Georgia lands #2 RB Sony Michel out of Plantation, FL!

The No. 16 overall prospect in the country, Michel took visits to Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Miami and Notre Dame before finalizing his decision.

“The school for me is the University of Georgia, and I knew it was the right place for me the first time I set foot on campus,” Michel said. “It was a little different for me when I got on campus, but I felt comfortable there, almost like I was still at home. I also wanted to experience something a little bit different too.”

See video of announcement below…

Michael Carvell of the AJC reports that the top ranked RB recruit in the nation has committed to UGA for the second consecutive year.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder will enroll early at UGA, starting classes in January. He is expected to contribute immediately to the Bulldogs, which have been plagued with major problems and issues with their running backs.

“The first thing Keith Marshall does is give Georgia immediate depth at tailback,” said Rusty Mansell, National Recruiting Analyst for 247sports.com. “He also gives Georgia a game-changing running back, but depth is the biggest thing right now. Whether Isaiah Crowell is healthy or not, they had to add depth to the backfield.”

Rusty Mansell of 247sports comparing Marshall and Crowell coming out of high school.

“That’s a tough one,” Mansell said. “If I had to strictly rank them, I would put Crowell over Marshall by a tad bit just because Crowell was 5-11 and 210 pounds when he came out of high school. He was ready. Now Keith is enrolling early in college, which will be an advantage for him. He will have the whole spring and summer to add bulk. He’s 190 pounds now, and needs to gain only 10-15 pounds to be an every-down back in the SEC.”

Sounds like a good one.

Larry Munson was a regional icon in the Southeast. He was an industry icon in sports broadcasting. He was as entertaining talking about movies and fishing as he was calling Georgia games. A true original.

I feel like I could have spent an afternoon with him and learned more about life in that brief time than I would have learned in ten years of living.

To learn that he also played piano with pre World War II Frank Sinatra just adds to the legend. Amazing.

As a high school senior in Minneapolis, Munson was, by his own account, a “decent” piano player who loved jazz. He was in class when the phone call came. The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, in town and scheduled to play 28 shows over the next week, had lost its regular piano player to illness.

“I had no idea how they got my name,” Munson once recalled. “I couldn’t believe they were interested in me.”

Soon, he found himself onstage with one of the most heralded groups of the big band era. The lead singer was a skinny kid from Hoboken, N.J.

“The women went crazy over Frank,” said Munson, who played every show with Sinatra for the princely sum of $31 per night. “I had never seen anything like it in my life.” 

Some of his calls were more well known than these, but these are the iconic ones from my memory. Sure, I was alive during Belue to Scott but I lived, quite viscerally, these two:

RIP.

Heading into the game today and need a place to park? Nuci’s Space is a great location convenient to the stadium that hasn’t offered parking services until this season. Also, proceeds from parking will go to support a local charity that helps support Athens, GA area musicians. The Whigs, Drive-by Truckers, The B-52′s, R.E.M. and Widespread Panic are just a handful of local bands who actively support Nuci’s Space.

Parking at Nuci’s Space: $40

• Access to clean bathrooms
• Climate controlled event space
• Access to electrical outlets
• On-site staff will keep your vehicle secure
• Cars only
• Covered patio

Location:
396 Oconee Street
Athens, GA 30601
Map & Directions

Bernie chimes in with words of wisdom regarding Jordan Watkins, a recruit who just chose Stanford over Georgia citing instability as part of his reasoning.

Jeff Schultz (AJC): Mark Richt might need 9-1 finish to keep job at Georgia

AJC: TB Isaiah Crowell to get first career start vs. Coastal Carolina

Chip Towers (AJC): Notes: More touches ahead for Crowell, safety Williams gets look at LB

Georgia Sports Blog: Final South Carolina Thoughts

David Ching (ESPN): http://espn.go.com/colleges/georgia/football/story/_/id/6959927/georgia-bulldogs-escape-fact-program-decline” target=”_main”>Bulldogs program at crossroads

OnlineAthens: Receivers show improvement

Macon.com: Predicting Richt’s future not easy as some are saying

Bulldogs Blog: Crowell and Bobo say jersey number a ‘non-issue’

Welcome aboard:

Source: SEC Digital Network

I was holding out hope that I’d like them when I saw this in person, but… not a fan.

Head over to the Athens Habitat for Humanity raffle site and buy tickets ($5 per) for a chance to win a prize package that includes 2 tickets to the Georgia-Georgia Tech game (7:45pm start – under the lights!), 2 nights of hotel accommodations, dinner for two at The Last Resort and a gift package that includes a football signed by Georgia Head Coach Mark Richt.

Even if you don’t win you’re supporting a great cause.

Just noticed on Gameday Gameplan that the new North Campus tailgating regulations will be enforced during the G-Day game this year.

This year’s G-Day game will take place on April 10, 2010 at 2:00pm.

It seemed like something that wouldn’t happen to the 2009 edition of the Georgia Bulldogs. After months of assurances that the team was different, more focused, Bruce Figgins, Justin Houston and Tony Wilson demonstrated that 2009 won’t be completely immune from the off the field issues that plagued the much maligned 2008 Georgia Bulldogs.

Figgins, the TE who played through shoulder issues last season received the stiffest penalty at 6 games. That shoulder should be plenty healed by the time his cleats hit the Sanford Stadium turf.

Richt didn’t disclose what the players did to warrant suspension, but ESPN reported Friday, citing a “Georgia staff member”, that Figgins failed a drug test. That triggers an automatic suspension of 50 percent of a season, according to Athletic Association policy.

Houston, the Dogs’ best option at the razor thin DE position is suspended for the opener in Stillwater against the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the following game vs. the South Carolina Gamecocks. Ouch.

He had three sacks in the G-Day game and two sacks and an interception return in another spring scrimmage. He was one of only two healthy players to end the spring at the position.

Wilson will apparently be leaving the team anyway because of an inability to recover from a nasty ankle injury.

Richt said during spring practice that Wilson was at about 60 percent as he tried to return to form following a second ankle injury, but Georgia announced he will be medically disqualified because of the injury’s slow recovery.

Well, what is there left to say? This is awful, especially Houston. The Dogs D will now be severely handicapped in Stillwater against a high-powered Cowboys offensive attack. Remember what we couldn’t do last year? Rush the quarterback. Well, our top rusher will be watching in HD like most of the rest of us.

Is there a silver lining? Not really, but this did give me a little bit of a kind of tiny good feeling.

Senior quarterback Joe Cox spoke to the team after the scrimmage about avoiding off field missteps that hurt the team last season. Georgia had eight players arrested last offseason, which resulted in six players being either suspended or dismissed.

Nice to see Cox quickly take the reigns to try and limit future trouble. I like the leadership. Love his moxie. He’s going to need all of that and more to engineer a win over the Cowboys.

The Diamond Dogs continued to sputter dropping their eighth straight and second in a row to SEC East foe Vanderbilt 9-2 Saturday afternoon.

It’s as if the season is ending the exact opposite way it began. The Diamond Dogs raced to an historic 14-0 start but now run the risk of finishing it on a 0-14 losing streak.

Yeah, not likely I know, but when the Dogs dropped their third consecutive in this gruesome stretch who amongst us thought we’d be talking about trying to end an 8 game nose dive?

“Baseball is a cruel and humbling sport and we are in a bad place right now,” Georgia coach David Perno said. “We just have to hang in there because things are going to get better. We have good players; we just have to turn the tides and get things going our way again.”

Sounds like Coach Perno has got the stick pulled all the way back and is now just praying that he gets the nose up in time.

Next up for the Diamond Dogs is Georgia Tech Tuesday evening at Turner Field.
A win over the Jackets would be about the best way I can think of to end a nasty losing streak.

Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse the Gators unleash a deluge of runs in the ninth inning to complete a sweep of the reeling Diamond Dogs.

The Bulldogs (33-15, 14-10 SEC) led 7-3 when the Gators (34-14, 16-8 SEC) scored a run in the eighth, then pulled to within 7-5 on a passed ball with one out in the ninth. Tucker then gave Florida its first lead on his 11th home run of the season. The Gators added two more runs in the inning and handed Georgia its fifth straight SEC loss and sixth overall. Florida now holds a two-game lead over the Bulldogs in the SEC East.

What a difference a weekend makes. With two series left to go the Diamond Dogs now find themselves two games behind the Gators in the SEC East.

The Diamond Dogs desperately need a W to get this thing back in between the lines.

Favorite ones are #8 and #2.

Three former Georgia Bulldogs had the good fortune of being selected on the opening day of this year’s NFL Draft.

QB Matthew Stafford, to noone’s surprise, went at No. 1 to the woeful Detroit Lions. Knowshon Moreno went higher than most predicted at No. 12 to the Denver Broncos and WR Mohammed Massaquoi was selected by the Cleveland Browns with the 50th overall pick.

All three are DGDs who will be sorely missed. Personally, I think back to the two signature wins of their careers, 2007 Auburn and 2007 Florida, and how instrumental each were in those wins. It’s then that I realize what a tremendous loss it will be for the offensive unit next year. There is nothing to do but savor their time here. How long will it be before a Dawg QB and RB go in the top 12 picks?

Knowshon talks with Colbert on ESPN.

ESPN NFL crew discuss the Stafford pick. Cameo by Herbstreit near the end.

More video of Stafford being selected No. 1 overall.

Kevin Seifert explains the Lions’ infatuation with Stafford.

And since there isn’t much punditry happening on the 50th overall pick, I’ll go with one of my favorite Massaquoi moments.

After that throw and catch I thought, “We can do this.” They did.

So what Dogs to look out for during the draft’s second day? CB Asher Allen and FB Brannon Southerland are the Dog’s highest rated prospects. Then there is DE Jarius Wynn, LB Dannell Ellerbe and S CJ Byrd.