My :twocents: worth.
I'm a die hard vol fan. Grew up with my grandpa always keeping me updated on it and I just grew into. My dad is a UT and UGA alum and worked his entire career in the UGA system as a research professor. So, when the orange is not on the field with them, I am really glad to see their rise back to football of old.
UGA- Richt is the best thing to happen to them since Herschel Walker. They will only continue to get better. Richt just seems to be an all around package as a head coach. They will be our thorn as FLA was, only with class. You can hate the competition they will be to us, but Richt is a class act and UGA will be a strong foe with admiration for their abilities, not necessarily the hatred we had aginst Spurrier. Shockley is far better than he has been able to show. He will be a big factor to UGA and their opponents. He has been patient, played within Green's system, and done well. He will have a career year if Richt revamps the offensive play to exploit his strengths.
Alabama - Will be stronger next year, and will continue to progress as Mike Shula gels into the job. He is young, but I think he will be the ressurection of Alabama football, as we have seen it in the past. He has a lot of hidden talent that will come out as he matures into a head coach position. The only pitfall there has been Alabama's lack of committment to establish consistency in coaching positions. If they will commit to Shula long term, Alabama will rise from the ashes. They do have a ways to go to be a perennial dominent power in the conference, but they will get there if Shula is allowed to stay and clean the program up and return some integrity to Alabama. Alabama had a knack for running off winning coaches after the Bear. Curry won, Perkins won, Stallings won and was allowed to hang around, but grew weary of the pressures there. They need consistency in coaching. It works for UT, regardless of the bashing that goes on aginst Fulmer and RS at times. Consistency is the proven success at UT that no one else had in the SEC except UF, and they won too.
Auburn- Same scenario. Just need to stick with Tubby, and they will hang around. A long term commitment to Tubby will resolve large spikes in their recruiting and year to year performance. They will become a perennial power if they keep that consistency at coaching.
Florida - Undetermined. I think Myer has the potential to do well. He has to prove his ability to recruit in the SEc, and it will either flourish or flop from there. They will do well this coming season because they will be playing purely on determination and the will to prove they haven't gone anywhere. After that it is soley on his ability to get the players there. He has the system. He's proved he can coach with that system, and although he is moving up from the MWC, he did beat teams from top conferences with a little talent on his part as a whole.
So. Carolina - May not win titles, but Spurrier will be a spoiler to someone every year. He will not be able to draw the recruits to SC. The recruiting battlefield is not in his favor to draw to SC. Not an attractive place geographically. He'll get decent leftovers, and do decently with them. But, no rise to dominance is foreseeable for them. I think he will do better then anyone else has. Holtz was good and is a class coach and a great football mind, but he was at the end of his career when he decided to unretire and go to SC.
LSU - Got saved by Perriloux deciding to stay and go with them. I think there future is with him at QB. Russell did not impress me in his development with the play time he got this year. They are loaded and will probably be the West this year. I don't think the coaching change hurt them at all. If anything it was an improvement. He could not close the big games. They always choked somehwere in his seasons there. He was a good coach, and probably the best at LSU in a long time. But, he was not their long term answer.
UT - What can you say. Except, just play your game and not to the talent of your opponent. Get rid of the 'just get the win' mentality and play strong, hard nose football. The talent has been there all this time. We just got complacent and only expected enough out of our players to get by. People will rise to your expectations. Set those expectations, force RS to open up and attack. He has the mind to do it if you expect it of him. Fulmer is a class coach, a great coach and great recruiter. He wants the best for the program, the university, and the fans. He is at times too nice, and just needs to chew some butt internally and reset the standard and require the paly to that standard, both coaches and players.
