Since I've been gone..

(No Kelly Clarkson.)

Since the last time you heard from me, not much has happened on the recruiting front. The Dawgs got a commitment from Chris Hayes, a nose guard prospect from Spalding County High School. The main two stories since late July have been the fate of UGA QB commit Christian LeMay, and the commitment of James Wilder, Jr. to FSU, and the resulting fates of UGA RB targets.

First, I’ll profile Chris Mayes. Mayes is a 6’5, 290 pound prospect who’s only been playing high school football for the past year. From all accounts, he’s a project who has great athleticism and speed. He hasn’t had much time to be taught proper technique, but his upside seems to be big. Scout posted a short video of him at spring practice, in the video he looks to be pretty effective in pursuit and has a strong enough powerbase to bull-rush opponents. Once he hits the UGA strength and conditioning program, and works under Rodney Garner he’ll be ready to contribute. The fact that he’s a tweener makes me more optimistic about him playing in the 3-4.

The next plus that comes from this commitment is the fact that Mayes is good friends with Corey Moore and Xzavier Dickson. Many recruiting analysts believe that Dickson isn’t as much of an Alabama lean as he was months ago, even ESPN stated that he wanted to be a Bulldog, but his dad preferred he play for Nick Saban at Alabama, who offered him before UGA.

Next up: The Christian Lemay situation. After his 30-day suspension was handed down, Christian and his family decided to skip his senior season at Butler High School and finish his requirements in a ‘private setting.’ Christian, along with Devin Bowman, Chris Conley, and Corey Moore intends to enroll at UGA in January. According to the AJC, while getting these requirements taken care of, Christian will go through CrossFit training with Andy Hendel of Charlotte, and QB-specific training with Steve Calhoun of Armed and Dangerous, who has worked with two QBs who participated in the 2010 Elite 11 camp, and current Auburn QB Cameron Newton. I’m confident that LeMay will make significant progress in his training before Coach Bobo gets him on campus.

As for James Wilder, many people think that if UGA got Wilder that it’d hurt their chances with Isaiah Crowell. False. There were a few reports of Crowell, Orson Charles, Aaron Murray, and Jarvis Jones all teaming up to recruit Wilder at Dawg Night. While losing Wilder (even though I don’t think his recruitment is over) takes away a great recruiting pitch that would give the Dawgs 2011 class a huge amount of momentum, it gives the staff more time to put the full-court press on Crowell. If Crowell goes to Bama, look for the Dawgs to get Quan Bray. By no means am I selling short the ability of Bray, whom the Dawgs are already recruiting as a slot receiver who will get touches at running back as well.

Gabe Wright, Golf Carts, and Getting carried away

This weekend, Gabe Wright and his mother went to Athens for Dawg Night.

By some accounts, like the AJC, it was a great visit for Gabe, and vaulted UGA into his top two schools with Auburn.

However, some members of the recruiting world feel that UGA dropped to 4th behind Alabama, Auburn, and Tennessee.

Most of the reasoning behind this comes from one line in a Scout article, in which Gabe commented something to the effect that Bama's camp was organized better than UGA's, specifically harping on the fact that Alabama's staff gave him (and his mother, who has diabetes) a golf cart to go around in, while UGA did not.

First off, I think fans are paying a little too much attention to this line, he didn't say it'd be a factor in his decision. From following recruiting, it seems to be a law that the most obscure lines can and WILL be stretched to the opposite ends of perception by fans. And after this happens, they take to the message boards to trash the recruits with message board cliches like "so-and-so is just the type of player we DON'T need on this team, etc."

It's funny when a bunch of grown men whose livelihoods don't depend on football recruiting accuse these players of being prima-donnas. There are some prospects who take the recruiting game a bit too far, but c'mon. Its been said time and time again, that this is the most important decision in these kids' lives, and that's true. You really should question yourself when you want to rush these kids into their decision. If a kid rushes into an early decision on a college, not entirely sure of where he wants to play, he'll sit on the doubt for the length of the recruiting calendar, and most likely change his mind by National Signing Day. Signing Day switches hurt the program much more than missing out on a kid in the middle of the process. It leaves virtually no time to fill in the depth chart. Consider the lack in production at Tight End after Dwayne Allen's switch to Clemson in 2008.

The bottom line is, Gabe said what he felt. He wasn't unnecessarily keeping things confusing for the public, or spreading propaganda about UGA. If this actually happened over the weekend, it happened, and there's nothing a message board poster can do to change it. However, bashing the guy on the net definitely won't help.

Curren$y tha Hot Spitta x Big Boi x The Roots

Now these are albums worth purchasing...reviews coming soon

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but..

Jordan Love was apparently arrested late last night. According to Marc Weiszer, Love was brought in over obstructing a police officer's investigation about fireworks set off outside McWhorter Hall. More details will come out as the day goes on.

However, we know the media's gonna take this and run with it. The Mark Richt-can't-control-his-players meme will arise again, and fans will debate over whether Love should be suspended or kicked off the team. Before the details emerge, I'll offer my opinion:

I believe that this was a dumb decision on Jordan Love's part. If he wasn't the one who set off the fireworks, it sounds like the whole 'Stop Snitchin' phenomenon on a small scale.

I follow Dawg players on Twitter, and if I remember correctly, one player commented on texts they got, telling them to refrain from setting off fireworks at the ECV building. I don't see why football players, or anybody else for that matter, would be setting off fireworks last night, especially since they'd have workouts in the morning, right?

Either way, I feel that Love should at least have to run stadiums overtime if he wasn't the one who set off the fireworks. If he did, he should at least be suspended for the first two games. The players have been talking all off-season about how focused they are, how much they want to improve. Its time for them to prove it off the field.

UPDATE: It appears that the APD is close to dropping the charges against Love. It seems that the only reason Love was arrested was because he didn't give his middle name to the police when questioned about the fireworks. Sounds completely bogus to me. There are stories going around the web on why Love did not provide his middle name to police, but in the interest of Jordan Love and his family I'll leave it up to you guys to find out why.

I'll post this as an update, just to show how drastic a person's knee-jerk reaction can be to a situation like this. Other journalists probably would have erased their posts or retracted their statements, but as always happens in situations like these, the truth came to the light. This time it was earlier than expected.

Gabe Wright update..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-iJlTRKbVw

This video made me feel a lot better about our chances with Carver-Columbus defensive tackle Gabriel Wright. I believe its only a matter of time before he commits to UGA, from the sound of this video I think it'll only happen after he gets his mom on campus. Not to mention his girlfriend is a Dawg fan. I find it hard to believe that Ms.Wright hadn't been to Athens before, he'd been visiting since 10th grade..

Anyway, these factors make me more optimistic.

• Rodney Garner's bond with him.
• The new Defensive staff, CTG's NFL Pedigree/recruiting pitch
• Him clearly liking the Dream Team concept, agreeing with the basic principle that if we hit in-state hard we could win championships.
• UGA (by most accounts) leading for Ray Drew, Damian Swann, Malcolm Mitchell, Isaiah Crowell, and already having top defensive prospects on board.
• Jarvis Jones' transfer
• Him feeling comfortable in Athens

The only cause for concern i see in his recruitment now is that:

• He's made bonds with a couple of assistant coaches, Chuck Smith at Tennessee and Tracy Rocker at Auburn
• A good part of his decision will be contingent upon our team's success. I'm optimistic about the season, but anything could happen.

Anyway, there are way more reasons to feel good about our chances with Wright, and if we get big commitments in the next few weeks (we're rumored to get some highly ranked guys as early as this weekend, which'll create BIG momentum for Dawg Night.), we'll only increase our chances with Wright.

Nick Marshall is a Dawg!

Apparently Wilcox County's star QB has committed to play in the secondary for Scott Lakatos and the Dawgs. How sweet it is...recruiting is picking up some SERIOUS momentum...Updates to come

New 'Kast! - Lookin For Ya

There's hope. This track should be on The Son of Chico Dusty, according to Big Boi, Jive Records was trying to block the tracks with Andre from being on the album. Either way, a great listen, a funky beat with a smooooooooooth hook. Like the old days, but new funk at the same time. It's gonna be a great summer for music, ladies and gentlemen, and I'm glad I'll be able to witness it.

Listen/Download here: