Bulldogs Looking to Add Another DT

With the start of spring practice yesterday for the Bulldogs everyone was watching how coach Todd Grantham would do installing his new defense. Grantham has told the media and all his players that he wants an attacking style defense that makes the offense react to what they are doing and not the other way around. One of the main keys to this defense is the "nose position". This is where Grady Jarrett, 3 star recruit, out of Rockdale County HS in Conyers, GA comes into play.

Jarrett is a 6'1" 273 lb pure DT that was in Athens last weekend for Junior Day. During his most current visit to Athens Jarrett left some film for the coaches to watch and when he spoke with coach Garner he was told that they would really like him to come to their summer camp. When Jarrett spoke with UGASports.com about the 3-4 defense that the Bulldogs will be running he had this to say "I feel like I can fit in their style of 3-4, because they are not doing it like Alabama does with a big Terrance Cody type player. I think they want an athletic guy who can split the gaps, and I can definitely do that." You can read the interview in full by clicking on the link.

Jarrett currently does not have any offers but he feels that Georgia and Clemson are close to offering. Some other schools that are showing interest in him are Alabama, Florida, LSU, North Carolina State, Miami (FL) and South Carolina. Jarrett will be visiting Alabama, Clemson and Georgia for spring practice in the upcoming weeks.

Tuitt Would Play Multiple Positions

At 6'5" 252 lbs Stephon Tuitt is the ideal defensive specimen for the 3-4 defense. Tuitt was at Junior Day for the Bulldogs and got a chance to speak with Coach Grantham and Coach Garner.  The Georgia coaches seem to think that he could play almost any position in the front seven outside of nose tackle. When Tuitt spoke with Dean Legge of Scout.com he had this to say:

“They told me I could play as many as three different spots for them, I spoke with Coach Garner and the other defensive coaches one-on-one. They said I could play will linebacker, mike linebacker or defensive end for them.”

Tuitt's current high school team plays a similar type of defense which is giving him hope that if he decides to play for the Bulldogs that he could get on the field sooner than later.

Currently Tuitt is not ready to commit anyone despite having Amarlo Herrera telling him that he needs to commit to Georgia so the two of them can play together at the next level.

Tuitt currently has offers from Georgia, Florida, Georgia Tech, Clemson and South Carolina. According to Scout.com Tuitt has a high interest in Georgia Tech but we must also remember that he just got back from Tech's campus this past Sunday. It will be interesting to see if that changes comes Monday after his Georgia trip is complete.

Recruiting Update

So far everything sounds good with the recruits being on campus this weekend. All the recruits were at the basketball game last night and seemed to be having a great time with all the dunks and the fans really getting into the game. The Bulldogs top prospect this weekend is Jeffrey Whitaker. Coach Mark Richt was able to get a lot of one on one time with Whitaker. Whitaker was really looking forward to this weekend and being able to meet and talk with Coach Todd Grantham he had this to say:

"I am just looking forward to meeting Coach Grantham. They told me I will be one of the first prospects to meet him. I talked to Coach John Lilly on Tuesday, and I also spoke to Coach Rodney Garner and Coach Mark Richt this week. They are all excited about the new coordinator, and they cannot wait for me to meet him. Coach Garner thinks I will fit in great in the 3-4, and he thinks Grantham is a nice guy,"

The Bulldogs were able to get a in home visit with Telvin Smith on Thursday night and from all the talk coming out of the Smith front it seems like Georgia is now the team to beat. Smith also has Florida high up on his list but Florida recently received a commitment from Micheal Taylor. The Gators are running out of scholarships very quickly and Smith has not setup an official visit to Florida yet.

Thursday afternoon Coach Todd Grantham and Scott Lakatos visited the Ogletree brother's in their house. Alec Ogletree had this to say about the coaches:

"I was a little bit concerned before I met them, but that was because I did not know who would be coaching me. It was a really good visit, and I hope to grow closer with them over time. I think they have built up a really good staff at Georgia. Now I am just ready to sign and get up there,"

"I let them know it was an honor to be the first prospect to host them in my house, but now they need to just get out there and see the other commitments and prospects we are after,"

Kipp Adams, recruiting coordinator for Rivals in the state of Georgia made a post that the Bulldogs are going to be going all out for their top targets in the next ten days (Kadrone Boone, Telvin Smith, Jeffrey Whitaker, Mike Thornton and Christian Green).

Rennie Curran Gone

Rennie Curran has dinner with Mark Richt last night and told the coach that he is leaving school. Curran will make the announcement Monday. Coach Rodney Gardner is still trying to convince Curran to wait until the DC is named. However, Rennie said he is 99.9% sure he is gone even if Kirby Smart is hired.

DC Search Update

LSU has came out and stated that they will be giving John Chavis a raise to keep him at LSU. This ends any speculation that John Chavis is still the leading candidate for the open DC position. Richt has also came out and said that his hopes of having a DC in place by January 3rd most likely will not happen but is going to try and have one in place before January 10th. When asked if Rodney Gardner is a candidate he stated that he was not and that Gardner is aware of this.

Gardner most likely gone

David Hale had a really nice post this morning about the potential coaching changes that may happen at Georgia. Here is the link:

http://dawg-extra.blogspot.com/2009/11/latest-on-coaching-rumors.html

The biggest thing about this article that got me going was Rodney Gardner. Gardner seems to me to be more about himself than Georgia Football. If Georgia has offered you a contract and you decide not to sign it then that is your fault. Gardner is always looking for something else every year. Yes, I will admit if we lose Gardner we might take a hit in recruiting this year, but the class we got last year has made a huge impact on our team this year. I would probably say that 90% of those recruits are not going to follow Gardner to another school. Gardner might be able to bring top recruits every year, but he obviously is not a great coach or he would have schools knocking down his door to offer him a position. What is the point of bringing in all these top recruits if we can not coach them to there full potential. If Gardner does decide to leave we should promote John Lilly to recruiting coordinator.

Damon Evans seems to be a little timid in wanting to shell out the cash for a top DC. I hope that he reconsiders this and makes the right decision. Georgia can go two ways right now we can either stay as a 5th or 6th place team every year in the SEC or spend them money and bring in good coaches and get as back in the hunt for the SEC championship and a National Championship.