As the offseason rolls on and teams prepare for their spring camps. The Georgia Bulldogs have a unique question to answer.
The offseason has fully arrived, and college football fans are already desperately itching for their beloved college teams to return. As the angst and impatience for the return of college sports grow among fans, spring scrimmage games have been the events to hold fans over until the regular season arrives.
But Spring scrimmage games may be in jeopardy in the future as numerous collegiate teams have begun flirting with the notion of canceling or altering their spring scrimmages to combat the rampant tampering that has allegedly been taking place within the sport.
Last season a handful of teams changed their spring game formats to resist the effects of tampering within a roster. The Ohio State Buckeyes did this by only “tagging off” during their spring game, while the Ole Miss Rebels held competitions such as dunk contests.
But this season, teams are considering taking more drastic measures. Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule stated that he was considering canceling the Huskers game altogether, due to his fears of “roster poaching”.
Roster poaching is when college teams illegally entice players from other teams to enter the transfer portal and join their roster. College football coaches believe spring scrimmages are when teams become most vulnerable for roster poaching due to the fact that it is when second and third string players receive most of their playing time.
The Georgia Bulldogs are a team that has become extremely susceptible to poaching because of the revolving door of elite talent recruited to their roster. Head coach Kirby Smart has even stated multiple times on record that he feels that the depth of his team has been diminished over the past few seasons.
With roster poaching becoming an increasingly large problem in college football and teams already taking liberties with the format of their spring game. Should the Bulldogs follow suit?
For years, Georgia Football’s spring game has been a fan-favorite activity that has filled Sanford Stadium and created tons of excitement around the city of Athens. Altering the format of the game or canceling it altogether would certainly disappoint fans and boosters greatly.
It should be noted that Kirby Smart nor any members of his staff have made any implications that this year’s “G-Day” game will be any different than years prior. However, if roster poaching and tampering become an increasingly large issue within the Bulldogs’ roster, Smart and his staff may be forced to make some changes.