Got my Phil Steele mag...

in the mail yesterday. Has it has been released on news stands yet or is this an early copy? Anybody? He sends free copies out to Football Writers Association members, so I'm not sure...

Anyway, I think it's my favorite of the preseason national mags simply because of the sheer volume of information and analysis. Very entertaining stuff. He also goes out on a limb a bit more than conventional wisdom often dictates, which is always interesting -- particularly since he's often correct.

So with that said, you Georgia folks will be disappointed to know that he has Florida at No. 1 in his preseason top 40 and Georgia at No. 9. He points out that UGA is a strong possibility to be the polls' preseason No. 1, but he adds that he rates Georgia's schedule as the third-toughest in the country.

Teams on Georgia's schedule that he ranks in the top 40:
1. Florida
12. Auburn
13. LSU
18. South Carolina
23. Tennessee
26. Alabama
29. Arizona State

We all know these preseason things don't particularly matter, but it's fun reading. So check out the Steele mag if you're looking to buy one of these things. It's not the flashiest in presentation, but it's obvious the guy puts a ton of research into this stuff.

Curry to coach Georgia State

First heard about this from a story earlier today on the AJC's site. This is an interesting hire for Georgia State. Like I've said before when talking about football at my hometown college, at South Alabama in Mobile, I wonder whether there's the interest in Georgia State athletics around the city to sustain a football program. I guess we'll find out over the next decade or so.

From Charles Odum's story via the Associated Press on the Yahoo Sports site:

ATLANTA (AP)—Once again, the lure of college football is bringing Bill Curry back to Atlanta.

Almost 50 years after he began his college playing career at Georgia Tech, Curry will become the first coach of Georgia State’s new football program Thursday.

Curry’s hire was confirmed by a person with knowledge of the process who did not want to be identified because the school has scheduled a news conference for Thursday.

The 65-year-old Curry will join former Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Reeves as patriarchs of the program. Reeves has served as a consultant and helped raise $1.2 million in pledged funds for the program.

Georgia state athletic director Mary McElroy and university president Carl Patton announced in April the school will begin play in 2010 as a Football Championship Subdivision team (formerly Division I-AA).

The Panthers will compete in the Colonial Athletic Association and will play their home games at the Georgia Dome.

Curry played at Tech from 1960-64 and coached the Yellow Jackets from 1980-86. He later coached Alabama to the 1989 Southeastern Conference championship before leaving to coach at Kentucky.

Curry, who effectively retired from coaching after going 26-52 at Kentucky, has worked the last 10 years as a color analyst for ESPN.

Curry did not return phone messages left at his home in Murphy, N.C., or on his cell phone. He also has kept a condominium in Atlanta.

Curry tried to return to Atlanta two years ago. He was the runner-up when Georgia Tech hired Dan Radakovich as athletic director on Feb. 22, 2006.

Curry was a star center at Georgia Tech under coach Bobby Dodd. He played in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers and Baltimore Colts.

Dodd was Tech’s athletic director when Curry replaced Pepper Rodgers as football coach in 1980.

Curry had a 31-43-4 record at Tech before he moved to Alabama, where he was 26-10 in three seasons.

UGA's Rauch passes away

From the UGA release:

ATHENS, Ga. – Former University of Georgia All-America quarterback John Rauch, who started every game for the Bulldogs from 1945-48, passed away in his sleep on Tuesday at his Oldsmar, Fla., home. He was 80.

Rauch came to Georgia in 1945 after excelling in three sports in high school in Pennsylvania. He didn't arrive with much fanfare, however, and was discovered by then-Coach Wallace Butts while playing in a flag football game.

After accepting an invitation from Butts to come out for football, Rauch started every game (45 in all) of his college career from 1945-48 and became the first player in NCAA history to start four consecutive bowl games. He passed for 4,044 yards, then the NCAA record for career passing yardage.

Rauch led the Bulldogs to a 36-8-1 record, including the Williamson poll's national championship in 1946 and two SEC titles. He was an All-American and the SEC Player of the Year his senior season.

Rauch was the No. 1 player taken in the 1949 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions and he went on to a four-year playing career. Rauch then entered the coaching ranks, serving several schools, including Georgia from 1955-58, as an assistant coach.

Rauch returned to the NFL as an assistant for the Oakland Raiders under Al Davis in 1963 and was promoted to head coach in 1966. He guided the Raiders for three seasons, compiling 33 victories and leading them to Super Bowl II. Rauch, whose assistant coaches included John Madden and Bill Walsh, was named AFC Coach of the Year in 1967 after the Super Bowl appearance. Rauch also was the head coach of the Buffalo Bills in 1969, O.J. Simpson's rookie year.

Rauch completed his coaching career in 1985 after stints with Philadelphia, Atlanta and Tampa Bay of the NFL, Toronto of the CFL and Tampa Bay of the USFL.

Rauch was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004. He also was chosen for the Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame in 2000 and Georgia’s Circle of Honor in 2001.

Commings drafted

Was working a copy desk shift this evening and forgot to post that UGA football signee Sanders Commings was drafted this afternoon. He went in the 37th round (1,128th overall) to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Westside-Augusta defensive back is an outfielder.

Much like with Israel Troupe last year when he went in the 31st round to Colorado, it doesn't look like Commings will be signing. We'll see, though.

Southerland out four months

Georgia fullback Brannan Southerland had surgery Friday to repair a fractured left foot -- his second surgery in the same foot since the end of last season. He's expected to need 16 weeks for recovery. If that timetable is correct, that would leave him out for all of preseason practice and the first four games of the season. That four-month window means his return date would be Sept. 26, the day before Georgia plays Alabama at Sanford Stadium.

Georgia's depth at fullback will take a big blow, particularly in the first two games, because of Brannan's absence. He would have taken the lion's share of snaps, but still had capable replacements behind him in Shaun Chapas and Fred Munzenmaier. Now it will be up to Chapas to carry the load, particularly in the first two games, as Southerland will be out and Munzenmaier is suspended for the first two games because of an alcohol-related arrest this offseason.

UGA release

Bartkowski Q/A

This has nothing to do with Georgia football, but I thought some folks might be interested to read it anyway. I attended a luncheon for Columbus' Second Harvest Food Bank today and former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Steve Bartkowski was the speaker. (The Georgia angle, if there was one, was that I asked him if he had met Thomas Brown yet and he said he hadn't, but he works in the same company as Thomas' dad and has heard nothing but good things about Thomas).

I spoke with him for a few minutes afterwards for a story on the Falcons I wrote for tomorrow's paper, comparing the team's current situation (and with rookie QB Matt Ryan) with the one the Falcons faced when they drafted him first overall in the 1975 draft.

Yeah, the team wasn't facing the PR disaster of the Mike Vick thing and the coach leaving to coach in college three-quarters of the way into the season, but there are some parallels between the two years. Like how the team fired Norm Van Brocklin eight games into the 1974 season and hired Marion Campbell, then finished with only three wins. And how they turned over the franchise to a highly touted QB draft pick hoping he might turn things around. Bartkowski (now on the franchise's Board of Advisors) said there are some similarities, but he thinks the current Falcons are closer to winning than the team was when he was a rookie in '75. Here's what he had to say.

On the similarities between where the Falcons were when he was drafted first overall in 1975 and where they are now, after taking Matt Ryan with the third overall pick:
They’re much further along. We’ve got a lot more players than when I first got to Atlanta. We’re gonna surprise some people this year. We’ve got to have four or five of the new guys step in and play right away and be successful playing right away. I’m not so sure that includes Matt, but at some point he’ll take the reins and he’ll take his shots. We’re not there yet, but we do have a fairly good basic football team. We’ve got a real good, basic football coach in Mike Smith. He’s a terrific guy.

So is it safe to say there are a lot of parallels between when you were drafted and the expectations Ryan’s facing now?
The expectations are certainly on him. He’s a very wealthy young man now. He’s able to really kind of balance that aspect of his life against his professional endeavors. It’s gonna be very important. He’s obviously a very intelligent young man. I think he’s probably had good upbringing, which you look for that. Mom and dad are there and involved in his life. I think we made a really, really wise choice and I think he’s gonna be the franchise quarterback for the next 10 years.

Are you guys similar players at all? What are the similarities and differences between you?
I think so, yeah. He’s fairly agile in the pocket. I was, until they took my legs. I think very similar. He’s incredibly accurate throwing the ball – maybe more accurate than I was when I came in – but it’s sort of a trade-off. I don’t think he has the strength of arm that I had. But I think that being accurate is a whole lot more important than being strong, being able to throw it a long way.

What does being on the Falcons’ board of advisors entail?
Two or three meetings a year where we basically get involved in the economics of the team, a lot of the administrative situations that they’re going through. It doesn’t involve a lot of on-the-field input or this player or that player-type stuff. That’s handled by the general manager and coaches. But I’m proud to be connected to them, I really am. I love the owner. He’s a terrific guy and just a wonderful person.

It’s a really unique point in the franchise’s history right now…
It’s almost like starting all over again. It’s really almost like a new franchise. Unfortunately, I think we were building toward a lot of good things and it’s amazing how one guy can upset the entire apple cart. But in fact, losing Mike made us realize that we just didn’t have a whole lot of good football players around him. That became painfully evident.

Xavier Avery goes in second round

Georgia football signee Xavier Avery just went to the Baltimore Orioles with the 50th overall pick in the MLB draft (the fourth pick in the second round).

That's gonna be tough to turn down, but we'll see what happens with him in the near future, I'd imagine. I'm sure many of you already know that Georgia closer Josh Fields turned down second-round money from the Atlanta Braves to return to UGA for his senior season. Doesn't happen often, though.

Draft update

Wow, so far Georgia (I'm referring to the state, although UGA is doing pretty well also) is already flexing its muscle in the baseball draft.

Griffin's Tim Beckham was the No. 1 overall pick to the Tampa Bay Rays.
UGA's Gordon Beckham (no relation) was the No. 8 overall pick to the White Sox.
Stephens County's Ethan Martin went 15th to the Dodgers.
UGA'S Joshua Fields went 20th to the Mariners.

EDIT: As an astute commenter pointed out, I missed Leesburg's Buster Posey, the Florida State catcher who went fifth overall to San Francisco. I glanced right over his name when I was making that list earlier.

So there have been 21 picks so far and Georgia accounts for five of them. Pretty impressive.

I'll be interested to see what happens with UGA football signee Xavier Avery. I think he is going to pop up on the draft board sometime today. We'll see ...

E

Lomax arrested

Jeremy Lomax was arrested tonight at 12:42 a.m. by Athens-Clarke County PD on charges of speeding and carrying a concealed weapon. He was released at 1:30 a.m. on $3,000 bond -- $2,500 for the concealed weapon charge and $500 for speeding.

CBS picks up UGA-South Carolina

From the UGA release:
Georgia's Southeastern Conference opener with South Carolina in Columbia, S.C., will be televised by CBS. Airtime is set for 3:30 EST.

The Bulldogs have appeared on CBS a total of 56 times and they have a record of 33-22-1. Georgia holds a 44-14-2 series lead over South Carolina since the teams first played in 1894.

It was also announced earlier this spring that ABC will televise Georgia's matchup with Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz., on Sept. 20 at 8:13 p.m. EST. This will be the Bulldogs' first time playing against the Sun Devils.

The Bulldogs open the season against Georgia Southern in Athens on Aug. 30.