Georgia Bulldogs Season Preview
As Mark Richt enters his 10th season as Georgia head coach, the dean of SEC head coaches enters into a major crossroads, as the Dawgs are coming off two hugely disappointing seasons, finishing at 8-5 in 2009 and then below .500 at 6-7, in 2010. Even the 2008 season, in which Georgia finished at 10-3, was a disappointment coming off an ‘07 season that saw Georgia win it’s last 8 games in a row and finishing #2 overall. The Dawgs entered 2008 pre-season #1…and ended the year in the Capital One Bowl playing an average Michigan State team.
Unfortunately, Richt is firmly on the hot seat and if Georgia doesn’t show significant improvement this year, there’s a very good chance the guy running Alabama’s defense will be Georgia’s next head coach.
Keep in mind that Richt has two SEC championships and a 96-34 overall record as head coach, so the guy has earned a lot of good will. But he also has the dubious distinction of being the last guy to win an SEC Championship (2005) that didn’t also win the BCS National Cgampionship.
Offense
At Quarterback, the #1 reason for optimism this year is that Georgia comes to the table with arguably the best Quarterback in the SEC in Aaron Murray. Despite the 6-7 finish, Murray was the top rated Freshman passer in the country, and with the exception of a bad bowl performance, Murray had a completion % of 62%, threw 24 touchdowns to only 8 INTs, and 2,851 passing yards. He also rushed for 4 TDs. Murray was 2nd in SEC history for a Freshman with 3,216 total yards of offense.Overall, he was ranked 14th in the country in passer rating efficiency and finished with a Quarterback rating of 162.72.
When the best player on your team, potentially, is your Quarterback, then good things are bound to happen. Behind Murray, the Dawgs have a solid #2 QB in Hutson Mason and recruited one of the most highly touted Freshman in the country, Christian Lemay, who’s good enough to play now.
At receiver, Murray loses A.J. Green to the NFL. A.J. was the best receiver in the SEC and if you factor in the 4 games he was forced to miss based on a bad ruling by the NCAA for a jersey selling incident, Green was easily the best receiver in the country. It wasn’t an accident that he was the first receiver off the board in the NFL Draft in April (4th overall to Cinncinati) – that’s quite a horse to replace.
But Murray has weapons. Not only will Murray be better and no A.J. will give him the opportunity to spread the ball around, but Georgia also has back Murray’s Tampa high school teammate and one of the best tight ends in the country, Orson Charles. Charles figures to become a top target for Murray, especially in the red zone. In addition, Murray should also have another key weapon outside with Junior Tavarres King, who should be a dangerous deep threat. No, he’s not AJ Green but few receivers ever are AJ Green. The Dawgs will be looking at a number of receivers to step up and fill the void behind King and Charles, including Junior Marlon Brown, a lanky 6-5 receiver who was a 5-star recruit but hasn’t yet lived up to the billing, as well as redshirt sophomore Rontavious Wooten. The Dawgs are deep at tight end. After Charles, Georgia has Junior Arthur Lynch (who could start on most teams) and the most highly touted freshmen tight end in the nation, Jay Rome. But the guy that’s been getting the most audible gasps in practice is freshman Malcolm Mitchell, who’s such an unbelievable athlete, he might be on the field in the opener.
At running back, Georgia’s in “high risk, high reward” territory. The Dawgs top 2 rushers from a year ago, Washaun Ealey and Caleb King, are both gone from the program. They were two of the biggest headaches for Richt and two guys who didn’t want to get into the Dawgs new culture and attitude around Butts Mehre these days. But that’s a lot of production to replace. Stepping in to fill the void is the #1 running back recruit in the country, freshman Isaiah Crowell, who famously pulled out a white, English Bulldog puppy on signing day, to announce his intention to sign with Georgia. With all the attrition, Richt will need Crowell to step up, along with senior Richard Samuel, who was forced back to RB with the personnel changes (he had switched to linebacker).
If the offensive line stays healthy, it has the chance to be very, very good under new OL coach Will Friend. Led by Center Ben Jones and left tackle Cordy Glenn. Both have all America potential. The bad news is Georgia lost 4 guys along the offensive line. They graduated Josh Davis, Chris Davis and Clint Boling (who like AJ Green, was drafted by the Bengals), and the most tragic loss was Trinton Sturdivant, at one time was potentially the best left tackle in the nation, and was now lost for a 3rd straight season to reconstructive knee surgery.
The OL starting 5 will be very stout and effective, led by Jones and Glenn. The issue for Georgia is if any of the line starters goes down for significant time as their isn’t much depth behind them. The line took a major hit last month when former 5-star recruit Brent Benedict transferred to Virginia Tech because he couldn’t handle Georgia’s harsh new S&C program. (ahem, pu**y).
Defense
The biggest reason Georgia fans have so much optimism in 2011 is actually because of the revamped defense.
2010 was a rough year all the way around, as Georgia was breaking in a new Defensive Coordinator, Todd Grantham, who switched the Dawgs from thr 4-3 they had under Willie Martinez, to the 3-4. However, for the 3-4 to actually work, you have to have the horses. A perfect example was the 2009-2010 Alabama defense that had a massive nose tackle in Terrence Cody, that could eat up a ton of space (and block the sun).
Because there wasn’t a Cody lying around the locker room for Grantham, he was forced to play end Deangelo Tyson out of position at tackle, and Tyson couldn’t give the Dawgs what they needed. Enter JUCO transfer John Jenkins and Kwame Geathers.
As Georgia fans got to witness in our G-Day spring game, the new beasts up front are stirring memories of the days when Georgia had Marcus Stroud and Richard Seymour upfront. Jenkins, in particular, is mammoth and coming in as a JUCO transfer, many feel he can do for the Dawgs up front what Cody did for Bama in 2009, and Nick Fairley did (albeit a lot dirtier) for Auburn in 2010.
With Jenkins and Geathers eating space, Tyson moves to his natural position at end, where he’s back to excelling. The other starter at the end position is Abry Jones, who had 34 tackles last year. There’s strong depth as the talented duo of Derrick Lott and former 5-star recruit Garrison Smith are backing up the positions.
At Linebacker, this is another position that Georgia’s about to have massive improvement from last year to this year. Enter USC transfer Jarvis Jones. Jones started as a freshman for the Trojans before injuring his neck in a game with Oregon two seasons ago. Jones is an absolute terror and has been terrorizing people in practice. Jones starts at inside linebacker with Cornelius Washington, who started 8 games and had 24 tackles last year.
At inside linebacker, the Dawgs have two potential All Americans with defensive captain Christian Robinson and the guy who may be one of the best defensive players in the country this year (call it a breakout party for him), Alec Ogletree. Ogletree has been destroying people in practice and athletically, one of the most gifted players on the team. So while national publications don’t seem to know a lot about our defense, Georgia has 3 potential All Americans starting at linebacker.
Georgia did take a hit losing ILB Akeem Dent and star Justin Houston. Houston was an absolute terror for Georgia in 2010, one of the few defensive bright spots last year. But this overall unit stands to be a lot stronger.
The secondary is led by one of the fastest players in the SEC, Senior Brandon Boykin, at cornerback. despite being just 5-10, Boykin is a ballhawk and a speed demon and one of the defensive players who is getting attention from the national services. Starting at the other corner spot is Junior Sanders Commings, a solid veteran player who’s been consistent during his time with the Dawgs.
Junior Shawn Williams has opened a ton of eyes this summer and will be a starter at one of the safety spots. Williams was expected to battle 2010 JUCO transfer Jakar Hamilton, but Williams had already beaten Hamilton out when Jakar went down with a season ending injury last week. The other starting safety is Baccari Rambo, who’s been inconsistent, but when he’s on, he makes big plays. He’s expected to really put it all together now in his Junior season.
One guy to keep a close eye on is return specialist and former 5-star recruit Branden Smith. Smith is (besides Boykin) arguably the fastest guy on the team and Smith could become a starter, early on. Grantham will work him in for sure.
Special Teams
Georgia returns the top kicking duo in the nation, with placekicker Blair Walsh and punter Drew Butler. They are both seniors, experienced and the best at their positions, not just in the SEC, but nationally. Butler will have a chance to pin opponents back everytime he punts, while Walsh can chip from 60+, everytime out. Quite an advantage for the Dawgs.
The top return man is Brandon Boykin, who will return kickoffs. Last year, Boykin had a 100 yard kickoff return for a touchdown at Kentucky. Branden Smith will likely be the lead force to return on punts and he’s a threat to score, anytime the ball is in his hands.
Schedule
Georgia has an interesting schedule. The first two weeks are brutal. We open the season in the Chick Fil-A Kickoff classic agaisnt top 5 ranked Boise State, and host the favorites in the east in week 2, South Carolina. After that, the schedule gets more manageable & the Dawgs are lucky enough to avoid the 3 best teams in the west this year, Bama, LSU and Arkansas.
Even the tougher opponents (like Carolina) and teams like Miss State and Auburn, all come to Athens. The Florida game this year finally has a BYE week. Not only will Florida be down with a new coaching staff and a new system (plus an average Quarterback) but the last time we had a BYE before Florida, 2007, we won the game going away and sacked Tebow 6 times. The biggest road games are against Ole Miss and Tennessee, neither of which is expected to be legit contenders.
Outlook
The word out of Athens is that the intensity, the training level, the attitude, everything has changed for the better in 2011. A lot of it stems from the man on top, Coach Richt, who knows this is a make or break year for him and he’s coach kids love and want to win for.
While it seems crazy to predict a an SEC East Championship coming off a 6-7 season, I have no qualms about doing so and with 100% confidence, I am predicting the Dawgs win the SEC East and return to the Georgia Dome in December (against Alabama). Since I am not going crazy and saying 12-0 regular season, this is a confident, talented, and reborn football team and after Georgia wins their bowl game, that will be their 11th win of the season.
– Alex R.
