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Returning production numbers provide optimism about Georgia football in 2021
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Posts: 11,029 admin
Returning production numbers provide optimism about Georgia football in 2021
Georgia football is in a good spot when it comes to returning production numbers.
Comments
A perfect example of Connor's "passive-aggressive" take on the DAWGS. Go back to Carolina, Connor.
I wouldn't go that far, but I did find it curious that Davis was never mentioned as one of the key returning players.
I'll take a DEVonta Wyatt and JOrdan Davis returning over anyone returning at Toledo or Arizona St. maybe do a twofer. One of ours over two of whoever their's is. Not all returnees are created equal, stats be damned.
Who is returning with more upside than Anderson and Daniels? Wyatt and Davis? Schafer? Nakobe Dean? Are BAMA's receivers they have returning better than ours? They lost 2 all Americans last season and one the year before. I know they recruit better than most, but do they have guys who can step in this year and be better than Gilbert, Washington, and Burton and company?
Who has a stable of RB's our equal or better? Ohio ST., BAMA, and Clemson all lost their starters to the draft. Will they plug and play as good as if not better than what they got last year? Doubtful!
BAMA lost their starting Center, Tackle, and QB to the draft in the 1st round and a 1st round DL. Will those positions be stronger or at least equal this season to last years? Doubtful.
I like our chances, regardless of some analytical statistics.
Seems like there is no correlation between how "powerful" a team was last year and how they rank in returning production. This year might be an aberration, what with the covid. Look at 2019 and compare it to the 2019 year end rankings. There doesn't seem to be any correlation.
I guess there are BAMA fans on here or either some supposed UGA fans who don't like our chances? Go figure.
@reddawg1 I would say this is the best opportunity for Kirby to reach the finals of the NC that he has had to this point. He has a two game schedule to reach the playoffs. The SEC schedule could not be more favorable. Four teams have new head coaches, two teams have new quarterbacks. The most solid team being Missouri overall. The teams he will likely face in the SECCG, ATM, Bama or LSU, will start the season with new quarterbacks though they will be very experienced by then. Probably the biggest obstacle just looking at the preseason would be OU. That game will come down to can you score as many points as they can because they are going to score a ton.
As for the other teams you referenced, we know Bama will reload and they do a very good job of that year after year. The same can be said for Clemson. A bit of an unknown is how well Day will do at OSU. It is all about player development and all three coaches do a very good job with that aspect of coaching.
" Alabama is ranked No. 123 at 56 percent"
And yet they are still expected to be #1 with a brand new QB at the helm. Saban is the master playing in the tough SEC West.
Throw all the stats you want at me, but we have no excuses to not make the SEC Championship game at the very least...and my expectations go WAY beyond that!
We all know that BAMA , Clemson, and Ohio St. will reload. OKL seems to have a lot of returning Juniors and Seniors on both sides of their lines. Okla has a tougher schedule than we do. Texas could pose some problems for them.
We all know that these elite recruiting teams can reload. But we also saw what happened to LSU last season after losing so many big time players. When you lose a bucket of 1st and 2nd rounders it hurts. No two ways around it. You may still be highly competitive, but you can't be the equal of that previous team IMO. I can't see BAMA or Ohio St. being the equal or better of last season's teams, Saban not withstanding.
Maybe you don't have to be the equal of last year's team if the competition takes a step back. Think of the year BAMA beat Notre Dame. Several teams could have beaten ND that year. So, they wouldn't of had to be that great and still you win the NC. Everything is relative to a degree.
Did your competition improve, stay nearly the same, or take a step back. BAMA will have to face a tough Texas A&M, an improved LSU, and Auburn who will be highly motivated. They won't have the guns they had last year on offense. Doesn't mean they can't or won't win, just a statement of fact.
Show me a team that loses 5 or 6 1st rounders and got better the next season? We're going to lose a bucket of 1st and 2nd rounders after this year. That's why I feel strongly this is our year. Can we be better in 2022 than this year? Honestly? Maybe, if our competition takes a step back. It will depend on, as you say, player development and what our competition is doing.
Agreed. How the competition develops (or doesn't) is a very important factor, and that is why I say 2021 is SO crucial to taking advantage of our competition's weaknesses, gaps, and rebuilding. I think we'll know whether or not we've got the moxie, talent, and coaching to make the playoffs after the Clemson game....win or lose. How we play in that game will be key, and it will show a lot about how good our coaching, development, and talent really is after all the hype.
If we don't make the playoffs this year then we may have to wait until they move to 12 teams. Seriously. Like you said, we lose some studs after this season and everyone will know what a Monken offense really looks like and how best to defend against it. And facing a somewhat questionable (though still projected #1) Bama this year in the SEC Championship game should be easier than dealing with that indestructible force of the Tide last season.
@reddawg1 let us not forget that Bama had 9 players drafted in 2020 to include 2 first round wide receivers, an offensive tackle and a quarterback. Saban reloaded and that team went 13-0 and won a NC. So yes a team can lose a lot of talent and still be very good. At the same time I guess the 2020 team was better than the 2019 because of winning a NC. I for one believed last year was going to be Kirby’s year because of their personal losses.
If you spend any time reading about the other teams in the SEC, the consensus is Bama’s defense will be better than the 2020 unit. While Pro Football Focus is not very credible by some fans they have Bama ranked as having the best defense with UGA being second. On offense they rank Bama fourth and UGA fifth. (Nationally)
I very much agree with your assessment of LSU and ATM. Both will be improved from last year. Of the two ATM very well could be the more difficult and have a real chance to beat Bama.
A couple of observations about Saban that some times get overlooked. He works extremely hard not to compare one years team to another year’s team. He takes the position that each year regardless of who stays and who goes, it is a new team. The new team has not accomplished anything. He coaches and they practice from that start point. I think failing to do some of these things is what tripped up LSU as much as anything. Climbing the mountain is hard, very hard but staying on top of the mountain is the hardest part of all. Secondly, you do not hear very much talk or any talk from the Bama players about a national championship. It is all about staying focused on the task at hand. It is about one play at a time. It is key to the culture Saban has created. I cringe when I hear players like Smith and Daniels talk about a national championship. I think their entire focus should be on Clemson. That is a game that very much needs to be won. I would say Smith and Daniels are focused on outcomes.
Finally we can go back and talk about a lot of things when we lose. I think the biggest difference is Bama plays one play at a time. You wrote about going conservative when it comes to playing Bama with the lead. In fact, a lot of people like to reference how the dawgs were leading late. If you are focused on outcomes, then you start playing not to lose. You don’t make the plays that must be made. Bama just keeps playing one play at a time . This is why I think they are so difficult to beat.
@MontanaDawg once again I think your analysis is correct. Where we might differ is who we might face in the SECCG. I have a feeling it will not be Bama or if it Bama it will be a one loss Bama.
Hard to imagine losing 10 1st round draft picks in the past two years and even think about winning another NC much less beating everyone else in the SEC, but if anyone can do it, Saban can, that's for sure. My hats off to the guy, either he's the GOAT or his 4 and 5 stars are just better than everyone else's or a combo of both.
On an interesting side note that I just discovered, Devonte Smith was once committed to UGA. He decommitted when one of the UGA player personnel guys he was close to left UGA and went to BAMA. Smith decommitted from UGA and the rest is history.
That one de-commitment changed a lot of UGA and CKS's fortunes. Much more so than probably anyone else. Who caught the winning TD in the NC game in overtime? That guy. Who also led BAMA to another NC and became the Heisman. That guy, that at one time was committed to us. You just never no.
Smith was a 4star coming out of HS, a top 100 player in the country but no one could have seen how he would develop. Maybe 247 Sports, they were the only recruiting site to have him as a 5 star. Oh, what might have been.
@reddawg1 it is worse than just Smith when looking at the NC game. I felt the worse possible thing to happen was the score right before halftime. Having watched Saban since his second year at UA, which by the way was much more about disliking Florida than anything else, I knew he would make some significant adjustments. I think if Bama was down only 7 at the half he would have stayed with Hurts. In that game there was no way Hurts was going to beat us. Tua came in along with 3 true freshman wide receivers- Rudd, Judy,and Smith, a running back named Harris, and a left tackle named Leatherwood, who substituted for the injured starter. Unfortunately we all know the rest of the story.
Kirby has significantly raised the profile of UGA following what he has learned from Saban. Several years ago Richt was looking for a new defensive coordinator and Kirby’s name was part of the conversation. The fan base seemed to be split in Kirby was only a figurehead and it was Saban’s defense or he would be a good hire. Being consistent in making unpopular comments, my position was why would Kirby make a lateral move to a lesser program. If Kirby returned to UGA it should be as the head coach.
You are correct about his 4 and 5 stars. What makes Saban such a great coach is ability to evaluate and develop players. A couple of recent examples. Bama offered Webb but never recruited him hard, in fact Saban never scheduled an in home visit. We rarely hear Webb’s name in conversation and yet as a highly rated 5* one would think he would be a starter or pushing hard to be one. Perkins, Bama did not offer. There were concerns about academics and character/maturity. We have witnessed Perkins outbursts and fortunately they have not cost us a game.
One of Kirby’s big coupes was to flip Jake from Bama, BTW this still is causing some bad feelings among some Bama fans. This caused Saban to have to find a second quarterback behind Tua. He got Jones a 3* to flip from KY. Jones had a very positive attitude and was willing to work hard to develop his skills. He requested a redshirt year, worked hard under three different staffs and ended up being a first round draft pick.
What I find most interesting is to compare who UGA and UA are recruiting. I am always surprised in how little overlap there is. There are not that many players where both staffs go all out. Equally there seems to be a difference in who they go all out for when both schools offer. The reason for so little overlap is the difference in evaluation.
Finally I think the staff Saban assembles each year does a better job in developing players. Kirby is doing a better job with this but I still think there are some staff weaknesses. At this time I think his biggest upgrade has been his current OC but look how long this took to get here.
Stone - "At this time I think his biggest upgrade has been his current OC but look how long this took to get here."
Remember Chaney and the other guy we had following Chaney. Not stellar hires IMO
If we ball out on offense this year, as I expect we will, then some other team is going to pay big time for Monken. Hopefully he's tired of traveling and more pressure and is happy in Athens. Just depends on his goals, I suppose. Question is can KIrby then pick another OC and just not skip a beat as Saban has done?
One thing we have lacked when compared to BAMA is the big time receivers. They have had 3-4 1st rounders in the past 2 years. We have caught up some in that area. Time to finish the drill.
Really? Perkins? Lol
Im probably the only jim chaney sympathizer. But that guy produce 2 back 2 back 1k yard rushers help lead UGA to a sec title, rose bowl win and first NC appearance since well you know.With a true freshman at qb. Truth be told had 2nd and 26 never happened chaney may as very well still be our OC.