What could have been?

Recruiting college sports is a funny thing. It's a quirky thing. It's a science, but possibly the most inexact one.

Coaches not only have to evaluate a player's physical tools or mental capacity, but also project their development, their potential upside, future value, and role within a college program.

Then they have to take all that, develop some sort of adequate cost-benefit rubric, and make decisions on what players to pursue, and how hard to pursue them. They do all of this, of course, with a rulebook thicker than a dictionary weighing them down and recruiting services offering fans an insider's glance into their work.

Mark Richt has long been a guy that's excelled in recruiting.

He goes toe-to-toe with every program in the nation, and has landed himself big-time names (Matthew Stafford, for example) and big-time classes (his overall hauls are rarely worse than top-15 material). Wisdom says—and wisdom is, to a certain extent anyway, right—that his team is stocked with talent.

But this Saturday in Atlanta, Richt could get a rudimentary yet insightful view of what might have been, just by looking across the sideline.

Demaryius Thomas. Morgan Burnett. Josh Nesbitt. Jonathan Dwyer.

All recruited by both Georgia and Georgia Tech, all wearing the white and gold when they run out of the tunnel on Saturday. Not by coincidence, the last three names on that short but talented list were all members of the 2007 class.

That 20-player haul, far and away Chan Gailey's finest whilst on the Flats, was good enough to rank 18th in the nation, according to Rivals.com. While nine spots lower than Georgia, the Yellow Jackets still celebrated the ranking, which was better than they were used to at the time.

Georgia's class that year ranked ninth, headlined by players like offensive lineman Justin Anderson, wide receiver Israel Troupe, quarterback Logan Gray, and running back Caleb King, considered by some the best overall prospect in the state of Georgia.

Compare those groups, three years later.

Gray, who was ranked just behind Nesbitt at quarterback nationally, has been unable to unseat starter Joe Cox this season, even when the latter has struggled.

Israel Troupe is listed as the Bulldogs' backup at one receiver position, with all-star starter A.J. Green out of the lineup.

Caleb King, once a Georgia high school darling (covered him for a time), has split carries with freshman Washaun Ealey, and has never locked down a starting place.

King might be the most relevant subject for our discussion. Now a redshirt sophomore, the Norcross, GA, native was one of the hottest commodities in Georgia high school football his senior season.

His blend of size, speed, and power, it was believed, would make him a great SEC back one day. For that, and as well, I'm sure, as several other reasons, Georgia went after King hard, and they got their man.

Three years later, King has 615 career rushing yards.

Dwyer went to Georgia Tech, and three years later, he's the top running back on most 2010 NFL Draft big boards.

The point is this: Talent is nothing if it's not developed properly, the same way you can't grow most plants in a lightless room, even if you water them every day.

Now, this one case study doesn't deny a body of work that suggests that Mark Richt certainly knows how to recruit. Just think of the number of players he's sent to the NFL. And his overall success at Georgia certainly suggests he knows what he's doing once he gets those guys, at least some of them.

But how often, in Richt's tenure at Georgia, has a player left without a ready-made replacement behind him? This isn't the first time the Bulldogs had to use tailback by committee, nor is it the first time the surprising lack of continuity at quarterback produced poorer-than-expected on-field results.

That also doesn't mean Richt would have automatically gotten those four guys had he not gotten other ones. In some cases—perhaps in all of them, I cannot say empirically, one way or the other—the player chose Georgia Tech over Georgia, as was the case with Thomas.

But even then, Thomas had already given a verbal pledge to Georgia Tech when Richt and Co. came in, essentially rendering Georgia's effort useless. And obviously, Georgia has A.J. Green, but right now he's injured, and might not play.

Whatever the reason, each of these players chose Georgia Tech over Georgia.

And on Saturday night, Mark Richt will look across the sideline and see a team that has a superstar running back, a top-flight wide receiver, a playmaker in its secondary, and a quarterback who is his team's unquestioned leader and obvious engine.

Richt would be hard-pressed to convince anyone that he wouldn't take any of that over his current options.

10 Reasons

10 Reasons the Institute hates the University [sic]:

CBSsports

These are ten chronological reasons why the Institute and the University [sic] do not like eachother and they are pretty legitimate reasons for Tech fans to generally distrust, dislike, or plain out hate ugag:

10. The founding of Tech in the 1880's was originally planned as the mechanical engineering school of uga. Uga politicians/faculty wanted the School of Technology in Athens but luckily the governor's office wanted an independent non-agricultural school that would not be influenced by the aggies. Big time controversy led to Tech's opening being postponed. Thank God the first Tech Men won the debate.

9. November 4, 1893. We are invited to play ugag in football. Our first ever victory in football. Our first ever dealings with ugag's athletic department and we are pelted by ugag fans with rocks and garbage. Then, chased by a mob back to our awaiting train. Our star player Leonard Wood finished the game with several stitches above his eye that were the result of hurled debris.

8. 1908. Ugag alumni incite Southern Conference investigation into recruiting practices of John Heisman. Heisman was the definition of moral character and gave all of his records, books, and such to the investigators who found no fault in his program.

7. 1919. The boys come home from World War I. Tech acted as a military officer training facility and had a full compliment of men on campus during the war. Ugag's student body was a mass of grunts that quit school and joined up. So in celebration of ugag's students return, they threw a big parade. In the parade, ugag displayed a donkey painted yellow that said "Tech in Atlanta" and a tank that had "UGA in Argonne" painted on the side. I'm sorry ugag fans but that's pretty f-ing low. Tech men were leading your hillbilly asses into battle and this is the thanks they get.

6. 1943 and 1944. Tech destroys ugag in football both years. Ugag does not recognize the games to this day. Sore losers. Once again, we were a military school at the time. The players that played in those games were legitimately enrolled at Tech. They were transfers from schools all over the country but our best players were still Tech Men (e.g. John Steber, Phil Tinsley, and Eddie Prokop).

5. 1978. Tech attempts re-entry into the Southeastern Conference after scholarship limits are imposed and a true recruiting ethics doctrine is implemented. At one point, SEC teams would over-recruit their rosters and dump kids in the middle of the Summer if they didn't make the team, leaving them without scholarships. This is one of the main reasons Dodd left the SEC in 1964. In the 1978 vote, the biggest opponent of Tech was...ugag. They rallied their fellow redneck schools and shot down Tech's attempt.

4. December 2, 1978. Dooley orders the hit on Eddie Lee Ivery that knocks Ivery out of the ugag game and out of the Heisman race. Bullshit move by a bullshit coach.

3. 1994. Ugag athletic department cites the The Omni's proximity to Tech's campus as the reason ugag can't beat Tech in basketball. They didn't take into account the fact that ugag fans don't give two shits about basketball and weren't coming to the games or that their teams/coaches sucked.

2. November 25, 1993. The most recent of Tech-ugag bench clearing brawls 'cause Ray Goof thought it was cool to leave the starters in with the game in hand. Congrats Ray, your team beat a 5 win Tech team. I wish Ryan Stewart had punched him in the face during the fight.

1. 1999. The ugag band stabs our giant inflatable buzz... That's pretty low. Good thing we made the band pay for it.

UGA vs GT injury report

Reports are that Coach Richt is saying that there is a good chance that playmaker A.J. Green and safety Bacarri Rambo will be able to play on Saturday at Bobby Dodd stadium. Nothing is definite, but if they continue to make progress this week they should both play.

Both players suffered injuries in the Auburn game that sidelined them for the loss to Kentucky this past weekend. Georgia fans know that these two would be extremely important in pulling the upset this weekend against the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech.

Still no word on whether Jacket center Sean Bedford will be able to go this weekend. Last report was that he was still on crutches.

Background of "CLEAN, OLD-FASHIONED HATE"

Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate is the nickname given to the college rivalry between the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Georgia Bulldogs. The two schools are separated by 70 miles (110 km) and have been heated rivals since 1893. The two schools, in essence, are not only competing in athletics but are also competing for government and private funding, potential students, and amongst other things academic recognition in the State of Georgia and the United States.^[1]

Georgia Tech and Georgia were founded over 100 years apart. Georgia was founded on January 27,1785, and Georgia Tech was founded on October 13, 1885. Patrick Hues Mell, the president of theUniversity of Georgia at that time, was a firm believer that the new school should be located in Athens with UGA's main campus, like the Agricultural and Mechanical School.^[2] Despite Mell's arguments, the new school was located near what were then the northern city limits of Atlanta.^[2]

The first known hostilities between the two schools trace back to 1891. The University of Georgia's literary magazine declared the school's colors to be "old gold, black, and crimson." Dr. Charles H. Herty, the first UGA football coach, felt that old gold was too similar to yellow and that yellow "symbolized cowardice."^[3] Also in 1891, a student vote chose old gold and white as Georgia Tech's school colors.^[4] After the 1893 football game against Tech, Herty removed old gold as an official school color.^[3] Tech would first use old gold for their uniforms, as a proverbial slap in the face to UGA, in their first unofficial football game against Auburn in 1891.^[5] Georgia Tech's school colors would henceforth be old gold and white.

Fuel was added to the fire in 1919, when UGA mocked Tech's continuation of football during the United States' involvement in World War I. At the time, Tech was a military training ground and had a complete assembly of male students. Many schools, such as UGA, had lost all of their able-bodied male students to the war effort forcing them to temporarily suspend football during the war. In fact, UGA did not play a game from 1917–1918.^[6] When UGA renewed its program in 1919, the student body staged a parade, which mocked Tech's continuation of football during times of war. The parade featured a tank shaped float emblazoned with the words "UGA IN ARGONNE" followed by a yellow-clad donkey and a sign that read "TECH IN ATLANTA." This act would lead directly to Tech cutting athletic ties with UGA and canceling several of UGA's home football games at Grant Field (UGA commonly used Grant Field as its home field).^[7] Tech and UGA would not compete in athletics until the 1921 Southern Conference basketball tournament. Regular season competition would not renew until a 1925 agreement between the two institutions.^[7]

The fight songs, sung at every sporting event, have even been tailored to the rivalry. The "Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" was first published in the Georgia Tech yearbook, The Blueprint,^[5] and was written following the first UGA football game in which UGA fans harassed the Georgia Tech players and fans.^[5] Hence the infamous chorus "To Hell with Georgia" was written.^[5] "Up With the White and Gold," published in 1929, featured the lyrics "Down with the red and black" and even "Drop the battle axe on Georgia's head."^[5] Georgia's fight song, "Glory, Glory," was arranged in 1909 and remains unchanged to this day. Officially, the end of the fight song is "G-E-O-R-G-I-A," but Georgia fans changed the lyrics to "And to hell with Georgia Tech!" ^[8]

The game has been played 103 times according to Georgia Tech and only 101 times according to Georgia record books. Georgia discredits two games in 1943 and 1944 (both years in which Georgia Tech won) because many of their players went to fight in World War II, though official college football records include the games.^[14] The game has been played in either Athens or Atlanta alternating every year since 1928. Georgia Tech holds 4 national titles and Georgia holds 2 national titles for a total of 6 national titles. The two schools also have a total of 29 conference titles (15 for Tech, 14 for Georgia) between them, making the rivalry a battle between two historically prestigious programs.

The record between the two teams is 59 Georgia wins, 39 Georgia Tech wins, and 5 ties. Georgia Tech's longest winning streak, and the longest in the series, was eight games from 1949–1956. Georgia's longest winning streak in the series was seven straight games from 1991-1997 and again from 2001-2007. Georgia Tech won the most recent game in the series on November 29, 2008, with a score of 45-42.

The first Georgia Tech football team

The first time the two teams met on the football field was on November 4,1893.^[15][16] The then Georgia School of Technology (Georgia Tech's original name) Blacksmiths led by coaches Stanley E. "Stan" Borleske and Casey C. Finnegan traveled 70 miles (110 km) by train to play the Georgia team coached by Ernest Brown in Athens at Herty Field.^[17] The Blacksmiths defeated Georgia handily 28-6^[18] on four scores by Leonard Wood,^[1] a thirty-three year old United States Armyphysician and future Medal of Honor recipient.^[19] During and after the game, disgruntled Georgia fans threw rocks and other debris at the Georgia Tech players and chased the victorious Blacksmiths back to their awaiting train.^[19]

“

At one time early in the last half of the game, a stone was hurled at one of the Tech players, striking him a cruel blow in the head... At another time, one of the Athenians drew a knife and threatened one of the Techs' better players... The Techs were also poked and gouged with canes on plays toward the boundary lines... Some of the crowd had the privilege of the gridiron equally with the players.[18]

”

The next day in the Atlanta Journal, an Athens journalist accused Tech of using "a heterogeneous collection of Atlanta residents - a United States Army surgeon, a medical student, a lawyer, and an insurance agent among them, with here and there a student of Georgia's School of Technology thrown in to give the mixture a Technological flavor."^[17] Hence, the sports rivalry was born.

In 1908, UGA attacked Tech's recruitment tactics in football.^[20] UGA alumni incited aSouthern Intercollegiate Athletic Association investigation into Tech's recruitment of a player UGA had recruited as well. The Georgia Alumni claimed that Tech had created a fraudulent scholarship fund, which they used to persuade the player to attend Tech rather than UGA.^[20] The SIAA ruled in favor of Tech but the 1908 game was cancelled that season due to bad blood between the rivals.^[20]

The only true break in the series dates back to 1917 and the United States entry intoWorld War I. The two institutions felt that the rivalry had grown too intense, fueled by Georgia's inflammatory accusations that Georgia Tech was cowardly because the school continued its football program during wartime while Georgia suspended its program for the football seasons of 1917 and 1918.^[15] The game renewed play again in 1925.^[15]

In 1932, Georgia Tech and Georgia were two of the original 13 charter members of the Southeastern Conference.^[21] Georgia Tech would continue its membership until 1964 after Tech Coach Bobby Dodd began a historic feud with Alabama Coach Bear Bryant. Georgia Tech left the SEC concerning the allocation of scholarships and student athlete treatment. Georgia Tech would later attempt re-entry but the re-entry was eventually voted down. The biggest opponent of Georgia Tech's re-entry was Georgia.^[22] Lacking a league to compete within, Georgia Tech helped charter the Metro Conference in 1975 for all sports besides football (where it remained independent for 15 years).^[23] Tech eventually joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1979.^[24]

B.J. Bostic making Tech fans out of mid-Georgians

AJC by Chip Towers

Ask Georgia Tech commitment Barry “B.J.” Bostic to describe the small town of Louisville (pronounced Lewis-vill) from which he hails and you can feel the smile come through the telephone.

“Not too many big places around here,” Bostic said of Jefferson County’s seat, population 2,700. “There aren’t many towns that don’t have a Wal-Mart. Well, we don’t. We have a couple of grocery stores, a couple of dollar stores, that’s it. Lots of trees and woods.”

They also have their football. Thanks in part to Bostic, an AJC Super 11 selection, Louisville has a powerhouse of a program in the Jefferson County Warriors. The four-time Region 3 champions are 11-0 and ranked No. 4 in Class AA this season.

Bostic has had more than a little to do with that. Playing primarily quarterback but also running back and wide receiver, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound athlete has amassed 2,544 total yards and 32 touchdowns, including 1,054 yards rushing and 983 passing. His scores have come on 12 runs, 15 passes, four receptions and one kickoff return.

And Tech wants him to play defense?

“Yeah, but a lot of people say once Paul Johnson sees me move around and sees what I can do with a ball in my hands they’ll eventually find a spot for me somewhere on offense,” Bostic says playfully. “Coach Johnson always jokes around with the defensive coaches about how he’s going to move me to quarterback.”

Perhaps Bostic could eventually become a two-way player. But the immediate plans are to make him a cornerback. He comes to The Flats as one quarter of star-studded, ready-made secondary the Jackets have committed, joining four-star cornerback Ryan Ayers of South Forsyth and safeties Fred Holton of Thomasville and Isaiah Johnson of Sandy Creek.

In fact, Bostic and Holton will face off tonight in Louisville in a Class AA second-round playoff game between Jefferson County and Thomasville.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Bostic, who has become friends with Holton since the two committed to Tech this summer. “He’ll definitely be on defense. He plays all over the field for them, quarterback, running back, cornerback. Sometimes he plays D-line; sometimes he plays safety. He’s all over the field for them. Watch number 15.”

Bostic comes to Tech via a newly-constructed pipeline into Jefferson County. He follows to Atlanta his second cousin Chris Crenshaw, now a freshman defensive end for the Yellow Jackets.

“When he committed to Tech (in July of 2008), that’s when I started hitting the camp circuit,” Bostic said. “The day I went to a Georgia camp he went to the Tech camp the same day. He got an offer from them and he committed on the spot. That’s when he started telling me about Georgia Tech. They came to a Swainsboro game my junior year to see Chris and that’s when I first got to meet Coach [Giff] Smith. He told me right there I was a kid they were going to offer. Later on, as we progressed through the season, they came forth with the offer. They were the first team to offer me and they have kept their promise.”

So has Bostic, though he said it has been at times difficult. Several schools have continued to recruit him hard. Playing offense is the lure that they’re dangling.

Kentucky is telling Bostic he’s perfect for their Wildcat formation. Dan Mullen of Mississippi State says he can be their version of Percy Harvin. West Virginia says he’ll make a perfect slot receiver along the lines of Jock Sanders.

“I’m solid on Tech but sometimes I do think about that,” he said. “You know, basically I’ve played offense my whole high school career. . . . I do think about that but I’m committed to Tech right now.”

Early enrollment should help. Bostic will graduate from high school next month.

“I’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of me but that’s why I’m coming in early in January, so I can get accustomed to the defense and learn the defensive philosophy,” he said.

Jefferson County, located between Interstates 20 and 16 southwest of Atlanta, has always been known as Bulldog Country. In fact, Bostic said he grew up of playing between the hedges.

“My room was all Bulldogs,” Bostic said. “Now I’ve got my room changed out. It’s all Yellow Jackets now. Got me a new Tech bed spread. So everything in here is Georgia Tech now.”

Bostic’s aim is to convert the masses.

“Down here there was nothing but Bulldog fans,” he said. A lot of people still question me now. ‘Why not Georgia? Why Georgia Tech?’ But I’m starting to turn them around. We have a lot of people at my school that are Georgia Tech fans now. A lot of people are starting to jump on the bandwagon. That’s a good thing.”

Bostic and a couple more ACC championships should help.