From The Rumble Seat

Friday Night Music - The Civil Wars

2012-05-25T19:00:09Z

The Civil Wars played their first gig at Eddies Attic in Decatur. If they come back this year, they will probably play at the Fox Theater. In just over two years this group has gone from nowhere to being extremely popular. Not only is their music very appealing, they are fun to watch. Enjoy.

Breaking Down the SEC's Reign of Terror on College Football

2012-05-23T12:00:36Z

I was having a conversation with my Dad the other day about the world of college football, and we got to talking about how Urban Meyer is the new head coach of Ohio State, and how he'll benefit from being at such a major school, with such a recruiting hotbed, and having knowledge of the state of Florida (and possibly Georgia) for recruiting. It was then that it began to occur to me that there may be only one way to unseat the SEC from their reign of terror.

Monday I saw a tweet (don't judge) advertising an article spotlighting a very highly rated linebacker recruit who had committed to Alabama. The tweet basically read: "Top-rated linebacker commits, and you know where without even reading." It's true, most anyone who read that would immediately think of Nick ~~Satan~~ Saban and the Crimson Tide, because with 2 National Titles in 3 years, they're clearly the most dominating and impressive program in the country now. Add in the recruiting dominance (more often than not, if Alabama wants you, they're going to have you) and they start looking like my Dynasty team on NCAA Football '12 for Xbox 360 -- a team that establishes on-field excellence, recruiting dominance, and is never rebuilding so much as reloading. How can they be stopped? There's really only one way, and because I'm a sneaky bastard, you're going to have to wait til after the jump to see how.

The only way to stop Alabama at this point is to cut off the head. That's right, the lynchpin to Alabama's downfall is Nick ~~Satan~~ Saban. While he's the big man in Tuscaloosa, the Tide will have no equals in the sense of dynasty. He's an excellent recruiter, an excellent coach, and has Alabama to a point where they can hardly be stopped for a game, much less a whole season. So how do you remove Saban from Alabama? Well, you lure him away, of course. But how do you do that? Well, I'll give you a hint. There is not a better job in college football, at least from where he's standing. Nobody could possibly walk into Nick Saban's office and convince him that they can offer him something better than he has at Alabama already. You probably can't out-pay Alabama, and even if you could, you cannot offer him a setting better than the one he's already established, where football is king and you're worshiped the way he is.

The only way he's leaving is to give the NFL another try. Think about it: it's the one challenge he hasn't conquered yet. He's had top-ranked recruiting classes, won 3 national titles (between LSU and Alabama) , etc. The only thing he's yet to do is succeed in the NFL. You may remember he had a short, unsuccessful tenure with the Dolphins after leaving LSU. I think that an NFL team could have money to pay for him but also offer him the challenge that he's yet to conquer, therefore being the most likely route of his departure from the SEC.

How about the other coaches? Well....

Les Miles, LSU -- Dude played under Bo Schembechler at the University of Michigan in the 1970's. If there's any job that he would leave his current one for, it's that one. He's been a candidate in the past, but it's going to take some failure on the part of Brady Hoke for that spot to open up.

Gene Chizik, Auburn -- Dude won a national title for the War Damn Tigers but followed it up with a 7-5 regular season before a Chik-Fil-A bowl whoopin' of Virginia. He needs more success than that to stay head coach at Auburn, but even if he's more successful, he has roots at both Florida and Clemson that could lure him away.

~~Bobby Petrino~~ John L. Smith, Arkansas -- Wait about 7 months and then we'll know whether Smith is still the full-time head coach there.

Mark Richt, georgie -- In my honest, completely unbiased college football fan opinion, I think it's only a matter of time before Richt is out in Athens. The amount of talent that they pull in is really not far from that of Alabama, and the inconsistent success they've had there, to me, is a reflection of very poor coaching. Last year most georgie fans would tell you that we were the best team they beat, which is less than impressive considering I will readily admit that they're at a solid talent advantage. All it will take to unseat Mark Richt will be one or two "down" recruiting years, a couple losses to Tech, and a few 2nd- and 3rd-place finishes in the division before he will be out of Athens.

Will Muschamp, Florida -- Muschamp is really not going to have much wiggle room at Florida. He's struggled to bring them success already, and I can't imagine him making good enough excuses for that for the Florida fan base to put up with it for more than 2-3 more years without seeing improvement.

Steve Spurrier, South Carolina -- At this point the only thing that will get Spurrier out of the Palmetto State is an offer to be AD at his alma mater (Florida), or possibly a giant scandal involving some of his frat-boy-esque antics.

Derek Dooley, Tennessee -- Honestly, there's no guarantee that he'll make it to the end of this sentence before he's ousted at Tennessee, so he's not a major domino in this whole process.

Joker Phillips, Kentucky -- See Dooley, Derek.

Anyways, I think the moral of the story is that a lot of this deals with Saban, Miles, Spurrier, and Richt. Those are probably the most highly regarded coaches in the conference, and it's the coaches that are driving the conference's success right now. That success won't end until they start moving elsewhere or some major NCAA catastrophe strikes 2-3 of the programs, at least in my opinion.

What say you? How do we bring the SEC back to Earth? Do they just need to get beat a couple times at the end of bowl season? Is it really in the coaches? Ready, set, go.

The ACC Tournament Starts Today And Georgia Tech Must Realign Itself

2012-05-23T11:55:19Z

Georgia Tech baseball has found itself in a position that it hasn’t worried about for 32 years as they absolutely had to beat Miami on Sunday to make it into the ACC Tournament. The Jackets faced history as being the first GT squad to miss the conference tournament since the Institute joined in 1980. But all this doesn’t matter anymore as they were able to make it into the postseason. Now the Jackets realize that they must continue to win in the ACC Tournament, ironically a tournament that nobody likes, to remain alive for any postseason.

It’s been one of those years for the Yellow Jackets where the arms got injured and the bats couldn’t connect at the opportune times like we’ve always been used to. Regardless, the team made it into the conference tournament and we can consider the slate almost completely wiped clean.

The ACC Tournament is a unique one as it only takes the Top-8 teams where there are 2 brackets of 4 teams that play round-robins within themselves and the top team from each bracket plays a championship game. As Tech played its way into the #8 seed, they will play Florida State, Virginia, and Clemson throughout the week. First pitch game 1 will be today at 11AM EST.

Finding updated NCAA Tournament baseball projections can be difficult but Perfect Game USA has some available. There, Kendall Rogers has GT as one of the last teams to make it in the tournament and slated to be a #3 seed in Columbia, SC. Don't ask questions, just accept the placement.

In order to solidify themselves in the NCAA Tournament, winning is crucial and it all starts today.

Monday Morning Recruitment Update Spills Into Tuesday: Commit #3, Shamire Devine

2012-05-22T12:00:35Z

We had enough news in recruiting last week that we needed two entries in the new Monday Morning Recruitment Update. Yesterday's article covered the RB commit Donovan Wilson, and today's will cover the big OL Shamire Devine.

via media.scout.com

Surely you understand why I call him the "big" OL, because while O-Linemen are typically big, this guy is listed by Rivals at 6'6", 360lbs, and other places I've seen him listed at 6'7", 340lbs. Meaning this kid would walk up to TJ Barnes, look him directly in the eye, and match him pound for pound. This guy is BIG. He's also supposedly a hoss of an offensive lineman too, rated the #19 offensive tackle in the country by Rivals. He garnered a lot of attention at a regional camp recently as a very impressive blocker. Barnes was also recruited as an offensive lineman before moving to defensive line early in his time at Tech, but hopefully we can keep Devine on the offensive side of the ball to keep Synjyn, Vad, and Co. protected. Devine commits to Tech over offers from Florida State, Florida, georgie, North Carolina, Southern Cal, Pitt, Vandy, Kentucky, and Mississippi State. Translation: this is one Hell of a recruiting victory for Coach Paul Johnson and his staff.

Another couple of notes concerning him and some discussion about recruiting tactics we're employing, after the jump!

You'll remember that Devine is part of the dynamic duo out of Tri-Cities, GA, with his buddy Jeremi Hall being the other half. Hall is a guard, and at 6'4", 335lbs is the 6th-ranked guard in the country by Rivals. Early on they were said to be a package deal, though recently they've backed away from that mantra. Not to say that they won't end up at the same place, because they still might, but it's just not considered quite the guarantee any more.

Another interesting point is that he still plans to take a couple visits to other schools in the coming months. Now, before you go crying about how CPJ won't take too kindly to this, this is actually a situation he won't mind much. Devine made this clear up front when he committed. He's not lying to Coach, or changing his story, or otherwise bullshitting anyone. Also, his reasoning is as follows:

"One of the visits will be to the UK [Kentucky] because they were the first school to offer me a scholarship. I’m also going to Florida State because I promised them I would."

Personally, I'm less than concerned. This is not a big deal. He's taking courtesy visits, as a thank you to coaches who paid him a lot of attention and deserve more than just a middle finger on his way to the Flats. Have faith!

It's interesting that we got Devine over so many other good schools offering him, and some may begin to wonder why. Well, here's my theory. In Johnson's tenure, they've done a lot of investing in their recruiting. By that I mean, they're getting to know guys and developing a relation with them much earlier than others do. Now, that takes more time and effort to make happen, but I think it plays a significant part in getting commitments from high-quality players while we continue to develop other pitches (such as sending guys to the pros or being ACC Title contenders). Devine in particular is said to be very academically focused, something that is really not a common thing among the top 200 players rated on Rivals. Maybe that's entirely due to his background, or maybe his relationship with Johnson has had an effect on that. Remember LB Albert Rocker who left the team shortly before the season last year to start a job with Microsoft? I'm willing to bet CPJ has reminded Devine and other recruits of that a few times, so that they keep it in mind when selecting a school to attend. Recruiting has steadily improved in Johnson's time at Tech, and I think that has quite a bit to do with it. I look forward to seeing how they can further improve our efforts.

What say you, folks? Have we done better in Johnson's time? Is it just because we've been successful, or have there been relationships created that had a big effect? Do you think we continue getting better?

NO! ITS MONDAY, I CAN'T STAND ANYMORE OF THIS!

2012-05-21T13:00:35Z

Somebody talk me off of this ledge. Please, help me.

http://dev.chuckoliver.net/2012/05/fsu-to-the-big-12-it-is-inevitable/

Recruiting Update: 2 new commitments!

2012-05-21T12:01:03Z

Monday Morning Moustache unfortunately wasn't too much of a hit, so it won't be a weekly feature any more. Instead, we're going to go with the slightly more relevant but slightly less of an alliteration Monday Morning Recruitment Update. This week in recruitment features 2 new commitments!

via media.247sports.com

Commitment #2 was RB Donovan Wilson, out of Dublin, Ohio. He was very nearly a "spot commit" (as in, committed on the spot) but needed a couple hours to talk it over with his parents after receiving his offer from Coach Dave Walkosky before he committed on Tuesday evening. He becomes the second running back to commit to this class, and should be the final commit we have at the position since we're only looking to sign 2. Like the prior commitment, Travis Custis, he's listed at 6', 205 lbs, though Custis is slated to play B-Back and Wilson is slated to at least start at A-Back. You may be wondering what the difference is between them seeing as they're listed at identical sizes but are expected to play positions that have very different size requirements. I'll talk about that and more concerning him after the jump!

I think that it boils down largely to running style. Custis runs a little lower and a little more behind his pads as we look for B-Backs to do, whereas Wilson runs higher and could use his size to impose his will on defenders on the outside while playing the "big A-Back" role that Orwin Smith currently plays for us (he could also end up moving to B-Back if that seems to fit him better). Wilson was quoted on JacketsOnline.com as saying, "I feel like I will bring some physical play to the position because I like to hit and I don't shy away from contact or running someone over." (link requires registration) He's currently listed as a 3-star running back, but there's speculation that if he had not committed so early and had been paid more attention in the fall, he would have been bumped up to a 4-star prospect. He commits to Georgia Tech over offers from Purdue, Boston College, Air Force, and Ohio, although his older brother recently signed on to play WR at Iowa this fall, and an offer is still expected from them.

Also, while we're still on the subject, I want to mention what a blessing it is to have Dave Walkosky on board with his familiarity with the Ohio area. It's a fertile football recruiting ground and certainly something that will be good for us to tap into. Our coaching staff benefits from his knowledge of Ohio as well as Al Groh's knowledge of Virginia, Maryland, and the DC area, which has produced prospects such as Jeremiah Attaochu and Louis Young and most recently Roderick Chungong.

Tomorrow we'll discuss the big guy we picked up at #3, Shamire Devine. But for now, congratulations to Donovan Wilson, and welcome to the Flats!

Now I'm interested to hear your responses. What excites you more about this commitment -- his on-field potential to help on the outside, or that we were able to lock in a guy from Ohio, where we haven't traditionally been able to recruit?

The future of football

2012-05-21T11:53:48Z

This story is in today's AJC. It follows by a few days the story of the SEC and Big 12 signing a contract that ESPN said might be the end of the ACC. I have a question for FTRS readers. If you were a parent of a ten year old boy, would you let him play youth football?

Before you answer, here is something to consider. If he plays football, the likelihood that he will still be playing in ten years is about 5%. Forget about the odds of making the NFL. Only about 200 of today's high school seniors nationwide will ever play pro football. Of the college players, only about half are getting scholarships to play. The others are in Division II or III and are getting virtually no help.

Here is where the rub comes in. Let's say he plays soccer instead. The odds are he will still be playing the sport when he turns 40. He will have enjoyed the sport and the community of fellow athletes for all his life. He will have lot's of stories to tell and videos to share. And will probably be free of serious injury.

What if every high school replaced their football stadium with an indoor pool and formed a swim team? My neighbor is 65 and swimming competitively. Her husband is doing the same at 70. If you are a parent, which way do you lead your child? It seems more parents are starting to ask this question.

So, what does this matter to us? If you are a parent and say no to your son, how many other parents are doing the same? When will the number of high school players diminish enough that schools quit fielding football teams? At that point, what does the SEC really stand for? Or the ACC for that matter?

Friday Night Music - Bob Marley

2012-05-18T19:00:01Z

Thirty-one years ago this week Bob Marley died of cancer. In spite of all that was written and reported, he did not die of a drug overdose. When you think of rock music, here was a totally new, and very different style of rock, played by a man way out of the mainstream, that captivated audiences in the USA.

His Legends CD is still one of Rolling Stones' Top 50 albums. There is not a bad cut on the disk. After all these years, I can play this album and find myself back in the islands on my boat. The you tube video of No Woman No Cry has over 32 million hits. Mix a rum and tonic and enjoy.

Or, go see the movie, "Marley." It's playing at the Plaza on Ponce. This theater has the best popcorn in town.