Thursday Links (2/4)

Before we get into the links, I had a couple of leftover quotes from yesterday I figured I'd share...

Mark Richt on evaluating the program...
“This past season I know was a disappointment for a lot of people. I don’t expect our Bulldog fans to be excited about an 8-5 season. … In the time we’ve been here, everybody was getting used to 10-win seasons and getting used to top-10 finishes and banging away at the Eastern Division or being as high as No. 2 or No. 3. Being in position to play for the SEC championship. That’s what we aspire to do and what we expect to do. And we have everything we need to get that done. I think there’s very positive buzz within our Butts-Mehre building, within our coaching staff and within our players. I know there’s a great deal of excitement about what the future holds.”

Todd Grantham on having time to talk to players about his style and scheme…
“That’s the big thing is explaining to players what you expect, what your demands are and what you’re looking for. Most players want to please, so I think as we move forward, explaining it to those guys, I think we’ll get the best out of them.”

Grantham on how much players are pushing to find out where they'll line up...
“Little bit, but I’m going to start meeting with guys shortly and explain the reasons why and make sure they’re comfortable with it. And I’m looking forward to getting on the grass because I think we have some guys that can make plays for us.”

Rodney Garner on closing out the recruiting season short on coaches...
“It’s challenging, obviously, with it coming in the time period it did, but everyone really worked hard and worked well together. We operated as a team, which we’ve always done at the University of Georgia. We’re a family. Every one of the coaches worked extremely hard and so did all our support staff. We did a good job of holding everybody together. Obviously we had a couple defections here at the end, but we’ve always stressed that we want a young man that wants to be at the University of Georgia, wants to be a part of this program. We’re excited about the young men that we have coming in and look forward to developing future stars. We have no questions or reservations about the way it turned out.”

OK, on to some links...

-- My full signing day story is online at Macon.com if you'd care to read it.

-- My coverage of last night's Georgia loss to Arkasas is also there for your perusal.

-- Jacksonville.com breaks down the Georgia signing class and gives the Bulldogs a B- for the day.

-- Scouts, Inc. gives Georgia a slightly higher grade for this year's class.

-- The Dawg's View offers some perspective on what all this signing day stuff means, including a good point about the real difference between four- and five-star guys.

-- T Kyle King passes along the interesting story of how Lonnie Outlaw became a Georgia signee at the last minute.

-- You've probably seen the quote already, but if not, be sure to check out Andy Johnston's piece that mentions the insane skills of Lonnie Outlaw.

-- Despite missing out on Da'Rick Rogers, Dancing in the Endzone writes that Georgia still has plenty of talent at wide receiver for the 2010 season.

-- Bernie runs down all the action from signing day from a fan's perspective at Butts-Mehre.

-- A Damn Beast blogs that, while it wasn't the norm throughout much of the 2009 season, Georgia's players and coaches are at least saying the right things now to get fans excited.

-- The Senator runs a few numbers and decides that it might not be completely crazy to think that Georgia could have two 1,000-yard rushers next season.

-- Take this for what you will -- and I'm not sure it's legit or meaningful -- but it appears Georgia is advertising for a defensive ends coach. (And again, I didn't verify the legitimacy of this at all, so it may have been posted by a staffer at FootballCoachScoop.com for all I know... oh wait, they don't have staffers...)

-- Damon Evans got a pretty hefty raise at yesterday's athletics association meeting.

-- It's Super Bowl week, and Matthew Stafford is living the life of a big-time celebrity, writes the Detroit Free Press.

-- Speaking of Stafford and other first-round QBs, see how well you can do in this little trivia challenge. (I got 45 and absolutely kicked myself on about 10 more... I think I just blocked 1994-95 from my memory.)

-- I mentioned this in my live half-blog from last night's hoops game, but the Reno Gazzette-Journal has a nice interview with Mark Fox.

-- Don't let signing day get you down too much... you could be a Washington Nationals fan. This is seriously one of the saddest things anyone could write about a franchise. (h/t C-Nati)

-- Here's an exceptional trip down memory lane: The original Sports Illustrated movie review of "The Karate Kid," penned by Frank Deford. (h/t McElwee)

-- Slate has a great essay on what it was like to answer mail for J.D. Salinger.

-- E! wonders what took so long to get "Shutter Island" released. I want to think this is going to be a really good film, but I can't shake the nagging suspicion that it might be terrible.

-- Entertainment Weekly writes that Zach Galifanakis could be in line to host "Saturday Night Live" in the near future.

-- And finally, one scientist says that the parallel universes on "Lost" are scientifically sound. I'll have more thoughts on the season premier tomorrow.