Drama Free NSD

National Signing Day Recap

00:17

Welcome to the blog, the dogs podcast. I'm your host Herschel Gurley joined as always by my co host boss, dog boss, hollywood people.

00:24

Welcome back, everyone. Sorry, we're coming at y'all a little late for recruiting. But congratulations to the dogs number one recruiting class again.

00:32

Yeah, number one recruiting class for the dogs and also a Super Bowl Championship from mccole. Hardman so big week for folks with ties to the red and black. We want to say a big congratulations to mccole awesome deal second year in a row that a rookie dog has won a Super Bowl. Great for him great for the program. So

00:52

congratulations, McColl. Congratulations. mccole also want to congratulate Andy Reed lifer in football and finally getting that ring and loved his response that he didn't spend any time with the trophy. He spent the night with his trophy wife. That was a great response. So congratulations to Andy Reed as well.

01:09

Yep. Like that response from Andy Reid also liked his response. When I asked what he was going to do to celebrate he said, I'm going to get the biggest cheeseburger that I can find might even make it a double. That's my kind of guy to speak. Speaking of cheeseburgers, speaking cheeseburgers tell everybody about the movie or the TV quote that she told me about her. Maybe it was like an actress quote you talking about about cheeseburgers and pizza? Oh, um,

01:37

so one of my favorite actors is David Tennant. Most famously known for documentary, but he's a character actor as well. And someone asked him about his favorite food. And his response was, nothing beats a great cheeseburger. But a bad pizza is still edible.

01:54

Yeah, boy, a lot of truth to that. Great Words To Live By. Yeah, those are I mean, that's a pretty evolved quote right there. I appreciate that. So like that. I like both a lot. That'd be one of those things would be difficult to pick. Like, if you only have one for the rest of your life. What would you pick? And I think you have to caveat that right? Like, with what what kind? Is it? Because what if it was like those old Tony's pizza squares used to get on the green lunch trays at school? Like, I don't know if I could eat that the rest of my life? What if you got to eat Five Guys Burgers for the rest of your life? Like, you know, that matters? Right? I think I think that classification, that quality

02:30

definitely matters. Quality really matters.

02:35

Quality Matters for sure. Speaking of quality, dog sound a lot of quality kids here, number one recruiting class in the country. What are your initial thoughts on that? I know it, I guess too, let's kind of start off with a little bit different the last few years where and what year three of the dual signing period. So December signing period kind of takes a little bit of shine away from the traditional February signing period. But still, it's an event there were some good announcements for the dogs and it closes out the classes number one, so once you go ahead and speak to that,

03:05

the biggest thing for me is this was a very drama free national signing day. I mean, there wasn't the big signing like George Pickens last year, which is perfectly fine with me. They closed up shop, they got project Jones to sign they sign such a fan Pran. Which as we spoke to last time, we were both expecting the only flip was their branch the defensive back who was previously committed to Ole Miss, but that wasn't as big a surprise because we already knew he was kind of looking around because of Matt, Luke leaving the program. So biggest thing for me is astrometry, they they did what they needed to do, they got the guys who were already committed. And they brought in a couple of other guys who were not previously committed, it was trauma free, and as the biggest thing for me, and they finished number one, now, kind of go back and forth with the sites, you know, I'm a rifles guy, some people are before seven composite stuff like that. The biggest thing for me is that if you break down, like the class point, anything over 3000 and the rivals is a great class and the dogs have been over 3000 points, the last three classes, which is huge, because the top three class and the rivals all have over 3000 points. But then once you start getting to, you know, number six, they're under 2700 points, which is really an additional one to two good players that they have on the roster. So that accumulates over time those could accumulate additional starters. I mean, if they're additional role players you know, on your too deep that players that really helped your squad. So I think that great recruiting class for Kirby he was always known as a great recruiter when he was with Bama and he just continues to do that year in and year out and there's nobody I want on the trail more than

04:45

him. Yeah, big takeaways for me, you know, obviously full class 25 sinese. Six that enrolled early 19 that have signed their national letters of intent. You also you kinda have to look at it as a 28 person class right because they also have Trey michetti coming in Jamie Newman coming in and unless we forget Austin kirksey, who was also coming in as a preferred walk on, so kind of like a 28 person class, thank you focus, obviously was on the offense, I think all but nine of those 28 are offensive players. So big focus in the offense, which seems obvious based on the performances last year, a lot of depth coming back on defense. I do think there are some very interesting defensive names in this class. I think McHale Sherman kind of got,

05:31

yeah, yeah, I

05:32

don't know. You say tossed to the side, but just just not as much shine because they took his fitstar when he was coming off the injury, but I think that kid's going to turn into a great player. You got Jalen Carter, who seems like every bit of a freak key the ringgo looks like he's gonna be a freak. You know, Warren Brinson, everything I've seen and heard from him. Sounds awesome. I know, we had spoken earlier in the week about DJ Shockley, his interview with the early enrollees and you know, I came away so so impressed with major burns. So just seems like a good class. And and a good building block moving forward, who's the name on this list that maybe people aren't talking about a lot that you think could make a big impact as he is developed within the program? Well,

06:17

as far as being developed, I think you have to look at all the offensive linemen. I mean, there's seven that came in, there's going to be some that are going to be developed on here. I mean, there has to be with all of the the changeover on the offensive line, obviously, Roger Jones, Tate ratledge, the big name says you've been praying I've talked about gushed over at length, so I like lasky and then bringing in camera Kenny, not as much no three star I think that that could really good. But I don't want to focus on the offensive line, because that's my wheelhouse. I want to kind of go out of that. And really talk about Jalen Kimber, really kind of a forgotten guy, they kind of he was a four star on rivals three star on the composite, not a 250 guy. He kind of got lost in the shuffle a bit. He was a really early commit signed early as well. So he was really kind of one of those forgotten guys out of Texas, six foot, you know, a little bit on the lighter side for he kind of reminds me a lot of like, odd Wilson tight, but you know, you put some put some muscle on him and he could really develop into that star role. Also, I can't help but gush over Jalen Carter. And you know, he shot up the rankings towards the end of the season. So he's not really as an unknown. I think he could be, I don't know, certainly starting day one, but I think he could be contributing day one kind of the way Trayvon Walker did this year. I expect big things from him this year. Not that this is a developmental thing, either. But Kendall, Milton. I mean, he's a freak. And he also is so well spoken that he's one of those guys. I just I'm expecting huge things from on the flip side of that. One thing that I think we need to temper expectations are a lot of these wide receivers, wide receivers is a big transition from high school to college. And most of them coming I think actually all of them are coming in and during the summertime. So they're only going to have fall camp to get ready. I think middle of the season, they'll be contributing but other than Justin Robinson, he was in early I don't think we can expect big things from them. Really starting we want against Virginia, I think we need to kind of like put pump the brakes on that a little bit. They think sorts of middle of season, but that wide receiver class, while very talented need to kind of, you know, expect the growing pains a little bit just like there was Pickens. There's going to be some growing up to do to go, you know, with that physicality that there is an SEC play.

08:32

Yeah, I'm I'm intrigued by a couple names on here. The one in that wide receiver group, I think may have the ability to have an early impact is Aaron Smith. And that's just because of the speed. I mean, speed plays. I think we've saw that at the NFL level this year. I think you see it each year in the college level, I think whether it be on special teams, returning kicks, or whatever it may be, if it's in third down packages where he's working out of the slot or they have some special screen packages for him. I just think there has to be a way to get that speed on the field if possible. You know, the one that I've looked at a lot in this class where I feel like kind of got swept under the rug mainly because he committed early and was a pretty hard commit throughout as Nazir Stackhouse, D tackle comes in big kid, almost six for over 300 pounds. The D line is going to be light with all the people that left after this year. You know, if he comes in and gets it to the program quickly, I think he could see something good out of him as well. So I love the size. They signed along both interior lines. So excited about that. I'm with you, too. I like Cameron Kenny Kirby had mentioned about how they had done a poor job at Alabama. And when he first got to Georgia, about evaluating senior years of prospects, and he seemed to mention that directly with guys like Cameron, Kenny and Ladd McConkey into production. They had his senior so I'll be excited to see that as well. good year for that. Not really any surprises on the dog side. Was there anything after national Signing Day That kind of piqued your interest or something that you went well, I wasn't expecting that or was it just kind of a bland signing day?

10:08

The biggest thing was Avante William signing with Miami. I think that was the biggest shocker. I think everybody expected him to sign with Florida. Anytime bash on the Gators is a good day for me. But I mean, this isn't really the pylon. I didn't expect to have that good day with the six people that they were going after. But I did expect them to sign Williams and I think one other person on that list, I was expecting them to sign a sign none of the six that they were going after then they got somebody else later on. William spring them from Miami. Mi D is a hell of a recruiter he really is. But just with the poor season that Miami had to get a highly coveted. I mean, I think he was like, ranked in the top 50 to get a player like that, you know, to go to Miami over Florida just really, really surprised me. So that was the really the only real big shock for me for signing day. Really, everything else was just kind of status quo. It was a very bland signing day. I mean, like I like I mentioned earlier, I feel like this Signing Day is really, this isn't Signing Day anymore. National Signing Day is in December, and then everything else. This is kind of like second time. This isn't the big thing that it used to be and I'm perfectly fine with it. I'd rather have all the hay in the barn in December and fill your needs in February.

11:23

Yeah, I agree with that. It kind of takes the shine off of the February date, but it makes December more exciting kind of keeps the juices flowing after the conference championship games and rolling in a bowl season and all those types of things. So I don't mind too much. I did see something just talking about the early enrollees and guys to get excited about for 2020. But did you see that Kendall Milton is already up to 227 pounds after being on campus for like six weeks.

11:49

I did if he had dreadlocks, he would look like Todd Gurley. Like it's it's ridiculous. As a freshman,

11:55

he has just been so impressive for me and somebody who I feel like has really just kind of skirted by the the narrative. I mean, I think we talked about last time he was one of the Pied Pipers for this class. And every time you hear the kid speak, he just is very impressive. The body is impressive. I mean, he still runs I think like a four or five, five or four, six laser time and the 40 you're talking about that kind of speed, playing it to 27 to 30 expecting like 230 in the fall, I mean, could Lord, he could be an absolute dud.

12:29

But it's always those guys who commit early. I don't wanna say like rivals, and 247 have agendas, but they try to sell memberships. And that's how they make their money. And they need to talk about people who are committed or who are wavering. And people who are rock solid commits, they just don't generate any buzz. And Kendall Milton, you know, I think at one point, he was ranked in the top 15 in the nation, then he dropped to like 29 because people were jumping him because they were ranked higher because they were uncommitted or they were there were a couple of schools that were postponed after a really hard stuff like that. And you're already seeing it because rivals just released their top 100. And really, there's been just a little a few camps that have gone on. But Vandergriff who's committed dropped, I think two spots or one spot and Caleb Williams jumped up three spots. So it's like nothing has really happened to really justify those two changing places. But those who have changed places now Caleb Williams is the number one ranked quarterback for the 2021 class. But all the things that really changes me know Griff is committed and Caleb's is not

13:34

Yeah, and to your point. I do think a lot of this right is just fodder for for talking season, you know, because we don't have actual football to talk about. So it's it's something fun to jockey back and forth about and kind of pique the interest throughout the offseason. But at the end of the day, the the rankings are high school rankings, and they still got to come into the university that they choose be developed, learn the system, do well in the system, you know, learn the academic pace, all those type things we had discussed around the time the Super Bowl, there was an article released I think by CBS Sports that we had both talked about where they went through and ranked the average recruiting ranking coming out of high school for all 22 starters for both the chiefs and the niners and what was that the outcome is something like the the Chiefs had the average was 2.67 stars and the niners were like 2.4 or five stars or something of that nature. super interesting article just thought it spoke to the fact that it's really a guessing game right? You know, some of these kids aren't even done growing yet. They haven't hit their peak, maybe they haven't even been playing organized football that long. So a lot of ceilings for a lot of these guys. I think that's always the interesting thing with these classes is to see the guys who were not four and five stars in an upcoming out and be the guy strap in the NFL. And I think Georgia has a recent history of that right. I mean, number of guys that were not these four and five star recruits that have gone on to have great careers. I mean DeAndre was a three star. Is that right? Erik Stokes the same, right?

15:03

No, DeAndre was actually a four star. He was the first four star four in his class. He was the he was the first non five star in his class. But Eric Stokes was a three star. There's several take Crowder was a two star running back.

15:16

Right, right. That's right. Monty Rice

15:17

was a three star, I believe. But I actually have the article of, it's by Barrett.

15:23

So Sally,

15:24

that I see what he has with CBS Sports, though. Yeah. But but interesting. I did want to point this out to bring up because everybody's so obsessed with stars in the Super Bowl on these teams that she's had three, five stars, and the niners had won between the two. But so for total, five stars, and you're right, the minimal It was like, point, I can't find the exact number. But it was like point one, eight was the difference between the two teams. I'm sorry, point two one.

15:50

If you're looking at that article, what I found most interesting, did you see the position where the star rankings were the lowest, which kind of indicates that the ceiling for growth is the largest, was along the offensive lines?

16:04

As on the offensive line? Yeah. Yeah. And then one of these, which I find just interesting, as well, as Eric Fisher wasn't here that number one overall pick? He

16:11

was a two star? That's correct. Yeah, I also found that interesting.

16:15

So I it's just very, if you have a chance to read it, it's a very interesting article. It's very, you know, numbers driven, if you if you like numbers, I love numbers, it's very interesting to look at. Pretty much you know, the face of the NFL right now he was a three star. It just, it depends on where you go, how you're developed, the hours don't matter when you get to college. It's all about how you develop and grow, how you eat, how you are in the weight room, and you're really how you work is really what it boils down to.

16:44

Yeah, and I think the thing that gets lost in this right is it's the first time these kids are away from home. So it's the first time they're not in an environment they've been in their whole lives the first time. They're not surrounded by people they've known their whole lives, it's the first time essentially they're being asked to function like a man right like to be responsible to be accountable for themselves to to not have somebody's hand holding hold time. Now I know what the big universities like Georgia, they have the academic service staff and all the support staff trying to get them where they need to go. But at the end of the day, they're the ones that have to make the decision about whether they work or not, whether they watch extra film, whether they eat the right things when nobody's watching. So I think that's a big part of it, right is how accountable they are and how big the drive for greatnesses. And I think Kirby spoken to that a little bit, didn't make a comment during during the bowl lead up about kids coming to Georgia and being spoiled and not working and believe in all their own hype and how it was a kind of a disease there and how he wanted to change that. And it seems like with the quality of kid that's been recruited in this class, that was something that was a big focus. Did you see that as well?

17:51

Yeah, he definitely has spoken to the quality of kids that he wants at Georgia. He definitely spoken about character. And he's not afraid to tell someone No, and I think we've seen that with Zack Evans, case, quality is in person and quality and player, they have to mesh for what he wants at the university. Now, it's not so much just what you can do on the field. And I think that we're gonna see that going forward. I don't think it's gonna, you can be as stellar AF, put up great numbers. But if you do bad in the classroom, or if you're just, you know, a cancer in the locker room, then you're gonna be gone. I just don't think he's gonna put up with it anymore. I don't think he I don't think he I think he realizes he's not going to win a title with that type of locker room. Yeah,

18:39

the other thing I've kind of loved about the rhetoric from Kirby around the recruiting process, this this year, has been no different than with hiring Todd monken. And no different with him being open to changes. I just think it shows that his general his general attitude is one that is not scared to change. He just wants to win. And he he seems to be not letting his ego get in the way of that. And I don't think that's always the case. That's been something that's been positive a big positive takeaway over the last few months is watching him within this ecosystem after the year that we've had. And and kind of just trying to listen carefully to what he's been saying and read between the lines but okay, where is where is he at with this? Where is he going? And and he seems to be growing and evolving. It's always interesting me. Have you ever heard Seth Emerson, either in his articles or on his podcast talk about how he thinks or people tell Kirby all the time that if he wasn't in coaching, he could be an executive for a fortune 500 company? I have heard that. Yeah. Yeah. And I find that interesting, right, because the the main vein of that is that he's an excellent leader that regardless of the room he walks in, whether it's a roomful of football players or a roomful of board members in an executive organization or fortune 500 company, that the message will play and His aptitude will play and so on. I think that's awesome, right? What an asset to have at the head coach, because essentially, they are the CEO of your football program. And I think what happens sometimes at schools is the guy that gets hired, he's a football guy. And you certainly want that I don't think anybody would accuse Kirby of not being a football guy, son of a high school coach grew up in it loves it, eats, sleeps, and breathes it. But there are other things to it. There are other decisions, especially in the modern game today, whether it be marketing, whether it be branding, any of those things, and he seems to have them just jacked up that he, he's the one at the head of the program and excited about what we're gonna see moving forward.

20:39

Yeah, me too. I completely agree that with Emerson's thought process there, he's just someone that you want OBD people, he's just someone you want to follow. I mean, you know, anytime you see those little clips, um, you know, I can't say it on the podcast, because you know, trying to be family friendly. But anytime you want to believe in eat, you know, I just want to sleep and eat, you know, stuff like that, you know, makes you want to run through a brick wall makes you want to work for the guy makes you want to work that much harder. You know, he's just, he connects so well with these kids. It's amazing. Like, I mean, I know he's younger, and he's energetic and stuff like that. But I feel like when he's, you know, 55, like, I don't feel like that personality, that energy is going to go away just because he gets older. He is who he is. And I love that about him. Like, I'll be the first to admit when Kirby was hired, because he'd never been a head coach, I was very skeptical. I love the personality, I love the fire, I love to think like that. But at the first time coach, you're just very skeptical about that. But then you see the passion and the fire and you see the you take the lumps with it. But you see, like what he's built in such a short amount of time. And the sky is the limit for this program. And it's sustainable, based off of just him and his work ethic and what he does on a daily daily basis, to push this program, he is not going to let this program fail. He's gonna do everything in his power. And if the program fails, that reflects on him, and he's just not that type of person, he will do anything in his power to put that g on top, whatever it takes.

22:19

Yeah, I absolutely agree with that. I think he has a voracious appetite, for success and for excellence. And we've talked about that in past podcast, but I think that's the running theme of his regime is the chase for excellence, you know, they are wanting to catch excellence every day. And if you're a fan of the program, or you follow the program, if you're connected to the program, that's just something you got to be so fired up about. Like it just it makes you excited about what's going to happen. And and there just doesn't seem to be as much doom and gloom, right. Like, we've talked about this before. People get bent out of shape for a 12 and two season and five years ago, we would have done backflips for that. And now it's just Well, that's the standard. And that's, he's the commonality in that right. I mean, he is the driving force in that. And he's going to keep bringing people in that are wanting to catch excellence, whether it's players, coaches, support staff, whoever it may be. So I mean, I'm fired up about it, man. And so I just this, the recruiting classes, I think is a small indication of that. It's just more quality talent, more quality people within the program, more guys for them to develop, and be all behind the G. So we're all for it, man. Well, you got anything you want to close with today.

23:32

Another great finish another great recruiting class. It's funny, the class just ended on February 5. And you already this past Saturday, they had a camp down in Miami and Georgia being the brand new Georgia is all the kids down there. We're right in the mix of all the schools that kids are talking about with the bamas. The LS us, the Ohio State's the Clemson's, we're one of the three to five schools that elda Kids top kids are talking about. It's just, it's amazing. because like you said, five years ago, we were in the talk of maybe two of those kids mouths, and these are all Florida bass kids. Now we're in all of them, all the top kids out of Florida, you know, are thinking about coming to Georgia, whereas we would had to like, you know, hope that we could pick, you know, get lucky with two of them. And now they all want to come here. It's just amazing what has happened. So that's a testament to Kirby and the hard work. He's done. And we're living in the, in the good old days, folks, that's all I will say, you know, we're going to look back on this. And these last three years where we haven't wanted, we're gonna think, you know, we had to suffer through 17 and struggle in 18 and 19 to get where we will be and they're going to be the good old days. So enjoy a while while it's here because you never know when it's gonna go away.

24:45

Yeah, I'm with you at Georgia is a national brand now for sure. I don't think there's any question with that. If you look at the TV rankings over the last few years with games they've been involved in whether it be the SEC championship games with Alabama, you know, the Notre Dame game between the head Just the viewing numbers are huge. The amount of kids that are that are talking about the university from a football perspective is growing day by day that the money still keeps coming into the athletic department. They are spending it on the success of football and the growth of football program and the new facility that renderings were released. I mean, g stands for growth right now when it comes to GA. So an exciting time to be a fan of the program. As always, thank you all for joining us this week. We certainly love having you. Come bark at us on Instagram or Twitter. We want to know what you're thinking what you want us to talk about. Go on whatever podcast site you access your podcast from, give us a rating review us Subscribe, anything you can do, the more ratings and reviews we have, the more visible we get and the more people we can talk dogs with so we're happy to have you with us. We're happy to bark with you. And as we say every week go dog.

25:54

Go dogs.