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WATCH: Georgia coach Kirby Smart addresses quarterback situation with JT Daniels, Stetson Bennett
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WATCH: Georgia coach Kirby Smart addresses quarterback situation with JT Daniels, Stetson Bennett
The Georgia football quarterback situation is contested once again, with Coach Kirby Smart saying Stetson Bennett, JT Daniels and D'Wan Mathis all getting first-team reps this week
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Kirby has to quickly fix this QB mess for which he bears the majority of the responsibility. Some of it is not his fault, but overall he seems to have grossly mismanaged the QB room and we are paying for it now and will for the rest of the year. This is not Stetson's fault as he's performing probably better than expected. But a #4 team in the country starting a 4th string QB regardless of the situation requires some SERIOUS reflection of why. Maybe this year is what it is and Vandegriff or JT can take the helm in 2021, but for this year, we just have to stomach the mess Kirby has allowed us to get in.
“Like I’ve talked about before, I feel great about Stetson, I think he’s done a good job managing the situations we put him in.”
I wish there was a "BUT ..." at the end of that statement.
There IS one piece of information he gave us in this statement: " JT will get reps, D’Wan will get reps, and Stetson will continue to get reps"
Beck is out of the picture I guess?
Before JT gets into a game, he has to move past Mathis on the depth chart. That competition shouldn’t be close if JT has the skill set to make the offense a NC contender. If all we have at QB are place holders until Vandagriff gets on campus, and then we are dependent on a true freshman to lead the offense, we are still a couple of years away from being a serious NC contender.
What concerns me is that Kirby doesn't seem to admit or at least acknowledge we have a QB problem. He acts (publicly) like we should win with whoever we put back there. If that is the case, then Kirby will never get us to a Natty with that perspective. I surely hope he has enough IQ to realize we are in a mess and he has to get us an elite QB asap. I keep giving him my trust and the benefit of the doubt, but the eye test is starting to make me rethink it.
"The toughest thing is getting enough reps, once you’re down the road, of being able to get guys prepared for games,” Smart said. “You can’t prepare three or four quarterbacks to play in a game, you just don’t get enough time to do that."
We don't need to prep 3 or 4 -- we need to prep 2. The starter and a backup if the starter falters. It seems like Smart is trying to be cute.
I will say this again despite people not agreeing with me. I am not sure that Kirby or his staff knows how to SEE and DEVELOP true elite QB potential, capitalizing on a QBs strengths and tweaking the offense to work those strengths while developing his skills. We need more than just a 'game manager' for us to take it to the next level. Does Kirby understand that?
Fields stepped into a brand new offense at OSU with hardly any playing time previously at UGA and has blossomed to become an elite QB. This was done under first year coach Ryan Day.
Clemson and Bama seem to also be able to get someone with little if any game experience and develop them pretty darn quickly into becoming a stud starting QB within their offensive scheme. And I'm not just talking about the current QBs at either school. They do this year-after-year with 4 and 5-star recruits.
Coming into this season, no matter who the quarterback was, it was going to be someone who'd never started a game at Georgia. There were 5 options.
The presumptive starter stayed with the program for 5 or 6 months, then bailed 3 weeks before the season started. That left...
A guy who is coming off brain surgery, who many suspected may never play again. He progressed to the point of being named the week one starter, but clearly wasn't up to the job yet. That left...
A highly regarded transfer who is coming off a major knee injury that up until very recently still required a brace, a true freshman, and Bennet. Going with Bennett had been working, and we've just gotten an eyeful of why he's probably not the best option going forward.
So of the 4 non-Bennett options, one left the program despite being the presumed favorite to take the job, two have been dealing with serious injuries and one is a true freshman. To those declaring that the fact that Smart must now sort out these options amounts to gross mismanagement, I have a simple question - what would you have done to prevent this situation? The only thing you CAN say is that Beck should have been the starter all along, which brings us to another basic question - what have you seen from Beck in a college uniform to make you confident that that was ever the best option?
Look, I'm not saying that Smart is unimpeachable. I do think there's probably a wrong move to be made at this point, and I can't say for sure that he won't make it. But I can say that I have no problem waiting to see what he actually does and how it works out before seeing fit to criticize. Maybe Mathis has progressed nicely in getting his mind right to carry this team going forward. Maybe Daniels' knee is fully healing at just the right time. Maybe Beck has made the most of the first half of the season and has matured and acclimated quickly.
Maybe by season's end I'll join you all in throwing up my hands and saying **** Kirby. But at this point I have yet to see anything that calls for it.
W.t.f. ugh
@MontanaDawg , I agree with you. How is it that Fields could learn OSU's playbook well enough to where OSU was a bad play by their wideout from playing LSU but couldn't learn ours as some have said? Did Ryan Day only install what Fields could do in 2019 and save the rest of the playbook for 2020? If so, very wise move. I wonder if we could have done the same?
Let's gladly and rightfully acknowledge Smart as an exceptional recruiter but the jury is still out on how QB's have developed under his OC's watch. I can't say Fromm got progressively better in each of his 3 years.
I hope Kirby Smart does not envision a political future after football. He does seem to have a natural inclination for it. My goodness!
We very nearly won (and should have won) a National Championship just three years ago with a true freshman QB at the helm. Clemson did win a National Championship with true freshman QB two years ago. So, if a true freshman can play and get the job done, then have at it!
Newman leaving threw a **** in the punchbowl for us then CKS had to make fast moves. Hence where we are now. I am fine with SB taking us through to the SECE championship and along the way integrate JTD to get him up to full force by seasons end without injurying that knee then start/rotate/whatever for the SECC.