Aug. 12, 2010

ATHENS, Ga. --- Manuel Diaz never intended to bring in seven players.

The Georgia men's tennis head coach expected a class of "about three or four" to replenish a depleted Bulldog lineup - a roster that was losing three of its six starters from the 2009-10 NCAA semifinal run.

Instead, the 22-year veteran head coach wound up with seven newcomers headed to Athens for the fall of 2010, a group of three transfers and four freshmen that mark the largest incoming class in the history of the program.

"We've never had this many before, it would have been impossible," Diaz said. "Sometimes we didn't even have seven guys on the whole team. They're really a great, eclectic group with some great stories."

The record class comes at a perfect time, as the Bulldogs lose seniors Jamie Hunt, Nate Schnugg, and Christian Vitulli, who played primarily at Nos. 2, 3, and 5 a season ago with 72 dual match victories between them. Back are rising seniors Javier Garrapiz and Drake Bernstein - last season's No. 1 and 4.

"Undoubtedly we have more depth than we had last year, no question," Diaz said. "These guys join our senior leaders in Javi and Drake who are great competitors with a ton of zeal and passion. These guys all love to work and we're looking forward to this year and next."

The first two commitments Diaz inked for 2010-11 were formally announced on Nov. 19, 2009, in the thick of Georgia's fall schedule. Diaz announced that day the addition of Garrett Brasseaux and Campbell Johnson, a pair of top-20 Juniors.

Brasseaux, a native of Mandeville, La., spent his senior year ranked the top player in Louisiana and was as high as No. 17 in the nation. Over the course of his Juniors career he captured wins at 12s, 16s, and 18s of the USTA Southern Closed and spent time as No. 1 in the Southern Section.

"Once I saw everything Georgia has to offer, I wanted to be here," Brasseaux said. "This team expects to win, and the guys are great. I looked at Alabama, Ohio State, Virginia, and LSU, but I wanted to be here."

Johnson, meanwhile, hails from the other side of the country in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., a stone's throw from tennis powerhouses UCLA, USC, and Pepperdine and within a few hours of Stanford, Cal, and Fresno State. But Johnson chose Georgia.

During his senior year Johnson was ranked sixth in the state and 12^th in the nation, not to mention a nod of No. 4 in Southern California, widely considered the toughest section in the U.S.

After Brasseaux and Johnson were signed, Diaz said, he didn't know where the rest of the recruiting year would take him, but knew it gave him a good starting point.

"I hoped to add one or two more after that," he said. "The last few years we've had some tough luck with recruiting and things that have happened. Kids deciding to turn pro, this and that, and we've missed out on some other possibilities."

"We've had holes in recruiting, and last year we didn't have any sophomores on the team and lost our top freshman, so when some more options were opening up we continued to work hard."

On Dec. 12, Diaz announced the third member of the UGA Class of 2014 in his middle son, Eric. The younger Diaz this past May led Athens' Monsignor Donovan High School to its first state championship while notching his fourth straight individual title with an undefeated 8-0 record.

He lost just two games all season.

"I talked to Eric a lot about where he would go play, and I did talk to him about the possibility of getting away from home," Manuel said. "He told me all along he wanted the opportunity to be a part of this program and to train with the best players and be challenged. As a father I'm happy for him to get that opportunity and I'm glad he'll be close by. I know he always wanted to be at Georgia."

So says Eric.

He's been around Georgia men's tennis as long as he can recall. He remembers watching the 1999 national championship team in the stands at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. He remembers idolizing Hisham Hemeda, Georgia's Egyptian standout who played No. 1 for the Bulldogs on that team.

"I've always been here. I've always been a Bulldog," he said. "I never wanted to go anywhere else."

After Eric, No. 4 on the list came in a player that Diaz had initially recruited two years before.

Texas A&M standout Wil Spencer, a native of Ponce de Leon, Fla., had considered Georgia out of high school but chose Texas A&M. When Spencer chose not to return to school for his junior year, Diaz showed up in his living room for the second time.

Spencer then decided to take a year off, but is headed to Athens this fall. It looked for a while as if he could potentially join the Bulldogs in the spring of 2010, but it didn't happen.

"In a way I'm glad he didn't come until now, because we have a full two years to work with him and help him develop to his full potential," Diaz said.

Spencer's time at A&M saw him compile a 24-12 singles record and he finished the 2009 season ranked No. 51 before he left. In January of 2009 he was as high as No. 8 in the country and had logged 10 wins over nationally-ranked foes. He was the second-highest rated player in the country in the 2008 class before he chose the Aggies.

Fast forward to the spring of 2010.

"We heard about this boy at Auburn Montgomery," Diaz said. AUM is an NAIA school with nine men's tennis championships in the books.

Thus began the quest to land France native Sadio Doumbia.

"This is a kid that wanted to play DI tennis and was a 3.9 student at his previous school," Diaz said. "He was a top-10 NAIA player."

Diaz and associate head coach Will Glenn went to AUM to watch Doumbia. Impressed with both his skill level and his work ethic, the pair met with him after a team practice and noticed his hunger.

"Just the other night when Sadio got into town right off his flight from France, I met with him and the first thing he said to me was, 'Coach, are we going to win it this year?'" Diaz said. "That's what you want to hear."

Doumbia finished the 2010 season ranked sixth in the NAIA and was as high as five during the year. He earned first team All-America accolades and helped the Senators to the NCAA title with a 21-1 singles record.

"I want to be here," Doumbia said. "I want to play for the best team possible. I want to be a part of what UGA is - to play where players like John Isner played. I want to win the NCAAs."

Both Spencer and Doumbia are eligible to play for the Bulldogs this fall and will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Those two brought Diaz's number to five.

Surely that was it.

The end of the regular-season was tumultuous for Diaz and his squad, as the team lost star freshman Bo Seal for a violation of team policy and dropped its first round match to Auburn in the SEC Tournament. But when the team returned to Athens to host the NCAA Championships a record 26^th time, things turned around in a hurry, as Georgia cruised through to an eventual place in the semifinals in front of the home crowd.

After that, as summer got underway, Diaz heard from Ignacio Taboada, an Atlanta native who Diaz recruited out of high school. Taboada had played his first two seasons at Miami but was seeking a transfer and wanted to be closer to home. He, too, will enter as a junior with two years left to play.

Taboada went 13-7 as a sophomore for the Hurricanes in 2009-10, including 4-2 at No. 5 and 6-3 at No. 6 during the dual match season. During his freshman season Taboada was the first Hurricane to post 20 wins in a season since 2003-04 and just the 21st in Miami men's tennis history, finishing the 2008-09 campaign with a mark of 23-12.

"Ignacio has a lot of friends at UGA and his family close by," Diaz said. "With him we've added great talent."

Since December, Diaz said, the Georgia staff had been in touch with yet another young player in 17-year-old Hernus Pieters, a South African.

This past spring, Pieters and his coach told Diaz that Pieters intended to finish high school early and come to Georgia. The question was simply when - if he would come this fall or wait until the spring of 2011.

"Hernus came here for a visit after he competed at Junior Wimbledon," Diaz said. "He met some of our players and watched the ITA event we had on campus, looked at campus, and told us he was coming here in the fall after he went home and consulted with his family and coaches."

Pieters attained a career-high ITF ranking of 72 in April. He reached the singles semifinals of the African Championships, competing with 140 players from 42 nations. He was the No. 1 player in the country at U-18.

Diaz said things moved quickly with both Taboada and Pieters. Suddenly the number was seven.

Just in time for school to start Monday and the 2010-11 season to get going.

"This is such a diverse group," the head coach said. "You have a kid from California, a kid from New Orleans. A local boy from Athens. Wil from Florida, coming from Texas A&M. Then Sadio from France and Hernus from South Africa, who is a 17-hour plane ride away from home."

"It's just weird how it all happened," Diaz went on. "Sometimes you recruit so hard and come up empty-handed, but this year it just happened. You have kids who want to come here and be a part of the history and tradition that Georgia has, that want to help us win."

"We've set a great foundation for the next four years - even though some of these guys will only be here for two. They will make an impact on Georgia Tennis for years down the road."