An off-season hypothetical to chew on.
One of the most important draft trends in recent years has been identifying live college football reps as a key factor to NFL success. This is hardly a novel concept, Bill Parcells had a firm 25 start rule back for prospects back in the day, but it has come up a lot more as a result both of major QB misses (Trubiski, Lance, and Richardson - so far) as well at hits (Daniels and Nix.)
Another way NFL teams have adapted to the transfer era is teams see it as a plus for players that transfer up in difficulty during their career.
Within that context, I could easily imagine a dynamic in the future where Blue Chip programs could strengthen connections with smaller programs to help create an effective minor league system. Imagine, for example, Georgia subsidized a development QB prospect to go Georgia State, with that program having an Athens-approved QB coach and playcaller to get early live reps and then transfer over to Athens when they are ready for SEC ball.
Given the financial risk, I can't imagine this being possible without a meaningful contract system in place for players to place some protections on that early investment. If such an arrangement is possible though, it would seem to me to be something with mutual benefits to both Georgia and the smaller program.
While it may be farcical to imagine a Jared Curtis-style talent going that route, you could imagine a couple of QBs on a roster who might have benefitted from a farm treatment.
Does anyone see such an arrangement as a plausible development for the direction college football is going, and for those willing to entertain it - does anyone know of any other smaller programs that have any strong crossover with Athens? McGee as GSU's HC is obvious, but I would think you'd need some deeper synergy with athletic departments.
One of the most important draft trends in recent years has been identifying live college football reps as a key factor to NFL success. This is hardly a novel concept, Bill Parcells had a firm 25 start rule back for prospects back in the day, but it has come up a lot more as a result both of major QB misses (Trubiski, Lance, and Richardson - so far) as well at hits (Daniels and Nix.)
Another way NFL teams have adapted to the transfer era is teams see it as a plus for players that transfer up in difficulty during their career.
Within that context, I could easily imagine a dynamic in the future where Blue Chip programs could strengthen connections with smaller programs to help create an effective minor league system. Imagine, for example, Georgia subsidized a development QB prospect to go Georgia State, with that program having an Athens-approved QB coach and playcaller to get early live reps and then transfer over to Athens when they are ready for SEC ball.
Given the financial risk, I can't imagine this being possible without a meaningful contract system in place for players to place some protections on that early investment. If such an arrangement is possible though, it would seem to me to be something with mutual benefits to both Georgia and the smaller program.
While it may be farcical to imagine a Jared Curtis-style talent going that route, you could imagine a couple of QBs on a roster who might have benefitted from a farm treatment.
Does anyone see such an arrangement as a plausible development for the direction college football is going, and for those willing to entertain it - does anyone know of any other smaller programs that have any strong crossover with Athens? McGee as GSU's HC is obvious, but I would think you'd need some deeper synergy with athletic departments.
