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.
- 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.
