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Comments
Best of luck in your future JDJ..GoDAWGS!
Simply put, if Georgia is smarter (which is not necessarily the result of experience), faster, and better at tackling... it'll be improved at linebacker next year. I believe they'll have guys on the roster to do that, and guessing that's what Kirby and Schu expect/plan. Go Dawgs!
The something wrong is very likely the totally unregulated transfer portal combined with unregulated NIL.
Simply put, the '24 D certainly looks to be younger and less experienced than the '23 D. The '23 D was not as good as the '22 D. The '24 D, as it stands now, does not look to be as good as the '23 D. We saw how that worked out. Right now the '24 D has too many RS Fr and true Fr being counted on in prominent roles.
It was said that the '23 D (team) lacked leaders. UGA just lost one on D. Maybe the last one to the great UGA D's or '21 and '22.
ILB is one place that UGA has recruited well with potential for excellence with development and maturity. Probably time to move JWalker back to ILB full time. Significant TP additions will be needed for the '24 D to approach the '23 D in experience, production and effectiveness.
I'll take a linebacker who's 15 pounds lighter and has a little less "experience" but has 10 more IQ points and is 1 second faster any day of the week because he'll somehow wind up where he needs to be to make the tackle (while the other guy is busy engaging and trying to shed a blocker as the runner bolts by). Of course I don't know if the next guys up have these attributes, but we'll find out soon enough. Historians and prognosticators might think this D is doomed by recent departures, but I choose not to see the sky as falling because Kirby & Co know more than any of the other so-called/self-appointed experts. Go Dawgs!
Are you really asking if two freshmen, thrown into an increased role at the end of the season, were still learning how to play against top end college opposition? The answer is yes.
Give them an entire off-season and pre-season as the main guys in their position, with an added year of maturation and film at this level, and let's see how they do.
I don't think he ever had "that vision", myself. He benefited from the likes of J Carter, Nolan Smith, Kelee Ringo and other veterans to cover for him and create rushing lanes. But, yeah...nothing like Dean's vision....Or CJ Allen'that after matter.
IMO...Athleticism and defensive scheme, with veterans on the field, helped him be "the best he can be" in '22. Not so much, in '23..
"Give them an entire off-season and pre-season as the main guys in their position, with an added year of maturation and film at this level, and let's see how they do."_____E_roc
That's right E_roc. It's exactly right. That's how "Leaders" are found and developed...IMO. The heat of offseason. "We" aren't privy to that process...never will be.
What you see in December ain't always "what you get" in September. Go back and look at the 2020 defense and try to project the Dawgs having a "Generational Defense" in '21. Ya can't make that case based on what we saw in '20.
Kirby is waaayyy ahead of us fans and gum-flappers and he isn't known for giving anybody a heads-up on his thought processes or team management. All we're left with, is speculation and the value of our own experience, to make a loose judgement.
My judgements is, that the Dawg Defense will be at least as good, if not better than any of the other Defenses Kirby has constructed.
FYI...Look at all the top-tier talent in the portal that Kirby whiffed on, in 2021 and '22.
Texas A&M, for 1, started their house cleaning a little early, due to the Fisher thing. One of those players leaving...is a prized #1 Overall DL [Nolan], that Kirby courted right up to the day he arrived at College Station. I think UGA snags him...and, one or two others they targeted a couple of years ago.
But, ya neva' know...he [they] may turn out to be another Smoke Bouie or that TE transfer from LSU...Erik Gilbert...to FLA...then to to UGA...in the same year. Just sayin'. Human behavior can be a crap shoot and "unpredictable".
All you can do, is...[as Kirby IS doing]...set up as many contingencies as possible, to address the annual talent flux. I think Kirby and his personnel department, is more proactive, in that respect, than we'll ever know. At least, until he writes his book. Lol
UGA always seems to have the talent and personnel, they need to compete at a high level. That won't change in '24. Not, "Despite the portal"...but, "because of the portal".
You're so right BigDawg, The positive accomplishments made by many of the 15 who have hit the TP were made possible because at Georgia you play as a TEAM.....positive opportunities are accentuated and bust are soothed over and averaged out.....you are not an individual player on an island either making it big or getting benched.....Pops, etal will soon discover this fact as most teams only give lip service to TEAM.
That is a lot of assumptions and some flat out BS. "A second faster" on a football field is the difference between Stackhouse and Usain Bolt in the 40. If CJ or Wilson is "1 second faster" then I am still waiting to see them remove their Clark Kent glasses.
33 and 5 did not flash as freshman like JDJ did. They seemed much less "instinctive" . They also often did not bring enough punch to bring guys down when they did arrive. They have a ways to go to be at JDJ's level. 10 more IQ points? You know this how?
You (and other's below) sound just like @BigDawg888 did preseason when he said that the '23 D "would be better" than the '22 D. He named off a lot of guys that didn't see the field much and contributed little when they did. Unproven. That is what you get from freshmen.
Simply put, let's say 33 and 5 step up like we expect them to (eventually). Then they get hurt like 2(D), 10, 97, 12, 84, 19, 5, 2(O), 30, 22, 0 etc etc did? The TP is stripping UGA of 1 of its biggest assets. Quality, experienced depth. No more seasoned vet's like Quay Walker and Channing Tindall stepping in after being developed. Very possibly no more "1B starter" level players (Julian Humphrey) gaining experience and available when a starter is injured.
We all saw the D slip this year from lack of experience. Especially after JDJ was hurt. Expect more of the same next year. Ignorance is bliss and fandon is blind.