Richt's Recruiting- QB edition

Jan 5, 2016

Now that we have the majority of the coaches named and we know basically the offensive and defensive systems we will run I wanted to take a look at Richt’s recruiting during his time with Georgia. I’ll be going through his recruiting position-by-position until I get through all 293 recruits from 2003 to 2014. I chose 2002 to start for a couple of reasons:

- It’s easier because most of the sites start at 2002
- It’s difficult to evaluate him on the 2001 recruiting class due to limited time to put a class together

I’ll start with the position that Coach Richt is known for: the QB’s.

Richt recruited 12 QB’s during this timeframe and they averaged 6-3, 206 and averaged 3.85 stars per recruit. Here are the 12 recruits:

Joe Tereshinski- 6-3, 205 and 4.00 average stars. From Georgia and made 5 career starts.

Blake Barnes- 6-3, 218 and 3.50 average stars. From MS and made 0 career starts and left program.

Joe Cox- 6-1, 192 and 3.00 average stars. From NC and made 14 career starts.

Matt Stafford- 6-3, 210 and 5.00 average stars. From TX and made 34 career starts. #1 NFL pick.

Logan Gray- 6-2, 190 and 4.00 average stars. From MO and made 0 career starts.

Zach Mettenberger- 6-5, 229 and 4.00 average stars. From GA and made 0 career starts. Went Juco and then to LSU.

Aaron Murray- 6-1, 198 and 4.67 average stars. From FL and made 52 career starts. Drafted into NFL and still playing.

Huston Mason- 6-2, 190 and 3.00 average stars. From GA and made 15 career starts.

Christian LeMay- 6-2, 200 and 4.00 average stars. From NC and made 0 career starts. Left program.

Faton Bauta- 6-2, 222 and 3.00 average stars. From FL and made 1 career start.

Brice Ramsey- 6-3, 205 and 4.00 average stars. From GA and has made 0 career starts thus far.

Jacob Park- 6-4, 210 and 4.00 average stars. From SC and made 0 career starts. Never made into program.

What takeaways can we glean from this information?

Richt does not care about location for his QB
He recruited four of the 12 QB’s from the state of GA, two from FL, two from NC, then one from MS, MO, TX respectively. Not to mention he had five star Jacob Eason committed from the state of WA.

Richt places an emphasis on size in his QB
Interestingly, the smallest of them all, Aaron Murray, ended up being the best one.

Rodney Garner was a much better Recruiting Coordinator than John Lilly
Garner was RC until 2012 and Georgia’s recruiting fell off after that time.

Richt attracts top-QB talent
He recruited an epic class in 2009 when he landed Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenberger, but Mett never started a game for Georgia. DJ Shockley is widely regarded as Richt’s first recruit at Georgia and he had a great redshirt Senior year, though David Greene- a player that Richt did not recruit- started the first four years for Richt over Shockley and others. Shockley is also the only “dual-threat” type QB to start an entire season for Richt. It’s apparent that once Richt tabs a QB as the starter, they have to fall on their face to lose the job, which helps explain the high number of QB transfers he’s seen.

I think we all expected Richt to fare well in QB recruiting, and he has. He likes pocket passers who can read the middle of the field and get the ball to his playmakers. He loves QB’s who excel off play-action and who are smart with the ball. I’ll head to RB next; another position Richt has fared quite well with. I’ll post a compilation post with all positions at the end, but feedback I’ve received when I get too long with my posts inspired me to break them up into positional groups.

Click to expand...

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Comments (38)

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sweatchuck

Jan 6, 2016

We also cannot forget what he did at FSU with Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke. It's safe to say that man knows qb's.

Gatorhater

Jan 6, 2016

bshaw28 said:
A 10 year run of Greene, Shockley, Stafford & Murray is about as good of a 12 year run you can ask for. It's so hard to have consistently good QB play.

The last 2 years were difficult for Georgia fans because the backfield was stacked, but it was painful watching their QB's throw downfield.

Mark's problem is he is back at The U and will be measured against: Kelly, Bernie, Vinny, Steve, Craig, and Geno. Now that a good run of QBs. He has to up his game and never mind what he did at UGA. It is almost at far away from Miami as frgging Temple. I exaggerate, but only one NC worth. Mark was a good QB who seldom saw the light of day here -- that is the talent level we need and expect. He needs to up his game. Fortunately, I think Mark can do just that. His UGA stuff will not cut it here.

The Franchise

Jan 6, 2016

killa1storm said:
Idk how much of the last few years QB recruiting is on Richt. I'm sure he oversaw everything but he was pretty hands off with the offense, that was all Bobo. I know for a fact when they recruited Ramsey for example the offer, the communication, the visits, etc. were all Bobo. My buddy coaches for Camden and says he never saw or spoke to Richt about Ramsey.

I'm hoping Richt isn't so hands off here. His expertise is QBs. There's no way under the sun he should be delegating that responsibility to anyone else. That's the most important position in the game. Can't leave that up to an assistant when that's your expertise.

Please no one tell me about the AD making him not recruit QBs because it's nonsense.

Fatboycane

Jan 6, 2016

I don't think Lilly ever was recruiting coordinator at UGA.

killa1storm

Jan 6, 2016

The Franchise said:
killa1storm said:

Idk how much of the last few years QB recruiting is on Richt. I'm sure he oversaw everything but he was pretty hands off with the offense, that was all Bobo. I know for a fact when they recruited Ramsey for example the offer, the communication, the visits, etc. were all Bobo. My buddy coaches for Camden and says he never saw or spoke to Richt about Ramsey.

Click to expand...

I'm hoping Richt isn't so hands off here. His expertise is QBs. There's no way under the sun he should be delegating that responsibility to anyone else. That's the most important position in the game. Can't leave that up to an assistant when that's your expertise.

Please no one tell me about the AD making him not recruit QBs because it's nonsense.

I agree. Definitely wasn't AD, Richt spent a lot of time grooming Bobo. So much so that a lot of people felt he would be HC there whenever Richt left. I just think Bobo was so ingrained into how Richt wanted things and what he looked for in a QB that Richt trusted him completely. I doubt he's going to be that way with any other OC. He was recruiting Eason personally for example. Likely because he didn't have that same trust factor with Shottenheimer.

The Franchise

Jan 6, 2016

killa1storm said:
The Franchise said:

killa1storm said:

Idk how much of the last few years QB recruiting is on Richt. I'm sure he oversaw everything but he was pretty hands off with the offense, that was all Bobo. I know for a fact when they recruited Ramsey for example the offer, the communication, the visits, etc. were all Bobo. My buddy coaches for Camden and says he never saw or spoke to Richt about Ramsey.

Click to expand...

I'm hoping Richt isn't so hands off here. His expertise is QBs. There's no way under the sun he should be delegating that responsibility to anyone else. That's the most important position in the game. Can't leave that up to an assistant when that's your expertise.

Please no one tell me about the AD making him not recruit QBs because it's nonsense.

Click to expand...

I agree. Definitely wasn't AD, Richt spent a lot of time grooming Bobo. So much so that a lot of people felt he would be HC there whenever Richt left. I just think Bobo was so ingrained into how Richt wanted things and what he looked for in a QB that Richt trusted him completely. I doubt he's going to be that way with any other OC. He was recruiting Eason personally for example. Likely because he didn't have that same trust factor with Shottenheimer.

I see it the same exact way in light of the Eason recruitment.

C
CMR is my Dawg

Jan 6, 2016

Fatboycane said:
I don't think Lilly ever was recruiting coordinator at UGA.

You are correct. Bryan McClendon was Recruiting Coordinator at UGA (2014-2015) not John Lilly. John Lilly was in fact Recruiting Coordinator at FSU from 1998-2007.

C
CMR is my Dawg

Jan 6, 2016

The Franchise said:
killa1storm said:

Idk how much of the last few years QB recruiting is on Richt. I'm sure he oversaw everything but he was pretty hands off with the offense, that was all Bobo. I know for a fact when they recruited Ramsey for example the offer, the communication, the visits, etc. were all Bobo. My buddy coaches for Camden and says he never saw or spoke to Richt about Ramsey.

Click to expand...

I'm hoping Richt isn't so hands off here. His expertise is QBs. There's no way under the sun he should be delegating that responsibility to anyone else. That's the most important position in the game. Can't leave that up to an assistant when that's your expertise.

Please no one tell me about the AD making him not recruit QBs because it's nonsense.

It actually wasn't the AD making him not recruit QBs as it was in fact the AD adding more and more off the field responsibilities to his plate so as to remove him further and further from the field and coaching thereby requiring more delegation on CMR's part. This was increased in the last contract extension and thus the reason CMR never would sign it.

azcanesfan

Jan 6, 2016

Thank you so much for this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

theibisrules

Jan 6, 2016

whoopingcane said:
Too long.

That's what she told me last night

H
HurricaneVision

Jan 6, 2016

CMR is my Dawg said:
Fatboycane said:

I don't think Lilly ever was recruiting coordinator at UGA.

Click to expand...

You are correct. Bryan McClendon was Recruiting Coordinator at UGA (2014-2015) not John Lilly. John Lilly was in fact Recruiting Coordinator at FSU from 1998-2007.

You guys are right, I misspoke.

They're a cell away from each other in my spreadsheet and I mistook them.

I should say this is why I'm just fine with McClendon not being here.

B
BoxingRobes

Jan 6, 2016

I love the prospects of Miami becoming QBU under Richt. We'll surely recruit our fair share of Joe Cox types that'll play on those weird years where he's a senior and the young stud ain't quite ready yet, but I'd lean toward Miami getting a lot more of the Matt Stafford, Zach Mettenberger, and Aaron Murray types over the years.

Brad Kaaya is about to get coached up into the first round, then we've got Allison. South Florida is loaded with QBs now. One area of recruiting I am not worried about is QB. We're going to essentially have our pick of the litter.

If Richt stayed at Georgia, he was going to bring in the top QB in the country, which would have enhanced this list.

S
stonecoldrhett

Jan 6, 2016

If Richt achieves a similar crop at Miami, I'll be very happy. It's nearly impossible to replicate the run under Schnellenberger or a run like USC had (Palmer, Leinart, Sanchez, Barkley). The fact that he was in on the No. 1 QB recruit despite shaky play and records the last few years speaks volumes. He could have hung his hat on Stafford and Murray and been considered very successful.

K
kennesaw_cane

Jan 6, 2016

HurricaneVision said:
Now that we have the majority of the coaches named and we know basically the offensive and defensive systems we will run I wanted to take a look at Richt’s recruiting during his time with Georgia. I’ll be going through his recruiting position-by-position until I get through all 293 recruits from 2003 to 2014. I chose 2002 to start for a couple of reasons:

- It’s easier because most of the sites start at 2002
- It’s difficult to evaluate him on the 2001 recruiting class due to limited time to put a class together

I’ll start with the position that Coach Richt is known for: the QB’s.

Richt recruited 12 QB’s during this timeframe and they averaged 6-3, 206 and averaged 3.85 stars per recruit. Here are the 12 recruits:

Joe Tereshinski- 6-3, 205 and 4.00 average stars. From Georgia and made 5 career starts.

Blake Barnes- 6-3, 218 and 3.50 average stars. From MS and made 0 career starts and left program.

Joe Cox- 6-1, 192 and 3.00 average stars. From NC and made 14 career starts.

Matt Stafford- 6-3, 210 and 5.00 average stars. From TX and made 34 career starts. #1 NFL pick.

Logan Gray- 6-2, 190 and 4.00 average stars. From MO and made 0 career starts.

Zach Mettenberger- 6-5, 229 and 4.00 average stars. From GA and made 0 career starts. Went Juco and then to LSU.

Aaron Murray- 6-1, 198 and 4.67 average stars. From FL and made 52 career starts. Drafted into NFL and still playing.

Huston Mason- 6-2, 190 and 3.00 average stars. From GA and made 15 career starts.

Christian LeMay- 6-2, 200 and 4.00 average stars. From NC and made 0 career starts. Left program.

Faton Bauta- 6-2, 222 and 3.00 average stars. From FL and made 1 career start.

Brice Ramsey- 6-3, 205 and 4.00 average stars. From GA and has made 0 career starts thus far.

Jacob Park- 6-4, 210 and 4.00 average stars. From SC and made 0 career starts. Never made into program.

What takeaways can we glean from this information?

Richt does not care about location for his QB
He recruited four of the 12 QB’s from the state of GA, two from FL, two from NC, then one from MS, MO, TX respectively. Not to mention he had five star Jacob Eason committed from the state of WA.

Richt places an emphasis on size in his QB
Interestingly, the smallest of them all, Aaron Murray, ended up being the best one.

Rodney Garner was a much better Recruiting Coordinator than John Lilly
Garner was RC until 2012 and Georgia’s recruiting fell off after that time.

Richt attracts top-QB talent
He recruited an epic class in 2009 when he landed Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenberger, but Mett never started a game for Georgia. DJ Shockley is widely regarded as Richt’s first recruit at Georgia and he had a great redshirt Senior year, though David Greene- a player that Richt did not recruit- started the first four years for Richt over Shockley and others. Shockley is also the only “dual-threat” type QB to start an entire season for Richt. It’s apparent that once Richt tabs a QB as the starter, they have to fall on their face to lose the job, which helps explain the high number of QB transfers he’s seen.

I think we all expected Richt to fare well in QB recruiting, and he has. He likes pocket passers who can read the middle of the field and get the ball to his playmakers. He loves QB’s who excel off play-action and who are smart with the ball. I’ll head to RB next; another position Richt has fared quite well with. I’ll post a compilation post with all positions at the end, but feedback I’ve received when I get too long with my posts inspired me to break them up into positional groups.

Excellent write up. Thanks. Were you inferring that Murray was a better QB in college than Stafford?

H
HurricaneVision

Jan 6, 2016

kennesaw_cane said:
Excellent write up. Thanks. Were you inferring that Murray was a better QB in college than Stafford?

Stafford's best season, his 153.9 rating with 25 TD's and 10 Int's would arguably be Murray's worst season. Stafford completed 52.7%, 55.7%, and 61.5% of his passes,
though he did average 9.03 yards per attempt his Junior year.

As a Junior, Murray averaged 10.09 yards per pass, had a 174.8 rating, 36 TD's, 10 Int's.

I guess what I'm saying is, without a doubt Aaron Murray was a better college QB than Matthew Stafford.

CaneInTheHouse

Jan 6, 2016

valid said:
Richt will attract even more top talent at QB now that he is a playcaller. Expect us to be in the running for Mills next year, and Lawrence the year after. QB U is back.

I absolutely agree this program will work to get the best with Richt!