving us 4 scholarship QB's in 2009) and one next season (giving us 3 scholarship QB's in 2010)? I think the answer is that a) the coaches believe there is a realistic chance that Matt Stafford goes pro after this season, b) Joe Cox could decide to transfer to play his senior season somewhere else, a la Blake Barnes, or c) any of the quarterbacks on the roster could be injured, drive a scooter off a cliff, or be captured by separatist rebels from Camilla, leaving us with a stable of walkons and young 'uns.
All of these are contingencies that may not happen (except for the rebels from the sovereign state of Camilla, which is a historical certainty in my opinion). My guess is that Savage ends up at Rutgers, which is right outside his door and where he has visited the most this spring. Murray, who threw for 4012 yards, 51 touchdowns and only 7 interceptions last season, will decide between Florida, Georgia and UCLA, probably in the near future. I'd bet he's headed to Florida if you really pressed me, but he has spent an awful lot of time in Athens this spring, so who knows.
Georgia is apparently also pursuing Aaron Murray's teammate, tight end Orson Charles. I have to admit, there's a decent chance that a football player from the sunshine state named "Orson" might be either a double agent for Gator Nation, a figment of Spencer Hall's imagination, or both. But with Tripp Chandler graduating and Aron White still unproven, I think I'm willing to take the risk.
It should also be obvious to anyone with basic mathematical skills that this recruiting season will be bittersweet for 'Dawg fans. We could see a repeat of 2008, when we closed the season on the field with tons of momentum and no scholarships available to translate that momentum into recruiting success. With seven verbals already, we are nearing the halfway point on this recruiting season prior to Memorial Day. Only 4 of UGASports.com's top 10 players in Georgia have made decisions (though 3 of them have made verbal pledges to the Bulldogs). A full 10 of the top 20 remain uncommitted, and we probably won't have room for some of those.
One player who I'm pretty certain we have room for is Columbus-Carver linebacker Jarvis Jones. I got a chance to watch Jones twice last season during the state playoffs and came away impressed. One is that Jones is probably the most athletic player in Georgia this year. The guy gets sideline to sideline in a hurry and changes direction very well from his linebacker slot. While he may not have the nose for the ball that Rennie Curran did coming out of high school, he's got the frame to grow into the 6'3, 230 pound linebacker we're looking for to play the Sam, Will and Mike spots. Jones spent some time in Athens observing spring practice and getting plenty of personal attention.
I'll be back with more recruitin' later. Until then . . .
Go 'Dawgs!