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Kirby Smart shares plan with Georgia football transfers coming and some soon to be going
System
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Kirby Smart shares plan with Georgia football transfers coming and some soon to be going
LOS ANGELES — Georgia football transfers are coming — and some will soon be going —in the wake of the Bulldogs’ 65-7 CFP Championship Game win over TCU on Monday night.
Comments
It's pretty simple. Georgia's developing players better than any other program. Do you want to play earlier, while not getting developed as well, or do you want to stay and get developed better in the end. That is the question.
@SmartsTheMan
I think that what you have rightly described in your comment is exactly what’s been demonstrated by the UGA program since CKS got there. And as the article points out, there are many good examples of success to point to. I’m concerned about several players who may be considering the Transfer Portal:
Xavian Sorey, MJ Sherman, Nyland Green, David Daniel-Sisivaun
Not because I’ve heard anything to confirm this, but just because there seems to be younger players in their position groups who seem to be developing into great players. I wish none would go, but that’s probably not realistic. I hope they all make the right decision for themselves.
GO DAWGS!
If you're good enough, you'll play at UGA., generally speaking. Maybe have to wait at QB or RB, just depends, but lots of young guys have been playing. You have to these days. Walker just had to wait because of how deep we were with experienced LB's.
I think you are on the money w/the players mentioned. And that would be good for them. They would start elsewhere.
Probably also see WR (anybody not 5, 84, 86, 11), OL (too many to mention), DB (a couple of surprises expected) and possibly ILB (3 future stars coming in).
10 more players hitting the TP wouldn't surprise me.
You have to work to increase those game reps, but the Dawgs generally play 3 deep or more. Obviously, better players, more experienced players will play more. Gilbert is making a huge mistake. Sure, he can go play somewhere, but the problem isn't the Georgia program or the chance at the NFL stardom - it's in his head. Think how the NFL will view this change - He'll look entitled, not willing to work to win. They won't want that on an NFL roster. Too many other choices. Travon didn't start and was chosen #1. The NFL is no fool. They know what Kirby is doing.
It seems like I read once that Bear Bryant told all those he recruited to expect to learn and wait the first couple of years. Get playing time as a junior and start as a senior if they developed. That was his process back then. You can't argue with success. It worked. Personally, I despise the transfer portal. I am glad Smart's first objective is to develop players and sign players that fit into the culture he has created at Georgia.
Definitely, @reddawg1. If a player stands a good chance of moving up the chart, it doesn't make sense for him to leave Georgia. Unless he had some sort of special situation, why would anyone walk away from more opportunities to develop, gain national exposure and win championships?
At the same time, a lot of good players don't get into the rotation at Georgia, but may end up with a lot of playing time another schools. So transferring may make sense for them.
Georgia transfers have done well: Owen Condon started as UCF, Two Arkansas stars this year were former Bulldogs (Landers and Brini). Tymen Mitchell was an important cog in the TCU defense. Norton may start for Arizona next year. Etc. (I'm not including Jermaine Burton because that was unique. Also as it turns out, he would have done better to stay.)
But we didn't miss any of those guys because our coaching staff was able to recruit and/or train third and fourth stringers who were as good or better than the guys who left.
On the other hand, Coach Smart can be selective about whom he's bringing in via the transfer. Those guys have to be very good players who fill a particular need. And they'll want to put in their last season or two at Georgia so they can get to share in the training, notoriety and championship play that Georgia has to offer.
Like so many other things, the transfer system is bound to make successful schools like Georgia stronger. That's because the guys transferring out are for the most part third stringers or lower in Athens, while the guys coming in are being recruit to address a need.
I'd still like to get a better idea of what kind of players Coach may be going for -- or at least, what the Dawgnation community thinks he ought to go for.
I'm thinking that for next year (while some of the younger players develop), we could benefit from bringing in high-caliber veteran OLs, OLBs and DBs. (WRs are already covered.)
@CandlerPark
Burton would NOT have been better off staying. Burton is a flanker, aka a "possession WR", albeit a bit undersized at that role at 6 feet. With Bowers, Washington and McIntosh - all bigger than Burton - doing that, how many balls would there have been for Burton? He would not have taken touches from McConkey. McConkey is a slot WR who uses quickness and savvy to get open against defenses more concerned with defending other guys. An entirely different role in the offense and not Burton's game.
Save Bowers, no one at UGA put up good numbers the past 2 years. This year McConkey's were a wash with Burton's: both roughly 50 ypg with 7 TDs. No one else reached 30 catches or 350 yards. Jackson and Blaylock only had 550 yards and 1 TD combined. Washington had good numbers for a 2nd TE but even there UGA couldn't get a 6'7" 265 lb guy more chances in the red zone (2 TDs). Apart from Bowers, McConkey, McIntosh no one got the ball more than 2 times a game and Burton would not have either. The SB IV era was great for UGA as a team, but for creating stats and tape to impress NFL scouts it was bad for RBs and worse for WRs.
So ... with Carson Beck taking over as the QB allowing UGA to run a more traditional offense, expect the RB and WR recruiting to pick up. Right now UGA is cleaning up with TEs hoping to become the next Brock Bowers - the only offensive player to get anywhere near 1000 yards or 10 TDs the past 2 years - but that is basically it.
@thadec Burton's stock definitely dropped since he transferred from Georgia. Last February, WalterFootball rated him the #10 WR in the '23 draft; now they put him at #16. Preseason, NFLDraftBuzz expected him to be "an easy first-round selection"; now, nobody's talking about Burton going in the first round.
Nobody said Burton would have had Jameson Williams-type numbers had he stayed at Georgia. But he was our leading WR in 2021 (despite missing three games), and he was expected to be our No.1 WR target in 2022. That projects out to about the same numbers or a little better than he got at Bama, plus being a key player on a Natty team, plus not having the shadow of being a disappointment hanging over his head.
I'm not faulting the young man for transferring. He thought he was going to a pass-oriented team that was going to be favored for the championship. But it didn't work out that way, and he probably would have done better for himself by staying.
And I don't think you're accurate in describing him as a flanker. He's harder to pigeonhole than, say, McConkey, who's very clearly a slot. But Burton mainly was lining up at split end ("x") for the Tide. He'd been expected to be a deep threat, having averaged 19.1 yds a catch for Georgia in 2021.