Georgia Football Preview
2006 was the ultimate in Jekyll & Hyde football for the Dawgs. There was the points in the season where we lost to Vanderbilt and Kentucky, and with all due respect to my friend Stu, we shouldn’t be losing to Vandy (or Kentucky)–ever.
The biggest reason for those losses was the most devastating injury (in practice, no less) to placekicker Brandon Coutu, one of the best in the nation. His back up was the awful Andy Bailey. Thanks to Bailey, Georgia started going for 2 point conversions more than I have seen any college football team do in recent memory.
It was that bad with Bailey.
Plus, there was the Tennessee debacle where we took a solid lead into halftime and came out in the 2nd half (at home) and got killed. We allowed Erik Ainge to play like he was Joe Montana and lost badly. But then we closed the season with three straight big wins including a road thrashing of Auburn, our usual win over a feisty Georgia Tech, and a stirring comeback win in the Chick Fil-A Bowl against ranked Virginia Tech.
The key for Georgia’s upswing at the end of the 2006 season was the growth of freshman sensation Quarterback, Matthew Stafford, one of the most heralded recruits in Georgia history, and the hope to Georgia fans to finally bring us home another national championship–a taste we haven’t experienced since 1980.
Stafford looked like a typical Freshman during much of the season, stuck early behind fill-in senior legacy, Joe Tereshinski III, and even had to be pulled in the 4th Quarter of a possible embarrassing home loss to a mediocre Colorado team because he was so ineffective, before back up Joe Cox bailed us out.
But Stafford matured towards the end, took control, and got on the same page as new offensive coordinator (and former Georgia QB) Mike Bobo, and the team hit a peak in the last 3 games–all good wins over good teams.
Part of Georgia’s problem is the national media. Despite the overwhelming success Mark Richt has been brought this program in his first 5 seasons (including 2 SEC titles) the national media is in love with Spurrier, Fulmer, Saban and Urban Meyer, and Georgia continues to have to fight for respect and fight uphill with their quiet leader.
This year, Georgia has a real uphill battle with several losses along the offensive line and the defense line including stalwarts Charles Johnson, Quentin Moses & Ray Gant. A lot of pressure is on Stafford and his receivers, but I think he can handle it.
The Schedule:
S1 vs. OKLAHOMA STATE (Athens)
S8 vs. SOUTH CAROLINA (Athens)
S15 vs. WESTERN CAROLINA (Athens)
S22 @ Alabama (Tuscaloosa)
S29 vs. OLE MISS (Athens)
O6 @ Tennessee (Knoxville)
O13 @ Vanderbilt (Nashville)
O20 BYE
O27 @ Florida (Jacksonville) - THIS IS ALWAYS A ROAD GAME UNTIL THEY START HAVING HALF THESE GAMES IN ATLANTA
N3 vs. TROY (Athens)
N10 vs. AUBURN (Athens)
N17 vs. KENTUCKY (Athens)
N24 @ Georgia Tech (Atlanta - high school stadium)
Quarterbacks
This team starts & ends with what Matthew Stafford does. While ESPN continues to lap up Tim Tebow and his little runs like he’s Randall Cunningham, Matthew Stafford will be the best Quarterback in the SEC. Yes, better than Ainge, Blake Mitchell, Tebow, & even the vaunted Matt Flynn. We may not win the SEC, but he’s the most talented Quarterback in the conference. No matter how much ESPN promotes Tebow. As Mel Kiper said, Stafford has the best arm in college football and will be playing on Sundays.
He has a firm handle on this offense now and has plenty of weapons around him. Behind Staff, Matt has a very solid back up in Joe Cox. Cox proved himself on a few occasions last year, in particular the Colorado game, but he gives the Dawgs depth. After Cox, Blake Barnes has talent but is not going to break in, and the Dawgs added a terrific freshman named Logan Gray, who offers a tremendous arm and running attack.
Running Backs
This position will also be even stronger this year with a healthy & returning Thomas Brown, a lightning quick back with great explosiveness. He will start, but is being pushed hard by a top notch recruit named Knowshorn Moreno. Moreno has been a beast during practice and spring drills and many think he may yank the starting job sooner than later, no matter how good Brown is.
Also back and a contender for big minutes is talented Kregg Lumpkin. Like Brown, he got over a major leg injury a few years back, but is very talented and just gives the Dawgs even more great depth. The depth is so good at RB, that heralded star freshman recruit Caleb King, is now going to redshirt. Like QB, this should be a position of terrific strength for Georgia.
Wide Receivers
The weapons for Stafford got deeper once again with the return of 5th year senior, the speedy Sean Bailey. Bailey put on a show in the SEC Championship game in 2005 (receiving 2 TD passes from then senior starter, DJ Shockley) before breaking his leg and losing the 2006 season. Bailey returns to a deeper, more mature corps of receivers.
The other expected starter along with Bailey is the electrifying Mikey Henderson, who became a highlight reel for the Dawgs with some electrifying punt return touchdowns last year. Pushing Henderson and Bailey will be AJ Bryant & Mohammed Mossaqoi, two more talented receivers who shouild see plenty of playing time. Big things are expected from Mossaqoi to finally deliver on some of the promse he’s shown.
Also expected to see regular field duty will be Kenneth Harris, solid with the occasional flashy catch, and star recruit Israel Troupe. Kris Durham is another lanky, 6-6 receiver who also made the occasional big catch.
Tight end should be a big upgrade this year with the departure of Matrez Milner; Milner had great physical gifts but couldn’t hang onto to the damn ball and his end zone drops singlehandedly cost us the Florida game.
Many Georgia fans are relieved to see Tripp Chandler as the starter, who’s not as athletically gifted as Milner, but good hands, a good blocker and very reliable. He will be pushed by a pair of talented back ups including 6-6 Coleman Watson and former star recruit, Na’Derris Ward.
Offensive Line
Many predictors have been saying Georgia’s offensive line could be a huge problem with all the departures, but heralded freshman Trinton Sturdivant has come in and immediately made a huge impact, so a lot of the concerns have been eased.
Georgia has two returning starters in Fernando Velasco and Chester Adams, who are both a year older and more experienced, and should help the younger players coming in like Chris Davis.
Also helping will be another new starter, JUCO transfer Scott Haverkamp.
Overall, the offensive line will have it’s off moments at times, but this unit will actually be a lot more solid then being projected, and should still give Stafford’s rocket arm enough time to get his downfield touchdown passes off.
And keep an eye on Military college transfer Vince Vance–very talented and a good chance he pushes his way into a starting role this season.
Defensive Line
There’s a whole bunch of new starters on the Defensive line with the departures of stalwarts like Moses, Johnson & Gant. However, at a school like Georgia, we are expected to reload and not rebuild, and the new starters should perform better than the national media wants to give them credit for.
Among the new starters is Jeff Owens, a talented and speedy back up who finally gets a chance to start. Marcus Owens and Geno Atkins, two more small & speedy defensive players are expected to start as well.
The star on the line this year should be Sophomore Roderick Battle. Very talented, a very hard hitter.
Among the reserves, the x-factor player in my opinion is Kade Weston. Like running back Knowshorn Moreno, Weston was a star recruit from the state of New Jersey a few years ago but some weight issues have prevented him from realizing his full potential. He’s mammoth and could be a huge run stopping force for Georgia–if he can keep his weight somewhat under control.
All in all, this will not be Georgia’s best Defensive line by any means, but it will be competitive. It’s hopeful that even the games this unit doesn’t play as well, Stafford’s high octane offense will be putting major points on the board to supplement.
Linebackers
Georgia lost two more good players here with the graduation of Tony Taylor and Jarvis Jackson.
However, Georgia has a chance to be just as good this season with super fast linebackers like Darnell Ellerbee, Darius Dewberry (another big time recruit ready to break out) and Brandon Miller, who was one of the top linebacking recruits in the country a few years back, but has had mounting injuries at times. I think Miller will be the one who’s the leader of this group.
The key reserve is Marcus Washington–a very hard hitter like many others on the Dawgs defensive depth chart. After that, depth is in thin if there are injuries and it might gives some talented freshmen a chance to play. What hurt the depth even more was the loss of Akeem Hebron who was suspended for the year. Hebron was expected to be the star here.
Secondary
A few months ago, us Georgia fans received crushing news when it was announced that star cornerback, and the guy would have probably been our best defensive player in 2007, Paul Oliver, was ruled academically ineligible. This was a very tough loss and definitely is affecting the way a lot of analysts are viewing Georgia’s defense this year.
Oliver ended up being taken by a shrewd Chargers organization in the 2nd round of the NFL’s supplemental draft.
So, the Dawgs have to pick up the pieces and thankfully, there are some other studs to help do that.
It starts with safety Kelin Johnson, who had some of the best highlight reel hits on wide receivers of anyone this past year. Kelin’s safety cohort will be CJ Byrd, who also has a wealth of talent and should keep Georgia strong at safety.
Trying to offset the loss of Oliver at Corner, will be Bryan Evans and Asher Allen. Evans is solid, but Allen is the player with the star potential. Another heralded recruit who needs to step up this year and hopefully become a leader.
However, Georgia coaches love what they see out of star reserve safety Reshard Jones and there’s a good chance Jones likely takes Evans or Allen’s starting corner spot, just to get him onto the field sooner than later. We’re also very excited about another big recruit named Quentin Banks, a sophomore and possibly the best hitter in the group.
Despite how hard the loss was of Paul Oliver, this group still has the potential to strike fear into opposing receivers.
Special Teams
Despite the graduation of excellent punter, Gordon Ely-Kelso, Georgia is fortunate to have back one of the best kickers in the country in Brandon Coutu.
Coutu’s injury last year was a huge factor in the Vanderbilt and Kentucky losses, as back up Andy Bailey gave ulcers every second he strode onto the field. Hopefully, Coutu will stay healthy and Georgia fans will never ever have to see Andy Bailey ever kick again–he flat out sucks. Sucks, sucks, sucks.
Andy Bailey = the Chris Reitsma of Georgia football.
With Ely-Kelso gone, the punting duties come down to either junior Brian Mimbs or fresman legacy, Drew Butler, son of former Dog kicking legend, Kevin Butler, who went onto a great career with the Chicago Bears.
But as long as we have Coutu, we will win at least 2-3 games because of him alone this year.
Outlook
Most forecasters are dismissing Georgia as a legit threat in the SEC. Frankly, I don’t understand why.
Yes, without question LSU is the best team in the conference and deserves to be favored to win in Atlanta in early December.
But while every single person at ESPN, Fox, CBS, etc. is gaga over Florida, again (and let’s face it, our won-loss record with Florida the last 16 years gives anyone pause) I am not at all sold of Tim Tebow’s ‘gimmick’ making him a sudden star. He doesn’t nearly have the arm of a Stafford, though certainly Tebow has the weapons, if his arm shows more than we’ve all seen.
But keep in mind that Florida lost all their defensive starters practically and despite being loaded once again recruiting-wise, Florida will have to outscore teams to win this year. That generally doesn’t work all the time (see: 2007 Braves).
Tennessee is now dealing with an injured Erik Ainge and some big losses of star players on their offense. Sure, I don’t expect Georgia to blow either team out, but let’s just say I won’t be as shocked as say Lee Corso if Georgia wins both those huge rivalry games. Mark Richt is 3-0 as Georgia coach at Neyland Stadium and we have a chance to be 4-0 this year. That big disgusting sea of orange does not intimidate us and we’ll have revenge on our minds.
The sleeper SEC East team of course is South Carolina. With the evil genius Spurrier and better talent, it would not be shocking for this USC to possible sneak ahead of all of us in the division and represent the East in Atlanta.
So, I will save making actually predictions on individual games and put the Dawgs at 10 wins, Bowl game included. No matter how much America dismisses the Dawgs or ignores the quiet confidence of Mark Richt, I know what we’re capable of and these kids will play hard and smart for Richt.
GO DAWGS.
- Alex R.