Joel: He should have come out, because without Matthew Stafford and with a constantly improving Southeastern Conference, how on earth was Moreno going to improve his stock?

Brian George: A crowded running back crop will make Moreno wish he had stuck around Athens. (Which is lovely this time of year.)

Erik Bell: You can't fault Moreno for leaving when he risks a substantial payday - if, of course, he's drafted where he's planning to be -- if he gets injured after coming back to the Bulldogs.

Let's take on the first two, because I think everyone can agree with Erik's point that there are a lot of risks -- which can be covered by insurance, of course, if you're Tim Tebow -- involved with continuing to play without a paycheck. (Cue the "education is a paycheck!!" crowd.)

Tebow's back, and as long as Urban Meyer sticks around -- I happen to believe he'll be the coach at Notre Dame in 2009, but what do I know? -- the Gators are the SEC's top dog. Alabama, clearly, is on the right track. Les Miles and LSU can't be discounted, and Houston Nutt has Ole Miss on the right track.

So even if Moreno comes back, there's a good chance the Bulldogs are a middle-of-the-road team in an ultra-competitive conference, and there's going to be a lot of times Moreno's relegated to pass blocking as the Dawgs attempt to rally from deficits.

There's two votes for leaving.

So back to that loaded running back crop, which does seem to be awfully deep: Ohio State's Chris Wells, Iowa's Shonn Greene, UConn's Donald Brown, Wisconsin's P.J. Hill and Alabama's Glen Coffee ... and that's just the already-declared underclassmen. Add in seniors James Davis of Clemson and Javon Ringer of Michigan State -- and possible early-entrants C.J. Spiller of Clemson and LeSean McCoy of Pitt, and whew! That's a class.

Yet Moreno is likely at the top of the list because he's a known quantity. He ran for 2,736 yards and 30 touchdowns in two full seasons between the hedges, and most importantly, he did it in the SEC which, whether you like it or not, has the best reputation in the land.

Meanwhile, his competitors all have some sort of question mark:

Can Wells stay healthy?

Just who is Shonn Greene? He came out of nowhere and had a productive season -- 1,850 yards and 20 touchdowns -- but ran for 398 yards total in the two seasons prior. The same goes for Brown, who ran for nearly 4,000 yards in three seasons at UConn -- as the lone cowboy. Brown carried the ball 367 times in 2008 -- so you know he can handle the load - but he did it against Big East competition.

Hill, like Wells, has had durability issues, and Coffee, like Brown and Greene, is something of an unknown: the former Crimson Tide standout averaged 5.9 yards per carry this season but was used little the previous two seasons.

Moreno's best competition, despite mock drafts all over the web having him and Wells as the only two to go in the first round, might come from Spiller and McCoy, who ESPN's Todd McShay grades at 87 and 91, respectively; Moreno charts at 94, and Wells 91.

Given that evidence -- Moreno is essentially at the top of an admittedly crowded running back heap -- there's no reason for a guy with little left to prove in college to return.

Take THAT, Brian George!