Whether you consider it silly pot-stirring or a legitimate question, the topic is unavoidable. I suppose the fact that we’re even batting this question around gives it some sort of validity because it’s certainly not something we’re used to dealing with every season.

If you want to twist a Georgia fan up in knots, get them going about Mark Richt. Everyone starts out with the same disclaimers: genuinely great guy, glad he’s our coach, couldn’t ask for a better representative of the University, won’t forget that he brought SEC titles back to Athens. But then opinions really start to diverge.

As Matt Hinton reminds us – absent a national title – these are the glory years for Georgia football:

Since 2000, he’s ended the Bulldogs’ 20-year SEC championship drought in 2002, added another conference title in 2005, led a struggling team out of a midseason slump to a No. 2 finish in the final polls in 2007 and won at least 10 games six times. The Bulldogs finished in the top 10 four years in a row from 2002-2005, the longest streak of the decade in the SEC and matching the Herschel Walker years from 1980-83 as the best run in school history.

How on earth could anyone be displeased with that track record?  You might or might not buy into all of these, but critics have countered with a number of points:

• Georgia is just 10-10 against the SEC East since 2006.
• That divisional record includes home losses to Kentucky and Vanderbilt and 1-3 marks against Florida and Tennessee.
• The Bulldogs are 2-7 against Florida under Richt and haven’t even been competitive since winning in 2007. Through 2006, all of the losses were at least in close games.
• Georgia’s contributions to the NFL Draft, particularly on defense, have dropped off since 2006.
• Unless it happens this year, the best trio of offensive skill players to play on the same team at Georgia (Stafford, Moreno, and Green) will leave Georgia without any of them playing for a conference title.
• Off-field incidents continue to plague and embarrass the program.

What’s underlying the concern is the changing stakes in the SEC and the fear that a window has closed. Georgia won three SEC East titles in Richt’s first five years, but they’ve struggled to return to the Dome since while three other teams have emerged to split the past four national titles. There’s an uneasiness that even if the program regained the talent level and attitude of Richt’s earlier years, would it be enough to compete with entrenched national powers at Florida and Alabama?

We noted in the wake of last year’s jarring loss at Tennessee that what might’ve once been a defensive problem or kick coverage problem had become a program problem. There were few areas working well, and just changing an assistant or two wasn’t going to be an automatic fix. Mark Richt had to get his program back.

David Hale does a good job of framing the key questions, so I’ll close out by responding to those directly:

Have all the offseason moves left you with as much confidence in Richt as you ever had? Or did two years of stubborn insistence on a largely unsuccessful approach shake your belief?

I’ve been impressed with nearly every offseason move.  The hirings all made sense.  Grantham has given the fans plenty of red meat. The program has become more aggressive and effective on the recruiting trail despite all of the negativity. I’m not particularly bothered by the off-field stuff (other than it leaving Georgia thin at QB).  My confidence in Richt has never been shaken to the point of needing such a shot in the arm, but there’s no mistaking that just the air of change has improved spirits among the fans.   We’ll see how long that lasts once the product gets on the field.

Clouding the question of Richt’s future is the sad reality that, even after nine seasons, many Georgia fans still don’t have a sense of Richt. They mistake his demeanor for meekness – we saw all of those who insisted that he didn’t have the stomach to make the tough decisions following last season. They question his desire to match the obsessive Saban and Meyer both on the recruiting trail and on the field. They cling to the notion, disproved time after time, that seniority rules over merit. They mistake a sincere culture of loyalty with one of complacency and unaccountability.

Sorting through that fog makes it tough sometimes to get down to actual problems. Hale devotes some time to what might be a certain stubbornness from Richt. I don’t buy that Richt was aloof or bull-headed about making changes following the 2008 season; he made it clear that his decision to fire three coaches was “made over the course of time” and not “not a one year knee-jerk reaction to this season.”  If you think that’s being too deliberative, fine, but it does imply that Richt was aware of and thinking about issues with the program long before the 2009 season took a nose-dive.  Richt himself admits some flaws and instances of the staff trying to outsmart themselves, and correcting that aspect of the culture is as important as shaking up the staff.

Will you stick by Richt if Georgia finishes 8-5 again this year, but does it with a more fundamentally sound D, a better approach to kickoffs and a duo at tailback that understands how to play the position?

I don’t outright reject the possibility of another 8-5 season. The defense will take some adjustment. We’ve seen that even Vanderbilt and Kentucky are ready to pounce on a sign of weakness.  You can bet that everyone on the schedule from Mississippi State to Tennessee to Georgia Tech sees the opportunity to take their shot at a program that might be doubting itself a little. You only have to look over at Foley Field to see how the wheels can come off a season when negative momentum starts building. In fact, as Hale notes, the job the team did pulling it together at the end of last season against two big rivals is one of the underrated stories from a year ago (and is what keeps us from adding Richt’s first losing record to the ledger).

At the same time, it would be devastating to go 7/8-5 against this schedule.  You’re trading Oklahoma State and LSU for lesser opponents.  The home schedule is extremely favorable.  Five losses against this schedule would include some very, very bad losses as well as losses to rivals that don’t sit well even in the best of years. Think about which five teams on this year’s schedule you’d accept losing to.  Improvement in relatively obscure areas like kickoff coverage won’t mean much if the offensive line doesn’t live up to billing or if Georgia’s highly-rated starting quarterback isn’t ready for prime time.

That said, I do think the moves that have been made will lead to the wins that will make this discussion seem ridiculous in hindsight. Allowing myself that kind of optimism for this season, that should be my last word on Richt’s future for a long time.

It hasn’t been the best of years for Bulldog sports, but several programs still have their championship aspirations alive.

Georgia softball won a number of new fans last year with their deep run in the Women’s College World Series, and they’ve had another strong season. They’ve been strong out of conference with sweeps of ACC and Big 12 champs Georgia Tech and Texas, but they only managed 4th place in an ultra-competitive SEC. To illustrate how ridiculously strong the SEC is, Georgia finished 4th in conference and was bounced in the first round of the SEC Tournament, but they received the #6 national seed heading into this year’s NCAA Tournament. That means that Georgia will host both an NCAA regional and, should they advance, a super-regional.

The softball regional begins this weekend – times and ticket information are available here. Georgia will host Radford, Elon, and FSU in their regional.

Men’s tennis has advanced to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament and will host a huge match on Friday evening when Florida comes to town. The Gators, as the #6 seed, are favored over the eleventh-seeded Dawgs. Georgia had a nail-biting 4-3 win over FSU to get this far, and they’ll need a strong home crowd on Friday evening to take on a Florida team that has swept both of its opponents so far. The match will be at 6 p.m. – ticket information is available here.

Georgia will be hosting both the men’s and women’s tennis championships from May 20-31, and it’s a great event whether or not the Bulldogs are still in it. The women were eliminated before this championship round, but the men will try to play the spoiler on their home court. You’ll find live scoring, brackets, highlights, and ticket information here.

Women’s golfer Marta Silva Zamora plays on as an individual at the NCAA championships, but the team failed to qualify for the team championship round for only the second time since 1998. Men’s golf resumes play this weekend at the NCAA South Central Regional in Bryan, Texas. The top five teams from the regional will advance to the national championships. The Georgia men won the SEC championship back in mid-April but haven’t had a competition since.

The weekend commitments of DE Sterling Bailey and WR Justin Scott-Wesley gives Georgia nine commitments for the 2011 class. Bailey is one of the state’s top prospects at that key OLB position that’s so important in the 3-4 defense. The 6’5″ Bailey chose Georgia over offers from pretty much everyone in the southeast. Scott-Wesley chose Georgia after backing out of a hasty early commitment to Stanford.

Georgia never gave up on recruiting Scott-Wesley, but they might have an unlikely ally to thank for helping him reconsider his commitment:

“I got the offer from Georgia Tech, and I realized that my decision was made a little too early. I spoke to my coach about it, and we agreed there was more I needed to see before ending the recruiting process,” said Scott.

Scott-Wesley is known first as a track star, and he lived up to expectations this weekend with a state record in the 100 meter and a state title in the 200. Marc Weiszer puts Justin’s track accomplishments into perspective. Florida’s Jeff Demps is still the gold standard, but when you’re comparing track times with guys like Chris Rainey and Branden Smith, it’s a given that Justin Scott-Wesley is going to be one of the fastest players in the SEC when he sets foot on campus next year.

Of course track guys aren’t guaranteed to be successful at football – there’s more to it than speed. Also fast track guys can lose a step as they add on the muscle required to take the physical pounding of SEC football. One thing that could make Wesley-Scott a little different is that he’s already pretty big. Rainey (5’9″, 175 lbs) and Demps (5’8″, 183 lbs) are typical of the size of players in this elite group. LSU speedster Trindon Holliday played at 5’5″ and 160 lbs, and Branden Smith is 5’11”, 170 lbs. Wesley-Scott is already 6’1″ and over 210 lbs as a high school junior. He’s already at a pretty good size to play receiver in the SEC, and the combination of absolute speed and relative size should make him more than just the typical deep threat or designated end-around guy.

The site Lost Letterman has a list up of the top 10 football players in Major League Baseball. None of them were Bulldogs, but it did make me think of the relationship between Georgia football and the game of baseball.

When you mention the nexus of baseball and Bulldog football, the name George Lombard probably comes to mind first – at least for fans of my generation. Lombard was a top tailback prospect out of Lovett in 1994 but opted for baseball when the Braves took him in the second round. The Bulldogs ended up turning to freshman Hines Ward at tailback in 1994 before Robert Edwards emerged at the start of the next year. Lombard eventually made it to the majors and played for four big league clubs between 1998 and 2006. His best year was probably 2002 where he played in 72 games for the Detroit Tigers. Lombard has been out of the majors since the end of 2006 and was released by the Cleveland Indians organization in 2009. He’s currently the hitting coach for the class-A Lowell Spinners of the Boston Red Sox organization.

Older fans of course remember Buck Belue who himself was a second round pick in 1978. Buck is most famous for his role on the 1980 national championship football team, but he was also an All-SEC baseball player who initially chose baseball after leaving Georgia.

The most recent Bulldog football player to choose baseball was Xavier Avery. He signed with the Dawgs in 2008 but opted for baseball after the Baltimore Orioles drafted him in the – wait for it – second round. Avery hasn’t made it to the majors yet, but he’s working his way through the Orioles organization in the two years since being drafted. He’s currently playing in the outfield for class-A Frederick.

Georgia’s even seen a baseball player come back to football. We’ll leave it for you to debate how that worked out.

Any others?

The buildup and reaction to the buildup of Arkansas can’t be avoided this week, so we’ll look at the Razorbacks this way: will their schedule help or hurt a team with such increasing expectations? Last season we looked at the Arkansas schedule and saw a stretch where survival was the best they could hope for:

They’ll start the season 1-0, but delivering on the hype surrounding Ryan Mallet and finishing 7-5 or better might require them to come out of that stretch at no worse than 3-4.

That’s just what happened. Arkansas emerged from their gauntlet at 3-4 thanks to wins over Texas A&M and Auburn and then proceeded to run off a string of wins that was only interrupted by an overtime loss to LSU. The friendlier second half of the season helped them rebound and build the kind of momentum that has people talking entering the 2010 season. Will their 2010 schedule be as tough? It’s not as bad, but it presents a similar challenge.

Sept. 4: Tennessee Tech
Sept. 11: Louisiana-Monroe (Little Rock)
Sept. 18: at Georgia
Sept. 25: Alabama
Oct. 9: Texas A&M (Southwest Classic – Arlington, Texas)
Oct. 16: at Auburn
Oct. 23: Ole Miss
Oct. 30: Vanderbilt
Nov. 6: at South Carolina
Nov. 13: UTEP
Nov. 20: at Mississippi State
Nov. 27: LSU (Little Rock)

Non-conference

It’s manageable. The games with Texas A&M and UTEP stand out. Texas A&M should be improved and looking for payback after last year’s big loss to Arkansas. The game in Arlington isn’t exactly an Aggie home game, but it’s still Arkansas’ only trip away from home outside of the SEC. UTEP could put up enough points to make things interesting.

Conference

It’s not that road games at Georgia, Auburn, or South Carolina are easy, but the conference slate lines up about as well as it could for them. Florida drops off the schedule, and they pick up Vanderbilt. They get to play the Alabama-LSU duo within the state of Arkansas.

The challenge

The schedule is once again pretty front-loaded though it’s not as daunting as last year’s grind. They’ll have the chance to run off some wins starting with the Ole Miss game, but in what shape will they arrive at that game? They’ll have to upset Alabama or win on the road at Georgia to avoid starting 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the SEC. More road challenges against A&M and at Auburn present opportunities to pick up another loss. What would a 3-3 start do to this preseason momentum?

Arkansas was an outstanding 8-1 last year at home and neutral sites (making that Georgia win all the more incredible). That 0-4 road mark is what will have to change in order for the Hogs to take the next step this year. Of course each of their four road games last year was against a team who spent time in the Top 10, and that won’t be the case in 2010.

If the Hogs can get through the first half of the season at no worse than 4-2, the schedule affords Arkansas a chance to get to nine wins. South Carolina and Mississippi State are potential pitfalls if only because they’ll be road games. The season finale with LSU is usually interesting, and the unknown direction LSU will take this year adds to the buildup. Will it be, as it was in 2002, a game between two good teams to decide who goes to the Dome? Or will Arkansas have a chance to bury Les Miles?

Getting to the midpoint of the season in good shape will depend on how well the Hogs can do outside of their state. If they can’t get past Alabama in Fayetteville, they’re going to have to win 2 of 3 on the road against Georgia, A&M, and Auburn in order to emerge at least 4-2 with hopes of a breakthrough season more or less intact. Their 7-5 regular season a year ago was progress, but just maintaining that kind of record would be a disappointment this year. If they leave Auburn at 3-3 or worse, they’ll have very little room for error down the stretch to come out of the season with a record to match the preseason hype.

Yes, Logan Gray has decided to remain at Georgia.  It’s good news in that Georgia’s quarterback picture won’t have to include someone like Bacarri Rambo.  With Gray’s return settled, his ambition to play receiver is the interesting part of this story.

I’m also looking forward to getting some work at receiver and am going to work hard to make the best out of my opportunity at this position as well.

Georgia might only have six receivers, but they’re all pretty good (at the very least), and they’re all experienced. (The six are Green, King, Durham, Brown, Wooten, and Troupe if you need a refresher.) That doesn’t include situations where Branden Smith lines up at receiver or Charles or White flexes out or Georgia goes with a two-TE set to make use of its depth there.  I don’t doubt that Gray could earn some snaps despite all of that, but I also don’t see a relative newcomer to the position suddenly becoming more than a very occasional contributor.

None of that matters – he wants to give it a shot, and the coach seems fine with it. That opportunity might be all that Gray desires, and it would definitely get him on the field in more interesting situations than mop-up QB duty or fair-catching punts. More power to him if he’s able to contribute there.  The question then is how much this news changes a shaky quarterback depth chart.

Few expected Gray to come back and win the QB job once Murray was named the starter, and Mark Richt only emphasized that on Wednesday evening.

“I think (Gray) wants to make a position move and try to see if he can help us in that spot. The chance of that really becoming a QB race, right now it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

A “position move” implies more than just a quarterback sneaking in a few plays at receiver. If Gray is intent on trying his hand at receiver, that’s fine, but it still leaves Georgia in the position of turning to either a true freshman or someone who won’t be as prepared as your typical backup quarterback. It’s good that Gray might be able to help the team in some way, but the quarterback position specifically isn’t much better now than it was with Gray in transfer limbo. It will be telling if the August depth chart lists Mason as the #2 QB – I don’t see why it shouldn’t.

UPDATE: David Hale has more on this story which makes it sound as if Gray will be focusing most of his attention on the receiver position. If Mason – and of course this is a big condition – shows a fair amount of competence in August, he just about has to be named the #2. I’d take an inexperienced guy who’s in the meetings and getting the reps every day over someone more familiar with the playbook whose repetitions and preparation are mostly at another position. It’s not just a matter of Gray stepping back in to QB if the need arises; even ARod needs to take batting practice and stay sharp. Either way, here’s hoping the backup QB is an afterthought this year.

As most suspected when Mark Richt dismissed Zach Mettenberger last month, there was more to the story than Richt overreacting to yet another alcohol-related incident. At the time of the arrest, the initial five misdemeanor charges read like a checklist for your run-of-the-mill fighting drunk: underage possession of alcohol, disorderly conduct, obstruction and two counts of possession of false identification.

Mettenberger reached a plea agreement today, but that agreement was for none of the charges listed above. Instead, Mettenberger pled to “two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery” according to Marc Weiszer of the Banner-Herald. (The AJC has more details about the nature of the “battery” if you really care to know.) All other charges related to the incident were dropped, and Mettenberger will face 12 months of probation, fines, and banishment from alcohol, bars, and the city of Valdosta.

The plea was a smart move by Mettenberger – it essentially ends the story and avoids the ugliness of a trial with potentially more severe charges. If these charges are any indication of the direction in which things were heading, a trial wouldn’t have been pleasant for Mettenberger or – more importantly – the victim.

To Mettenberger’s credit, the apology printed by Weiszer is about as up-front and unambiguous as it gets, and we hope Mettenberger earns the opportunity to rebuild his character wherever he ends up.

Students in Athens learned on Tuesday about a revision to the University’s Code of Conduct that covers drug and alcohol incidents. The previous policy called for an automatic suspension from the University upon a second drug- or alcohol-related arrest during a probationary period which followed the first arrest.

That automatic suspension is gone. Instead, “under the new system, hearing panels from the Office of Judicial Programs will have more authority to regulate punishments suitable for specific cases.” University president Michael Adams warns students not to consider the change “a free pass on alcohol violations.” In fact, the greater latitude given to disciplinary panels might allow for “even more significant penalties” based on the severity of the incident.

The flexibility in the new policy “was designed to differentiate between a student caught with a beer in a dorm refrigerator and a DUI-related offense.” Vice President for Student Affairs Rodney Bennett expects that “the changes will ease and reduce the number of minor incidents that clog the system under the old rules, and it will allow officials to focus more effectively on the more serious alcohol and drug violations.”

This change in policy is significant for student-athletes because, well, it’s kind of hard to participate in a sport if you’re suspended for a semester. A second arrest during his or her probationary period was essentially an automatic season-long suspension for a student-athlete. To be clear – the revised policy does not mean lighter discipline for drug or alcohol-related incidents, and we’re not even talking about what a coach might decide to do based on program or athletic department guidelines. But the change to the University policy does allow the disciplinary panels to consider alternatives and also take into account the severity of the incident.

Senior linebacker Akeem Hebron experienced the consequences of the old policy. Hebron was arrested twice during the early part of 2007 for underage possession of alcohol. The second arrest triggered the automatic semester suspension meaning that he’d miss the 2007 fall semester – basically his entire redshirt freshman season. Instead of remaining inactive he transferred to Georgia Military College for the 2007 season.

To his credit, Hebron kept clean, remained on track academically, and was accepted back to the University and the Georgia football program in time for the 2008 season. His story since has been one of perseverance. He was a promising prospect regarded as highly as Stafford, Moreno, and Rashad Jones from the 2006 class. He was mentioned as a possible starter headed into 2007 before his suspension. He had a promising return in the 2008 G-Day game, but a fracture dislocation of the left ankle at LSU ended his 2008 season and put him at a big disadvantage for the 2009 season. He missed all of spring practice in 2009 and had a minimal impact before recording three tackles in the bowl game.

We can’t speculate on how Hebron might’ve been handled under the new policy. Causing a disturbance while underage and intoxicated downtown is somewhere between “a beer in a dorm refrigerator” and a DUI, and a long-term suspension might have come down from either the University or coach anyway. It’s now Hebron’s senior season, and it’s been a long way back from suspension and injury. He hopes to find success in the new scheme with a new coach, but he’s currently listed third at one of the inside linebacker spots.

There were rumors over the weekend about QB Logan Gray considering leaving the program, and now WSB-TV Sports Director Zach Klein claims that there is something to it.

It goes without saying that the loss of Gray following the dismissal of Zach Mettenberger would leave Georgia perilously thin at quarterback. Following Murray and incoming true freshman Hutson Mason, Georgia’s next option (no pun intended) might be Bacarri Rambo who led the scout team offense while simulating option offenses in 2008.

Selfishly we hope that Gray decides to stay, but he’s in a tough spot if his goal is to see the field at Georgia. As the #2 quarterback, he’s not going to be tried at receiver or any other position that might jeopardize his availability. There would have been more freedom for that kind of experiment had Mettenberger not been dismissed. But that also reduces Gray’s chances of seeing playing time (aside from the occasional punt return) if the starting QB remains healthy.

Stay tuned – he’s met with the coaches and is apparently thinking things over.

The Banner-Herald reported over the weekend that the University might consider adding another sport for women. There’s “no timetable” to add an additional sport, and discussions are at a very preliminary stage.

Georgia’s strong financial position already puts it at the forefront of Title IX compliance. Recent investments at the South Milledge complex and also at the Coliseum practice facility greatly benefit women’s sports. Over half (52%) of Georgia’s student-athletes are female despite the enormous counter-weight of an 85-scholarship football squad.

So why add another sport for women? Even with females making up 52% of student-athletes, women make up 58% of the student body. Adding another sport would bring those two numbers even closer in line which is one of the primary tests of Title IX compliance. Georgia last added a varsity sport, equestrian, in 2001.

Though Georgia officials have no specific sport in mind, the Banner-Herald identifies a few likely candidates. Rowing, lacrosse, fencing, and even beach volleyball are all possible. Rowing might be at the top of the list – youth rowing clubs are strong in Atlanta, and Georgia already has a pretty successful rowing club of their own. There is no varsity rowing program in the state of Georgia, and two SEC schools already compete at that level.

Congratulations to Georgia’s NFL Draft picks for 2010:

• Rennie Curran: 3rd round (Tennessee)
• Geno Atkins: 4th round (Cincinnati)
• Reshad Jones: 5th round (Miami)
• Jeff Owens: 7th round (Philadelphia)
• Kade Weston: 7th round (New England)

Congratulations also to Michael Moore (Detroit), Prince Miller (Baltimore), and Bryan Evans (Cincinnati) who all signed free agent deals after the draft. Moore is excited to be teaming up with former Bulldog Matthew Stafford in Detroit, and at least one analyst is high on Bryan Evans’ chances with the Bengals.

Mark Richt has now had 51 players drafted in 9 NFL drafts. He’s had as many as 8 and as few as 4 taken in a single year. There have been 8 first-round picks and 24 players selected in the first 3 rounds. Those are impressive totals, but do they smooth over more recent problems?

In 2008 we pointed out how the draft was much kinder to Richt’s players through 2005. Bulldogs were still being drafted, but the balance had shifted from the earlier rounds to the later rounds. From 2002-2005, Georgia had 14 players selected in the first three rounds. From 2006-2008, that number dropped to 4. The stellar class of 2009 alone eclipsed that number with 5 of Georgia’s 6 draftees coming in the first three rounds.

The 2010 draft looked more like those 2006-2008 years. Georgia still had a respectable 5 players selected, but only one came in the first three rounds.

It’s not a surprise that somewhat tepid draft results have come during some tumultuous seasons in Athens. With the exception of 2007, the program hasn’t measured up to what it was through 2005. And, with the exception of the 2009 draft, the Bulldogs have landed in fewer of the valuable high round selections.

The future isn’t bleak – Georgia will likely have a couple of higher round selections in 2011, especially if A.J. Green decides to come out. A year or two of sub-par draft results doesn’t necessarily reflect on the talent or coaching going on – you might just have a young team or low numbers of draft-eligible players in a given year. But over 4 or 5 years, the trend becomes a little more alarming.

The question of talent or coaching was beaten to death as we suffered through the disappointing 2009 season, but it’s unavoidable when talking about draft picks. Through 2008, defense dominated Georgia’s first and second round picks (8 defenders vs. 4 from the offense). That’s changing – Georgia’s three highest picks from the 2009 draft played on offense, and Georgia’s best prospects for 2011 – at this point – are Boling and Green. After having eight defensive players taken second round or better through 2006, Georgia hasn’t had one since Tim Jennings was taken in the second round of the 2006 draft.

You might see that as justification for changing the defensive staff. After all, several of the players in the meantime were highly rated prospects. Rashad Jones carried the mythical five stars, and others weren’t far behind. It’s not that Georgia’s had chopped liver for defensive talent – all five players taken in 2010 were from the defense, and several defensive players drafted since 2006 (Howard, Chas. Johnson, Moses, and now possibly Curran) have all been good, productive selections. Having three defensive tackles taken in a single draft is a big deal regardless of the rounds. The defense should have been better than it was.

But there is still a question, regardless of coaching, whether Georgia is still getting the kind of defensive talent that it did 5+ years ago. There are signs of life across the board – Houston, Rambo, several of the corners – and a lot of promising young players. Perhaps the new defensive staff can make the difference in these guys being higher round picks with guaranteed money and a likely spot on the team versus lower round picks who will find themselves in fierce competition for roster slots. Successful teams in the SEC consistently have those elite defenders, and Georgia used to.

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament will expand to 68 teams in 2011 and will feature four play-in games to meet each of the top four seeds. It’s not the 96-team nightmare many feared, but I doubt that this move will silence talk of further expansion down the road.

Perhaps the bigger news is the new 14-year $10.8 billion broadcasting deal with CBS and Turner. Under the terms of the agreement, all tournament games will be available on one of four networks (CBS and three Turner stations – TBS, TNT and truTV (the former CourtTV)). The deal also means that CBS will eventually lose its exclusive control of the national title game.

Through 2015, CBS will cover the regional finals, the Final Four and the championship game. But starting in 2016, CBS and Turner will split the regional finals and the Final Four, and the national championship game will alternate annually between CBS and TBS.

That’s similar to the move of the BCS from strictly broadcast (FOX/ABC) to cable (ESPN). You’ll have to have cable or satellite to find much of the NCAA Tournament in the future. ESPN was another potential destination for the NCAA Tournament, but the CBS/Turner deal won out.

The deal is worth $771 million per year. That’s up nominally over 40% from the $545 million the former deal paid, but that previous deal was signed 11 years ago. You’ll have to do the math to see if the tournament has kept up its value in real terms (vs. inflation), but at first glance it doesn’t seem as if the tournament is worth a great deal more now than it was at the end of the 1990s.

Did you know the NFL Draft starts tonight? It’s not Saturday – the NFL changed the format up this year to put the first round in prime time. We wish all of the Bulldogs up for the draft luck – Curran, Atkins, Owens, Moore, and Jones could all hear their name called. Georgia had six players taken in the 2009 draft – including five in the first three rounds. It doesn’t look as strong this year, but there should still be another solid group of Red and Black headed to the NFL to join the long list of players already in the league.

We noted back at the beginning of the month that Georgia went into Atlanta and had a come-from-behind upset of the #6 Yellow Jackets in their first visit to Tech’s new softball complex. The softball Dawgs completed the season sweep of Tech with a 6-3 home win in Athens on Wednesday. Georgia saw an early lead evaporate but shut the door in the later innings. Georgia, at 37-8, has won 12 straight games which includes two over Tech, and the win moves Georgia’s all-time record over their rivals to 18-9. They should be heavily favored to extend that winning streak in the season’s final home series this weekend when they host a struggling South Carolina team. The softball Dawgs took us on a great ride at the end of last season, and they look to be rounding into good form again as this year draws to a close.

Many Georgia fans planning a trip out to the Colorado game this year were hoping to finish off the weekend on Sunday by catching Knowshon Moreno and Champ Bailey in action for the Denver Broncos.

NFL schedules were released yesterday, and the news isn’t good: The Broncos will be playing on the road at Tennessee on October 3rd.