UGA dodged a bullet

Just days before National Signing Day 2010, Calhoun standout Da’Rick Rogers shocked the Georgia Bulldog Nation by de-committing from UGA in favor of Tennessee where his high school teammate Nash Nance had just committed. Georgia fans were irate and vented anger towards Rogers anyway they could via radio recruiting shows, message boards and the social network world. Several Georgia players even promised to “introduce him” to the SEC when they met on the field. 

After a quiet first year (11 catches, 167 yards, two touchdowns), Rogers was All-SEC last year with 67 catches, 1,040 yards and nine scores. Despite a huge 2011 for Rogers, Georgia fans are likely extremely happy he never stepped foot on the Athens campus.

Rogers has run into trouble throughout his Tennessee career which may have come to an end Thursday when he was suspended indefinitely by head coach Derek Dooley for violating team rules. Dooley later admitted to the Knoxville News that Rogers likely won’t return to the program. 

Rogers was involved his first year in a bar brawl that led to his arrest, but after charges were dropped, he was not suspended by Dooley. Rogers was suspended during the spring, then rumors circulated that he was mulling a transfer out of Knoxville. He stuck around, but apparently not for long. 

Back on National Signing Day 2010, Richt and company signed a pair of wide receivers in Lonnie Outlaw and Michael Bennett. While Outlaw has yet to enroll at UGA, Bennett appeared in 14 games last season, hauling in 32 passes for 320 yards and five scores. The 6-foot-3 receiver has great hands and showed them against Florida, bringing in a tough fourth down touchdown reception to help the Dawgs take down the Gators. He also posted seven catches against Vanderbilt and chalked up scores against Georgia Tech, South Carolina and Auburn. 

Meanwhile, Hutson Mason was the quarterback Georgia seemingly choose over Nance, and Mason has appeared in eight games over his first two seasons as a backup to Aaron Murray, throwing for three scores during his time on the field. Nance, on the other hand, has already transferred to Hampden-Sydney, a Division III program after never sniffing the field in Knoxville.

Rogers will be a huge loss for Tennessee, no doubt. His talent had nearly every program battling for his signature during the 2009 season leading up to February 2010. But his actions since then have many Georgia fans agreeing that maybe it was for the best that he went to the Vols. One less headache for Georgia to have had to deal with. After the Isaiah Crowell debacle, Richt and company may have been low on Advil. 

Hot & Heavy

Unlike last season, the Georgia Bulldogs’ recruiting efforts have been raging hot and heavy leading up to the season with Mark Richt and company already receiving verbals from 26 different recruits. Last summer was a quiet one for Georgia with just one player committing leading up to the 2011 season. That shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise though, considering the “Dream Team” that had just put pen to paper and the fact that Georgia was coming off of a rather down season. Players didn’t want to immediately go and compete with players from the “Dream Team,” especially with the true freshmen likely to occupy a majority of the starting roles for some time.

This recruiting cycle has seen a much different beginning with several top recruits committing early and playing the role of Pied Piper to bring other recruits in. Brice Ramsey of Camden County, Tray Matthews of Newnan and Sandy Creek’s Shaq Wiggins have been in the ear of countless recruits, urging them to consider the Dawgs, and it has worked. 

In the last two days, Georgia has picked up more help in the defensive secondary, which will be an area of need in the upcoming recruiting class. Having plenty of extra scholarships helps, but the likely reason is that Mark Richt targeted this class after the 2011 class, knowing he spent too much time wrapping up the Dream Team to get an early jump on the 2012 class. He moved his efforts to the 2013 class and it has been working out thus far.

Georgia is looking to potentially sign 33-35 guys this February with perhaps as many as 10 enrolling early and counting towards last year’s class. If Richt and Georgia can keep securing commitments and hold on to all of these pledges, Georgia could very well be looking at two straight SEC East titles and a top three recruiting class come February.