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Why not 2017?
Posted on 2/6/17 at 9:19 am
Posted on 2/6/17 at 9:19 am
First of all I want to make it perfectly clear I'm not saying we're making the playoffs this year, or winning the SEC, or even making any prediction of any kind.
With that said, I see a lot of folks point to 2018 as "the year" for us to really break out, primarily based on the fact Eason will be a junior and our young but talented OL should be extremely good. Those are important, but it's pretty scary thinking about how much we lose on defense after this year. I trust kirby on that side of the ball but it's hard to count on major things when the majority of your defense is going to be young and/or inexperienced. So..why shouldn't we expect big things this year?
QB- You can look at decades worth of data and see that talented quarterbacks typically make a solid jump from their freshman to sophomore seasons, it's only natural. Eason has unlimited talent he just needs the game to keep slowing down, so it's reasonable to expect him to have a very good to maybe even great season next year.
RB- chubb and sony, elite.
TE- elite potential
WR- this is an issue. The good thing is that with WR it's relatively "easy" for young guys to excel. Ridley Wims and Godwin seem capable of being very good receivers. The fact we brough in three 4* receivers in this class can only be a good thing.
OL- this is one of the biggest question marks. Wynn is rock solid and Gaillard seems perfectly capable of being a good C, no worse than what we had last year anyway. I'm not worried about guard since cleveland/kinley/sims/johnson/shaffer all look to be ready to roll. So that leaves tackle, which is obviously a concern. At LT we'll have a JUCO which is comforting since the guy has years of PT and was highly ranked in JUCO to boot. Will he be an AA? Probably not, but we don't need him to be either. At RT, it's impossible not to be excited about Wilson. The guy is tailor made for RT and should be starting almost immediately. While a TFr tackle is worrisome, it's comforting knowing that at least that's what he was born to do, unlike last year where we played a potential All-SEC guard at tackle simply because we had to. Let's also throw in the fact Andrew Thomas is one of the more highly ranked pure OTs we've signed in a while and provides quality depth at either slot.
Which brings us to the really exciting part, the defense.
DL- We return pretty much everyone. Trent was a former #1 overall player and will be a junior and should be outstanding. Atkins is a senior and can be counted on. All those young bucks that got their feet wet last year (Rochester, Hawkins, Ledbetter, Marshall, Clark) are all another year familiar with the system and more comfortable. We may not have any bama-caliber All Americans but the line should be an imporvement over last year.
LB- Maybe the best overall group we've had in a while. Bellamy and Carter outside, Roquan and Natrez inside make a very formidable starting group. REggie CArter is a vereran and Deandre Walker came on strong last year. We also signed 4 or 5 guys that are highly talented that should give plenty of good depth as well. LBers shoudl be a force.
CB- Deandre Baker and Malkom Parrish resume their starting roles. Not sure what to think about Mecole but he definitely isn't hurting for talent. Also signed a few guys that could step in early. This might not be our strongest unit but it doesn't appear to be a weak spot either.
S- Dom Sanders and Aaron Davis are back again, and Gibbs and Lecounte should be counted on to play heavily. No concerns from me at safety.
Schedule- One of the easiest (team wise) we could hope for, although it stinks many of our tough ones are on the road. We trade out @OM for MSU at home from the west. With app state, Samford, MSU, vandy, missouri, SC, UK, and GT we should be looking at 8 PROBABLE wins right off the bat. That leaves @ND, @UT, @UF, @AU as the 4 big ones. Notre dame lost their stud QB and seems to be in free fall, so this game is very winnable. @UT is always a concern, but they lost the main reason they've won the last 2 games and they frankly aren't even that good anyway. UF is a game we haven't done well in the last 3 seasons, but we are trending up/better while they seem to be stagnating. Can't really say we're going to beat them until we do again, but it's not like it's an impossible hill to climb. Then we have AU, who with stidham and pettway should be extremely tough and it's on the road. Will certainly be a battle.
In 2018 our offense should be excellent assuming we find a RB (not worried about that) but we just lose so much talent on defense and trade out MSU at home for @LSU.
With that said, I see a lot of folks point to 2018 as "the year" for us to really break out, primarily based on the fact Eason will be a junior and our young but talented OL should be extremely good. Those are important, but it's pretty scary thinking about how much we lose on defense after this year. I trust kirby on that side of the ball but it's hard to count on major things when the majority of your defense is going to be young and/or inexperienced. So..why shouldn't we expect big things this year?
QB- You can look at decades worth of data and see that talented quarterbacks typically make a solid jump from their freshman to sophomore seasons, it's only natural. Eason has unlimited talent he just needs the game to keep slowing down, so it's reasonable to expect him to have a very good to maybe even great season next year.
RB- chubb and sony, elite.
TE- elite potential
WR- this is an issue. The good thing is that with WR it's relatively "easy" for young guys to excel. Ridley Wims and Godwin seem capable of being very good receivers. The fact we brough in three 4* receivers in this class can only be a good thing.
OL- this is one of the biggest question marks. Wynn is rock solid and Gaillard seems perfectly capable of being a good C, no worse than what we had last year anyway. I'm not worried about guard since cleveland/kinley/sims/johnson/shaffer all look to be ready to roll. So that leaves tackle, which is obviously a concern. At LT we'll have a JUCO which is comforting since the guy has years of PT and was highly ranked in JUCO to boot. Will he be an AA? Probably not, but we don't need him to be either. At RT, it's impossible not to be excited about Wilson. The guy is tailor made for RT and should be starting almost immediately. While a TFr tackle is worrisome, it's comforting knowing that at least that's what he was born to do, unlike last year where we played a potential All-SEC guard at tackle simply because we had to. Let's also throw in the fact Andrew Thomas is one of the more highly ranked pure OTs we've signed in a while and provides quality depth at either slot.
Which brings us to the really exciting part, the defense.
DL- We return pretty much everyone. Trent was a former #1 overall player and will be a junior and should be outstanding. Atkins is a senior and can be counted on. All those young bucks that got their feet wet last year (Rochester, Hawkins, Ledbetter, Marshall, Clark) are all another year familiar with the system and more comfortable. We may not have any bama-caliber All Americans but the line should be an imporvement over last year.
LB- Maybe the best overall group we've had in a while. Bellamy and Carter outside, Roquan and Natrez inside make a very formidable starting group. REggie CArter is a vereran and Deandre Walker came on strong last year. We also signed 4 or 5 guys that are highly talented that should give plenty of good depth as well. LBers shoudl be a force.
CB- Deandre Baker and Malkom Parrish resume their starting roles. Not sure what to think about Mecole but he definitely isn't hurting for talent. Also signed a few guys that could step in early. This might not be our strongest unit but it doesn't appear to be a weak spot either.
S- Dom Sanders and Aaron Davis are back again, and Gibbs and Lecounte should be counted on to play heavily. No concerns from me at safety.
Schedule- One of the easiest (team wise) we could hope for, although it stinks many of our tough ones are on the road. We trade out @OM for MSU at home from the west. With app state, Samford, MSU, vandy, missouri, SC, UK, and GT we should be looking at 8 PROBABLE wins right off the bat. That leaves @ND, @UT, @UF, @AU as the 4 big ones. Notre dame lost their stud QB and seems to be in free fall, so this game is very winnable. @UT is always a concern, but they lost the main reason they've won the last 2 games and they frankly aren't even that good anyway. UF is a game we haven't done well in the last 3 seasons, but we are trending up/better while they seem to be stagnating. Can't really say we're going to beat them until we do again, but it's not like it's an impossible hill to climb. Then we have AU, who with stidham and pettway should be extremely tough and it's on the road. Will certainly be a battle.
In 2018 our offense should be excellent assuming we find a RB (not worried about that) but we just lose so much talent on defense and trade out MSU at home for @LSU.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 9:40 am to WG_Dawg
I agree. We absolutely should win the east this year and could very well go to the playoffs with good coaching but that's the challenge. As far as 2018 is concerned the biggest hit will be at running back and I think deandre swift will be pretty darn good.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 9:45 am to jcolding41
quote:
As far as 2018 is concerned the biggest hit will be at running back and I think deandre swift will be pretty darn good.
My thing is, I won't really be majorly concerend about RB at UGA until the time comes where we don't have solid production there again, which hasn't been for a while.
As far as the defense goes though, we'll be replacing Atkins, lorenzo, Bellamy, Carter, Parrish, Sanders, and Davis for sure and potentially Trent as well. With a breakout year who knows what Roquan or Patrick might do. That's a lot of losses off a defense.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 9:57 am to WG_Dawg
Agree the potential is there for a good 2017
I am not concerned about the rb position but I'm still concerned about Chubb. He hasn't returned to form and I thought Sony should have been starting, although they rotate them well so that's not a big deal.
I am not concerned about the rb position but I'm still concerned about Chubb. He hasn't returned to form and I thought Sony should have been starting, although they rotate them well so that's not a big deal.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 9:59 am to Buddy2012
quote:
I am not concerned about the rb position but I'm still concerned about Chubb.
if there's one guy I'm not worried about it's chubb. Most normal humans would take at least a full year to recover from his injury, yet he was back starting by game 1. Despite looking great against UNC he didn't necessarily look like his "normal self" throughout the whole year. Another full offseason should do wonders.
And sony..man he could probably start for 100 other programs.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 10:06 am to WG_Dawg
quote:
Eason has unlimited talent
He's tall with potential, let's not get carried away.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 10:06 am to WG_Dawg
Everything you said is completely true.
If Kirby is half the defensive mind he was billed as, we should have a top 10 defense in every major category. No excuses.
I get concerns about the O line, but if it just improves slightly, the amount of skill on offense should allow us to score enough with our defense to win a lot of football games.
A great coaching staff would run away with the East with our roster.
The problem is, it's yet to be seen if our coaching staff is any good at all.
If Kirby is half the defensive mind he was billed as, we should have a top 10 defense in every major category. No excuses.
I get concerns about the O line, but if it just improves slightly, the amount of skill on offense should allow us to score enough with our defense to win a lot of football games.
A great coaching staff would run away with the East with our roster.
The problem is, it's yet to be seen if our coaching staff is any good at all.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 10:13 am to JakeScott
quote:
He's tall with potential, let's not get carried away.
ok..."he's one of the 2 or 3 most naturally physically gifted QBs UGA has ever had"
Posted on 2/6/17 at 10:20 am to WG_Dawg
We absolutely SHOULD win the East this year, but I'm done predicting a championship of any kind until it happens. We're not capable of competing with Bama yet, so even if we win the East I highly doubt anyone from the division could really contend.
I think the thing that will hold us back this year will be the OL (again). I expect improvement but I think they'll still really struggle with very good front 7's. In 2018 I expect the OL to be among the nation's best, but by then we'll lose a LOT of good defensive starters as well as Chubb and Sony. Hopefully the combined '16, '17, and '18 (if we continue our upward trend in recruiting) classes will mean we can reload instead of rebuild.
I think the thing that will hold us back this year will be the OL (again). I expect improvement but I think they'll still really struggle with very good front 7's. In 2018 I expect the OL to be among the nation's best, but by then we'll lose a LOT of good defensive starters as well as Chubb and Sony. Hopefully the combined '16, '17, and '18 (if we continue our upward trend in recruiting) classes will mean we can reload instead of rebuild.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 1:12 pm to crispyUGA
None of this matters because we can't beat Alabama in the SEC championship game anyways.
Saban will always be our barrier until otherwise.
Saban will always be our barrier until otherwise.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 1:17 pm to Dawg4Life47
quote:
None of this matters because we can't beat Alabama in the SEC championship game anyways.
Well, you heard it here first guys. May as well stop watching football for the next 5-10 years because nothing matters.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 1:20 pm to Dawg4Life47
quote:
None of this matters because we can't beat Alabama in the SEC championship game anyways.
did I say anything about beating alabama? I actually think I did the opposite of that in the very first sentence.
My point was that we shouldn't necessarily have to wait until 2018 to have a big year.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 1:25 pm to WG_Dawg
Don't you see what the Sports Gods are doing to us?
Next year, Georgia is going to shock everybody, win the SEC, win the first playoff game, then look for sure like they're going to win the championship game, then make an embarrassing blunder and collapse.
Why?
Because Georgia sports fans are the favorite masochist whipping boys of the Sports Gods.
Next year, Georgia is going to shock everybody, win the SEC, win the first playoff game, then look for sure like they're going to win the championship game, then make an embarrassing blunder and collapse.
Why?
Because Georgia sports fans are the favorite masochist whipping boys of the Sports Gods.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 1:26 pm to goodbuds
quote:
Georgia is going to shock everybody, win the SEC, win the first playoff game, then look for sure like they're going to win the championship game, then make an embarrassing blunder and collapse.
where do I sign up? I'd take that in a heartbeat without thinking twice.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 4:35 pm to WG_Dawg
[quote] ok..."he's one of the 2 or 3 most naturally physically gifted QBs UGA has ever had"[/quote)
I hope Jacob is an All-American and a first round draft pick but he's got a lot of work to do.
We've had five All-American quarterbacks,none of which are named Stafford ,Murray or Shockley.
Define naturally physically gifted,Jacob's tall and throws it really hard. What else you got.
I hope Jacob is an All-American and a first round draft pick but he's got a lot of work to do.
We've had five All-American quarterbacks,none of which are named Stafford ,Murray or Shockley.
Define naturally physically gifted,Jacob's tall and throws it really hard. What else you got.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 4:41 pm to BranchDawg
quote:
If Kirby is half the defensive mind he was billed as, we should have a top 10 defense in every major category. No excuses.
The defense was pretty damn good this year, in spite of a lot of youth. They just weren't very good in the redzone. Defense wasn't our problem this year, except for maybe the Tennessee and Ole Miss games. The offense was an issue in almost every game, with the offensive line being the main culprit.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 4:49 pm to WG_Dawg
I want to share the same optimism. But last night was devastating. It will be hard to get my hopes up for anything
Posted on 2/6/17 at 5:17 pm to WG_Dawg
Fix the OL and UGA is a top ten team next year. We don't need Eason to be super man, we need him to take care of the ball and increase his completion percentage. The stars are aligned on D, but we must generate a more consistent pass rush. The talent is there, but is it enough to hide Chaney?
Posted on 2/6/17 at 6:44 pm to WG_Dawg
Lots of sunshine pumping.
If you want the short short answer regarding issues in 2017... OL (rushing for TDs) and OLB/S (redzone defense. I.e. stopping the other team from rushing for TDs).
I can get into more detail if you want. If we can't run for touchdowns, the away schedule will tack on losses. Even when we our-talent the opponent.
If you want the short short answer regarding issues in 2017... OL (rushing for TDs) and OLB/S (redzone defense. I.e. stopping the other team from rushing for TDs).
I can get into more detail if you want. If we can't run for touchdowns, the away schedule will tack on losses. Even when we our-talent the opponent.
Posted on 2/6/17 at 7:33 pm to meansonny
I don't think we're sunshine pumping. We're pointing out that there is a TON of returning talent, and just talent overall on this roster and a VERY manageable schedule.
Could we frick it up? Sure.
But seasons like this coming one are the types that Mark Richt teams all too often floundered into 8-5 campaigns that sent 4-5 guys to the NFL and us with nothing to show.
If this new coaching staff is what it was brought in to be, they should be able to have a really good season. If not, we'll lose 4+ games and we can start discussing if we made the right hire or not.
Tell me what teams on our schedule have better rosters than us.
Could we frick it up? Sure.
But seasons like this coming one are the types that Mark Richt teams all too often floundered into 8-5 campaigns that sent 4-5 guys to the NFL and us with nothing to show.
If this new coaching staff is what it was brought in to be, they should be able to have a really good season. If not, we'll lose 4+ games and we can start discussing if we made the right hire or not.
Tell me what teams on our schedule have better rosters than us.
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