tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11175154.post8268227445779337273..comments2024-03-22T05:48:26.129-05:00Comments on Braves & Birds: Excuse Making for Bowden the ElderMichaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08365733949431139562noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11175154.post-80059724202059891202008-08-06T10:32:00.000-05:002008-08-06T10:32:00.000-05:001)Tallahassee is closer to a goodly portion of sou...1)Tallahassee is closer to a goodly portion of south Georgia than Athens is. Don't underestimate this. The situation now in South Georgia is pretty evenly contested amongst a number of schools. But it really was FSU's playground for much of the 90s. Bowden is the biggest reason for FSU's slide I agree, and the recruiting impact has more to do with change across the landscape (FSU losing good assistants and not replacing them with men of equal caliber, other schools upgrading, UGA especially. We never got kids out of South Ga under Donnan).<BR/><BR/>2) Donnan's in state job was decent but it wasn't as good as it was made out to be; indeed he was a little overrated as a recruiter (still pretty good, mind). He wasn't as bad as Goff - who frequently padded classes with kids who never got to campus or didn't last academically - but he was worse than Richt in this respect. He let more talent go than just Jamal Lewis, though (that class was famous for the decision to pursue Sanks over Lewis - which started looking bad when the highschool teams made the Ga Dome in the playoffs - and for seeing Cosey Coleman and Deon Grant head north). Some talent always leaves (a fact some Ga fans didn't really grok, and are only starting to).<BR/><BR/>I believe Richt has marked a clear upgrade, though. It's more because of the job he's done evaluating talent top to bottom, though. And he's especially boosted by Searels right now, who is the best OL coach we've had in a long time.<BR/><BR/>Donnan did a better job than Goff because he put hargrave to use, so not all of his immediate casualties were misses in the end. He didn't rely on Juco as much either (every year, under Goff, we were wowed with tales about juco transfers and how they were doing in the spring. Ask Bobby Terrific about Odell Collins and Selma Calloway. Or Matt Storm). And occasionally had smart Juco finds (Jamie Henderson was a quality DB; Antionio Cochrane was a decent End).peacedoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15474788565660706482noreply@blogger.com