Image: ESPN

Matthew Stafford penned an article in Sunday’s Athens Banner-Herald bidding farewell to UGA, the fans and the Athens community.

One thing I found kind of interesting was what he chose to mention as the most memorable moments of his career as a Georgia Bulldog:

Mikey Henderson’s touchdown catch in overtime to beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa, our celebration and 42-30 win over Florida and the “Blackout” against Auburn in 2007 were some of my all-time favorite moments.

All from 2007, an incredible year for Georgia Football. Odd, that it produced no championships for the trophy case, but unique in the multitude of special moments it contained.

My preference out of those he lists is the Auburn game. Easy, I know, but that is the one I experienced in person. I’ve been to many games in Sanford Stadium but none has match the electricity of that night. The black jerseys, the tradition of the Auburn rivalry, combined with the victory over the hated Gators two weeks previous, added up to create a euphoric intensity that managed to envelope even the television announcers, Gary Danielson and Verne Lunquist of CBS.

Then, he informs us know that letting go wasn’t easy:

It was probably the toughest decision of my life to decide to leave Georgia a year early and enter the NFL Draft. But similar to my dreams of being a quarterback in college, I have also always dreamed of being a quarterback in the NFL and I felt like this was my best opportunity to make that second dream come true. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t already miss things I had gotten used to in Athens and with our team.

Personally, I feel like the grind of 2008 took it’s toll on Stafford. The failure to meet the lofty expectations, the injuries to his OL, the ugly way the team lost when it was on the sport’s biggest stage, all contributed to the recognition of how uniquely special the 2007 season was… and how unlikely it was to be repeated.

After all, it is hard to imagine his stock being much higher, and there is no guarantee that 2009 wouldn’t be a tougher year than 2008. Additionally, he leaves with the comfort of knowing that the program will be left in the capable hands of Joe Cox.

As much as you may want to stay somewhere, sometimes it is just time to go.

The Chicago Sun-Times takes a look at this year’s QB class with the help of an unnamed guru. Generally, the class is considered weak but this “guru” had some nice words for our No. 7:

”He’s a big guy [6-3, 237] with a great release and a big-time arm who has done it longer than Mark Sanchez. He’s the best guy in this draft. As for the charge that he didn’t win enough in college [27-7 as a starter], the Georgia team had that personality, not Stafford. They don’t win the big game consistently at Georgia like they do at Florida or LSU.”

Great on Stafford, very OUCH on the ‘Dawgs.

Really though, Georgia occupied the gray zone of mediocrity from the mid 80′s until the Hobnail Boot and have really just been unlucky in the Richt era when it comes to the BCS Championship.

In 2002, Georgia was 12-1 but there were two unbeaten teams (Ohio St. and Miami). The next season LSU wins the BCS championship with the same record.

In 2005, Georgia is undefeated until Shockley goes down with a knee and drops a close game against Florida, then loses to Auburn in one of the weirdest game ending scenarios I’ve seen.

2007 sees LSU drop it’s last game at home for it’s second loss, and because Kentucky can’t make a 35 yard field goal LSU goes to the BCS title game to smack around Ohio State. Same regular season record as Georgia.

Now, for those wanting to pin the “can’t win the big one” label on Georgia, the 2008 Bulldogs provided them with a warehouse full of ammo with which they can shoot that gun.

That’s too bad, but I call the kind of faceplant the 2008 ‘Dawgs performed the exception during the Richt era, not the rule.

Via Ching’s Blog.

Kevin Seifert over at the ESPN NFC North Blog Network is trying to stir the pot over which QB the Lions should draft (ie, ruining their professional playing career).

I know Stafford comes with some issues but I don’t really see anyone selecting Sanchez over Stafford. This may just be me, but he seems to have come out of the blue to land in this best QB prospect conversation. USC is always hyped to the gills and it seems like Sanchez is just the beneficiary of the crazy media worship USC gets.

Bradford, I get, but Sanchez seems like a 2008 Gino Torretta.

That being said, I sure hope that the Lions take Sanchez… for Stafford’s sake.

TotalUGA is reporting he is “all but gone“:

When contacted Wednesday night, Jones said he thinks the time is right for him to end his college career with the Bulldogs.

“I’m leaning more towards leaving,” he said. “I just feel like it’s a weak safety class and that this would be a good time for me to leave.”

His situation reminds me a lot of Terrell Bierria back in 2001. Highly recruited guy pushed, and eventually overcome, by a younger, less heralded player. In that case it was Kentrell Curry.

Bierria wasn’t interested in competing for the job his senior season so he jumped ship. He did have a nice NFL career though.

Oh well, good luck Reshad Jones.

UPDATE: Some links from other news sources.

• Dogs may lose safety Jones too – ajc.com
• Jones leaning ‘a little bit’ toward the NFL – Online Athens
• Georgia’s Jones leaning toward leaving for NFL – Macon.com

This is quite a thing to build a story around.

“I think I probably know his choice,” he said, “but I’m not totally sure of it. “He and I have talked, sure. And no, I’m probably not totally in the dark,” Kent Bradford said. “But you know, he has not actually made his final choice known to me yet. I truly think I know it, but hell, I may not.”

Seriously though, nice conundrum for a guy to be faced with. Wonder if Staff has called Sam to tell him how great it will be for him to declare early?

I don’t think so, but apparently he is still mulling it over…

Allen, via Felton, declined an interview request until making his decision. A junior from Tucker, Allen last month asked an NFL advisory committee for a projection of his draft status.

Allen is a two-year starter for the Bulldogs. He played the final four-plus games of the 2008 regular season with a broken bone in his right hand. The injury was fully healed for the Capital One Bowl.

At QB, Kiper takes Stafford, McShay takes Bradford.

Ok, hopefully for Stafford’s sake this is true.

At RB Kiper takes Chris Wells, McShay takes Moreno.

No way… NO WAY any team is taking Chris Wells over Knowshon Moreno. Book it.

Mark Schlabach weighs in on Stafford, Moreno decision and what it means for the 2009 Georgia Bulldogs.

From Stafford to Bradford… “Please, please, please go Pro. Pretty please.”

Apparently, while I wasn’t looking, Sam Bradford became the hottest NFL QB prospect that could possibly come out of this year’s crop of college quarterbacks. What should Matt Stafford think about that? He should be hitting his knees praying that Bradford makes the same decision he did; to truncate his college career and make himself eligible for the NFL draft.

I gotta say I just always thought Bradford was a Jason White type “Great college QB” that ran up big numbers in school but didn’t amount to much in the NFL. Well, I watched the game the other night and chalk me up as a true believer. While Stafford could make some incredible throws, he always seemed to lack a touch that Bradford has in spades.

If Stafford couldn’t put it on a rope and had to display a little finesse, I thought he became just average. Maybe there are throws that Bradford can’t make that Stafford can, but from what I saw, I see why he’d be rated a hair above Staff.

Hopefully, he’ll declare and the Lions will see it the same way.