Hey folks - as a member of the DawgNation community, please remember to abide by simple rules of civil engagement with other members:
- Please no inappropriate usernames (remember that there may be youngsters in the room)
- Personal attacks on other community members are unacceptable, practice the good manners your mama taught you when engaging with fellow Dawg fans
- Use common sense and respect personal differences in the community: sexual and other inappropriate language or imagery, political rants and belittling the opinions of others will get your posts deleted and result in warnings and/ or banning from the forum
- 3/17/19 UPDATE -- We've updated the permissions for our "Football" and "Commit to the G" recruiting message boards. We aim to be the best free board out there and that has not changed. We do now ask that all of you good people register as a member of our forum in order to see the sugar that is falling from our skies, so to speak.
- Please no inappropriate usernames (remember that there may be youngsters in the room)
- Personal attacks on other community members are unacceptable, practice the good manners your mama taught you when engaging with fellow Dawg fans
- Use common sense and respect personal differences in the community: sexual and other inappropriate language or imagery, political rants and belittling the opinions of others will get your posts deleted and result in warnings and/ or banning from the forum
- 3/17/19 UPDATE -- We've updated the permissions for our "Football" and "Commit to the G" recruiting message boards. We aim to be the best free board out there and that has not changed. We do now ask that all of you good people register as a member of our forum in order to see the sugar that is falling from our skies, so to speak.
Jalen Carter, Brock Bowers among 7 Georgia football standouts on ESPN’s Top-100 list
System
Posts: 11,467 admin
Jalen Carter, Brock Bowers among 7 Georgia football standouts on ESPN’s Top-100 list
Georgia football was well represented on one of ESPN's top lists for the college football season.
Comments
We very well might have a long way to go but I truly believe that our opponents have a much further ways to travel.
"Georgia has quite a few players who could very well make this list come the end of the season, such as running back Kenny McIntosh, wide receiver AD Mitchell, tight end Darnell Washington"
Has no chance of happening. Even were Bowers and Gilbert not on the team Washington is more of a "fully rounded TE" whose talents are badly needed as a pass and run blocker - as UGA does not play a fullback - than receiving TEs like Bowers (only 230 lbs) and Gilbert (who flat out says he wants to ultimately move to WR). Because of this, there is no way Washington puts up 880 yards and 13 TDs like Bowers last year even if he had the position to himself.
In order to be recognized as a top 100 player, AD Mitchell would need to average 100 receiving yards a game. Presuming that UGA goes to the title game, merely averaging half that to reach 750 would give him the best season of any WR in the Kirby Smart era (right now it is George Pickens with 727 yards followed by Javon Wims with 720). There is hyping up Mitchell and McConkey as part of the "UGA fandom counter-narrative" to Alabama's losing Metchie and Williams down the stretch and picking up Burton from the portal, and there is seriously claiming that Mitchell has Pickens caliber talent.
That leaves Kenny McIntosh. Sorry, but D'Andre Swift was way better as a true freshman #3 tailback in 2018: 618 yards at 7.6 ypc vs junior McIntosh's 328 yards at 5.7 ypc (basically half as many yards with nearly 2 less ypc), and this was with a much worse OL. As UGA hasn't had a star tailback since 2019 - and is no longer talked about as an RB U as a result - if McIntosh had top 100 ability he would have gotten way more carries by now.
The defense guys have a shot as they were playing behind #1 draft picks and award winners. But for any offense guy to get in the top 100, he will have to put up numbers that no Smart era player but Sony Michel, Nick Chubb and D'Andre Swift has. Bowers did that last year, at least by TE standards.
Last season this same poll listed 4 UGA players (Jordan, Tykee, Zeus and JT). Davis was 87th on the list so how did ESPN miss most of our defensive stars who were high draft picks? This year we have 4 defensive players selected in the top 60. Does that mean we will have a much better defense than expected and/or does it mean the ESPN pollsters don’t have a clue? Go Dawgs!!!
They don’t have a clue. They are the on the same level as weathermen (and weatherwomen).
The same way that they missed Jameson Williams and a bunch of other guys who were first round draft picks. Those guys were a lot better on the team that went 14-1 than they were in 2020 on the team that went 8-2 with blowout losses to Alabama and 8-4 Florida, and was 24-24 going into the 4th quarter against 4-7 Mississippi State. I really wish UGA fans would quit claiming "we got no respect preseason 2021" when even as late as needing two 4th quarter TDs to barely get by Cincinnati in the bowl game, there was absolutely no evidence that UGA was going to have a historically great defense in 2021. Instead folks spent 2020 - and 2019 - wondering when the difference making pass rush of 2017 was coming back. And I guess you have forgotten people concerned how many points Clemson was going to score on UGA in the opener. We were well into the 2021 season before even UGA fans started saying "you know, I think that UGA just may have the best defense in the country this year" because they were only #17 (behind Alabama and Notre Dame and one spot ahead of Clemson) the year before.
That's right: UGA went from 20 ppg to 6.7 ppg. Yes, part of that was by virtue of playing only 9 SEC games and a major bowl, but Alabama played eleven such games and 2 playoff games and still finished higher. Anyone who claims that they knew that Walker (either one) or Wyatt was going to be a 1st round draft pick based on what they showed in 2020 just isn't telling the truth. Walker had 13 tackles, 1 sack and 1 INT in 7 games in 2020. Wyatt more of the same: 25 tackles and 0 sacks. Ask anyone going into 2021 the UGA players most likely to be #1 picks and they would have said: 1. George Pickens, 2. Nakobe Dean, 3. Jordan Davis, 4. Lewis Cine, 5. JT Daniels. Didn't quite work out that way did it?
LOL...It's entertaining, when the "ignorant" expose themselves.
So, AD Mitchell needs to average 100 yds/game to be in the Top 100 and in Pickens' company, huh? Okay, my genius friend...how many yds/game did George Pickens average and would he be ranked in the Top 100? What about Burton? How many yds/game did Burton average over the last 2 years. Kearis Jackson was at least as effective as Burton...does he belong?
When the lists are presented..."Fans" and their STATs come out of the woodwork. I don't need STATs to tell me which players are great at their job.
Will Anderson is supposedly the best player in the Country. Why? Because he had 16 sacks? Only 1 of those was against UGA with 1:25 left in the SECCG. That's 1 sack & 6 solo tackles in 8 qtrs of play...but, he had 4 in 1 game against a cupcake. So what? Beal had 6 sacks in less than half a season, and he's not even mentioned by most of these so-called experts.
In today's highly specialized football game with players being used according to game situation and skill-set...Stats are virtually meaningless. What WILL Fans and media experts do with their offseason time, NOW??? OMG! Find another way to quantify the players...simple as that. That's why guys like Trayvon Walker slip under the radar to #1 Overall NFL Draft pick. Some NFL teams are already on top of this. It's time for Fans and the Media, to get caught up on the abstract way of player evaluation. Or, just keep doing what your doing...and remain a day late and a dollar short on your projections and evaluations.