No, Georgia football did not ‘pay’ Georgia Pickens
Georgia football pulled a huge shock when they received the commitment of Georgia Pickens on signing day, but conspiracy theories about payment are bordering on ridiculous.
Ah, signing day. I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised that there was going to be some form of drama created today. What used to be the single most insane day on the college football calendar has taken a back seat the past two years to the early signing day in December. That seems to be when 80% of all prospects sign these days but this year, Georgia football had one final trick up their sleeve. George Pickens.
Now for those of you who didn’t know, Pickens is the highest rated receiver UGA has signed in a very long time. How long you ask? Remember AJ Green? Yep, that long. His decision to flip from Auburn to UGA on signing day sent ripples throughout the internet and damn near broke Twitter. Now, as amazing as it was to see Georgia pull in a huge 5-star player at the end, there once again are the usual people implicating that Georgia ‘paid’ Pickens to join them. I think we’ve all been through this before. They said the same thing about Justin Fields last year and I’m sure they will do the same again next season.
What was so surprising this time however was that some of the conspiracies came from actual Auburn players. Dawgnation.com was able to cover some of these tweets in a story but by now, all of the comments have been deleted or taken down. Needless to say however that seeing current college players spread rumors about players ‘getting paid’ might be one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen on a signing day. And yes, I know, signing day is ridiculous.
It’s probably safe to say that at this point, either all CFB players are getting ‘paid’ in some form or fashion or they aren’t. I mean, are we seriously supposed to believe that Auburn, the school that definitely paid Cam Newton a quarter of a million dollars was outbid by one of their biggest rivals? If UGA had money on the table, did Auburn seriously just sit there and say, ‘Nah, that’s too rich for our tastes’?
Of course, they didn’t. If money is going to recruits in football, then EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL IS DOING IT. Did Owen Pappoe really choose to leave his home state and a school that apparently pays players to go to live in a worse town and not get paid? Did Kaiir Elam forgo the apparent massive cheque on offer from UGA and go to Gainsville just out of the goodness of his heart and his desire to play for Todd ‘my defenses get torched’ Grantham?
It’s one thing when fans are throwing around this sort of nonsense but it’s another when players start to join in. Auburn players are allowed to be upset that Pickens quit on them after being committed for 2 years and is going to a rival. They’re totally allowed to be salty (Owen Pappoe’s tweet was exceptional). Lord knows I’m still pissed at Justin Fields, but I’m not suggesting that OSU cut Fields a million dollar cheque to quit on his team and bugger off to Ohio. Why? Because that would be dumb.
Kids make decisions to go to college for all sorts of reasons. Why would Pickens want to play at Georgia over Auburn the Barners might ask? Well, losing 4 of their top 5 receiving targets from this years team might have something to do with it. Having a legit QB in Jake Fromm for at least another year and a stable coaching staff isn’t exactly going to hurt either.
Auburn offers none of those options. They don’t have a QB right now, Gus Malzahn seems to be on the hot seat and might get fired next season and they aren’t exactly known for developing receivers. You can criticize UGA all you like for being a run-heavy team but at least they are putting guys into the league. This list from AL.com is quite frankly ridiculous when you think about it. The best receiver Auburn has ever produced at Pickens position is Frank Sanders. I’ve never heard of him and he retired in 2003. They actually put Ronnie Brown in at 10 because, by the looks of it, there was nobody else. Brown was a running back…
Next. UGA flips PIckens from Auburn. dark
My point is that it’s not hard to see why Pickens would want to go to UGA. The Dawgs are competing for titles and he’s got a chance to make an impact. Riley Ridley is likely going to be a day 1 or 2 draft pick this year and he was a 3-star. Pickens can develop and excel at Georgia and make it into the league. That’s why he made the decision. Not because of some weird Kirby Smart conspiracy and not because he was paid to go. Sometimes the most obvious answers are staring you in the face all the time. It might not be what those Auburn players want to hear, but the reality is so often more boring than fiction.