Georgia Bulldogs: Summer Recruiting Insanity In Full Force

The University of Georgia Bulldog football team had, by all accounts, a wildly successful year in 2017-2018. You wouldn’t know that to read their message boards.

When was the last time you were in public and one these ridiculous kids these days, with their 4 different gadgets, began openly complaining about how slow the WIFI is? I’m not old enough, yet, to be the “get off my lawn” guy, but that gets me close. That’s exactly what it is like reading Georgia Bulldogs message boards these days.

One would think that going 11-1, winning the SEC Championship, winning an historic Rose Bowl classic, and coming within one play in overtime of winning the National Championship, all in Kirby Smart’s 2nd year, would satiate the baying masses that demand excellence and football purity. You’d be wrong.

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No, this isn’t in reference to this upcoming season. Dawg Nation is fine there. The team looks to carry a pre-season top 10 ranking going into the Fall, and look poised to be dominant in their Division for the next 3-4 years.

This is with regards to kids not even on the team yet. High Schoolers. Rising Seniors. They haven’t even played a game in their Senior year of High School. Yes, we are talking recruiting.

Now, don’t get this wrong. There is no doubt that recruiting, just like in NCAA Basketball, is the life-blood of big time college football. What Alabama has done in the last decade is not because they have the greatest coaches to have ever roamed a sideline. They are great coaches. But because Nick Saban has recruited at the level he has, he will go down as the greatest of all-time, most likely.

You get 5-star players coming out of HS, and you will win some hardware. Clemson is doing that now. Ohio State and Urban Meyer are doing it. The Georgia Bulldogs have now joined that party with their last three recruiting classes.

You’d never know that reading UGA recruiting boards, though. The topic de jure, these days, is the lack of “big time” Defensive Line recruits who have “Committed to the G”. At present, a dude named Bill Norton, from Tennessee, is committed, and is a highly rated player. But he’s the only one.

There are literally grown men and women, presumably, on UGA’s message boards, at various sites, who are calling for coaches to be fired. Think about that. A grown man or woman, presumably, hiding behind a keyboard, calling for another grown man to lose his job, because a 17-year-old kid hasn’t decided where he is going to college.

Buried in all of this is the widely known fact that National Signing Day isn’t until December. And that’s the early signing period. The traditional signing period is in February. Of 2019!

When I am not wearing a writer’s cap, or attempting analysis, I am a fan just like everyone else. I scream. I use foul language, and then kind of feel bad. In fact, I can’t watch UGA or Atlanta Falcons games in public. I’d rather not deal with the embarrassment that eventually comes with my behavior.

But the message board culture that centers around recruiting is insane. There is no anchor. Grown people get to hide behind an anonymous mask and campaign for other grown folks to lose his or her job. There are many in these spaces who know a great deal and care a great deal. But some are brazenly stupid and resistant to, what should be an adult characteristic, patience.

And it should be said that it isn’t just the Georgia Bulldogs. A Florida board I saw recently was in full meltdown mode because some kid in Mississippi committed to Mississippi State. Who could’ve ever guessed?

Auburn’s board is convinced that Georgia and Alabama are cheating (isn’t that rich?), the South Carolina board has anointed their team National Champions in the next three years, and the Tennessee board, well, they just can’t deal with any kind of reality. Those folks are in for a rough year.

This writer goes and reads those things as a fan. It’s fun stuff most of the time. But sometimes something strikes you as so ridiculous that you just have to write about it.

National Signing Day is in February of 2019. Early Signing Period is in December. And folks are calling for jobs, and literally cursing each other over disagreements. In June.

I’d suggest you check it out. College recruiting message boards are certainly entertaining. They are also insane mudpies of a multitude of moronic behaviors.

Next: Georgia Rookies Fit, Concerns and Predictions: Offense

But, I wonder what they are saying now. Maybe I’ll check before heading to dinner. Somebody is definitely saying something.

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