Anthony Dasher of UGASports.com reports on a new SEC ruling “that will no longer permit media or scouting services to attend summer sports camps.” The NCAA is expected “in the near future” to “issue an interpretation dealing with NCAA Bylaw 13.10.5 and the concept of the media taking pictures of and/or filming PSAs at institutional camps,” according to SEC Associate Commissioner for Compliance Greg Sankey. Sankey continues,

“An institution has an obligation to preclude the presence of media (including scouting services) at its institutional camps for the purpose of writing stories, filming and/or taking pictures of PSAs, as those actions are contrary to bylaw 13.10.5. This would include the aforementioned activities taking place from a location that is open to the general public and on any occasion, regardless of whether the institution invited the media to attend.

…we advise you to immediately notify media outlets they are not permitted to be present at institutional camps. Otherwise, media activity around camps may result in a rules violation and penalties that could limit recruiting opportunities with involved prospects.”

At first glance, this ruling might just appear to be aimed at recruiting services and their notoriously zealous coverage. But stepping back, why would the SEC in particular care to be proactive about keeping the media away from on-campus events where coaches and prospects mingle? After all, the NCAA hasn’t even finalized its interpretation yet. Sankey’s statement concludes,

“While this is a “mid-course correction” to application of Bylaw 13.10.5, keep in mind that camps were never intended to be promotional and/or publicity opportunities related to prospective student-athletes. Camps are intended to be instructional opportunities. However, it has become clear that media activity around camps has overshadowed the camps’ purpose, which is the reason for this modification.”

It’s odd: it’s not as if any SEC schools have been in the news recently for trouble related to media coverage of contact between prospects and coaches.

The 2010 game at Colorado might be standing in the way of Georgia opening the season at the Georgia Dome (not necessarily a bad thing), but I’m looking forward to seeing a game in a setting like this:

Photo comes from National Geographic’s Photo of the Day site.

HeismanPundit takes Georgia associate AD Arthur Johnson to task for Johnson’s candid comments about how an SEC program looks at scheduling. The title of his post is tongue-in-cheek of course, but it does raise the issue of the incentives that guide the behavior of many of the nation’s top programs.

HP’s site is valuable and his analysis (of the Heisman landscape) typically accurate because, as he frequently must explain to critics, “I analyze the Heisman race in the context of how it is, not how it should be.” Fair enough, right? You might not like that the Heisman more or less ignores defense or favors certain schools, but you have to accept those realities if you hope to follow the Heisman race with any kind of perspective, insight, and accuracy.

With that maxim guiding his site, you’d expect him to recognize that Johnson’s comments are cut from the same cloth. It’s not the job of Johnson and his peers to schedule in a way that would sit well with fans of the game. The incentive system for major college football programs – as it is – values wins (or, more correctly, lack of losses) far more than strength of schedule. It’s one of the tradeoffs of making the regular season count for so much. Teams schedule accordingly.

If scheduling reform is necessary, it’s because incentives are out of balance. When you look at what gets rewarded, Johnson’s approach is completely rational. Strength of schedule *is* overrated. Even when it’s a question of deciding who plays for the national title, other factors like conference championships or poll position often come in to play before strength of schedule. Additional wins for major conference teams mean higher rankings, bowl games, TV appearances, and money. If you can do it at home and collect the gate receipts, all the better. That the Pac-10 would consider dropping its round-robin schedule in the pursuit of more bowl-eligible teams shows how strong the pull of the financial incentives are.

Bringing about more attractive or aggressive schedules means either changing the incentives or compelling teams through top-down rules to schedule in ways that are contrary to the current incentives. Unfortunately, the same conference-based organizational structure that works so well as a money-making machine would surely be as resistant to further scheduling restrictions as it was to the idea of Congress meddling with the BCS.

As an aside, Johnson’s best comment was this:

You’d love to have a national name [opponent] that’s in a valley one of these years. It still looks great. You just don’t know when people are going to be up and down.

It’s so true. How much credit is Georgia getting for scheduling mediocre Arizona State and Colorado teams?

Since we’re in off-season if-I-were-king mode…if you really want the best regular season schedule, take HP’s 10-team conference model and use relegation to determine membership instead of geography. You’d have nine conference games and can use the other three on regional rivals in other divisions or however else you’d like. Scheduling wouldn’t matter – winning the first division (or earning promotion) would be what it’s all about. And what matchups every week…

You won’t find Paul Johnson and I agreeing on much, but both of us understand that the Atlanta Sports Council bringing in SEC and ACC rivals to the Georgia Dome for the Kickoff Classic isn’t doing the local programs any favors.

“Helps the teams that are playing in it, no question,” Johnson said. “Doesn’t do anything for us or Georgia. When you bring in teams in your own conference to showcase them every year in a kickoff game, it’s got to help them recruit the area.”

The quick reaction is to point out that Georgia or Georgia Tech could just as well participate, but doing so would still be less optimal than simply hosting a quality home game at which either program could actually host area prospects.

If you’ve dipped your toe into the waters of the 2010 recruiting pool, you’ve heard of Nick Montana. Yes, son of that Montana. Montana is rated the #12 pro-style passer in the nation by Rivals.com and had offers from, among others, LSU, Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame, and several schools closer to his home in California.

It’s no surprise when a prospect decides to stay within his own time zone, but Montana’s Tuesday commitment to the Washington Huskies is definitely getting a few double-takes. The Huskies were 0-12 last year and haven’t had a winning season since 2002. New Washington coach Steve Sarkisian brings a resume that includes work at Southern Cal with Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, and Mark Sanchez, and Montana explained, “You just have to look at all the guys he’s put into the pros.” The Montanas are taking the gamble that Sarkisian will bring that same Midas touch with him as he starts to rebuild the reeling Washington program.

Another key piece of the future of Georgia’s passing game was added today when Calhoun (Ga.) receiver Da’Rick Rogers gave his verbal commitment to Georgia. Rogers, at 6’3″ and 206 lb., is currently rated as the #4 receiver and #22 overall prospect by Rivals.com. He’s currently the top-rated prospect according to Rivals.com at any position from the state of Georgia.

Rogers becomes Georgia’s 5th verbal commitment for the class of 2010.

The commitment is significant on several levels. Of course landing top Georgia prospects is a big priority for the coaching staff. The receiver position still isn’t incredibly deep, but the talent level is starting to pick up to a level that can match the quarterbacking talent that will be in place. Rogers was also an important target because of Georgia’s lukewarm interest in Markeith Ambles, another highly-rated Georgia receiver prospect. Other schools are reportedly backing off of Ambles which sheds a little light on Georgia’s lack of interest, but that strategy put all the more pressure on getting Rogers.

More information:

• Rogers’ other offers included Alabama, LSU, Florida, FSU, Ole Miss, and West Virginia.
• As a high school junior, Rogers caught 66 passes for 1,300 yards and 11 TD.
• Calhoun HS is also the home of redshirting Georgia receiver Kris Durham.
• In 2008 Calhoun reached the class AA state championship game before falling to Buford. They’ve won their region every year since 2001.

OK, I can buy that Mark Richt and Damon Evans have different takes on the appropriate strength of schedule for Georgia football. There’s certainly nothing approaching a consensus among the fans, so it’s understandable that Richt and Evans might not see exactly eye-to-eye. Fine.

But to take this ABH article about the nonconference schedule at face value, I find myself having to ask these two questions: does Mark Richt really have limited input as to his own team’s schedule, and does the dismissive “I’ll listen to his opinion” comment really sum up Damon Evans’ view of the coach’s role in setting the schedule?

It doesn’t work that way for Georgia’s other sports. Bringing up the “Harrick approach to scheduling” will get a knowing nod from Georgia basketball fans. David Perno adjusts his schedule each year.

Sure, football is a different animal than the other sports. A single nonconference game can carry a commitment of almost one million dollars of athletic department money, so of course some oversight and due diligence is necessary. Most nonconference games, especially against quality opponents, are now set years in advance, so annual tweaking isn’t really possible. Football is also your biggest product with fewer discretionary games and opportunities to showcase the program than any other sport. I realize why Evans would want to be involved in the process.

Still, regardless of our personal preferences as fans, the coach needs to be the one who drives the scheduling philosophy. It’s not something to be handed down from on high by the athletic director. Saying “I’m sure (Richt) has some valid points” is way too late in the game to have a meeting of the minds about the schedule. At the same time, knowing how involved the coaches are in determining the schedules for Georgia’s other sports, I’m skeptical that Richt has had as little to do with setting the schedule as it seems.

Since it’s all about Phil Steele this week (Rivals subscribers can check out a more focused look at Georgia by Steele that can be summed up as "Georgia is undervalued"), here’s a look at how well he’s done pegging the Dawgs during the Richt years versus the consensus (numbers courtesy of Chris Stassen’s invaluable site). Of course Steele (and most everyone else) makes his predictions before many of the developments (injuries or otherwise) leading up to the season take place, so attribute the results to serendipity or skill as you like. I love his preseason annual, and his track record speaks for itself.

If there’s anything resembling a trend, it’s that it took a few years for Steele to jump on the Richtwagon. No problem there…a lot of our own fans had the same issue. Of the three times he’s varied significantly from the consensus on Georgia, 2008 was the only time he came out ahead.

Just for thought…what does it mean when Steele has mostly praise for Georgia and Richt, thinks Georgia will be better than most expect, yet predicts a finish at #13 that would be below the median for Richt’s teams? Have the (national) expectations fallen that far? We’ll find out as the consensus builds, but Athlon ranking Georgia at #14 isn’t exactly a sign that Steele’s going to be the outlying contrarian this year when it comes to the Bulldogs.

The University of Georgia officially opened the Tate Center Expansion this week, and the building promises lots of additional meeting and event space, services, and amenities for students (at a $60 million price tag). A more formal ribbon-cutting will take place later in the summer.

That’s great for the students, but as selfish alums and football fans, what’s in it for us? Several things:

• Lots of additional indoor space near the stadium in which to hang out on game day. Large open areas seem ready-made for a large crowd waiting for a football game. “The Tate addition is so football-friendly, one student exploring the expansion wondered out loud if the building were designed with football Saturdays in mind.”
• While you’re inside staying cool or just killing time before the game, check out the 24-foot projection TV screen in the third-floor lobby. If you can’t make it into the game, they’ll be showing it on this screen. Yes, 24 feet of Gameday goodness.
• Several hundred parking spaces were lost when this construction took away the better part of the Stegeman Hall parking lot, but this facility includes a 508-spot parking deck that will surely be used for premium (and perhaps handicapped) parking on game days.

One other effect of the Tate expansion will be to refocus the Dawg Walk. We’ve looked before at how this building will play a role in the continued revitalization of the central campus. Though the project is nowhere near complete, a future Alumni Development Center between the Tate Center and Lumpkin Street as well as an “Alumni Quad” between the two buildings will form the heart of a central campus park complete with a Dawg Walk Overlook. The sketch below shows where this is (tentatively) headed.

Click for a much larger version.

Last month we learned that Comcast would add ESPNU before the football season, bringing the SEC television lineup into focus for many in metro Atlanta. Now the AJC confirms the speculation that Peachtree TV will be the outlet of choice for regional ESPN-produced broadcasts. The deal also includes a lot of SEC men’s basketball on Saturdays and Wednesdays starting during conference play in January as well as eight Sundays of SEC women’s basketball.

The national broadcasts will still be on CBS, ESPN, ESPNU, and ESPN2. Think of it this way – instead of WATL 36 or wherever else you used to look for the regional JP games, they’ll be on Peachtree TV now (only at noon instead of 12:30 – oy). The enhanced basketball coverage is especially welcome. It’ll be a double-header every Saturday during the conference schedule as well as one game each Wednesday (in addition to national games on ESPN as before).

Peachtree TV is available in standard and high definition format on major cable and satellite providers in Atlanta. Keep in mind this is for the Atlanta area only – Peachtree TV is a local channel and not a superstation or national network. Fans in other markets will find the games on different stations or as before on Gameplan. We’ll be happy to post those stations here as deals are announced – just send word.

The Chicago White Sox have called up Gordon Beckham just a week after he was promoted to AAA ball. This time last year, he was preparing to lead Georgia into the College World Series. Now he’s in the majors and will join the circus that is the Ozzie Guillen clubhouse.

Bulldog coach David Perno commented,

“I talked to Gordon and he’s excited. It’s obviously quick but if anyone I’ve ever coached can handle it it’s Gordon. He’s had something special about him from day one. From a maturity and a talent standpoint he is definitely ready, and I am looking forward to watching him.”

According to UGA, Beckham will be the fourth Bulldog to take the field for a major league team this year, joining Jeff Keppinger (Astros), Clint Sammons (Braves) and Mitchell Boggs (Cardinals).

More Bulldogs will start down the path to the big leagues next Tuesday June 9th when the 2009 MLB draft gets underway.

(As an aside, Braves fans will recognize the player Beckham is replacing on the Sox roster: Wilson Betemit.)

There’s not much to add to the discussion about Rex Robinson’s analysis of Georgia’s kickoff woes. He knows what he’s talking about, and he does a good job of laying out the rules changes that make touchbacks so infrequent. We know that, with one exception, SEC kickers couldn’t get a touchback even 15% of the time last year. So it’s correct to assume that you’re going to be covering your kicks more often than not.

Here’s where the Bulldogs ranked among the SEC in kickoff coverage over the past few seasons:

02: 4th
03: 6th – first year after Kirouac
04: 3rd (though the stats here seem incomplete)
05: 4th
06: 9th
07: 9th
08: 11th

If you listen to a lot of fans, the directional kick has been the scourge of Georgia football since Richt and Fabris took over in 2001. For the first several years, it was actually pretty effective at least in the coverage unit’s place among the SEC.

Obviously something’s been different since 2006, and as Robinson notes, the rule change from a 2-inch tee to a 1-inch tee went into effect that year. Does that explain the drop to the bottom half of the conference rankings? Possibly. It’s also possible that the kickers (Bailey, Coutu, Walsh) over that time haven’t been the best at kickoffs.

The staff is hedging towards the belief that maybe it *is* the kicker. They’ve used a valuable scholarship to add a third scholarship kicker solely for what he can bring to the table on kickoffs. Will he reverse the trend that’s headed downward since the shorter tee was introduced?

But is it all about the kicker or even the hated directional kicks? We talked about this during last season. Plenty of attention has been paid, thanks to Robinson’s post, to the actual kicking, but not much has been said about the makeup of the 10 guys heading downfield to get to the returner. If you want your difference between Georgia and the better coverage units, look at the field position where we first engaged the blockers.

If the kick coverage improves this year, I expect a good bit of the improvement will come from a larger and (hopefully) healthier pool of younger defensive players. It’s a point Richt made certain to emphasize during the Road Tour. If you look down the roster at the back seven positions on defense, the number of players unavailable last year due to injury or redshirting could almost make up a coverage team of their own. Robinson, Rambo, Dewberry, Pugh, Commings, and Banks are just a few who could give the unit a shot in the arm this year. Even true freshmen like Branden Smith could help, and I expect you’ll see them out there.

The story of Robert Dozier is pretty well known among hardcore Georgia basketball fans. He signed with Georgia, was denied admission, and ended up at Memphis. It wasn’t exactly a secret that irregularities with Dozier’s SAT score were the source of his trouble getting into Georgia.

With the much higher-profile case of Derrick Rose’s alleged SAT cheating now all over the news, Dozier’s relatively dated and obscure story suddenly seems a lot more interesting and relevant.

Both the softball and baseball teams wrapped up their seasons on Sunday, but the tone with which the seasons ended couldn’t have been more different.

The softball team fell 9-3 on Sunday night to Washington, assuring the Huskies of a spot in the championship series against Florida and ending an exhausting run of four games over two days for Georgia. Along the way the Dawgs eliminated Missouri, upset Big 10 champ Michigan, and pushed a strong Washington team to the brink of elimination by lighting up one of the best pitchers in the game.

Though the two departing seniors were important pieces of the team, the story you couldn’t avoid over the weekend was that everyone else will be back for at least two more years. Finding a new pitching ace will be critical to the team’s future, but the powerful offense will be more or less intact.

All that is no guarantee that the team will be able to go as far or even deeper in the coming years, but you’ve got to like their chances. There’s no question though the Georgia softball is firmly on the national map now, and the underclassmen have a taste of what it will take to win it all.

At the very least, Georgia softball won themselves a lot of new fans from the Super Regional comebacks through the WCWS run. I’m one of them. They were entertaining to watch, played loose even under the incredible pressure of the moment, and love playing for Georgia – how can you not like a player who knows the significance of wearing #34 at Georgia? Names like Schnake, Schlopy, Hesson, and Goler were on the radar of even the football-only crowd this weekend, and they’ll have a lot more people tuning in to see how they follow it up next year.

The outlook was far less sunny for the baseball team after it fell to Ohio State 13-6 in the elimination game. First was the embarassment of losing to a team that set records for futility its two regional losses. But more troubling was the way in which Georgia lost the game. Three errors. Baserunning blunders. Less-than-acceptable effort from an upperclassman starter. I guess you can credit Ohio State for not collapsing after falling behind 5-0 to a team that routed them on Friday, but the loss is as much on Georgia as it is for the Buckeyes rising to the occasion.

Leadership was a frequent scapegoat in the many autopsies of the 2008 football season, and it sounds as if some of the same themes are coming up around the baseball team. Coach Perno has always been frank and direct with his thoughts, but the postgame comments after Sunday’s loss were fascinating in terms of what wasn’t held back.

During the team’s 2007 CWS run, the team certainly leaned on veterans Beckham, Peisel, and Fields. When players like Massanari, Lewis, Cerione, Poythress, and Weaver turned it up in the postseason, the result was a solid team built for a deep run. But absent those 2007 stars, the returning veterans couldn’t carry the team down the stretch and into the postseason.

Will next year continue the even-year success that Georgia has enjoyed this decade? Certainly there’s a strong core of rising sophomores returning, and there’s another strong recruiting class coming in (subject to the draft of course). But who will be considered the leaders of the team? Poythress is surely going to be drafted. Cerione will be a senior, but can a guy who “just can’t handle his emotions” (according to Perno) be looked to as a leader? After he was pulled from the game and Perno’s postgame comments which accused Cerione of “jump(ing) into the fence just to jump into the fence”, part of me wondered if Cerione had played his last game at Georgia. Joey Lewis looks to be the sole everyday player who you’d feel comfortable about as a senior leader, and he might be drafted too.

David Ching has some thoughts and additional information about next year’s roster. Pitching (and especially the bullpen) is a whole other can of worms. McRee’s disappointing season might make him a less-attractive draft pick this year, but can he find the control to go with his pro-quality stuff and emerge as the ace? Can Weaver shake off a woeful end to the season and reestablish himself as the go-to guy in the bullpen?

OK, so the SEC won’t be seeing signing day lists of 30+ players anymore.

I predict it won’t take but a year or two until some enterprising coach gets accused of playing fast and loose with the new rules. After all, the NCAA already limits teams to 25 signees per year. The new SEC rule is a response to the back room accounting that developed as a way to get around the NCAA’s limit. Oh, him? He counts towards last year’s 25.

One thing I haven’t read yet is how this new rule will deal with grayshirting. That’s when a freshman agrees to delay enrollment for a semester with the understanding that he’ll be on scholarship thereafter. Will these marginally-qualified prospects who brought up the rear in the oversigned classes still commit and just be encouraged to wait a semester instead of signing a Letter of Intent?