The off-season that just refuses to quit off-seasoning rolls on. This morning we take a look at the never-ending Conference Realignment merry-go-round, the NCAA behaving badly, and recruiting news that for once isn’t going Kirby’s way.

If you’re following the latest round of conference realignment you probably already know that the PAC-12 has now been picked clean by the Big Ten and Big XII. The latest news is that some of the remaining schools, namely Cal and Stanford, may now be considering joining……the ACC?

It’s a move that makes zero geographic sense, but at this point the SEC is really the only conference with any claim to a footprint that makes sense. There’s also talk that SMU may tag along with the California schools, one assumes to provide a place to refuel, rest, and resupply on road trips.

Academically Stanford and Cal give the ACC the academic pedigree it’s always craved (except when it’s crowing about Clemson and FSU winning on the athletic field). Southern Methodist is an academic equivalent, and the Mustangs bring a fanbase that will make Duke partisans a little more relatable. So I guess it’s wins all around, at least until somebody has to go to Palo Alto and Blacksburg on back-to-back weekends and actually dies of culture shock.

The NCAA obviously is powerless to do anything to stop any of this drama, because the folks in Indy are just the lackies of the University Presidents and ADs who are running this show. They’ve compensated for the things they couldn’t control by controlling what they can: issuing arbitrary and heartless denials of hardship eligibility waivers.

Never forget this season that while the NCAA is denying players additional eligibility because their schools didn’t have a season in 2020, JT Daniels and Kedon Slovis will be on the field in 2023 playing for their fourth and third teams respectively for no reason other than the endless pursuit of Greener Pastures.

Speaking of greener pastures, former UGA safety commit Peyton Woodyard has switched his commitment from the Red and Black to the Alabama Crimson Tide.

It’s not great to lose the sixth rated safety in the country to the Tide. But the Bulldogs should be fine both due to some fantastic defensive backs in the 2024 class and some guys on campus already.

In case you missed him, and it would be really hard to, #8 is freshman safety Joenel Aguero.

I expect you’ll be hearing his name some this season.

In other practice news, Bulldogs tight ends coach Todd Hartley has some thoughts on what makes Brock Bowers so special.

Glenn Schumann discussed preparing game by game, Jalon Walker’s growth, and offseason interest from the NFL. There’s a good chance Coach Schu is going to be leaving Athens at some point, and I hate it. He’s been as instrumental as just about any Kirby Smart hire to the Bulldogs’ success.

That should just about catches you up on things. Until later…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!