Ladd McConkey would have been a Vol…..

#52
#52
Chickenfarmer said:
McConkey grew in the Tennessee/ Georgia border county of Murray in NW Georgia. His dad was a standout QB for Dalton Catamounts in the early 90s. The McConkey family bleeds or used to bleed Big Orange. As a skinny, undersized wide receiver at North Murray High School in Chatsworth, GA, McConkey was not recruited by any D1 schools. His dream was to play in Neyland Stadium one day. No offers came from Knoxville.

About two weeks before National Signing Day, Kirby Smart became interested in this relatively unknown receiver. McConkey thought he was being pranked when he heard Georgia was interested. Maybe Coach Pruitt will answer with a call. Nothing from Knoxville. Kirby shows up at one of Ladd’s high school basketball games and makes the offer to come to UGA.

Being a Volunteer family, McConkey makes an unofficial visit to the University of Tennessee to see if CJP might be interested before accepting the Georgia offer. The best they can do is allow him to become a walk-on. McConkey goes on to sign with Georgia and contributes to our butt whooping in Athens this year along with another Natty Title. It’s not always about the 4 or 5 Stars ratings. Kirby recognized pure talent and work ethic. Pruitt and company missed out on a winner.

Can you imagine if we would have had McConkey lined up with Hyatt, Bru, Keyton and Tillman the past two seasons? Hooker would have been even more amazing with the additional talent he would have provided. Can you imagine if McConkey would have not been in a red jersey on November 5th? Ifs and Buts.

The moral of the story is Kirby Smart knew what he needed and Stars didn’t enter into the equation. CJH has put together recruits for what he needs to make this team better. We have some Stars and we have role players that will produce where needed most. CJH will prove himself during the next two seasons. Higher rated players will continue to sign with us. Yes, Stars do matter. Just look at Alabama and Georgia caliber of athletes across the field and on the bench. But, the most important factor is a coaching staff that can assess talent and develop it into Winners. Go Big Orange!
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I had almost forgotten how much I despise Beldar Cornbread. Thanks for reminding me.
 
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#55
#55
Had McConkey come to UT he’d probably be an all SEC DB, kids with talent and drive like him find a way to get on the field. UT currently have 2 or 3 guys with the same drive playing WR so Ladd would have found his spot.
How many kids at UGA have more God given abilities are playing receiver, are standing on the sideline because he outworked then in practice.
I’m really glad the CJH has found a way to push those buttons for kids like him here at UT
 
#56
#56
NeverWe'llSever said:
I mean, we had the 2nd best WR corps in the country, behind only OSU, so I’m not really losing sleep over it. In fact, if you looked at what our best position was over the last 15 years of sucking, it’s probably WR. UT has always had good WR, and always will. If he was a QB or CB, then sure.
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JG had 4 NFL WRs and we never knew.
 
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#58
#58
Not going to lie, when I was watching the game and heard the announcer say "McConkey on his Donkey" I was so jealous he wasn't a Vol. Hearing that said a couple of times a year would do my soul right. Too bad he plays for the bad guys.
 
#63
#63
supersmo18 said:
As someone who works in Dalton, GA and is very familiar with the McConkey family, I can tell you that Pruitt did offer, but there was a staunch disagreement between Pruitt and Chaney, in that Chaney wanted Ladd to play DB (he's also a very talented DB) but Pruitt wanted him at WR, where Chaney didn't. They made a preferred walk-on offer, and then Kirby came up to watch him play Basketball and also then made him a committable offer to UGA.

Yes, Ladd is all Dawg now and bleeds red and black, but he's still got a soft spot for UT, as does his family. It's nothing personal at all. But had we offered him with a committable scholly, he would've been in big orange. He's a great kid and I loved watching him play in high school.
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Super, my kids go to HS in Dalton and I live in Ringgold. Didn't know you were there. I had friends send out pics w Kirby when he came to Murrah Cowney.
 
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#64
#64
Carp said:
Not really losing any sleep over Ladd McConkey. Glad he's finding success in UGA's offense. I don't think he's better than the majority of the WRs that have been on this team over the past 3 years. At best, he would have been WR No. 5 on this year's squad. Probably more like 6 or 7.
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I somewhat agree with this. He fits Todd Monken's system and Bennett was the right QB at the right time for him. Although Stetson hits a long one from time to time, like when the OSU db fell down. Just saying Ladd's wheelhouse was custom made for that type of O with great blocking and time to run routes etc..
 
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#66
#66
Another good receiver on our team the past 3 seasons was NOT making or breaking anything. That's one box that we had checked. How @ a standout DB, LB, DT, RB, OT, Edge etc etc.
LM is good, but longing for another good receiver is not at the top of the list.
 
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#67
#67
Wow! If we had one more receiver this offense might have really been good this year.
 
#68
#68
EconVol92 said:
You can add Trevor Lawrence, Tajh Boyd and Tee Higgins to that list among others.

To clarify Higgins didn't come because of Butch, but the other two were told they were not wanted.
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Let's not be completely ridiculous here. Lawrence was never told he wasn't wanted. He and his family realized the opportunity at Clemson was much better than what was going on in Knoxville at the time. If he were a high school senior now, we'd very likely land him.
 
#69
#69
livefaith said:
Super, my kids go to HS in Dalton and I live in Ringgold. Didn't know you were there. I had friends send out pics w Kirby when he came to Murrah Cowney.
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I'm in Ringgold, too! Nice to know there's another one of us on this board :)
 
#71
#71
UGA WRs were not very good. Their OL and TEs were elite. McConkey would not have started over the guys we had at Tennessee.
 
#72
#72
ATLVols said:
UGA WRs were not very good. Their OL and TEs were elite. McConkey would not have started over the guys we had at Tennessee.
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pretty much agree but that was because ga was a running team like 60-40 or so and no flash in the passing game. Todd Monken has changed that. Ga's offense the last two seasons has been near the top and they will start to pull in the Wrs like they are doing at qb now.
 
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#74
#74
Chickenfarmer said:
The moral of the story is Kirby Smart knew what he needed and Stars didn’t enter into the equation. CJH has put together recruits for what he needs to make this team better. We have some Stars and we have role players that will produce where needed most. CJH will prove himself during the next two seasons. Higher rated players will continue to sign with us. Yes, Stars do matter. Just look at Alabama and Georgia caliber of athletes across the field and on the bench. But, the most important factor is a coaching staff that can assess talent and develop it into Winners. Go Big Orange!
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What this actually means is that Kirby Smart and his staff can take any 3 star athlete and motivate them them to play like a 5 star athlete on gameday. Mark Richt could recruit.........but he could not "coach em up." Another example is Texas AM buying all the 5 stars they wanted and yet they suck. Jimbo Fisher doesn't have the staff to coach all those 5 stars or handle all the problems that come with a team with all that talent. Kirby Smart has a proven solution to keeping the chemistry of his team together which we just witnessed by UGA winning 2 Natties in a row and competing for a 3rd in 2023. It's not just talent, a TEAM needs all the parts to succeed.
 
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