Georgia football coach Kirby Smart will miss out on the Southeastern Conference championship game for the first time since his inaugural season leading the Bulldogs in 2016, but wins the next two Saturdays against Missouri and Vanderbilt would result in an 8-2 record and a fourth consecutive New Year’s Six bowl invitation.
In between those games against the Tigers and Commodores will be next Wednesday’s start to college football’s early signing period and a roster management challenge like never before. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the NCAA is allowing senior players to retain their final year of eligibility for the 2021 season and not count against the 85 scholarship limitation, but that widely praised ruling does have an adverse effect on those high school talents hoping to be midyear enrollees in upcoming weeks.
“Let’s say we have five midyears, which isn’t the case at all, who want to come,” Smart said this week. “We have to have a spot for every one of them to come, and for every senior who elects to stay, we don’t have a midyear spot. So even though they won’t count on the 85, we don’t have a spot for a midyear to come. We don’t really control which seniors stay, and we certainly want to give them the flexibility, but if we have more midyears who want to come than seniors who want to leave, we have a problem.
“I don’t think all these things mesh real well, especially if you’re a program that has a shot at a lot of midyears. A lot of kids aren’t even in high school right now, so why would they want to stay for their second semester?”
Midyear enrollees have been plentiful in Athens, including 28 in the past three signing classes combined, topped by a whopping 13 in the 2019 crop. A quarterback has enrolled early in each of Georgia’s classes under Smart, beginning with Jacob Eason in 2016 and continuing with Jake Fromm, Justin Fields, D’Wan Mathis and Carson Beck.
Brock Vandagriff, the five-star quarterback in this 2021 recruiting cycle who is from the Athens area, is expected to enroll in January as well.
“I don’t know about other schools, but we’re looking at the possibility of anywhere between 14 to 20 midyear enrollees,” Smart said. “If we have 20 midyear enrollees who want to come, we don’t have 20 spots. The seniors won’t count next year, but they’re eating spots right now. It just doesn’t add up or make perfect sense.
“You also have juniors who haven’t decided yet (on the NFL draft). We’ve been saying for a while that the timing is not accurate and that it causes mismanagement, and the people who suffer from this are the high school kids who were told they could be a midyear but may not be a midyear.”
Georgia was scheduled to honor 23 seniors before last weekend’s game against Vanderbilt that was eventually postponed, and Smart wants to get through this season before having discussions with those who might want to return. The Bulldogs currently have 20 commitments in a class that ranks third nationally behind Alabama and Ohio State.
“This is more different than any year in the past, because you can combine like eight different factors,” Smart said. “There used to be one factor, and then the early signing date made a second factor. All the opt-outs and transfer rules added more factors, and now you have seniors with the ability to stay.
“It’s a dilemma we’re all having to deal with. I would love to have every senior back, but not knowing is what’s tough.”
Still mending
Richard LeCounte III may not make it back by the end of the regular season after all. The senior safety was involved in a motorcycle crash on Halloween night that resulted in a concussion and a bruised rib.
“Richard is probably taking 25% of his reps that he would normally take,” Smart said. “He’s probably not ready.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.