Coaches on Recruiting Trail

From UGA release...

Spring practice might be over, but Georgia’s football coaches are still hard at work.

The Georgia coaches are on the road recruiting prospects during the NCAA’s designated evaluation period. The coaches began their work earlier this week and will continue recruiting throughout the month of May.

“By the end of next week, our assistant coaches will have been to more than 350 schools in the state of Georgia,” Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt said. “Our coaches are really pounding the state of Georgia. The focus of our staff is to make sure we recruit the state of Georgia first.”

Coaches may use one evaluation session to assess a prospective student-athlete’s athletics ability and another evaluation session to assess his academic qualifications.

“As we all know, recruiting is the lifeblood of any program and our state is a hotbed for talent,” Richt said. “It’s our job to do everything we can to show these young men the academic and athletic merits of the University of Georgia. I know if we get the best players in our state to come to the University of Georgia, we will win championships. When we do go out of state, it's always been our philosophy to only sign great players who are great people.”

The eventual signees among the prospective student-athletes being evaluated by Georgia’s coaches now will be the first freshman class to benefit from the ongoing $40 million expansion of the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall. The expansion, targeted for completion in January 2011, will include a 12,000-square-feet strength and conditioning area, an 8,500-square-feet training room, new coaches offices and a multipurpose room with a turf field that can be used for drills, walkthroughs and receptions.

“We are committed to providing the academic and athletic resources necessary for our football program to be among the very best in the country,” Richt said. “Our coaches are equally committed to winning championships on the field and to helping our players become the leaders of tomorrow. That is our message as we are on the road recruiting.”