Garner Expects Balanced Class in 2010

We're still pretty early on in the recruiting season for 2010, but Mark Richt and Rodney Garner both had a few thoughts on what the Bulldogs needed to land in their next signing class.

Among the biggest concerns for many Georgia fans has been at defensive end, where Georgia landed just one pass rusher in its 2009 recruiting class -- Montez Robinson out of Indiana. Rod Battle is Georgia's only senior at the position, however, and new signee Abry Jones is capable of playing tackle or end, while Georgia has already landed Jalen Fields, a defensive end out of Dalton, as its first commitment of the 2010 class, so Garner said he sees little need to overreact to any perceived shortages at the position.

“We have numbers at defensive end, they’re just all hurt," Garner said.

The interior part of the line is a much bigger concern, Garner said. With three seniors -- Jeff Owens, Kade Weston and Geno Atkins -- all leaving at year's end, the depth at the position could get shallow awfully quickly. Jones was Georgia's top interior line recruit in 2009, along with Derrick Lott, but the Bulldogs have signed just two other tackles -- Richardo Crawford ('06) and Deangelo Tyson ('08) in the past three years, putting plenty of pressure on Garner to land a big group of impact interior linemen in 2010.

“We’ve got to sign at least two to three (at defensive tackle),” Garner said.

After landing two of the top quarterback recruits in the nation in 2009 in Zach Mettenberger and Aaron Murray to go along with rising sophomore Logan Gray, Georgia figures to be solid at the position for the foreseeable future, but with the departure of fifth-year senior Joe Cox, Richt said he'd still like to nab at least one more QB in 2010.

“We need to sign one because Joe’s going to leave and four is really the minimum you should have in one season," Richt said.

Richt said offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has a list of probably six or seven quarterbacks he's currently reviewing, but said that as the coaches have a chance to see more film and make more visits to schools, that number could expand and contract several more times.

Richt also offered safety Baccari Rambo as a potential fill-in at quarterback should the Bulldogs not land anyone in 2010. Rambo played quarterback in high school at Seminole County and turned heads last season as the regular quarterback for Georgia's scout team, playing the roles of athletic passers such as Tim Tebow and Kodi Burns.

The additions of tight ends Orson Charles and Arthur Lynch in 2009 have reduced one other need, but beyond that, Garner said he expects Georgia to go hard after every other position in 2010.

"I think it will be a pretty balanced class," Garner said. "We may not sign a tight end in this class, but I think at every other position, there will be numbers.”

UPDATE: I'm an idiot and should have included Kwame Geathers in the DT list. It's still up in the air how much impact he can have in the near future, but he should definitely be in the mix.