The NCAA has approved the rules changes proposed in February – wedge blocking is banned, eyeblack messages are verboten, and – sure to get the most press today – taunting during a play will be enforced as a live-ball foul.

The actual frequency of this penalty will have to be watched when the rule is put into place for the 2011 season. I still expect that the rule will be applied much less than people seem to think – most taunting occurs after the play. Remember – in the oft-cited A.J. Green play (even brought up in today’s AP article!), the new rule wouldn’t have changed a thing.

People seem to be projecting their dislike for the celebration penalty and the capricious way in which it’s applied onto this particular rule. That’s fine, but repeal/reform of the celebration call is another issue. In this case, the new rule is correct – if we’re going to have a celebration penalty, a live-ball taunting penalty should be treated like holding or any other live-ball foul and be penalized from the spot of the foul. The only real room for a gray area is on plays where the guy scoring dives into the end zone.

I read this post over at Dawg Sports this morning with its perspective from Arkansas.

That [Mark Richt] is on the hotseat out at Georgia says something about the irrationality of Bulldog fans….I guess it is sorta like it was with us and Houston; others outside a program never quite see a coach in the same light as the program’s fans.

We can debate who’s claiming anything about a hot seat later. Take that post for its perspective. I had that post in mind when I read this tangential reference to the Dawgs by Brian Cook:

He has just as good measurables as other 4-3 LBs in this class, but he’s severely behind in the technique part of it. It’s so apparent for all of FSU’s players that I have to pin it on coaching. If they ended up going to a program like UF or UGA, they would’ve gotten proper coaching and probably both be solid 1st rounders.

That’s right – Cook was quoting an anonymous NFL scout putting the defensive/linebacker coaching at Georgia in the same ballpark as Florida. I wonder how many heads of Georgia fans just exploded. I mean – we teach our guys not to cover anyone, right?

I think that sets up David Hale’s trip through his feedback today. There he finds some very thoughtful comments about the quarterback derby:

Murray overthrew targets and tossed a Stafford style brain fade pass to the defender. I should have known right then he was Bobo’s boy for the job. I have heard enough about picking up nuances and quick releases, it does nothing if the ball isn’t catchable.

That’s classic. All that was missing was the author using “Booboo” and something about “REFUSING TO EXCEPT MEDIOCRATY.” Hale’s response about joyless fans was dead on. We all know the guy (or gal) in our section who gets absolutely no visible enjoyment from Georgia football but still shows up year after year with arms folded waiting to say “that’s Georgia for you” whenever something bad happens. Why do they keep coming back?

Attrition is nothing new for Georgia basketball. Transfers have given (the Hayes twins) and taken away (Tony Cole). The departure of several key players hastened the decline of Dennis Felton’s program. Attrition continues into the Mark Fox era: two players recently gave notice of their intent to transfer. All in all, Georgia has had nine players transfer out of the program since the 2003-2004 season. But, as the Gainesville Sun finds, the Bulldogs’ situation isn’t all that unusual among SEC teams. “Overall, 96 players have transferred from SEC men’s basketball schools since 2003-04,” they report. That’s an average of eight per team.

One interesting takeaway is that a high volume of transfers doesn’t necessarily sink a program (or vice versa). Kentucky and Florida are right up near the top of the list, and the survey includes the time period during which the Gators won back-to-back national titles. Auburn’s only had three players leave since 2004, but that relative stability hasn’t helped them much. A program can only take so much, though – it took one of the best freshmen classes in SEC history to revive Kentucky’s talent level, and the Sun explains how five Florida transfers in the past two years have left the bench precariously thin.

Of course not all transfers are equal. The report doesn’t distinguish between a seldom-used reserve transferring for more playing time or a key starter like Billy Humphrey who was dismissed from the team before he transferred. Losing a guy to Belmont and losing one to Ohio State aren’t exactly equal in terms of impact on the program. Still – attrition of any kind can have an effect on APR, depth, scholarship numbers, and recruiting strategy. The numbers are even higher if you include players who were dismissed without transferring.

Billy Donovan, as the focus of the piece, seems to take it in stride. “The fact is that 40 percent of all kids never make it to their junior year once they enter on a college campus,” Donovan notes. “Kids want to play.”

(h/t Team Speed Kills)

Haven’t had the chance to read much G-Day reaction, so I’ll get these few observations out before I catch up. I’m sure others have made many of the same points by now – we all watched the same game.

It was what I’ve come to expect from G-Day – more frustration than anything else. Another pretty bland, low-scoring game. With the intention of keeping the defense pretty much basic, the staff probably didn’t mind the lack of fireworks. Whether it was the effectiveness of the defense or a bad day by an offense that’s supposed to be pretty loaded, those you’d consider the sure starters on offense played a very minor role. Washaun Ealey had just 22 yards. AJ Green had a few catches but not much yardage. The biggest plays of the game were by reserve tailbacks and tight ends. If you tend to buy into G-Day as any sort of indicator for the season, the first-team offense has a ways to go.

Of course the biggest buzz after the game was about the quarterbacks. It was Zach Mettenberger’s day – it seemed as if he completed a lot more than six passes, but those six completions seemed to completely reverse the fans’ perception of the quartertback position. Many of the conversations I had after the game were half-hearted attempts to rationalize the outcome:

Mett was going up against the second-team defense all day. Yeah, but… Murray didn’t do much in the first quarter going up against the same defense.

Mett didn’t handle pressure well. Yeah, but… did anyone?

It was only G-Day – one game. Yeah, but… Mettenberger’s been strong in the other spring scrimmages as well. In the three scrimmages, Mettenberger was a combined 23-36 (64%) with 5 TD and 2 INT. G-Day was his *worst* scrimmage of the spring in terms of completions.

I think for most of us, the story of the day wasn’t that Mettenberger did relatively well. He had another good day, and we should be as thrilled to see that as we were to see Carlton Thomas and Dontavious Jackson showing off the depth at tailback. The story was that Murray, heralded as he was, looked decidedly average. His deep passes were often overthrown, and he missed touchdowns to both Green and Charles. His interception was a bad mistake – a common freshman mistake of getting careless while trying to create something after a play breaks down. Even his size came into question when a pass was batted down at the line. I think it said something that the final drive of the day still had Murray and the first team offense in there trying to make something happen in a 2-minute drive. That was unusual as far as most G-Days go, and I got the feeling that the staff was trying to give Murray (not to mention the first team offense) one last chance to end the day with something positive.

That’s not to ignore Logan Gray. A few months ago, many of us had assumed he’d be a receiver by now. He didn’t light it up with the starting offense, but he didn’t make many mistakes either. His touchdown pass was a perfectly-executed play fake and bootleg (wait – I thought the new defense meant the end of those!), and he ended up with a fair 10-of-17 performance.

I guess I’m just surprised that the quarterback play and offense overall was so lackluster. Mettenberger had the best day, but he still had just six completions. They were facing a base defense that’s still being installed by three new coaches. Pressure was limited, and the QBs weren’t allowed to be hit. They won’t face more accommodating circumstances. But any semblance of a vertical passing game was absent. The starting offensive line was hardly an advantage against an uncomplicated defense that showed a lot of nickle. With the quarterback the lone question mark on an offense otherwise stocked with proven players, was it that one position that kept the starting offense from doing more?

The staff will take their time coming up with a post-spring depth chart, but I think the way they lined up tells us how things were leaning. Gray got the start with the first team, Murray had opportunities all over the field with both units, and Mettenberger spent the day with the second team. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the depth chart reflect the fact that no quarterback seemed to have separated himself – will we see a co-#1 or co-#2? Look, whether it’s Gray, Mett, or Murray, I just hope settling on a starter is not dragged out until the Vandy game again.

I still maintain that the suspension of Mettenberger makes it virtually impossible that he will be the starter. It seems very unlikely that the staff would pass on the chance to give the starter experience in the season opener and then change the signal-caller within a week for a road game that’s also the SEC opener. So much of preseason camp is building routine and familiarity so that decisions come more by instinct than by thought during a game. I can’t see how it would be anything but disruptive if the starter were changed for any reason other than injury.

The progress of Mettenberger is very reassuring though. It shows a good deal of maturity for him to deal with his embarrassing arrest and still manage to have a strong spring when much might not have been expected of him. It’s also becoming a success story for the Georgia staff. Mettenberger’s size and arm can’t be coached, but he could best be described as raw and unaccomplished coming out of high school. He’s not nearly there yet, but the progress is unmistakable.

On to other observations…

One of the positions that had the most to do with our perception of quarterback play was tight end. It’s one of the team’s deepest positions, and they were central to some of the game’s biggest plays. The Black team’s tight ends came to play, and Lynch’s touchdown at the end of the first half showed that nice combination of hands and brawn you want from a prototypical tight end. On the other hand, if we hadn’t seen White or Charles before Saturday, many fans would have probably come away disappointed. White was relatively anonymous. Charles had a couple of drops and had a chance for a late touchdown on a pass that was arguably a touch too high. If depth at receiver turns out to be an issue, Georgia still has plenty of options to make a 2-TE set work.

I know Nick Williams got lit up by Coach Grantham for his role in some late-game shoving, but I liked the intensity from Williams. Williams’ 7 tackles included some of the nicer tackles in the game including a few where he slammed the ball carrier to the ground.

Several of the deep incompletions were overthrown, but the secondary also got to several others. The pass breakup in the endzone on a late Murray strike to Durham was especially good. Hamilton played well enough to all but disappear (about as big a compliment as you can pay a defensive back), and the only time I remember seeing a guy break open deep was Green.

It was really nice to see Kris Durham back out there. He had a couple of plays that reminded us how valuable his hands and long stride will be this year. Wooten looks poised for a larger role.

Justin Houston is going to handle the transition to OLB just fine. He was also effective on the edge as the defense went to more of a 4-2 look against spread formations.

I had to laugh when fans around me were grumbling about the shanked punts after the first few series. It’s not like Georgia has the Ray Guy Award winner returning or anything.

The crowd was great though. With the north stands closed, the rest of the lower bowl and club level was full. You couldn’t ask for a better day, and Bulldog fans took advantage of it.

Spring practice comes to an end with G-Day on Saturday. G-Day is at 2:00 at Sanford Stadium and will also be broadcast on CSS. You can get more information about injuries and rosters here. Also be sure to check out the Banner-Herald’s expanded G-Day preview.

With practice all but over, the program has handed out the annual spring awards:

MVP (offense): Cordy Glenn, LG, Riverdale, Ga.
True Grit Award (Offense): Shaun Chapas, FB, St. Augustine, Fla.
Coffee County Hustle Award (Offense): Washaun Ealey, TB, Stillmore, Ga.
Most Improved Player (Offense): Carlton Thomas, TB, Frostproof, Fla.
Outstanding Walk-On (Offense): Cameron Allen, FB, Canton, Ga./Kevin Lanier, FB, Woodstock, Ga.

MVP (Defense): Justin Houston, DL/LB, Statesboro, Ga.
True Grit Award (Defense): Akeem Dent, LB, Atlanta, Ga.
Coffee County Hustle Award (Defense): Demarcus Dobbs, DL/LB, Savannah, Ga./DeAngelo Tyson, DT, Statesboro, Ga.
Most Improved Player (Defense): Vance Cuff, CB, Moultrie, Ga./Brandon Boykin, CB, Fayetteville, Ga.
Outstanding Walk-On (Defense): Reuben Faloughi, DL/LB, Martinez, Ga.

Comments:

Cordy Glenn might be one of the least-talked about starters on the team. It’s because he’s just there. A given, a rock. The offensive line has other mainstays – Boling and Jones are clearly two – but Glenn seems to really be coming into his own as he enters his junior season. The line now has depth and experience, so that already puts us way ahead of where things were in 2007. The next step is seeing some of these linemen take the jump from being good, solid contributors to becoming real difference-makers up front. Max Jean-Gilles is arguably the most recent lineman of that kind, and you have to go back to the Foster and Stinchcomb line to find guys who would be taken on the first day of the NFL Draft. Glenn might be headed in that direction.

It’s interesting to see most of the awards on offense go to running backs. There’s a lot of competition back there, and it shows. It’s good to see Ealey continue his work ethic. Caleb King will miss G-Day nursing a minor injury, but the two continue to push eash other. But Carlton Thomas hasn’t given up his fight for playing time, and he has a special set of skills that should be useful this year.

Justin Houston earning MVP honors is big. The key to the transition to the 3-4 defense will be the outside linebackers, especially now that Montez Robinson is out of the picture. Can Houston and incoming guys recruited as defensive ends make the transition to the additional responsibilities of an OLB in the 3-4? Houston seems to be getting there.

Reuben Faloughi was a player talked about a lot in preseason last year but didn’t see the field. His progress won him the Outstanding Walk-On for defense this spring, and it’s now also earned him a scholarship according to reports from last night’s spring awards banquet. He’ll definitely be one to keep an eye on tomorrow.

A dramatic three-run home run in the top of the final inning lifted #12 Georgia to a 5-4 comeback win over #6 Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Wednesday. Georgia leads the all-time series 17-9, but it was Georgia’s first visit to Tech’s impressive new softball complex. Sophomore Ashley Razey provided the big wallop in the seventh inning and drove in four of Georgia’s five runs.

The Lady Dogs leaned heavily on seniors Ashley Houts and Angel Robinson during their return to the Sweet 16 this year, and it’s no surprise that both were selected in the second round of yesterday’s WNBA draft. Houts was selected 16th overall by the New York Liberty, and Robinson was drafted by the L.A. Sparks at #20.

Robinson and Houts started their careers as Freshmen All-SEC honorees and maintained that level of play during their four years on the court. Houts was noted for her energy, endurance, and toughness and was often depended on to play the entire 40 minutes of a game. Robinson overcame injuries at both ends of her career to develop into a productive center at both ends of the court.

Getting drafted is just the start though. The thing about the WNBA is that roster spots aren’t a sure thing, even for top draft picks. There’s not a lot of turnover, some teams have folded, and the pipeline of foreign players is strong. Houts and Robinson will be competing against other draft picks, players currently on rosters, and a slew of free agents brought into training camp.

It’ll be a month of hard work for the duo to learn if they’ll make a roster. The WNBA regular season tips off on May 15th. A third Georgia senior, Christy Marshall, missed the 2009-2010 season with a knee injury and will explore professional opportunities overseas.

Much to the disappointment of many who jumped on last week’s most bizarre story, the Georgia football team is not full of guys who slap around fellow taxi patrons for their own enjoyment. Last week when the story broke that brought us the serendipitous meeting of bratwurst and a taxi-van, I posted on the DawgVent that there were basically four possible outcomes. The scenarios generally went like this:

1. Everything alleged turns out to be true, the four suspects are indeed UGA football players, and charges are pressed.

2. The four suspects are UGA football players, something happened in the cab, but police don’t find anything worth filing charges over. The case will be closed, but a lot of questions will remain if this just disappears.

3. The other facts are correct, but the four men involved have nothing to do with UGA football. It could be a case of mistaken identity.

4. The allegations turn out to be wrong or made up.

We know now that the correct answer was heavy on number 3 with a small peppering of option number 2. According to the AJC’s Tim Tucker, no Georgia football player will be charged in the incident. There was one player among the four, but he “acted as a peace maker.” Police will still pursue action against others in the group, but they are residents of Heard County and not associated with the program.

So it sounds as if the allegations have some validity – something had to have happened in the van for the Athens police to push on with a case against three non-residents. But the claim by one of the victims that “all…were UGA football players” was quite wrong. Only one of the four was a Georgia player, and his role was neglected in the initial report. We don’t know whether the mis-identification of the suspects as UGA football players was just mistaken identity, malicious (well – they were all big and black, right?), or that the claim of a witness that “none of us were particularly drunk” might have been a slight understatement.

That’s pretty much the end of it as far as the football program is concerned. I’m sure this news is what Mark Richt was itching to get at over the weekend. The especially curious among us will learn more as the warrants are issued and any investigation goes forward. There’s only one Georgia player on the current roster from Heard County, but that fact doesn’t necessarily imply his involvement in this incident (and good on him for doing the right thing if he was the player involved).

It’s an understatement to say that sophomore defensive end Montez Robinson has anger issues when it comes to a certain woman, and those issues have now cost him his spot on the Georgia football team.

Robinson was arrested twice within a week last year – once for underage possession of alcohol and more seriously for “misdemeanor simple battery and felony criminal damage/second degree.” An earlier incident in October failed to result in any charges after the victim declined to press charges.  But the same woman was involved in a late November incident where Robinson allegedly “broke her car’s taillights when she didn’t respond to multiple calls and text messages.” That November incident led to the underage possession charge and soon led to the additional arrest.

Robinson was suspended immediately and did not play in the Independence Bowl.  But he wasn’t kicked off the team,  though his suspension was never officially lifted.  He’s been working out with the team and had been named a second-team outside linebacker.  His teammates talked about ($) a “total change of attitude.”

Any chance for redemption was lost this weekend when Robinson was again arrested for misdemeanor simple assault.  According to UGASports.com, the same woman might have been involved in this most recent arrest.  He’d be in additional trouble for allegedly disobeying a restraining order and conditions of his probation.

Mark Richt’s decision was quick and clear:  Robinson was dismissed from the program on Sunday.

“Montez has not been able to conform to some conditions and stipulations that were placed on him as a result of previous off-field issues,” said Richt. “I think this decision is in the best interest of everyone.”

A change of scenery might be best for Robinson anyway.   The anger issues have to be dealt with though – these incidents are bad enough warning signs, and hopefully he’ll get the help he needs to avoid them turning into more serious domestic violence problems down the road.

As for Georgia, Robinson’s departure erases the sole defensive end signee from 2008.  It also creates further depth issues at the outside linebacker position – a position that’s key in the 3-4 defense and already thin to begin with.  It also means Georgia will have to spend another scholarship or two on a position that has hit a relative dry spell after a very successful run during the mid-2000s.