It’s almost that time again folks. The offseason has flown by ridiculously
fast once again and we’re inside a month to the season opener. Given the
fact we’re a month off and Fall practices kick off Saturday, I thought I’d
sit down and try and knock the rust off the ol’ keyboard and get myself
ready for the season. Once again we’ve lost some serious talent and once
again we’ve got lots of talent ready to prove itself, so this season should
be another fun one.
The State of the Program
Entering his 6th season, coach Mark Richt boasts 2 SEC Championships, 3 SEC_East
Championships and a won-loss record that is the envy of nearly every SEC team
over the past 5 seasons. These are riches we dreamed of but could never reach
prior to Richt taking up residence in Athens. B.R. (Before Richt) we had been
to precisely as many SEC title games as Vandy and USC and one less than conference
power Mississippi State. Richt has managed to right our ship considerably. Despite
the constant offseason media cry of “they’ve simply lost too much
this year,” Richt and staff have managed to roll off 4 straight 10-win
seasons and assert themselves as the power in the East. It’s shocking
how quickly the change has occurred. From perennially falling short of massive
expectations, we’re now consistently exceeding those same expectations
and frustrating pundits along the way.
For
whatever reason, Richt’s UGA teams don’t seem to get the benefit
of the doubt that the FSUs, Miamis and Oklahomas receive with regards to consistently
being ranked in the top 5 or so year in and year out regardless of personnel
losses. Each year seems to be labeled the year the talent loss catches up and
each year we win 10 or more. Ho-hum. Now, with that being said, I can certainly
understand where the “media” is coming from when they make these
statements. You can’t simply lose guys like David Greene, David Pollack
(did you know they played on the same pee-wee football team?), Thomas Davis,
Boss Bailey, etc without suffering a setback…right? 5 years ago I would
have said that statement was correct. These last few seasons have made a believer
out of me though. After watching Richt and Callaway take a patchwork OL with
no upperclassmen and make it to the SEC title game, I knew we were in good hands.
OK, I knew we were in good hands when he won the title in his 2nd season but
this really cemented it. When you have utter confidence that the coaching staff
knows what they’re doing and is going to get a well prepared team on the
field, a lot of the worry in being a college football fan goes out of the window.
Richt has seemingly made the offseason boring, even with a massive QB question.
Yeah, you can worry about it but in the back of your mind you know Richt will
work it all out.
Quick Position Rundown…I’ll try to keep it quick…
QB – questions abound…who starts, easy answer,
the one who gives us the best shot of winning. I loved Richt’s response
to the idea of playing a younger, more talented guy that might not be as well
prepared as others…he basically replied that he owed it to his seniors
that stayed in the program for 4 and 5 years and he couldn’t just toss
away the shot at a win because it would help the team two years from now. Quality
stuff. We’re 4 deep here with solid class separation. Nice.
· Top Question: Who’s going to emerge as the starter?
· Future Star: Texas gunslinger Matt Stafford is like
a neo-Elway.
RB
– loaded. The 3-headed monster is like baseball in the 1950’s in
New York. You had 3 great ones playing centerfield for each of NY’s 3
teams…Mays for the Giants, Mantle for the Yanks and Snyder for the Dodgers.
Each ended up in the HOF, each was spectacular in his own right but they were
different players and folks argued about who was the best. Thomas Brown is like
Mays…does everything well and is just smooth…power, speed and grace.
Lumpkin is Mantle…pure power, surprising speed but knee injuries have
kept him from his potential. That leaves Ware as Duke Snyder, the unheralded
one who in just about any other time and place would be a clear star, as it
is he seems destined to be the 3rd best of a great group of players. Snyder
did make the HOF though, so Ware’s got that going for him. My analogy
breaks down when trying to factor in talented incoming frosh Knowshon Moreno.
· Top Question: How do we keep everyone happy and in
some semblance of a rhythm and do we see some two back sets featuring 2 of these
guys?
· Future Star: Knowshon Moreno should be a great combo
of speed and strength
FB – loaded again. Des Williams returns from injury.
Southerland had a solid year and is a beast. Add to that mix walk-on Jason Johnson
who is a Tony Milton hybrid-type FB and a couple of massive freshmen (one of
which is recovering from a knee injury) and FB is probably the deepest position
on the team.
· Top question: Can Des Williams reclaim his starting
spot from Southerland?
· Future Star: Fred Munzenmaier has all the tools to
be a great one plus a great football name.
WR – lots of bodies, not much in the way of past production.
Bailey going down really hurt the deep threat part of the team. MoMass is poised
to explode as the go-to-guy. Kenneth Harris needs to step up and we’ll
need bigger efforts from Bryant, Raley, Goodman, Gartrell, etc, not to mention
the freshmen, if we’re going to scare folks in the secondary. We need
some pure speed and former CB Mikey Henderson might be just the guy.
· Top question: Can someone other than MoMass become
a threat?
· Future Star: Tony Wilson is slight, but he’s
a burner that can make people miss too.
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