Georgia Football: Dealing with the new ‘negative recruiting’

Their depth chart is too deep:

This seems to be the latest line that coaches are using against UGA right now. DJ Daniel seems to have decided to go to SC because he wants to play quickly. Owen Pappoe made the same decision and Rian Davis told Jeff Sentell that this was the line rival coaches tried to use on him to keep him away from Athens.

The path of least resistance is perhaps the most obvious form of negative recruitment that can be used against UGA. The Dawgs are loaded on their depth chart right now. That’s going to be the case for a couple of years based on the 2017/18 classes as well.

But I have to say, this is also the line that sounds the weakest to me. If I was a 5-star player, I’d be insulted if someone told me that I couldn’t cut it at Georgia. I can see why it works on guys like Daniel who only has 2 years to play because he is a JUCO guy. But Kirby Smart has hit the nail on the head with his ‘Iron sharpens Iron’ mantra. It’s not for everyone by any means, but Nick Saban has proved at Alabama that this blueprint works.

Justin Fields came to Athens because he believes he can beat out Jake Fromm. He also knows that trying to do that will make him better than going to a school with no QB and just being handed a job. The same is true for Zamir White, Jamaree Salyer, Adam Anderson, etc etc. Remember, that at the start of camp, Kirby showed his team film of 1st round picks, all of whom were 5-stars who just played special teams in their freshman season.

Georgia wants players who believe in that mantra and want to compete. Guys who want an easier path to a starting job probably don’t have the mindset that Kirby Smart is looking for. So in some ways, Georgia’s rivals are doing them a favor with this line of attack. Not only is it insulting to a lot of guys, it also weeds out those who won’t fit in with the culture that Kirby has built in Athens. So by all means, keep doing it rivals, see if we care.