"Talent Gap" and 1-8

[orientalnc]

The key guys on this list are JT, Mason, Smelter, Nealy, White, Davis, Days, Laskey, and Burden. Then a tie with about a dozen others. Honestly, this is about a team. Not a group of individuals.

 

[SteamWhistle]

Laskey was criminally underrated coming out of high school. There's a fairly clear reason why.

He was a HS running back athletic enough to play DB and establish himself as a pretty good punt returner as a true freshman at Tech. Then he makes the switch to BB and is the team's leading rusher in his first year at the position.

I think Smelter's our second best player, after Mason. He'll go well before Mason in the draft.

1) Mason
2) Smelter
3) JT
4) DJ White
5) Golden
6) Burden
7) Laskey
8) Butker

I'm probably wrong on this list.

1)Mason
2)Laskey
3)Smelter
4)Smoov
5)Nealy
6)DJ WHITE
7)Perkins
8)Johnson
9)Gotsis
10)Days

 

[biggtfan]

Remember two years ago their guys taking our guys and treating them like railroad spikes, and our guys doing nothing about it? Not so this year. Every time Georgia's defenders piled on and started to thug it up, guys like Shaq and Errin Joe were running down there to shove some bodies around. Our guys did not back down. Not one bit.

The recruiting is getting better. It may not approach Georgia's level of 4 and 5 star kids. But the character and heart of those young gentlemen in gold helmets is immeasurable, too.

THWG!!!

The mutts are closer to their recruiting ceiling than we are to ours. It may be easier for us to close the gap than for them to pull further away.

 

[Boomergump]

I'm not sure we have a 1-8 list, to be honest with you. We are still more of a team. However, if forced to create a list of our 1-8 top talent and I am allowed to account for potential in doing so, here is mine:
1a. Smelter
1b. DJ White
3. Shamire Devine (on potential more than current contribution)
4. Shaq Mason
5. Justin Thomas
6. Keshun Freeman
7. Fred Burden
8 Quay Nealy

I think it pretty clearly bears out that we have 3 OL on the list. I love all the kids and we are a TEAM FIRST. Guys like Laskey, PJ Davis, Golden, Milton, Gotsis and Days are warriors and glue type players that hold things together. Just because they don't make the list doesn't mean they aren't hugely important.

 

[BainbridgeJacket]

1) smelter
2) Mason
3) JT
4) DJ white
...
5) burden
6) gotsis
7) nealy
...
8) keshun or Butker on potential

We've got some young guys who will work their way into this conversation next year.

 

[steebu]

I'm not sure we have a 1-8 list, to be honest with you. We are still more of a team.

I'd agree - I don't know that we have a true "1-8 List" although we have some talented players. We definitely play more as a team and PJ has said repeatedly in pressers and the radio show, "The guys genuinely like each other." *hint* *hint* Team chemistry means a lot.

We can argue until we're blue in the face about star rankings and whatnot, but I daresay nobody here would turn down a backfield of Gurley at B-Back, Michel and Chubb at A-Back, all 5* guys. With star rankings in mind, I remind you of something Spurrier said (paraphrased):

"Why is it that they [Georgia] have all that superior talent but we keep winning?"

Now look at this list of ACC teams + Georgia:

Oh also, the current count of 4 and 5 * guys we've beat vs ours is 174 to 4; we're 7-0 against them.

Now re-read that Spurrier line and start donating to the GTAA.

 

[Tech93]

It gets down to being a "team". UGA fans always wonder why no NC with their talent. It is tougher to take 4 and 5 stars guys and emphasize the importance of being unselfish. Most are worried about stats, number of carries, and getting in the NFL. Most of them are also primo donos and have been lauded upon for years. Our team this year is all about unity and playing for each other.

 

[GTJason]

The simple fact our "1-8" has about 14 names in contention speaks volumes to our talent level. We are good enough to beat uga in their house with the refs against us. We have to do our homework in recruiting. We can't just look at the rivals 250, get all of the local names, mail out offers and have a recruiting class. I'm not suggesting that's how anyone does it but I'm trying to prove a point. We do lots of homework and get an underrated guy like PJ Davis or Zach Laskey. Every once in a while we get a Shamire Devine who values a degree. Then we have a JT who is a blue chipper and wants what we're offering. Not sure which deity was messing with the college football world where he dropped Smelter in our laps but I approve. All of a suddenly you have a program, the right pieces are in the right place and we're one of the top teams in the nation. If we can continue to backfill I don't see why it can't continue

 

[Jacket0323]

I don't think UGA "quit out there". We finally beat them, plain and simple.

They were about to quit in the third quarter if that BS call on the " fumble" had been made correctly. Standing up at snap, pad level to high, and they wanted nothing more than to get off field. They quit again in fourth on TD drive.

 

[cuttysark]

My recollection was this senior class for the dawgs was called the dream team when they all signed their letters of intent. While all of this is fun to read and gives college football fans something to follow during the very long off season, in the grand scheme it means nothing as college football coaches have been doing recruiting their own way for decades before anyone in the stars system arrived on the planet.

Two recent examples of how GT discovered players nobody else wanted are Tre Flowers a DE at Arkansas who had zero BCS offers out of HS until the Yellow Jackets gave him a ride. Then he flips a week or so before signing day to the Hogs and is all SEC and perhaps an All American this season. Same holds true for the OG for the Seminoles, Tre Jackson, who has been all ACC after doing the exact same thing I believe in that very same class.

But talking about the 1-8 players which means very little to me or any football coach as the team is made up of 1-85+ walk ons, go see how GT traded up after the Mutts stole RB Brendan Douglas from the Jackets again about a week or so out from signing day. That was after he was jumping for joy when Paul Johnson offered him a scholarship after some other kid jumped ship on us and went to either Mississippi State or Miami. Then he turns around he goes to the Mutts and will only see the field after every other RB is injured.

After Douglas left we gave his scholarship to a two stars (for those that care about this stuff) kid committed to Temple named Paul Davis. Do I need to say more how that exchange worked out for this team? What impressed me the most about Paul Davis was he told CPJ after driving up to personally accept his scholarship offer was that "he" was going to be the best recruit in his class, and he has certainly lived up to those words by playing snaps as a true frosh instead of being redshirted.

But my all time favorite example has to be Paul Johnson's former player at Hawaii turning him on to a rugby player from Australia who is tougher than nails and has been a stud since he hit the field. Do they give out stars to folks from another continent? I'll take 82 more like Adam Gotsis and Paul Davis to go along with a Justin Thomas who literally gave up a National Championship Ring at Bama to come play QB at GT.

Stars aside, coaches want kids who WANT to play at GT as opposed to these self-absorbed 4 and five star kids who act like entitled rock stars and need to constantly be wooed. Way too high maintenance in my opinion and team chemistry is developed by players like Davis, Thomas, and Gotsis, along with every other kid on the roster who wanted to get a first rate education and play for a great school with outstanding tradition. THWG!

 

[Jacket0323]

My recollection was this senior class for the dawgs was called the dream team when they all signed their letters of intent. While all of this is fun to read and gives college football fans something to follow during the very long off season, in the grand scheme it means nothing as college football coaches have been doing recruiting their own way for decades before anyone in the stars system arrived on the planet.

Two recent examples of how GT discovered players nobody else wanted are Tre Flowers a DE at Arkansas who had zero BCS offers out of HS until the Yellow Jackets gave him a ride. Then he flips a week or so before signing day to the Hogs and is all SEC and perhaps an All American this season. Same holds true for the OG for the Seminoles, Tre Jackson, who has been all ACC after doing the exact same thing I believe in that very same class.

But talking about the 1-8 players which means very little to me or any football coach as the team is made up of 1-85+ walk ons, go see how GT traded up after the Mutts stole RB Brendan Douglas from the Jackets again about a week or so out from signing day. That was after he was jumping for joy when Paul Johnson offered him a scholarship after some other kid jumped ship on us and went to either Mississippi State or Miami. Then he turns around he goes to the Mutts and will only see the field after every other RB is injured.

After Douglas left we gave his scholarship to a two stars (for those that care about this stuff) kid committed to Temple named Paul Davis. Do I need to say more how that exchange worked out for this team? What impressed me the most about Paul Davis was he told CPJ after driving up to personally accept his scholarship offer was that "he" was going to be the best recruit in his class, and he has certainly lived up to those words by playing snaps as a true frosh instead of being redshirted.

But my all time favorite example has to be Paul Johnson's former player at Hawaii turning him on to a rugby player from Australia who is tougher than nails and has been a stud since he hit the field. Do they give out stars to folks from another continent? I'll take 82 more like Adam Gotsis and Paul Davis to go along with a Justin Thomas who literally gave up a National Championship Ring at Bama to come play QB at GT.

Stars aside, coaches want kids who WANT to play at GT as opposed to these self-absorbed 4 and five star kids who act like entitled rock stars and need to constantly be wooed. Way too high maintenance in my opinion and team chemistry is developed by players like Davis, Thomas, and Gotsis, along with every other kid on the roster who wanted to get a first rate education and play for a great school with outstanding tradition. THWG!

How I have made Cane fans Yellow Jacket fans.

 

[Minawreck]

My true hope is that the mentality that this team has taken to this season is one that is able to be passed on. I'm not sure the 2008-2009 teams had it. I think the team was a little bit star-struck and bought into the hype of the "Class of 2007" leading the way instead of the team. You could see a little of that in the attitude of 2010. Huge win for our program and for Johnson's leadership.

 

[UgaBlows]

Great post Cuttysark!

 

[mmbt0ne]

Well, based on the collective knowledge of GTSwarm, it looks like the 1-8 tiers go

Tier 1 (6 selections)
Mason
Thomas
Smelter
White

Tier 2 (5 selections)
Burden
Nealy

Tier 3 (4 selections)
Laskey

Tier 4 (3 selections)
Days
Butker

 

[danny daniel]

The talent gap usually shows up as a lack of depth. We were fortunate that despite the refs swallowing their whistles, we didn't have more injuries, something which really hurt us last year.

I believe cumulatively on O and D we played more players than any other game and we got a quality effort from everybody.

 

[danny daniel]

The fact the we cannot agree on a 1-8 list tells us that this is a team effort and on any given play various people step up to the task.

 

[stylee]

@cuttysark with a great post!

It's a shame that UGA got Douglas and we were stuck with PJ Davis. Douglass ran all over us and Davis can't get on the field.
Wait, do I have that mixed up?

I'm truly thankful that Douglas decommitted. I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I'm happy that he'll never see significant PT for UGA again.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

The difference between winning and losing is razor thin. It was true in '09, it's true this year and it was true every year in between. This team is different. It has a certain glue that holds everything together and makes the total greater than the sum of the individual parts.

Yes, this is indeed a special year and this is a special team. They play for each other and they play for their coach. The good news is that our staff finally has the right mold in mind for GT football players and we are replacing the stock. The offseason personnel losses didn't hurt this team, it helped it. The cancer was cut away and discarded.

 

[96Jacket]

Where did all this "#1-8" business start anyways? Seems like some gimmick "stat" ESPN came up with to create programming filler. Completely arbitrary and utterly meaningless.

Like someone above posted, I prefer to think of "#1-85."

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Where did all this "#1-8" business start anyways? Seems like some gimmick "stat" ESPN came up with to create programming filler. Completely arbitrary and utterly meaningless.

Like someone above posted, I prefer to think of "#1-85."

I'm as big a team proponent as anybody, but in today's landscape to be competitive on the highest stage, you need a certain number of "playmakers" and "difference makers" to get you over the hump. That number has been arbitrary assigned 8 for some reason.

Btw, they don't have to 4 and 5 star recruits, but they do have to be 4 and 5 star players that fit what we do to a "T".