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A second look at those Georgia football support-staff figures

Kirby Smart spent plenty to build up his staff when he came to Athens, but was it really THAT much?
Brant Sanderlin/AJC
Cy Brown
Cy Brown

Welcome to your one-stop shop for Georgia football news and takes every Monday through Friday. It’s Wednesday and we’re looking at the apparent commitment of a JUCO return man who could join the Dawgs this fall, where UGA’s stable of running backs rank among the best positional units in the nation, and some skewed figures in the support staff spending discussed Tuesday.

Coaching change skewed Georgia support staff figures

Tuesday in Good Day UGA, I wrote about a report in The Advocate which indicated the Georgia is spending more money on support staffers than any other school in the SEC. But additional reporting by Seth Emerson of DawgNation indicates that’s probably not be the case.

The figures The Advocate cites come from 2015-16 NCAA financial reports that give a box with a single support staff figure that isn’t broken down further. That’s where The Advocate got the $4.4 million. 

According to a source who spoke with Emerson, it seems the NCAA double-dipped on their figures because of the coaching change that happened in Athens in the middle of the 2015-16 academic year.

“That year, Mark Richt was fired, and the resulting turnover saw much of his support staff leave. That included the strength and conditioning coordinator and his four staffers, and quality control coaches that Jeremy Pruitt had helped bring in,” Emerson said. “So Kirby Smart then came aboard and hired his own strength and conditioning staff, along with other quality control staffers. And the NCAA figures, it appear, counts both Richt and Smart’s support staffs.”

According to Emerson, when you count the six-month salaries of each coach’s staff, Georgia would likely clock in at around half of the $4.4 million figure originally cited, although it’s difficult to tell for sure. That would put UGA roughly in line with Florida and Ole Miss, with the increase in support staff that’s occurred during the 2016-17 academic year possibly putting it in the top 5 of the SEC.

Georgia could, and perhaps will, become one of the biggest spenders on support staff in college football. But it doesn’t appear the program is there at this time.

UGA could land another return man for this season

There’s another name for you to learn among recruits in the Class of 2017: Ahkil Crumpton. The JUCO return man from Los Angeles Valley Community College committed to the Bulldogs via Twitter on Tuesday. Nothing is official yet, but if this goes through, Crumpton would join the team before fall camp and be eligible to play for Georgia this season.

Crumpton is a noted as an excellent return man, and could fill the void left by Isaiah McKenzie after his departure to the NFL. Should Crumpton come to Athens and land the starting returner gig, it could allow a player such as Mecole Hardman to stop pulling double-duty, allowing him to focus solely on becoming the best receiver possible. If Crumpton is as good a returner as his JUCO coach says he is, this is a really good move for the Bulldogs.

UGA RBs among best positional units in the country

Matt Brown of Sports on Earth ranked the 25 best units in college football on Tuesday, and he named the Bulldogs’ stable of running backs the 10th-best positional unit in the country. That placed them third among all backfields, behind Alabama (second overall) and Penn State (eighth overall).

Both Nick Chubb and Sony Michel were instant-impact 5-star recruits, and it was hard to imagine that both would spend four seasons in Athens. Here they are, though, returning for their senior years after the offense had a rough year in 2016. Chubb rushed for 1,130 yards last year but wasn’t quite himself after a brutal knee injury in October 2015. Michel has 2,386 yards in his career. They need more help from the passing game and the O-line, but this is an exceptionally talented, veteran duo, and they’re joined by 5-star freshman D’Andre Swift.

Although that was the only spot a unit of Bulldogs took in the top 25, UGA’s linebackers also received an honorable mention at the end of the rankings.

Mark your calendar

As expected, 247Sports 4-star wide receiver Kearis Jackson of Fort Valley (Ga.) Peach County High tweeted Tuesday that he will announce his commitment on Aug. 19 at 4 p.m. ET. He is a coveted target for UGA.

Mail time

Emerson’s DawgNation mailbag is returning on Thursday, so if you have any questions you’ve been dying to get answers for all offseason, email him at seth.emerson@coxinc.com or tweet at him at @sethwemerson.

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Good dog

Unimpressed dog is unimpressed.

NEXT CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee picks Jacob Eason, Georgia to win SEC over Alabama, Auburn
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