With the 2012 football season over and the recruiting period in high gear, it is time to run down just where the teams in the Southeastern Conference are in preparing for the 2013 season.
Here is a thumbnail look at the champions of the East, the Georgia Bulldogs.
2012 REVIEW: The 2012 football season was one of satisfaction and heartbreak for the Bulldogs.
Georgia won 12 games for only the third time in team history. It won its second consecutive Eastern Division championship but came up just short — five yards short — of winning the SEC Championship Game against Alabama. A win there would have given the Bulldogs a chance to play for the BCS national championship and considering the way Alabama handled Notre Dame, Georgia fans can only believe they would have enjoyed the same romp over the Irish.
As disappointing as it was to miss a berth in the BCS Championship Game, Georgia bounced back big to beat Nebraska 45-31 in the Capital One Bowl.
SENIOR STARTERS LOST: Nose tackle John Jenkins, senior defensive lineman Cornelius Washington, defensive backs Sanders Commings and Shawn Williams and linebacker Michael Gilliard and wide receiver Tavarres King
KEY JUNIORS WHO DECLARED FOR NFL DRAFT: Linebackers Alec Ogletree and Jarvis Jones and nose tackle Kwame Geathers
RECRUITING NEEDS:After the early losses of defensive playmakers Ogletree and Jones and the graduation of Jenkins, Washington, Commings, Williams and Gilliard means the Georgia defense is in for a big makeover. With only King graduating, the offense is in good shape for 2013.
COMMITMENTS: According to rivals.com, the Bulldogs currently have the ninth-best recruiting class nationally and the fifth-best class in the SEC behind Florida, Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M. Rivals has the Bulldogs with 29 commitments, 14 of which are 4-star pledges. The highest-rated commitment Georgia has is defensive back Tray Matthews, 6-0, 194.
Scout.com has Georgia with 29 commitments, with the highest-rated players being center Josh Cardiello, 6-2, 280, from Buford, Ga., and Tim Kimbrough, 6-1, 235 from Indianapolis, Ind.
COACH SPEAK: Mark Richt: “We’ll have very good defensive players sticking around and we have young guys waiting in the wings. I think we’ll be a very athletic, fast defense. It’s just a matter of how quickly can they play a championship style of defense. That’s the big push. Starting this year, we had questions about the offense and people said, ‘Wow,Georgia could be in trouble.’ But we played better than expected. I think the defense can be the same way next year.”