Recruiting in the SEC can be a lot like sitting at the lunch room table in middle school. Anything that's different about you is going to be picked at and picked at and picked at until it becomes what defines you.
For me, it was my... well, we'll get into that another time. But for Georgia, it's the lack of an indoor practice facility. The Bulldogs were forced to move practice inside into what defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt described as a walk-through in a living room, and he was so bothered by it that he submitted himself to a rare visit with the media to assure recruits that Georgia was getting an indoor facility soon.
"I know our competitors are not gonna say anything bad about the coaching staff here. They're not gonna say anything bad about the people here, because it's a great place," Pruitt told the Macon Beacon-Telegraph. "But what they're gonna say - and that they've always said is - how important is football to Georgia if they don't have an indoor practice facility? Well they won't be able to say that anymore.
"The reason I came up here (to meet the media) is because we're fixing to take care of that. And this is gonna be the last football team at Georgia that's gonna have days where they don't get better because of not having an indoor facility. Because I know our folks upstairs are gonna get it done."
Athletics director Greg McGarity has submitted plans to build an indoor facility, but he said it won't be ready in time to help the 2015 team. In fact, the facility won't get final approval until February at the earliest. "We're moving as quickly as possible," he said. "But it's impossible to be ready by 2015. There's just so much to do."
Mike Ekeler, Georgia's inside linebackers coach and a new arrival from USC, echoed Pruitt's thoughts. "We need one. I mean it's crazy, it's amazing we don't have one," Ekeler said. "It's absolutely crazy. It's absurd. But that's not my (decision). But I'm sure that will happen, surely."
Pruitt stressed his comments weren't borne out of negativity, but well-intentioned frustration.
Georgia will get an indoor facility soon, but until then rival recruiters will paint them as the 7th grader with a weird haircut.