RandomFan

Keep in mind this year we're probably going to take around 15 defensive players and only 10 offensive. I also want to add, don't take this list is gospel at this time of the year. Recruiting is fluid, things can change over time. I have no doubt that SoFL has reliable intel and is relaying what he is hearing at this current time. But a lot of us have learned over the years that what could be true today might not necessarily stay true months from now when signing day approaches. You only have to look at last year when both Bresee and Sewell confirmed after they eventually signed with other programs, that they were going to be Dawgs at one point deep into the recruiting process only for a few months to cause that to change. So while I have little doubt that this is what our staff is currently hearing and feeling, I also have little doubt that things will still stand this way with all of these players 9 months from now on ESD.

We'll see how great that LSU offense is going to be when they don't have a QB who can spend a boatload more hours focusing on football than his peers.

https://theathletic.com/1654673/2020/03/05/stewart-mandel-ranking-the-top-25-coaches-in-college-football/ 5. Kirby Smart, Georgia: Smart is another coach who probably gets more criticism over his shortcomings than credit for his relatively remarkable achievements. The Dawgs, 36-7 overall and 21-3 in SEC play the past three seasons, have produced three consecutive top 10 teams for the first time since 2002-05. And Smart has now signed two No. 1 recruiting classes in three years. If he keeps this up, a national title is likely coming soon enough. 8. Dan Mullen, Florida: I considered Mullen a top 20 coach nationally at the end of his nine-year Mississippi State run, and all he’s done his first two seasons in Gainesville is go 21-5 with a pair of New Year’s Six bowl wins and AP top 7 finishes. Admittedly, the gap between Smart’s Georgia juggernaut and Mullen’s budding program may still be wider than these rankings reflect. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA (Todd's brother) 17. Jeff Monken, Army: Don’t let a disappointing slip to 5-8 last season completely erase the remarkable turnaround Monken engineered at West Point. A program that averaged three wins per season for nearly two decades went 29-10 from 2016-18 and won three in a row against rival Navy. The Black Knights took both Oklahoma and Michigan to overtime the past two seasons. They’ll be back.

https://www.dawgnation.com/football/jamie-newmans-wake-forest-teammates “You’re going to get the hardest worker in the whole entire football program,” said Wake Forest offensive tackle and team captain Justin Herron. “He’s the hardest worker I’ve ever met. He’s going to do a really good job, and Georgia should be really excited.” “You definitely have to start with his leadership ability on the field, he’s a very vocal guy, guys are going to feel him in the locker room, on the field, in the weight room, he’s going to let his voice be hard, and then he’s definitely a playmaker,” Bassey said.

I thought it did, but I guess this never got posted over here from a few days ago. A very good but long read. Not gonna post the whole thing because it's long, and deserves a click anyway. So much good stuff packed in there. https://www.dawgnation.com/football/recruiting/scott-cochran-state-championship-coaches-from-alabama-what-he-will-bring-to-uga DawgNation surveyed the opinions of three successful football coaches with state of Alabama roots on the matter. Alabama high school coaches were the choice because those were the men who spent the most time around Cochran since he arrived with Saban in 2007. They simply know Cochran and what he is all about. Here’s the panel: Josh Niblett, Hoover High head coach (State titles in 2004, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017) Jerry Hood, Leeds High head coach (led Clay-Chalkville to a state title in 2014) Rush Propst, former head coach at Hoover High and Colquitt County (State titles in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2014 and 2015) Hood: “What Georgia is getting that most people don’t know is he probably has a whole lot of experience coaching from a film perspective and from a studying perspective. If he has been the strength and conditioning coach for the football team, then he knows how to get a group to do what they need to do. So the on-the-field coaching part will be fine.” “He’s had a strong interest in that for some time. So that’s the number one thing that I think here. I think Georgia is going to be very surprised in how well-versed he is in special teams.”

https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2020/03/war-between-nick-saban-and-kirby-smart-getting-spicier.html In the SEC, it’s always about recruiting. Never forget that. Never waver from that axiom. Saban is the master, but his top protege has learned well.

For the people that won't click the link, lets snip some pertinent to UGA bits from the article: After more than a decade working under Nick Saban at Alabama, Scott Cochran was frustrated and ready to do something different to the point he willingly took a pay cut to make it happen. Regardless of what happened between Ole Miss and Cochran, it solidified in his mind it was time to move on. Cochran had weighed the pros and cons of the move and eventually became all-in on the idea of being an on-field coach at Ole Miss. When it didn’t happen, there was a diminished interest in returning to his role as Alabama’s strength and conditioning coach and an increased desire to find an on-field opportunity. “He made his mind up, ‘I’m leaving, I’m done with the strength thing and dealing with Coach Saban,’" a source with knowledge of the situation said. “Once you do that, when the (Ole Miss) thing didn’t happen, when you go back, you find all the problems magnified.” After the Ole Miss discussions became public, Saban called Cochran in for a meeting and asked whether he really wanted to make the switch to an on-field job. When Cochran said he did, Saban told him he wouldn’t be comfortable hiring him as an on-field assistant at that point in time, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. The advice from Saban was that if Cochran wanted to become a special teams coach, he should start attending Alabama’s special teams meetings and invest time into learning the intricacies of the position. Cochran left the conversation upset and convinced he wouldn’t be getting an on-field opportunity at Alabama given he believed he had already spent a lot of time around special teams. It was part of growing friction between Saban and Cochran that seemed to come to a head around that point. Cochran was mentally ready to leave after the Ole Miss situation. Saban, meanwhile, had concerns about numbers and results from a strength and conditioning standpoint and wanted tweaks made to the program. Sources said Saban began “riding Cochran mercilessly in front of staff." At this point, Cochran was even more determined to find an on-field opportunity elsewhere. Cochran pursued job opportunities with Michigan State and the New York Giants but neither worked out, per sources. When Georgia lost special teams coach Scott Fountain to Arkansas, it opened up an attractive job to work for long-time friend Kirby Smart. The two had lost touch some over the years as the friendship took a hit when Cochran turned down an opportunity in 2015 to join Smart in Athens. But over the last year, Cochran worked to rebuild the relationship with the Georgia head coach. When he saw an opening, Cochran sold Smart hard on the benefits of hiring him as special teams coordinator despite his limited experience. It helped that Smart had already been thinking about the radical move when he heard about the discussions between Cochran and Ole Miss, according to sources. Once he had Smart on board with the hire, Cochran met with Saban to inform him of his intention to leave Alabama last Monday. Saban quickly became resigned to the fact he couldn’t do anything to keep his trusted lieutenant when he realized Cochran had already made up his mind. Contrary to a narrative that’s begun to emerge in light of Cochran taking a pay cut to go to Georgia, Saban didn’t force Cochran out. “Saban really wanting him out is so not true,” one source said. “At all.”

Yep. That article doesn't list his bonuses, which pushed his salary up to $595k, as Sac pointed out.

OK BAMMER! Keep melting

Good grief you're an insufferable clown. It's a tweet about UGA and all you can do is come in and throw around stats pumping up Bama and try to rub our nose in the blackout game, as if we don't remember. All while trying to pretend your being nice about it. Fake-nice people like you suck, so why don't you just **** right off. You OK BAMMER fans really aren't taking this Cochran loss well, it's not a good look for you all.

https://www.dawgnation.com/football/recruiting/gunner-stockton-getting-to-know-the-next-really-big-thing-from-the-state-of-georgia A few snippets: Don't tell those OK Bammer fans this that can't stop accusing Kirby of being an underhanded dirty cheat.

Some offseason whispers from SoFL today:

Yeah, I think the so called lack of coaching experience is being a bit overblown, especially for the position he's going to be coaching.

Dear Andy: Why didn’t Nick Saban feel Scott Cochran deserved an on-field role? By Andy Staples 5h ago There was an unorthodox coaching move this week, and you have questions … Andy, thanks for your great college football coverage. As an Alabama fan, I really appreciate everything Scott Cochran did in Tuscaloosa. I have one question that the national media has not addressed in their coverage of this move: Why didn’t Saban feel that Cochran deserved an on-field coaching spot? Saban has been the standard in college football for the last two decades. I think it might be a little premature to say that this is the coaching coup of the century for Kirby to hire a strength coach to an on-field role that Saban did not think he was qualified to handle. Cochran was was important to the Alabama program, but he certainly did not learn anything related to special teams (see Alabama kickers). He also has no background as a football player or game day coach. It seems the only reason Kirby hired him as an “on the field” coach was to hurt Alabama. Does the hire potentially hurting Alabama outweigh having an unqualified coach as the special teams coordinator? — Miles Saban didn’t feel an on-field spot was the best place for Cochran in Alabama’s organization, which is why a move like this was bound to happen. Cochran, Alabama’s strength coach since 2007, has been eyeing a track to a head-coaching job for a few years, and if that’s what he wants, then he’ll need to prove his ability to make gameday decisions and develop players’ football skills on the field. He’ll also need to prove his ability to evaluate and to recruit, which probably are the more important pieces of the puzzle if he hopes to someday become a head coach. Given Cochran’s desire to move onto the field, Cochran-as-Alabama-strength-coach simply wasn’t going to be an option much longer. And if Saban didn’t feel Cochran was at the level Alabama seeks in an on-field coach, then the only thing he could do was let him go. One of Saban or Cochran is going to be proven correct over the next few years, and one is going to be proven wrong. Maybe Saban is correct, and Cochran is at his best in the weight room. But maybe Cochran is correct, and he’s capable of more. He’s certainly not the first high-performing role player whose employer only saw him one way. Such people have two choices: Stay in the old role and try to be happy with it or bet on themselves and try to prove they can be something else entirely. Cochran opted for the second choice. It’s helpful to Cochran that Kirby Smart and Georgia can pay him in a similar fashion and are willing to give him that chance. No one will actually say this, but I’m sure at least a piece of this is the damage it might do to Alabama to lose such a key part of the organization. And don’t let anyone minimize it for you in the wake of this news — Cochran was a huge reason for Alabama’s success. But I also don’t think Smart would make this hire if he didn’t think Cochran could be valuable as an on-field assistant. Cochran’s personality lends itself to recruiting, so he should be quite good at that. Evaluation skills and pure football knowledge are the big question marks. Given all the roles strength coaches must play now (strength coach, psychologist, guidance counselor, consigliere to coaches), it’s actually a little surprising that a high-level strength coach hasn’t already tried to chart this course. A great strength coach who also is a great recruiter could hire two good coordinators and build an excellent program. With all that said, Cochran’s exit doesn’t mean Alabama is suddenly going to fall apart. Remember, Cochran had been eyeing a different role for a while. Alabama is going to want someone who is all-in on the role of strength coach. There are coaches from the Tommy Moffitt tree — Cochran trained under the LSU strength coach as well — and the Cochran tree who understand the psychological architecture of Saban’s program. Oregon strength coach Aaron Feld is a Birmingham-area native who worked at Alabama and Georgia. Louisiana Lafayette strength coach Mark Hocke was Cochran’s lieutenant at Alabama for several years and went with longtime Crimson Tide assistant Jeremy Pruitt to Georgia during Mark Richt’s odd period of half-Sabanization. Jeff Dillman trained under Moffitt and worked with former Saban assistant Will Muschamp at Florida and South Carolina. Ole Miss strength coach Wilson Love played at Alabama and then learned the trade under Cochran. Saban also could look outside the tree. Jerry Schmidt made his name working for Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, but he has worked for Saban acolyte Jimbo Fisher for the past two years at Texas A&M. Oklahoma State’s Rob Glass, who was Schmidt’s assistant years ago at Florida, has no Saban connection but is simply one of the best at the job. It will be fascinating to see what Saban does here. He’s hired a lot of assistant coaches through the years, but this may be his most important hire yet. Andy, with Mario Cristobal successfully SEC-izing* Oregon in the Pac-12 a few years after Urban Meyer SEC-ized Ohio State and James Franklin SEC-ized Penn State in the Big Ten, what are the next programs likely to try SEC-izing themselves? Or do you see the next big coaching success following Dabo Swinney’s template (recruit D-line harder than every area, find that one singular talent at QB, build and maintain nice facilities, but unlike anywhere else you let your coaches have a life so they want to stay with your program forever) instead? *SEC-izing — Spend the GDP of a medium-sized nation on facilities and staff to provide every recruiting and on-field edge possible. This includes new football facilities, indoor practice fields, new weight rooms, new locker rooms, an army of analysts for video, nutrition, strength & conditioning, and recruiting, and a bigger salary pool for the best assistant coaches/recruiters available with a bigger emphasis on recruiting than coaching — George, New York What’s interesting is George doesn’t think Dabo SEC-ized Clemson. Swinney actually was the first to recognize what Saban was doing at LSU and Alabama and then try to convince his bosses to let him do it too. When Stewart Mandel and I wrote this story for Sports Illustrated in 2013, I was the one who interviewed Swinney for it. He was tickled that someone had finally noticed what Alabama was doing, and he told me that he had spent the first years of his tenure at Clemson trying to convince his administration that the Tigers needed to beef up their staff to have any chance of competing with the Alabamas and the LSUs of the world for recruits and on the field. Like Saban, Swinney tends to identify trends and inefficiencies long before anyone else. So, after some initial resistance, he actually was the first to SEC-ize a program outside the SEC. The difference is he’s managed to strike a work-life balance that makes assistants love working at Clemson. That’s tough to do, and it has more to do with the head coach’s personality than with the resources available to the program. As far as which program is next, my bet would be on someone in the Big Ten because that league makes more money than even the SEC. A good guess probably would be Michigan State. The Spartans already had to open up the checkbook to get Mel Tucker. Tucker worked for Saban at LSU and Alabama and worked for Smart at Georgia, so he already understands the infrastructures of those programs. The circumstances under which he was hired put Michigan State in a position to acquiesce to his demands, so I’d bet he’ll get a lot of what he asks for in terms of infrastructure. He also can make a compelling case that this would be the only way to compete with division rivals Ohio State and Penn State, which are ahead of the Spartans on that front. Oklahoma and Texas already have done all this. As discussed here before, Oklahoma is only a few great defensive line recruits away from being where the Sooners want to be. Texas, meanwhile, hasn’t been able to find the correct formula despite having plenty of money to buy whatever infrastructure is necessary. For a while, the issue was that the Longhorns wouldn’t spend that money. That isn’t the problem anymore. Now the issue is getting the correct people in place. We’ll see if Tom Herman’s recent staff changes help on that front.

On Scott Cochran’s move to Georgia and why the person may supersede precedent By Seth Emerson Feb 25, 2020 Kirby Smart tended to have a lot of friends during his Alabama days, but it was obvious to those around the program that he was especially close with Scott Cochran. Their kids played together. Their wives were very close. At any team function outside of football, Maurice Smith would later recall that Smart and Cochran always seemed to sit next to each other. Their bond was noticeable, so when Smart got the Georgia head coaching job, many assumed Cochran would go with him. “I know for certain that he wanted to leave with coach Smart,” Smith said of Cochran. “That was one of his go-to guys. But obviously coach (Nick) Saban wasn’t going to let that happen.” It would take four years. And it would take a very unorthodox move, so unusual that precedent for it is hard to find. After nearly a decade as the most recognized strength and conditioning coach in college football, Cochran is now the special teams coordinator at Georgia, the latest in the exodus from Tuscaloosa from Athens, a list that includes Smith, who transferred to Georgia for Smart’s first season. The move was a stunner, seen as a major hit to Alabama and an ace move by Smart. But as with any big move, the “what now?” question emerges, and it looms large with Cochran: How exactly will this work? And how much will it actually help Georgia as it tries to break through and not only beat Alabama — who it visits this September — but break the 40-year national title drought? Cochran has spent basically his entire career as a strength and conditioning coach, and it’s what made him so notable at Alabama, and now he’s leaving that role at Georgia. The risk there is akin to hiring a great offensive play-caller to be a head coach, but not having him call plays, and therefore not knowing if the skills translate. Mike Johnson, who played offensive line at Alabama from 2006-09 and remains in touch with Cochran, summed it up this way: “I have so much respect for who he is as a person that I have no doubt that he’ll succeed because I know how much passion he has, and how much energy he has, and I know how much the game means to him, and how much the kids will mean to him. I made the comment to a friend of mine yesterday that at this point it’s a much bigger loss to Bama than it is a gain for Georgia. Bama knows exactly what they’re losing. They’re losing the best strength coach in college football. What is Georgia gaining? Nobody knows. Nobody knows if they’re gaining a great special teams coach.” But in discussions with those who are familiar with Cochran, and familiar with Georgia’s program, plenty of reasons were put forth on why this will work. Smart and Cochran’s relationship is no small thing. And it fits a larger point about the changes that Smart has made this offseason. Smart has now brought in three new voices to the staff, each with enough credibility to have a strong impact on the program. Todd Monken and Matt Luke have both been college head coaches. Cochran is one of Smart’s best friends. The outside impression of Smart has been that he’s a my-way-or-the-highway coach, which several close to the program say is overblown. Still, these are three coaches who figure to be heard from and consulted often. Monken and Luke don’t come from the Saban coaching tree. But Cochran clearly does. Still, what does that mean when he’s never been an on-field coach? Cochran attended LSU but did not play on the team there. He was a graduate assistant from 2003-04 under Saban. But otherwise, all his experience has been in strength and conditioning, including his first job at a Baton Rouge high school. One former SEC coach told The Athletic that he thinks Cochran will be fine, having not only spent enough time around special teams units, but also because Georgia will give him staff resources to assist: Quality control coaches, graduate and/or student assistants, etc. (Greg Meyer is currently listed as a special teams analyst and Adam Ray as a quality control coach for special teams.) Georgia tight ends coach Todd Hartley was Miami’s special teams coordinator from 2016-18, so he can also assist. The one area that could use help is a kicking coach. Kevin Butler was invaluable as a student assistant in 2016 and 2017. Rodrigo Blankenship still referred to Butler’s tutelage the past two years, but this year the team has to replace Blankenship — likely with incoming freshman Jared Zirkel. Every kicker and punter has their personal coaches, but sometimes it helps to have someone on staff who is there every day at practice. It’s also not like Cochran will be the only coach involved in special teams. There are only a few players — the kicker, punter and long snapper – who are exclusively special teamers, so the units draw from offense and defense, meaning coaches on those sides of the ball become involved during the special teams portion of practice. Another salient point: Cochran is no stranger to special teams. He actually ran special teams scout team at Alabama, according to Johnson. He would hold cards up and get the scout-teamers ready for their roles. “Dating all the way back to 2007, Scott Cochran was a part of special teams,” Johnson said. Johnson opined that special teams coordinator is the perfect role for Cochran because he can work with every position group, and he has the personality to gel with every player. That’s why he will be so missed in Tuscaloosa, per former Crimson Tide players. “It stings, and you can see from the outpouring from former Alabama players, and I’ll add my name to that list,” Johnson said. “Scott Cochran is one of those guys where it’s more than workouts. It’s more than weight percentages and power cleans and bench presses. He’s a relationship guy. And the reason that he was so successful as a strength coach — he’s a great strength coach but by no means is he some kind of muscular guru. The reason he was so successful is he is so good at building relationships, and players trust him. Players trust him to be able to push them further.” Maurice Smith, who like Johnson went on to an NFL career, made another observation: Most special teams coaches don’t start out looking to be special teams coaches anyway. They usually begin as position coaches. So this is just another route that Cochran is taking. Still, it’s a very unusual route, without much precedent. Ed Orgeron’s first full-time job was as an assistant strength coach at Arkansas under Ken Hatfield during the 1986 and 1987 seasons. Orgeron then left to become the defensive line coach at Miami. But Orgeron also had a playing background, as a defensive lineman at LSU and Northwestern State, and was a graduate assistant before the two-year stint as a strength coach. Boise State has done it twice in the last five years: Winston Venable (2020) and Lee Marks (2015) were both promoted from the strength staff to running backs coach, but both were also former Boise State players, and Marks was a running back. So the transition was more natural, especially for Marks. But Venable did have a relevant point when he told Dave Southern of The Athletic about why he thought he could make the transition: “I would tell them that coaching is coaching. … In the weight room, I was coaching them to improve physically.” Cochran’s biggest impact, however, may be off the field, according to Smith, who saw it first-hand during his three years at Alabama. Cochran, known for his fiery and energetic demeanor, was often the good cop to Saban’s bad cop. He had the same mindset as Saban, a “demand for excellence,” as Smith put it, but he also showed he cared about players. In fact, he helped talk more than a few players out of leaving Alabama, according to Smith. “He was a professional. If I could wrap him up in one word, it’s professional,” Smith said. “He used to have conversations with us one-on-one on a basis of just asking about how we were simply doing. How we were doing mentally. How our bodies felt. And also how our grades were going. But one of the things that separated him is he would actually ask about your family. Anytime somebody asks about your family it’ll put you over the top as a great human being.” Cochran was also an ever-present figure around the program, not just the weight room. He would check rooms at curfew, check classes to make sure players were in attendance, and so on. He was a reflection of Saban’s demands, with a nicer touch. “He was always going to make sure that he held everyone to the standard, and he wasn’t going to allow you to go under that,” Smith said “He held people to a standard higher than most people think. They just think that it was football. But he’ll be there checking classes, he’ll be there on you about things you’re going through in life. If he sees you slacking he would come talk to you. He was just that kind of person.”