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Georgia 2024 nucleus takes shape, key players leaving and returning
System
Posts: 10,461 admin
Georgia 2024 nucleus takes shape, key players leaving and returning
ATHENS — The 2024 Georgia football team nucleus is taking shape, and there are some key holes to fill with stars headed to the NFL.
Comments
“How about these national coach of the year awards wait until AFTER the season, so maybe Smart will get proper recognition.”
Well said, Mike G., could not agree with this more!
Go Dawgs!
Great takes on this and especially the one on Bobo. I thought the offense was very solid and there were times it was easy to point at Bobo as the source of some of the problems, especially the slow starts. The amount of change and then the lack of consistency of playing together for those that were starting had to be the biggest challenge. Then you throw a first-time starting QB in the mix and the recipe for inconsistency is set. Good point about Beck being off in the bowl game - he had 2-3 passes that should’ve been picked and hoping he gets more settled over the next year.
2024 looks great and I sure enjoyed 2023. Great takes this season @MikeGriffith and look forward to the same next year. Go DAWGS.
Mich obviously learned what our defense did wrong in the SEC Championship game. They didn't have any "spys." They bull rushed up the middle ,so Milroe couldn't step up. They played zone,so the db's weren't run out of the play. Ala dump offs were covered ,because of this. I think more emphasis should be shown to our terrible defensive game plans over the year than on Bobo. I was worried at the begining of the year about Bobo. When he was here with CMR he never used the TE. With Bowers being our main weapon that really concerned me. Bobo proved me wrong. We had a great year.. I KNOW we were better than any of those teams yesterday.
Michigan dominated BAMA with their defense. It showed just how weak we actually were on the defensive side of the ball. Every bowl game recently showed how over-rated Michigan was, but not this year. THey lived up to their billing. Our pass rush was weak this year and setting the edge. DB's outside of Kamari were weak in coverage. The defense needs to improves is the overwhelming result of the current poll.
WE made Milroe look like a passing QB. HE isn't.
@MikeGriffith Well done Mike !! Thanks for all the good info. you provided in 2023 !! Wish You and family the very best in 2024 !! Go Dawgs !!
Kind of surprise there's no Bowers announcement yet.
Glad we have Bobo.
Bama looked terrible (or Michigan is that good?).
Beck needs to work on deep balls of 25+ yards.
Turns out, DDJ was a liability at ILB
1-2 RBs will enter the transfer portal
Rodrick Robinson will be the leading RB in total rushing yards
Smael Mondon may not start next year (if he returns).
Love the 2024 schedule in terms of teams played. Somehow, our home schedule still stinks comparatively - Clemson (neutral/away), Florida (neutral/away), Texas (away), Bama (away), Kentucky (away), Ole Miss (away). Tenn. Tech, Auburn, Miss State, Tenn., UMass, and GT. Simply wakeful.
Greater Athens area gets shafted by playing Clemson and Florida games "Away". Nonsense at this point to play those game away from Athens. Negative for recruiting and economic impact. UGA brand strong enough now that neutral site games aren't needed.
Happy New Year.
Tyrion Ingram Dawkins is a player. Did you also forget Jamaal Jarrett? That gives us 6 solid interior guys. Now we need a couple of the new kids to provide some depth. Jonah Ajonye, Nas and Thomas all look like first year contributors. That's 9 guys.
We didn't lose because of not having the best DL in the country. We lost because we didn't blitz enough. Very few teams have the best DL every year. You have to actually scheme up a defense. Next time be more aggressive and the results will change.
It appears after this bowl season, the talent gap between the SEC and other conferences is narrower. NIL and portal I'm sure has a lot to do with it. No more Bama bully ball, roll out the helmets and win. It's all about having an edge, players, coaches, schemes, etc.
All good. I don't agree about RodRob though. KJ and Ellis both dudes.
Justin Williams is the next Great One at ILB. Mykel at the outside is the answer. Watch out for JJ55 and JH44 this coming year. CM52 and ID are both studs. We will be dominant again, just had too many injuries.
DB is the real deal. Between him Lovett and Rara plus the Miami transfer we will dominate.
Nate Frazier aint no joke. Home schedule ok again. Schedule overall ridunkulous. We've got the team to do it though.
Want to beat Texas and Bama. Be more aggressive on offense and defense.
We, like most fans, ignored that our slow starts were more because of giving up plays to opposing offenses instead of our offense. The defense definitely took two steps back this year and it wasn't because of lack of effort or even talent. KS and the defensive coaches tried to play defense the same way they've done the past two years without the same personnel. Davis, Wyatt, Carter, and Walker gave UGA a significant advantage up front and allowed them to get pressure on the QB and stuff the run without blitzes. The lack of an explosive player in the middle of the defense allowed opposing teams to run enough and forced UGA to use there outside LB as an extra man in the middle which opened the wide zone runs and QB keepers. I don't see any of the current DL as "explosive", so it will be interesting to see what adjustments the defensive staff makes to create more pressure on the QB and disrupt runs in the backfield. We saw yesterday how getting pressure on Milroe affected him and ultimately forced him into a bad decision. If UGA is going to beat the elite teams they have to generate CONSISTENT pressure on the opposing QB.
There's something I think we all need to keep in mind with respect to the effectiveness of Michigan's defense in this game. Michigan had a month to prepare. That would have been huge for Georgia's freshmen backup middle linebackers. And I think being able to give those guys a month of practice against Stockton or Vandagriff running Bama's fairly basic offense would have given the coaches more confidence to apply a more aggressive game plan. At least, I don't see any reason to think that couldn't have happened, and I think it's stating the obvious to say that Smart has earned the benefit of the doubt.
In the end, we allowed one more touchdown than Michigan did. And as much as some will roll their eyes, it is just a fact that Bama scored a touchdown against us immediately following a 4th down stop for the Georgia defense that the refs simply didn't bother to enforce.
It is true the score was not reflective of the arse whipping BAMA gave us. Even the stats are basically even. But all the folks who know football, including former UGA players all say that BAMA kicked our buns. Especially their O-line blowing up our D-linemen. Michigan's defense for the most part ate BAMA's O-line for lunch.
Mike, you say there are no immediate replacements for McConkey or Bullard, but I thought the receiver from Vanderbilt was signed specifically to replace McConkey, and by most accounts, KJ Bolden can step right in for Bullard, if necessary. I know he wouldn't have the experience, but Caleb Downs at Alabama proved that if you can get on the field, you have enough experience.
I agree that Coach of the Year Awards could wait a bit, but there is no guarantee that had they waited this year, that Kirby Smart would have won any. I still think Missouri's coach would have been ranked above him. Not that he's a better coach, but just because of the job he did this year based on that team's expectations. Most people expected UGA to be in the SECCG and that's exactly what happened.
Humphries has a different body type and skill set than McConkey. I think the better comp would be Anthony Evans, who, fortunately (and still to your point), is already on the team. Also, no need to look to Bama for examples of freshman who can contribute right away at the safety position. There's a guy by the name of Malaki Starks who did it right here at Georgia. But again, I agree with your larger point.
Lastly, I disagree with the idea that expectations should inform COY awards. That argument is basically that Smart has been doing too good a job to be considered for having done the best job.
A lot of the people declaring for the draft would be better off with another year of seasoning and would be drafted higher with another year of development under KS and his staff.
@CHDawg54
"A lot of the people declaring for the draft would be better off with another year of seasoning and would be drafted higher with another year of development under KS and his staff."
True for some, and not for some. Care to eleborate?
I don't know if LM or BB could improve. Definitely not BB. Sometimes you want to leave a good taste in NFL teams mouth, like Ladd taking that WR pass and weaving his way through Fla St defenders and then laughing about it afterwards. NIce way to go out.
I don't know that he would catch any more passes next season than this one and there's aways the risk of injury.
I saw one NFL insider had him as the #5 WR. A contract value of around 8 million.
reddawg1
"I saw one NFL insider had him as the #5 WR. A contract value of around 8 million."
Pretty darn good for a kid with no stars by his name pout of High School, who did not have a D-1 offer until 16 days before signing day where he was set to sign with University of Tennessee Chattanooga. That D-1 offer came from UGA. Man was he a diamond in the rough!
Perhaps there is another McConkey type diamond somewhere on the Dawg roster to begin 2024.