re: 2018 Depth Chart discussion/projections

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I watched the game - hard to imagine not being able to find more adequate players with kids who are ranked significantly higher than Baker, Gaillard and even Ben Cleveland coming out of HS....by a large margin I might add. Sure, many players outplay their ranking (Wynn) (Baker) but in most cases they are pretty spot on. Salyer is the 2nd highest rated guard in the last 10 years. If he can't beat Baker then we got big problems.

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Gaillard - Composite High 4* - .9367 - #144 overall

Cleveland - Composite High 4* - .9565 - #90 overall

Both guys were DL coming out of HS, Cleveland projected to OL and Gaillard made the move. We're not talking about recruiting scrubs here... I don't think you'll find anyone arguing that Baker should still have been in the lineup, but again... will trust Pittman to get this right due to access to more data points than me.

Alternatives that are on the roster already in order of depth chart at present:

Solomon Kindley - .8408 Not ranked nationally - #146 in the state of Florida...
Justin Shaffer - .8828 - #356 overall
Netori Johnson - .9588 - #87 overall

No clue *why*, but for whatever reason, these guys seemed to go on the depth chart in reverse order of their rankings.

Obviously, we're adding in Salyer, who has a great chance of taking one of the starting OG spots based on how quickly Thomas adapted. But... let's not pretend like Thomas didn't have his own struggles, and that was with essentially no one other than another freshman or a Juco to take that spot either way. Doesn't mean Salyer won't come do the same thing, but there will be an actual competition for the spot at least.

Tre Hill most people have said they expect to see him redshirt, regardless of where he went (including Auburn, who *needed* help at OL. He certainly could surprise, but it's going to take some really good camp performances.

Mays... another high probability of a redshirt due to maturity/composure... he averaged something like 30+ yards of penalties a game in his senior season. Time with Pittman and training with this staff may change that, but gonna have to see it before I pencil him in over guys that we at least know what they can do.

None of this is to say these guys *can't* do it, but the "hard to imagine..." bit is ridiculous. It's not hard to imagine at all. Playing OL as a true freshman is hard. The guys on the roster are not "significantly higher ranked by a large margin"... and the only one that is even higher than Cleveland was at the bottom of the depth chart of the 3...

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The same could be said of Malcolm Parrish - he struggled all year. Why was he in the game? Was he really the best on the roster because if so we have done a very poor job at DB. He scored a 25 for the game and that's with Hurts who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn for 2 quarters.

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Couldn't remotely begin to tell you why he saw the field as much as he did unless the coaches felt even worse about McGee... He had a pretty bad regression this year, and had already been a somewhat underperforming/limited CB due to size... We knew that coming into the season, and unfortunately, there didn't seem to be another player who could wrestle the spot away from him permanently. JR Reed had a poor game though as well, and he'd been exceptional this year until that game. We got out everythinged starting in the second half... coached, schemed, jimmy/joe'd, etc... Trying to use the PFF grades as justification for why guys need to be replaced after that game is ridiculous. We knew Parrish wasn't great before the game... same for Baker... this isn't new information... but it is what our staff felt like was our best lineup... for better or worse.

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Cornerback has easily been the worst position recruited at Georgia. It is a combination of recruiting low numbers, attrition (and not overcompensating with more numbers), and Pruitt looking for his diamonds in the rough and not going hard for the big name guys. Parrish was the only elite recruit that we have signed in the past 5 classes. I am not surprised that it has been a struggle to get someone else out there consistently.

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The worst part of that is that when they do the statistical analysis of recruiting rankings, DB is one of the position that is "the most correct"... you typically are pretty close to what you think you are with DBs. Not to say there aren't guys who outperform, but relative to other positions, it's one where the ratings tend to be the most accurate. I'd assume because things like speed, hip flexibility, reaction, and football IQ are easier to diagnose than pad leverage, relative strength, hand-fighting technique, etc as seen on the OL/DL. WR evals struggle with anything from utilization to quality of passer in HS. LBs are frequently undersized coming out of HS, so there is a fair amount of projection on eventual size/build that goes into their ratings it would seem.

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I personally think Trey Hill is going to outplay his rankings. ESPN has him as the number 1 guard but I think Salyer is just a phenom. That said, I don't believe Hill will redshirt. This was with 4/5 stars all over the place in a camp type environment last weekend.

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Will be more than happy to be wrong on that one. I'm excited to see him in Red and Black, regardless of whether he find the field as a freshman or not.

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Noticeable as well is they think James Cook could not only be a star RB but was one of the best looking recievers at the UA practices. That's crazy

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Not only did he look good in practice, he practically *was* their offense in the game. I half wonder if his excessively quiet demeanor had any impact on is ratings... he's not a good interview candidate and doesn't share much, which doesn't help sell subscriptions. Obviously it didn't impact that much, he's still #33 overall sitting just outside 5* territory. Looking forward to seeing what he can do as well.

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Not only did he look good in practice, he practically *was* their offense in the game. I half wonder if his excessively quiet demeanor had any impact on is ratings... he's not a good interview candidate and doesn't share much, which doesn't help sell subscriptions. Obviously it didn't impact that much, he's still #33 overall sitting just outside 5* territory. Looking forward to seeing what he can do as well.

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His actual 247 ranking is what keeps him down. Can't figure out how he can be the most versatile best looking player on the UA East squad and not be higher than 72. He was elusive the entire game and they couldn't cover him. He's going to be a weapon for us.

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would be dumb for him to leave, but they're supposedly best friends and roommates, and both liked to party more than practice based on stories out of Athens earlier in the season (why Nauta's playing time was limited).

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Wow

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His actual 247 ranking is what keeps him down. Can't figure out how he can be the most versatile best looking player on the UA East squad and not be higher than 72. He was elusive the entire game and they couldn't cover him. He's going to be a weapon for us.

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His SR tape dramatically different from his JR tape.. all I can guess is that perception from that is holding him back. Never a bad thing when a lot of very smart recruiting analysts are agreeing that he is better than his current rating. Dell McGee is a fricking bad arse. I would really appreciate us never having to recruit against him with any frequency.

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Any idea on who the punter will be in 2018? It was incredible having a punter who could flip the field - I am scared if we have to go back to Marshall Long / Brice Ramsey.

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Brice graduates this year. Won't be back. Punter will be a competition between Camarda and Long if Long doesn't end up getting a medical DQ or something... Haven't heard much about him this season once Niazalek won the gig.

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Cook looks like Michel his freshman year with his frame.

Michel hit the weights and became a complete back. I think Cook will be more of a Swift type where we have packages and split him out and run sweeps etc. He's just a weapon.

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Yeah, not expecting SR Michel production out of FR Cook by any means. Just meant if he ends up on the same sort of development timetable as Michel... look out.

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Camarda

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Was booming punts last weekend.