He is the Bowden boy without the thick-as-gravy drawl; the one with that annoyin' habit of stickin' g's on the ends of words like annoying and sticking. He is also the one Bowden boy who was trusted enough to take over the reins of FSU's attack so the old man could kick back in his yellow wraparounds.

Mark Richt wasn't born a Bowden-he was reborn one, a Garnet-and-Gold-dipped, play-calling whiz who found God after a bullet found one of his O-linemen 14 years ago. Richt never thought he'd leave Tallahassee, and neither did anybody else, including Papa Nole himself. Many figured Richt, 40, would succeed Bowden and preside over college football's Bling dynasty.

As architect of FSU's top-ranked offense and mentor to a pair of Heisman-winning quarterbacks, Richt certainly turned away his share of suitors. Two years ago, Pittsburgh came calling unannounced. Last year, his name was thrown into the LSU rumor mill. Finally, all those cold calls got Richt to thinking: with Bowden showing no signs of slowing down, maybe he should check out his market value in earnest. What Richt learned was that he had the hottest name in the coaching biz, and by December, he found himself criss-crossing the country from Missouri to Virginia to Georgia, sifting through job openings.

Richt told close friends he had no interest in leaving FSU for "another job." But a new career-at a school where he could win big and never leave-would be worth uprooting his family for. That school, Richt decided, was Georgia. So on Christmas Day, with gifts still on the floor of the family's cozy, three-bedroom brick home in northern Tallahassee, Richt and his wife, Katharyn, gathered up their four children and dressed them in Georgia Bulldog Red for a flight to Athens and the announcement that would change their lives. As he was driving through Tallahassee one last time, Richt called Bowden at home to confirm what was already suspected-Richt had gone to the Dawgs. It was not a very long conversation. "It was difficult but he knew that it would happen," says Richt. "And he was very happy for me."

Richt had signed on with Georgia on the condition that he could coach at FSU through the Orange Bowl. Hectic pregame preparations had kept Richt and Bowden from sitting down at the Moore Athletic Center for a private talk until Jan. 5. So, after packing his career into cardboard boxes, Richt walked past FSU's collection of trophies and bowl hardware and into Bowden's office. Once again, he listened intently as Bowden spoke of the demands of head coaching and the stresses the job can create on family life.

"They were things he had said before," says Richt. "But it just shows how much he cares." Richt says that final conversation with Bowden was mostly his opportunity to thank the man who had taught him so much more than how to embarrass a defense: "He was more than just a boss to me, he was a mentor in a lot of ways. I learned from Coach Bowden by just observing him. He always dealt honestly and fairly with everybody."

If you think Southern politics are cutthroat, take a look at big-time recruiting. In this game, no one's hands-or conscience-are totally clean, especially among newly hired coaches. In 1998, Rick Neuheisel tried to pluck some of his ex-Colorado players after he took the Washington job, touching off the West's ugliest feud in years. In '99, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops raided the staff of his old boss, Bill Snyder at Kansas State, creating bad blood that still boils. But Richt and Bowden's relationship is far from typical. Bowden gave Richt his first coaching job as a graduate assistant in 1985. A year later, he offered him salvation.

Raised in ritzy Boca Raton, 400 miles downstate and neon-light years away from Tallahassee, Richt spent most of his college playing career holding a clipboard as Jim Kelly's backup at Miami. Off the field, though, Richt got more action. He talks dismissively about his days in southern Florida, where he "hung out with a pretty wild bunch." When Richt arrived at Tallahassee as a grad assistant, he was as likely to stay out in the bars on Tennessee Street until 1 a.m. as he was to watch films in the office at 6 a.m. But all that changed because of Bowden and an FSU offensive tackle named Pablo Lopez.

In 1986 Lopez was killed by a gunshot outside a party. In a team meeting the next day, Bowden spoke about his faith and how, because he had accepted Christ, he knew where he would be spending eternity. Then Bowden pointed to an empty chair where Perez should have been sitting. "What if that was you?" Bowden asked the team. "Do you know where you'd be spending eternity?"

Richt, who was seated in the back of the room, would never be the same again. The next day, with Bowden's help, Richt began a religious conversion that remains the focal point of his life. In fact, the last thing the Richts did before leaving for Athens was attend Celebration Baptist in Tallahassee for a tearful farewell to their church family. So Richt wasn't just leaving a program and a mentor; he was leaving an extended family and a way of life. He headed for Athens convinced of one thing: As much as he needed to get the Bulldogs to the top, he would never do anything to hurt FSU or Bobby Bowden.

To the Bulldog Nation, the only order of business is winning. The pressure between the hedges has reached you've-gotta-be-kidding proportions. The Dawgs haven't won an SEC title since 1982, when Herschel Walker was toting the rock. Richt's predecessor, Jim Donnan, won 40 games, including four bowls, in five years and still got the boot. Donnan, 6-14 against Georgia's four biggest rivals (Florida, Tennessee, Auburn and Georgia Tech), just didn't win enough when it counted. Richt was fully aware that he could field a Top-10 team and still finish third in the SEC East, behind Florida and Tennessee. And he knew that if he was going to do better than that-and he had to do better than that-he'd need to find a quarterback around whom he could build a scoring machine like those he'd structured for Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke.

Some offenses can get by with just average ability behind center, but not Richt's. His QB must be fearless, because his system is predicated on making quick decisions under pressure. Which is exactly what Richt had to do when he arrived in Athens and Georgia QB Quincy Carter, a three-year starter, announced he had decided not to return for his senior year. Carter had come under heavy fire from Georgia fans after throwing five interceptions in a Sept. 9 loss to South Carolina, and went on to have what can charitably be called an inconsistent junior season. When Richt took the job, there was speculation that Carter would return to work under him for one season, hoping to improve his draft status. But Carter, weighed down by memories of an autumn full of boos, was unwilling to digest a whole new scheme, much less compete for the starting job.

After grooming six FSU quarterbacks for the NFL, Richt certainly knows how to spot the right kind of talent. Take Minnesota fireballer Joe Mauer, the nation's No.1 prep QB according to ESPN.com analyst Tom Lemming. Richt had been recruiting the 6'4", 215-pounder hard for 18 months. But Mauer says he hasn't heard from Richt since December, and he doesn't expect to. "I really liked him. He was a straightforward kind of guy, and he obviously knows how to coach quarterbacks," says Mauer. "But I understand that he didn't want to get involved now with some of the guys he was recruiting for Florida State."

With just a little prodding from Richt, some current FSU players might have made the switch to UGa. Quarterback Chris Rix, a redshirt freshman from California, picked the Seminoles over Arizona State, USC and Washington because he wanted to learn under Richt. When Rix called Richt to wish him a merry Christmas, he ended up heartbroken; he was the first Seminole to learn Richt had taken the job at Georgia. There were early murmurs in the press that Rix might transfer to Georgia, but Richt quickly shut down that possibility. "He didn't ask me, and if he had I would have said no," says Richt. "As much as I love the kid, it would not have been a wise move. He made a commitment to Coach Bowden, and he's established himself there. It would have been really messy for both schools. It's just not the right thing to do."

But there was one other young arm out there on the FSU track that just might fill the bill.

Four years ago, on a sticky-hot summer morning in Tallahassee, a skinny kid named D.J. Shockley showed up at FSU's summer camp. Back then, D.J. was just a laid-back 14-year-old along for the ride while his daddy, Don, the coach at North Clayton High in College Park, Ga., brought some players down to learn some Seminole football. D.J., a budding shortstop, played quarterback like a baseball player-with a wind-up delivery and bounding strides. But Richt saw flashes in him right away-not just in his gun and his wheels, but his poise and presence. Richt thought he was spying a young Charlie Ward. The freshman went on to win the camp's QB Challenge, beating out an army of upperclassmen.

D.J.'s old man also took to Richt. He attended the Seminoles' coaching clinic three years in a row, and installed a scheme that was a virtual replica of FSU's, right down to the terminology. "They've got formations called Rifle and Panther, and so do we," says Don Shockley. "They run a 'Cadillac,' and so do we." Richt even showed the Shockleys tapes of the fast-break shotgun attack Ward used to pilot the Seminoles to a national title.

This fall, Florida State did a great job recruiting all the Shockleys. Tanya, D.J.'s mom, went to visit Tallahassee in December fully prepared not to like it. "My wife wasn't a big Florida State fan," says Don, who, like his wife, attended Florida A&M, across town from FSU in Tallahassee. "She thought they had too much talent-that D.J. would get lost." When Bowden laid on the Southern charm as only he can, and Richt quietly reassured both parents that D.J. would be in good hands on and off the field, the Shockleys were sold. "My wife walked away thinking this might be it," says Don. Truth is, FSU was it-until a few days before Christmas, when the rumors heated up about Richt and Georgia. "I had dropped Georgia down on my list when they fired Coach Donnan, because I didn't know what was going to happen there," says D.J. "But I told my mom and dad that if Coach Richt took the job, we'd have to take another look."

History aside, Richt would not have had a prayer at landing D.J. if he hadn't held on to Donnan's recruiting coordinator, Rodney Garner. A former Auburn defensive lineman, the burly 34-year-old is the country's fiercest recruiter and is boys with everyone in Georgia who owns a whistle and a stopwatch. Many of Georgia's top prep prospects, like RB Jabari Davis, DT Darrell Holmes and CB Ahmad Carroll, say they don't care who Georgia's head coach is. If Rodney Garner isn't there, they're not setting foot anywhere near Athens. "To be honest, we felt that way too," says Don. "Everybody in the recruiting business has got their little song-and-dance, but you ask yourself, can you trust them with your child? And around here, everyone trusts Rodney."

On Jan. 14, just three hours after D.J. arrived home from a visit to North Carolina, Richt and Garner were sitting in the Shockley living room. That Sunday evening was the beginning of a "live" recruiting period when coaches are allowed to seek out recruits. And Richt wanted D.J. to understand that his home was the first that Georgia wanted to visit. D.J. had seen enough, and shocked the Bulldog coaches with an early commitment. "There wasn't any reason to wait until signing day," says the 6'2", 200-pound Shockley. "I know Georgia is where my heart is, and Coach Richt just made it a better place."

It's been less than a month since Richt's moving day, and more has changed besides Shockley's surprise announcement, which Richt and Georgia hope will have a snowball effect on future recruits. At FSU, which can afford to lose one here and there and retain that dynastic gleam, there's little rancor. "If there's a player we both want," says Bowden, "I know Mark will go after him. We understand that. When you lose coaches, you have to accept that you will lose recruits, too." Fine. After all, Georgia's won just one little recruiting battle. But whether Richt-or Bowden-like it or not, their border war has just begun.

This article appears in the February 5 issue of ESPN The Magazine.