What We Are Hearing
ATHENS - The season is just around the corner, and there are a few moving parts to settle before fall camp starts later this summer
Deangelo Gibbs, Jay Hayes and Demetris Robertson are all players who didn’t figure into Georgia’s playoff run in 2017, but who could matter this fall (or beyond). But right now it is Hayes who has the clearest path for obvious reasons.
We’ve got a long way to go before Gibbs makes a return to significant playing time. A starting spot for the Gwinnett County native is going to involve him throwing himself completely into the process that is Kirby Smart’s UGA. The amount of competition at all spots is significant in the program, but in the secondary returns two starters and some other players who have played quite a bit.
Those returning players have been on campus the entire time Gibbs has been gone, and they don’t have the head coach stating that he still has to follow the plan laid out by the program for him to be on the team in the fall.
Translation: Don’t think that Gibbs will walk into a starting spot this fall - even though there are starting spots available in the secondary, and although he has the God-given ability to get the job done back there.
Notre Dame grad transfer Jay Hayes, however, should figure into the rotation to some degree this fall. I saw Hayes for the first time ever last week at Camp Sunshine. He certainly looks the part. His chest pokes out, and there’s not much unnecessary weight he carries.
It is hard to know how well Hayes can play football, or how well he will play it this fall at UGA. But he’s got the physical tools necessary to compete in the SEC.
Then there’s Robertson, who has announced that he is leaving Cal. Let’s rewind that situation. About 45 minutes before Robertson picked Cal I was told that it was a done deal that he was heading to UGA. Then, about ten minutes beforehand, I got a text saying that UGA was off, and that it would be Cal.
It was quite a reversal - I don’t get back-to-back communications like that very often that close together.
Looking back two years later perhaps it was appropriate that when Robertson reveled that he was heading to Cal with an image he had painted it was turned upside down. Obviously there is interest between UGA and Robertson.
The Bulldogs have a scholarship spot available, but connecting the dots to get him to Athens might not be as simple as folks think. I don’t have specific details regarding that, but that seems to be a reoccurring theme here.
Time will tell on Robertson. But keep in mind that Robertson was committed to Alabama when Kirby Smart was still coaching for the Tide, and that UGA was pretty much second place behind Cal two years ago.
We continue to hear good things regarding Dan Lanning on the recruiting trail… UGA baseball coach Scott Stricklin needed a good year in 2018, and he got one - as a result he got a contract extension… UGA basketball coach Tom Crean continues to aggressively pursue high-level recruits to play at UGA. Crean’s aggressive marketing strategy includes meeting with beat writers and opening up assistant coaches to meet with the media (something Mark Fox rarely permitted).