Georgia Bulldogs

SEC
ATHENS, Ga. -- Devin Bowman sees the opportunity before him at cornerback, but the redshirt freshman knows he has plenty to learn before he can seize some of the playing time available in Georgia’s secondary.

[+] EnlargeDevin Bowman
Radi Nabulsi/ESPN.comRedshirt freshman Devin Bowman is making up for the crucial time he lost last year, when his official collegiate status wasn't clear until the day before the Bulldogs started fall camp.
With senior starter Sanders Commings out for the first two games on suspension and fellow senior Branden Smith possibly joining him for at least the opener against Buffalo, youngsters like Damian Swann, Malcolm Mitchell and Bowman will have a chance to play.

Swann earned more playing time with his performance in limited work last fall, while the raw athleticism that made Mitchell an SEC All-Freshman receiver last year has helped him pick up his defensive responsibilities.

Bowman, meanwhile, is still working to learn the technical details involved in playing his position after spending last season on Georgia’s scout team.

“My biggest [area of emphasis] right now is just getting the plays down,” Bowman said. “That’s the only thing I can say that’s really gotten better with me. Just knowing different coverages, hand signals, that’s the only thing I can say is my biggest area of progress.”

Bowman was already behind by the time he arrived on campus last season.

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ATHENS, Ga. -- The problem facing Georgia’s receivers this spring is not uncommon for the Bulldogs.

As was the case for much of last season, they simply don’t have much depth at wideout thanks to Malcolm Mitchell’s springtime shift to defense and injuries that keep others like Chris Conley, Rantavious Wooten and Rhett McGowan out of some drills. That leaves the regulars with the wearisome task of taking more practice reps than they would prefer.

“It’s a little bit of a pain, but it’s good for us,” rising sophomore Michael Bennett said. “Good conditioning, good reps, good experience for guys like Justin [Scott-Wesley], who needs to play this year. Bottom line, he’s going to be in the rotation, so he needs to have as many reps as possible.

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Soul searching has resulted in a time frame for Uriah LeMay's decision.

The receiver from Matthews (N.C.) Mallard Creek said he will cut down his 25-plus scholarship offers to a top 10 after spring practice, on May 10th, and a top 5 on June 1.

"Just thinking it's time to wind it down," the Watch List 150 prospect texted ESPN on Tuesday. "I'm starting to feel more confident with it so not a whole lot of a reason to wait and drag it out."

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ATHENS, Ga. -- Christian LeMay knows that if everything goes according to plan, he could be under center as Georgia’s backup quarterback this season.

He knows this spring is when he can prove that he deserves that spot behind All-SEC starter Aaron Murray, with junior Hutson Mason looking to redshirt -- should Murray stay healthy all season -- to gain a year of class separation between himself and fellow junior Murray.

LeMay, who redshirted as a freshman last season, spoke with reporters for the first time this spring after Tuesday’s practice.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida, Florida State and Pittsburgh have recently offered Durham (N.C.) Hillside tight end Josh McNeil. The 6-foot-4, 235-pound athlete committed to East Carolina in November but quickly opened things up after receiving offers from larger BCS schools.

Though McNeil remains wide open, he says the Florida offer will put the Gators in his list of top schools when he narrows things down.

"Coach [D.J.] Durkin was in contact with me earlier in the year," McNeil said. "Then they lost contact, but now I'm talking with them again, and they offered like a week ago or so. I haven't had a chance to look much at Florida like as far as their depth chart and things like that yet, but when I start to narrow things down I know they would be in my top 10."

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Kevin Crosby Interview 

April, 3, 2012
4/03/12
1:00
PM ET

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Last summer, Brandon Kublanow (Marietta, Ga./Walton) mentioned the University of Georgia as a dream school, discussing the strong likelihood of playing for the Bulldogs if they were to offer. Although Georgia did offer in October, 10 other programs have, clouding what Kublanow thought might be an easy decision. As he continues to evaluate each program, Georgia took the opportunity to host one of the most dominating interior linemen in the Southeast over the weekend.

Kublanow spent two days in Athens, and the focus of this trip was getting to know what life would be like as an offensive lineman at Georgia.

"My favorite part was just getting to hang out with the guys, and getting to see more of the campus like ECV (East Campus Village)," Kublanow said. "It was a lot of fun and I had a great time. I got to hang out with the guys on the offensive line, Hunter Long, Watts Dantzler, Nathan Theus and David Andrews so that was different. They are all pretty funny.

"I learned from them that it is a great experience, it is something that you will always have, and that there is nothing else like playing at UGA."

For Kublanow, playing for Georgia would mean playing under offensive line coach Will Friend. With a thin depth chart, Friend could have an easy sell on his hands. But Kublanow, known as an aggressive, mauling style of play, says the pitch is unneeded.

"I like Coach Friend a lot and we have a great relationship," Kublanow said. "We watched a lot of film and talked about where I would fit in and just got to hang out. He sees me playing center and as the next Ben Jones. They really only have one true center in David Andrews, but I am not looking for a school that is going to tell me I can start right away, because that is something I can work for by myself and earn by myself."

Kublanow mentioned Florida and Vanderbilt as two programs that have mentioned coming in and playing immediately, and he also has a couple other trips coming up.

"I am going to see UNC next weekend, and possibly Clemson and South Carolina, but I am going to trim it down to a top four or five after that," Kublanow said. "I know my mom really likes some schools, so we will go over things and cut it down."

Whether or not Georgia makes the cut, Kublanow says future trips to Athens are not needed at this point.

"I still really like Georgia and it is a good program that is only going up from here,” Kublanow said. “I do not really need to go back up there because they have answered every question for me."

Other programs trying to sneak in with an offer and make the cut might be out of luck.

"I normally just let Coach (Rocky) Hidalgo deal with schools, because at this point he will tell the schools that it is pretty much just too late," Kublanow said.


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DawgNation on the radio 

April, 3, 2012
4/03/12
10:52
AM ET
DawgNation’s Radi Nabulsi was on ESNP’s Athens affiliate 960 the Ref this morning talking about the latest Georgia football news. Among some of the questions answered were:

  • What is going on with the Bulldogs football team?
  • Why are the coaches ordering drug tests?

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With a number of high schools in the Southeast out for Spring Break, the visitors have become more frequent at the University of Alabama’s practices. On Friday, Snellville, Ga./South Gwinnett linebacker Reggie Carter was on hand for practice.

“The visit went good,” Carter said. “I like how practice was run. They got so many reps. I’ve done some of the drills, but there was some I didn’t do, and I like how Kirby Smart runs the linebackers.”

During his visit to Tuscaloosa, Carter got a chance to sit down and talk with Smart, the Crimson Tide’s defensive coordinator who serves as Carter’s main recruiter and would also be his position coach at UA.

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ATHENS, Ga. -- Georgia’s football team has the talent to have a very special fall, but the spring has come with unwanted hiccups.

Georgia has dealt with too much suspension and attrition. The most glaring issue for the Bulldogs is that they’ll be without defensive starters Sanders Commings, Alec Ogletree, Bacarri Rambo and Branden Smith to begin the season due to suspensions.

The losses of key starters, especially Commings, Rambo and Smith, who all patrol a pretty thin secondary, have Georgia players and coaches frustrated, but they’re pushing ahead as the second half of spring football bleeds into the true offseason.

[+] EnlargeMark Richt
AP Photo/Stephen MortonSuspensions will leave Mark Richt thin in the secondary to begin the 2012 season.
“It robs some of the momentum that you’re trying to build and trying to create,” coach Mark Richt said. “It doesn’t destroy it unless you let it, but it’s just another thing that needs to be overcome.”

Georgia has had a rash of off-the-field incidents in the past calendar year, and when asked if he thought there was an invincibility complex with some of his players, Richt said he hoped not, but didn’t think that there was a discipline problem with his football team.

“The bottom line is that if there are things that need to be disciplined around here, we’ll discipline them,” he said. “We don’t treat a starter any different than a walk-on. We’ll discipline even if it hurts -- and it hurts sometimes.”

Georgia’s coaches are now having to plug more young players into first-team rotations on defense. While the Bulldogs have a handful of players to use at Ogletree’s middle linebacker spot, the same can’t be said for the secondary.

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ESPN NFL draft analyst Todd McShay participated in a media teleconference on Friday where he included Georgia draft prospects Brandon Boykin and Cordy Glenn in some of his responses.

ESPN Public Relations sent out a transcript of the call this evening, so I thought I'd share McShay's responses related to the Georgia guys: Q: Just want to check in on Brandon Boykin, the cornerback from Georgia, where he fits and what might be available for the Falcons at 55 at left tackle there?

TODD McSHAY: Well, Boykin's fast. Every time I watch Boykin, it's all I can think of. He's just so fast. Everything he does is fast. I think his instincts need to improve. I know his instincts need to improve. He's late diagnosing some throws. When they put him in the zone, he can get lost a little bit, and that's not really his strength.

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ATHENS, Ga. -- If Jay Rome needed to gain ground in Georgia’s tight end competition, he picked a good way to narrow the gap between himself and Arthur Lynch.

The redshirt freshman caught the offense’s only touchdown in regulation during Saturday’s scrimmage -- a 30-yard strike from Hutson Mason where he cut through the middle of the defense -- and impressed coaches and teammates even more with a leaping touchdown grab from Parker Welch in the back of the end zone during goal-line drills.

“Obviously Jay Rome scored two touchdowns, which was nice to see,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said when asked who had impressed him in the scrimmage. “The one catch in the end zone on the goal line was pretty acrobatic. He had to kind of turn his body and reach back and snag it and landed off his feet and the ball didn’t come out, so that was good.”

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Chat wrap: DawgNation's Kipp Adams

April, 2, 2012
4/02/12
5:09
PM ET
DawgNation recruiting expert Kipp Adams answered your questions on Georgia and southeastern recruiting Monday afternoon. Topics abounded, from wide receivers and upcoming offers to the always popular Robert Nkemdiche and Reuben Foster. You can read the full transcript here.
When Geno Smith first visited the University of Alabama, he fell in love with it. That’s the one of the main reasons he signed with the Crimson Tide in February.

The ESPNU 150 defensive back plans to enroll at UA this summer, but his first order of business before that is trying to recruit his high school teammate and 2014 star Nick Glass to Alabama with him. Glass visited Tuscaloosa over the weekend for the first time.

“We’re best friends,” Glass said of Smith. “He really helps me out with this recruiting thing, and he’s always telling me that he knew I would fall in love with Alabama at first sight. I guess I have to give it to him on that one. I loved it.

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Even at his rival school, Uriah LeMay felt right at home.

“I got put into the elite 5 grouping at the end,” the receiver from Matthews (N.C.) Butler said of participating in a combine-style camp at Charlotte (N.C.) Mallard Creek. “I think I dropped two balls the whole day.”

It was the culmination of an exhausting few days for LeMay, who visited South Carolina for a Gamecocks' practice late last week then visited Georgia for its spring game before returning home to participate in Sunday's camp.

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