One of the pitfalls of beginning the college football recruiting season earlier and earlier is that some of your early commitments will take the 9-12 months until Signing Day to reflect on their decisions, and some might end up changing their minds. The process doesn’t stop, and the competition won’t stop trying to sway a commitment until the Letter of Intent is signed.

There are those who will use that fact to point out how badly we need an early signing period in football. As the good Senator points out, that’s almost entirely in the school’s interest and not the prospect’s. Get him signed before he changes his mind or sees how our next season goes.

College recruiting has provided us with plenty of head-scratching terms over the years including the oxymoronic "silent verbal" or the favorite "soft verbal" which has done as much as celebrity marriage to set the bar for "commitment" as low as possible.

Recent events have inspired a new term. Call it the soft decommitment. A prospect goes so far as to back out of a verbal commitment to look at other schools but also hasn’t eliminated that original school. Georgia has had two such "soft decommitments" in recent weeks: offensive lineman B.J. Brand and running back Martin Ward. Both committed to the Dawgs earlier in the process, but as Brand put it, "I made a real quick decision and I like Georgia a lot, but I just want to make sure of things. I still like Georgia a lot and they are still up there on my list, but I am going to look around a little bit before making my final decision." OK…I can buy that. At least they were honest about it.

On a commitment scale of 1-to-10 where 1 is "John Capel undecided" and 10 is "came out of the womb wearing his future school’s colors", this new area is somewhere around a 5. It’s different from a soft verbal commitment since Mr. Soft Verbal doesn’t want to go so far as to decommit and risk losing his offer. Just for fun, here’s the rest of the scale.

Football Recruiting Scale o’ Commitment:

10: Odd birthmark in the shape of his school’s logo. Coincidence?

9: Becomes a recruiting intern and starts calling other prospects

8: Solid commitment. Makes his decision and isn’t heard from until he signs at 8:30 on Signing Day and shows up on time in August.

7: Committed, but hasn’t cleaned out his cell phone’s contact list just yet.

6: The soft verbal: claims he is still committed but has other visits lined up "just to be sure of my decision."

5: The soft decommitment: officially backs out of a hasty early commitment but keeps his original school at or near the top of his list.

4: Genuinely undecided but doing his homework

3: Major life decision is heavily influenced by paddleboats.

2: Anyone have a coin?

1: "I committed to Ole Miss because I really felt at home there. Just as I did at LSU the week before, Arkansas the week before that, and Tennessee last month. Where am I visiting this weekend?"

It’s a paradox of college football that because so much emphasis is placed on the regular season we end up with a regular season that doesn’t reach its full potential. It’s not a big revelation that most schools approach their scheduling asking "how much can we get away with?" The first priority is wins, and strength of schedule is a secondary priority for most teams in major conferences. No one likes the games against cupcakes, but the all-or-nothing nature of the regular season rewards those wins provided they are balanced against a sufficiently strong conference schedule. Even where national titles aren’t at stake, an impressive win total still plays into bowl bids and their valuable paydays.

It’s to the point now that Big 10 coaches are willing to acknowledge (HT: Get the Picture) that playing an additional conference game is not in their best interests. The sure win over a cupcake is worth more to teams because it’s a guaranteed notch in the win column, and that means more bowl bids (and money) for the conference. Though the really compelling out-of-conference game isn’t rare, it is still the exception and noteworthy enough to be the subject of press releases.

I don’t blame them in the least. It’s rational behavior considering the incentives. The consequences of a single loss often far outweigh any benefit of playing a tougher-than-necessary opponent. Why play nine conference games when eight will do and get you to the Rose Bowl? You might get the luck of the draw and not have to face Ohio State or Wisconsin along the way – all the better. I’d love to see more conference games – I find it ridiculous and contrary to the point of a conference as anything other than a revenue-sharing entity that teams in these super-conferences don’t play more often. But as the sport’s popularity soars and fans continue to fill the stands, what is the incentive to make things more difficult?

What I don’t get is those who bemoan these weak schedules and not ask "why?" Why are teams not doing more with this 12th game? Why are fans glad to see an additional home game if it means a glorified scrimmage? Why don’t people take a closer look at the incentives driving this scheduling?

Tavarres King Photo: Rivals.com

Such is the life of a college football fan. Of course it’s probably not healthy to carry this behavior into May, but health isn’t the calling card of your typical SEC fan.

Yesterday the Bulldog nation was thrown into the doldrums with the announcement of Paul Oliver’s ineligibility. Today, they are back on top of the world with the Friday afternoon announcement that Habersham Central WR Tavarres King has committed to Georgia for the recruiting class of 2008. UGASports.com was on location and has coverage ($). Because of his 6’1" 65lb. frame, he draws comparisons to Terrence Edwards.

King joins South Carolina standout A.J. Green to become one of the best on-paper receiver tandems to commit to Georgia since Reggie Brown and Durrell Robinson in 1999. Unlike that tandem, Green and King should both show up on campus for their freshman season. It is possible that Georgia isn’t done yet – other outstanding in-state prospects such as Joshua Jarboe are considering the Dawgs and would be significant additions in their own right. People want to catch passes from Matt Stafford.

King chose Georgia over Clemson, Florida, and Georgia Tech.

That’s about the only positive spin I can put on the news that Paul Oliver is ineligible for the 2007 season:

University of Georgia senior cornerback Paul Oliver has failed to meet NCAA academic eligibility requirements for competition this fall and plans to petition the NFL for entry into the supplemental draft this summer.

Oliver’s situation does not preclude him from remaining enrolled in school. He was a regular starter last season and has started 15 games in his career.

“We’ll miss him for sure,” UGA head coach Mark Richt. “Of course, he could have made a decision to leave for the draft immediately after his junior season. He was aware there could be risks but he decided to continue in school and get closer to his degree. His best opportunity now to continue his playing career is through the supplemental draft coming up in July.”

Well, crap. Oliver had emerged into the one bonafide star on the Georgia defense, and it was considerably good news that he returned for his senior season. No more.

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Georgia is relatively deep, if young, at cornerback. Bryan Evans, Prince Miller, Asher Allen, Ramarcus Brown, and Thomas Flowers are all experienced. It’s just that a player with Oliver’s ability is a difference-maker, and it’s not quite the same to say “we’ll be fine” at cornerback because of the depth. Championship-quality teams often have a few of those difference-making upperclassmen, and Georgia just lost one of their better ones from this year’s team.

With three new starters on a thin defensive line and three healthy linebackers at the moment, the Dawg defense really needed the secondary to be a rock of strength this year. With Oliver gone, the load just got a lot heavier for guys like Evans, Allen, and Brown, and Miller.

(First, do yourself a favor and read this hoops recruiting post over at GeorgiaSportsBlog.)

While we were busy with the postmortem of the 2006-2007 basketball season, I eventually settled on a shooting guard as the biggest-need-not-yet-met. Levi Stukes is gone and while there were some capable shooters on the roster, no one had really set my hair on fire as a consistent outside weapon. Make no mistake, it isn’t the only need for improvement on the team, so it was interesting to see the different directions that spring recruiting took. There was the small forward D.J. Kennedy who, while undersized for a forward at 6’5″, was considered “versatile” enough to play on the wing. Kennedy signed with St. John’s. Then there was Steffphon Pettigrew, another 6’5″ small forward who was named Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball and led the state in scoring. Despite the Mr. Basketball honor, Pettigrew never really drew major college offers. Georgia showed some interest but didn’t offer. Pettigrew chose to remain in-state and sign with Western Kentucky.

Troy Brewer Photo: Rivals.com

That brings us to Troy Brewer. The name appeared Tuesday on the UGASports.com hoops message board, and news of his signing broke on Wednesday. Brewer is yet another 6’5″ wing, but he seems to have a stronger outside shot than some of the other players the Dawgs were considering.

What is really impressive about Brewer is the pedigree. He didn’t start until his senior season at Gaithersburg (MD) Montrose Christian, and that was because he played behind someone named Kevin Durant. As a first-year starter, he recorded 15.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Montrose Christian is a national top 25 program and plays against the likes of Oak Hill. Big-time college basketball should not rattle him in the least. Coach Felton agrees. “Troy is simply accustomed to winning,” said Felton. “He is a product of one of the premier high school programs in the country at Montrose Christian. Coach Stu Vetter has turned out Top 25 teams, as well as a long list of high-level players, at each of his schools over the past 20 years. We feel like Troy is another member of that list.”

Because Brewer didn’t start until his senior year, he didn’t appear on the radar until very late. He started to receive interest, though not offers, from schools like Maryland, Virginia Tech, and a few West Coast schools. He is fully qualified academically.

Troy is already sizing up his chances to play right away in Athens. “”Looking at the roster I think I fit in well because at my position the two-guard a lot of their guys are 6’2″ or 6’3″ and I am at 6’5″ to 6’6″ and my extra height and length is what they need in the backcourt,” he told UGASports.com ($). Coach Felton added, “He is a terrific guard with good size and length. Shooting the basketball is considered his specialty.” That size is definitely a plus, but in the end the competition for playing time will come down to his ability to shoot consistently and of course how well he does the other things on the court.

Brewer is the fifth and final signee for the Georgia basketball 2007-2008 freshman class. He will join forwards Chris Barnes, Jeremy Jacob, and Jeremy Price as well as point guard Zac Swansey. He plans to arrive in Athens in July.

The chatter among the Dawgnation this morning is about the Banner-Herald’s publication of athletic association salaries, including administrators, head coaches, and assistant coaches. Go ahead and peek. It should go without saying that the list doesn’t represent the total compensation for many people on it.

I understand and appreciate the need for transparency in public matters, but there’s still something gauche about reporting it. Though many salaries in the public sector are stratified and paid according to job grade, there’s still a natural tendency to compare when it’s out in the open. Greed, jealousy, and vanity aren’t far behind if one isn’t careful.

I won’t get much into the report, but there is one thing that Sen. Blutarsky points out that will probably have a ripple effect: brand new offensive line coach Stacy Searles – a position coach and not coordinator – is the third-highest-paid coach of any kind at Georgia. Only Mark Richt and Andy Landers earn more (in terms of base salary of course). No other football assistant, including coordinators Bobo and Martinez, currently earn as much.

What does that mean? It could be that Searles is instantly the best assistant on the staff and is paid accordingly. More likely is that his hiring was one of Georgia’s first experiences with the increasingly expensive market for football assistant coaches. As head coaching salaries soar, assistants are beginning to see measurable increases themselves. Georgia had to compete with the likes of Alabama for Searles, and you have to think about the kind of money they offered him if they threw $32 million at Saban.

As a result, the other assistants will likely be the beneficiaries as their salaries are adjusted accordingly. Has Georgia gotten away with “underpaying” football assistants? Possibly. There has been no mass exodus, so something is keeping them here. But if Searles’ hiring is an indication of the market rates for a good position coach, Georgia will eventually have to react in order to retain the quality assistants already in place.

UGASports.com reported on Tuesday afternoon that redshirt freshman linebacker Akeem Dent broke his foot in off-season drills. He is expected to be out until July. Dent’s injury is just the latest blow to a dwindling linebacker corps. Dent is one of three injured linebackers, and of course Akeem Hebron was recently lost for the season.

Though several of the injuries should heal up in time for the season, the Dawgs have only three healthy linebackers to start the summer: Dewberry, Ellerbe, and Miller. Freshmen Rennie Curran and Charles White will surely get a look when they report to campus.

Though the attrition and injuries on the offensive line have received much of the spotlight, the linebackers have taken more than their share of hits over the past few years. Let’s go all the way back to 2002 and look at the linebacker classes since then. We’ll note those who left the program or position before the end of their careers, those who completed their career as a linebacker, those who are currently injured, and the three who are currently healthy.

2002

• Marquis Elmore: converted to DE, then to DT, never more than a minor role player
• Tony Taylor: sidetracked by knee injury but finished career strong in 2006. Signed with Falcons as a free agent

2003

• Dana Graydon: left Georgia for Ga. Military College, ended up at South Carolina St.
• Marcus Howard: moved to defensive end
• Jarvis Jackson: nice career at MLB, signed as free agent with Tenn. Titans
• Odell Thurman: played just two seasons, all-SEC MLB, 2nd round NFL pick in 2005
• Danny Verdun-Wheeler: won back starting OLB job during 2006 season
• Des Williams: converted to fullback, career ended by chronic injuries

2004

• Dannell Ellerbe: current starting WLB, suspended first three games of 2006 season
• Josh Johnson: left Georgia for Ga. Military, currently at Marshall
• Brandon Miller: originally signed as DE, moved to OLB and now starts at MLB

2005

• Jamar Chaney: denied admission by UGA, signed with Mississippi State
• Darius Dewberry: did not qualify, resigned in 2006
• Tavarus Kearney: Left for Georgia Southern after alleged cheating incident
• Marcus Washington: reserve MLB, currently recovering from knee injury

2006

• Akeem Dent: reserve SLB, currently recovering from broken foot
• Darius Dewberry: spent a year at Hargrave, current starting SLB
• Darryl Gamble: reserve WLB, recovering from broken foot
• Akeem Hebron: suspended for 2007 season, will spend year at Georgia Military

Worst choice of a name for a mini-feature on UGA athletics?

Congratulations, AJC, on the new "UGA FOOTBALL BUZZ". Was the "UGA FOOTBALL GATOR CHOMP" considered? The "WAR EAGLE UGA FOOTBALL REPORT" would have been a better choice.

Photo: Athens Banner-Herald

Most any UGA alum with a bit of age on them has an Allen’s story. Whether we were a regular for Wednesday night with the Normaltown Flyers or just stopped in for a burger after a football game, many of us enjoyed that unique experience. It was right down the street for much of my college career. The notorious Prince Avenue dive closed at the end of 2003 and was demolished.

UGA alum Mark Hammond is among those trying to bring Allen’s back now at a location near Oglethorpe and Hawthorne (near the Athens "Y"). Their story is covered today in the Banner-Herald.

The new location seems to be a bit questionable. Though the original wasn’t downtown, it was still very much a neighborhood kind of place there in Normaltown – an area of Athens with a very distinct identity and sense of community. I have no doubt that they’ll do what they can to make it seem familiar, but a new location in an out-of-the-way strip mall is a bit of a stretch. It sounds as if they’re banking on nostalgia to draw people back, and that’s a tough thing to recapture.

The relationship Allen’s had with Foxz reminds me of another away-from-downtown pair of Athens restaurants that have fallen on hard times. Steverino’s and Sons of Italy on Lumpkin used to pack them in during the 1990s. Impossible parking and all, everyone spent time there. Now Son’s has moved to the Spot of Death near Milledge and the Athens Perimeter where seemingly dozens of restaurants have failed. Are they even open yet? Then Steverino’s closed and eventually re-opened with new owners. But the two individually are much less than the whole, and seeing that one-time hotspot wither has been as bad as seeing Allen’s go.

I hope the new Allen’s succeeds and is true to the concept. After all, Allen’s is the place where I met my fiancée during its last month, and I hated to see it close. We’ll at least stop by and give the new location a try.

Congratulations to Jeff Keppinger. The star of the 2001 Diamond Dawgs has been called up to the Cincinnati Reds from AAA Louisville where he was batting .411.

Keppinger, originally drafted by Pittsburgh, made his major league debut with the New York Mets. He has since played in the Kansas City Royals organization before heading to the Reds.

Chip Towers of the AJC had a nice rundown yesterday from the Georgia Athletic Association’s board of directors meeting. Some highlights:

• The student football ticket policy will be changed again to address those seniors we all knew who tried to stretch things out one more semester in order to get football tickets. Seniors must have at least 12 hours after drop/add, or they will fall behind incoming freshmen in the priority. I like the change; student tickets are relatively scarce and should go to actual students.
• Athletic administrators Frank Crumley and Carla Green Williams each received well-deserved promotions to become more or less the next-in-command behind Damon Evans. I’ve been around both of them recently, Dr. Williams in particular, and I’ve observed that they are professional, pleasant, and as a result enjoy the respect of those around them. It’s always amusing to see veteran coach Andy Landers refer to Dr. Williams, whom he coached at Georgia in the 1980s, as "his boss", but they seem to have an outstanding relationship. Georgia has some top-notch administrators, and the days of a senior AD position as a place to hide an old coach seem to be fading away.
• Georgia athletics needs that solid administration because it is now a $70 million organization. Though the athletic department remains (very) profitable, second only to Notre Dame this year, expenses are expected to increase 14% this year.
• Money continues to pour into Georgia athletics. They surpassed their "Investing in Champions" fundraising campaign goal of $60 million. Hartman Fund donations were $23 million. Additionally, Towers reports that "all of Georgia’s revenue exceeded projections in the past fiscal year, with more income expected between now and the end of the period at the end of June."

Towers also addresses another current issue: the sudden resignation of women’s golf coach Todd McCorkle. Chip writes on his AJC beat blog,

I’m wondering, too (why he resigned). And, frankly, I’m pretty confident I know what happened. The problem is, nobody at Georgia or anybody who is involved will go on record to confirm it. So, we’re left to let it run through UGA’s legal channels before our Freedom of Information requests are honored and we can report it. That’s how it goes in this business sometimes. But stay tuned. We’re on it and it’s just a matter of time before the truth is revealed.

Well, count me among those who will sleep better knowing that someone is on this hot story. I wonder if all the FOI requests and the investigative work into a freaking collegiate women’s golf program will be worth it.

This year’s Georgia baseball seniors will have many memories. They have been at the top of the SEC. They have won several dramatic postseason series. They have made two trips to Omaha and the College World Series. Senior Matt Olson points out another accomplishment achieved last night.

"Our seniors this year have never lost a series to Tech, and that is big for them."

The seniors have Olson to thank in large part for that feat. The junior has 11 RBI and a career .500 (10-20) average against Tech. Nine of those RBI have come in the past two games. He added three more last night, including two in a key eighth-inning hit to break open a close game and lead Georgia to a 9-4 win over the Jackets.

It hasn’t been a great year for the Dawgs, and it will take nothing short of a miracle for their season to continue past next weekend. Still, they are able to take away these two wins over Tech, and so the season isn’t a complete washout. It was fitting that a senior, Adam McDaniel, received credit for the "turning point" of the game in the top of the eighth. Georgia retook the lead in the bottom of the seventh, but Tech had always been able to answer up to that point. McDaniel gave Georgia its first 1-2-3 inning on defense since the first, and for the first time in a while had momentum and confidence in both halves of the inning.

Georgia responded by putting the game away in the next frame. Tech coach Danny Hall’s strategy melted down in the bottom of the eighth. He started the inning by moving his centerfielder to pitcher, changing his mind, moving players all over the field, and even confusing the guys he had out there. Very cute strategy. He then got burned on an intentional walk later in the inning, and Georgia had added four golden insurance runs by the time the damage was done.

As a reminder, let’s update everyone on where things stand between these programs since 2001. Georgia is 15-9 against Tech and 5-1-1 in season series over that time with the only blemish coming in 2002. Lest you think Georgia’s success is just because they might place more emphasis on "meaningless" mid-week games, that record includes a 3-2 advantage against Tech in the postseason over the same time period. They have eliminated Tech from the postseason twice, and the Jackets have finished off the Dawgs once.

It was an unusual year for this rivalry in that Tech could be said to have had the better (or higher-ranked) team in football, baseball, and men’s basketball. Yet the Dawgs were able to hold their own and get the better of the Jackets in football and baseball. Next year, we’ll add basketball back to the list; Tech hasn’t beaten Georgia in Athens since the basketball series went home-and-home in 1995.

Coverage:

• ABH
• AJC

One of my favorite features over at the Grapevine recruiting site was the "Recruiter’s Roster". It showed at a glance how the team broke down by class so that needs and depth issues would show up right away. I’m doing a little variation on that here by taking the post-spring depth chart and exploding it by class. 1st-teamers are in solid red, 2nd-teamers are in the lighter red, other scholarship players are in gray, and walkons are unshaded. I’m going by the information from that depth chart as the positions are now. The chart doesn’t tell the whole story (Haverkamp is a junior but is still a rookie for example), but I think it’s close enough.

As you’d expect and hope, many of the starters are juniors and seniors. Still, it stands out how many potential contributors are sophomores or younger particularly on the lines. That shouldn’t surprise any of us, but it was strange to see Howard and Velasco as the only senior linemen on either side of the ball. The junior class isn’t much deeper until you add in the JUCO transfers. You can also get a sense for the infusion of young defensive speed on the team. Linebackers like Dent and Gamble as well as a slew of defensive backs will be counted upon heavily this season.

Anyway, even if it just looks like a giant pixelated game of Tetris, enjoy.

Chad Simmons of UGASports.com is reporting that 2006 offensive line signee Ben Harden has made a qualifying test score and will be eligible to join the program for the 2007 season. He spent this past year at Hargrave Military Academy while he worked on his academics.

Want to see a bunch of tough-talking advocates of personal responsibility turn into the biggest bleeding-heart mass of equivocating relativist excuse-makers? Watch a typical football fan learn that one of his team’s players can’t get out of a punishment.

In the past day, the suspension of Akeem Hebron for the fall semester has blown up on the message boards. I’m having trouble understanding why people are surprised by the news. We knew as soon as the second arrest came that he would be facing this suspension. I guess much of the shock comes from the news that a football player couldn’t somehow get around the University policy.

Most are focusing on the harshness of the punishment. Does it fit the crime, etc.

That’s completely irrelevant. Whether the policy is too strong or is fitting (I think it’s a bit reactionary myself), it’s spelled out right up front (HT: Ching) and applies to every UGA student. Not many made a noise about this policy until it took down a football player. If the policy sucks, work to change it, but you have to live by it in the meantime.

We learn today that Hebron will take the path I mentioned yesterday and enroll at Georgia Military College for the fall semester. He’ll be eligible to return for the spring semester, and the AJC reports that "Hebron said Georgia coach Mark Richt would welcome him back in January 2008 if he followed the necessary steps."

Oh, the drama I’ve read in the past day. The excuses and enabling would make an addict proud. "He’s being crucified for such a small mistake." "He just was unlucky and got caught doing what we all did in college." "His career is ruined because of a knee-jerk zero-tolerance policy." "The police are out to get football players." Some, apparently unable in their hysteria to comprehend that getting arrested often presents certain other problems, have even asked why Stafford doesn’t face the same kind of suspension. Won’t someone think of the children?!?!

Of course none of that exaggeration is true. While most are no stranger to underage drinking, few use the bad judgment to become belligerent with a downtown bouncer months after a MIP citation. Even fewer would be likely to do it once Richt lays down the law after the first offense. You can be certain that Hebron knew what was at stake if he were arrested again. His career is far from over or ruined. The escape route to GMC is the best possible outcome in this situation. If (if, if, if) things go well at GMC, he will pick back up at UGA for the spring 2008 semester, get back on track in terms of academic progress, and lose only his freshman season. It could have been a lot worse.

I don’t want to sound overly hard on the guy. It’s a tough situation, and the start of his football career has been delayed, but it’s the result of his decisions. He knows that. "I’m disappointed in myself. The whole thing has been difficult, " he told the AJC. He’s getting what so many don’t: a legitimate third chance. The support structure at Georgia to help him will be there. I can’t imagine a better guide in that spot than Richt and Van Halenger. It’s also a positive sign of commitment by Hebron to take this route. He’s not playing D-1 ball next year regardless, so he could have used the year to transfer and get a clean start somewhere else. He’s chosen to accept the fact that he’ll have to face the probation and academic pressure when he gets back to Athens as well as face the work he’ll have to do to get back in the good graces of the football program.