How would you feel if this type of comment came from one of the NFL scouts referring to our program?
From the AJC
Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been covering the NFL for a long time. Each year he talks to scouts and personnel men to get their (usually anonymous) opinions on college prospects and uses them for a position-by-position series leading up to the draft.
McGinn's capsule on Georgia's Alec Ogletree includes a great quote from one of those scouts. McGinn notes that Ogletree was arrested on suspicion of DUI just before the combine, served a four-game suspension for violating UGA's substance abuse policy (after a loophole was added that benefited him) and was arrested on misdemeanor charges for stealing a motorcycle helmet before he made his Dawgs debut.
None of that is news. The best part is what a scout had to say about Ogletree's transgressions:
"I don't think he's Odell Thurman," said one scout referring to the former Georgia MLB whose promising career in Cincinnati ended after one season (2005) because of drug-related suspensions and other criminal activity. "I don't think he's a terrible kid. But, (expletive), that's Georgia. They have them every year."
There's lots of awesomeness in that quote. It suggests that the expectation among NFL people is that Georgia is always going to turn out screw-ups (probably not what Mark Richt has in mind when he talks about "the Georgia way.") Even better, it's the implication that this expectation causes this scout to shrug off Ogletree's mistakes--note that McGinn projects he'll be selected in the first round.
Likewise, Sanders Commings'arrest on domestic violence charges is noted but he's still projected to drafted in round two or three. Bacarri Rambo was nearly Ogletree's equal in off-field shenanigans at UGA, and one scout tells McGinn: "I see his emotional baggage getting in the way." But another scout is quoted as saying that even if Rambo's background was clean "he (still) wouldn't be a first-rounder" which suggests it's ability more than baggage that hurts Rambo's stock.
Suspensions and arrests aren't the only things that give Dawgs players a rep with NFL scouts. In evaluating Jarvis Jones, one scout is quoted by McGinn as saying: "Jarvis is a typical (University of) Georgia kid that is naïve. He's just country."
It's not all bad for the Dawgs. In evaluating Shawn Williams, one scout tells McGinn: "I like what he brings to the locker room and the field."
Makes sense considering Williams is one of the few top Bulldogs prospects to make it through the program without an arrest or suspension (at least not for off-field transgressions).
From the AJC
Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been covering the NFL for a long time. Each year he talks to scouts and personnel men to get their (usually anonymous) opinions on college prospects and uses them for a position-by-position series leading up to the draft.
McGinn's capsule on Georgia's Alec Ogletree includes a great quote from one of those scouts. McGinn notes that Ogletree was arrested on suspicion of DUI just before the combine, served a four-game suspension for violating UGA's substance abuse policy (after a loophole was added that benefited him) and was arrested on misdemeanor charges for stealing a motorcycle helmet before he made his Dawgs debut.
None of that is news. The best part is what a scout had to say about Ogletree's transgressions:
"I don't think he's Odell Thurman," said one scout referring to the former Georgia MLB whose promising career in Cincinnati ended after one season (2005) because of drug-related suspensions and other criminal activity. "I don't think he's a terrible kid. But, (expletive), that's Georgia. They have them every year."
There's lots of awesomeness in that quote. It suggests that the expectation among NFL people is that Georgia is always going to turn out screw-ups (probably not what Mark Richt has in mind when he talks about "the Georgia way.") Even better, it's the implication that this expectation causes this scout to shrug off Ogletree's mistakes--note that McGinn projects he'll be selected in the first round.
Likewise, Sanders Commings'arrest on domestic violence charges is noted but he's still projected to drafted in round two or three. Bacarri Rambo was nearly Ogletree's equal in off-field shenanigans at UGA, and one scout tells McGinn: "I see his emotional baggage getting in the way." But another scout is quoted as saying that even if Rambo's background was clean "he (still) wouldn't be a first-rounder" which suggests it's ability more than baggage that hurts Rambo's stock.
Suspensions and arrests aren't the only things that give Dawgs players a rep with NFL scouts. In evaluating Jarvis Jones, one scout is quoted by McGinn as saying: "Jarvis is a typical (University of) Georgia kid that is naïve. He's just country."
It's not all bad for the Dawgs. In evaluating Shawn Williams, one scout tells McGinn: "I like what he brings to the locker room and the field."
Makes sense considering Williams is one of the few top Bulldogs prospects to make it through the program without an arrest or suspension (at least not for off-field transgressions).
