The last time we heard from Kirby Smart in the competitive arena, was after his team’s 33-18 over the Crimson Tide in the National Championship Game in which the Bulldogs claimed their first national title since 1980, a lengthy 41 years. Smart said to ESPN’s Rece Davis after the game that, “There’s gonna be some property torn up in Indianapolis tonight, baby!” Not a big fan of destroying property, seems pretty redneck. Apparently, it’s referencing what Georgia late play by play announcer Larry Munson used to say after big victories. National Championships don’t happen much at Georgia, so Smart was a little amped up.

The Dawgs completed their 2021 season with a 14-1 record and were led by a dominating defense that allowed just 10.2 points per game, best in the country. And, since 1997, it’s the 4th best ever nationally behind the 2011 Alabama defense that allowed 8.2 points per game, the 1997 Michigan defense that allowed 8.9 points, and Miami (FL.), in 2001, which allowed 9.4 points. The 2012 Alabama defense was fifth allowing just 10.9 points.

But Georgia lost 5 first round draft picks off that defense and lost 15 players off that team to the April 28-30th, 2022 draft. Defensive end Travon Walker was selected first overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Defensive tackle Jordan Davis was the 13th overall pick by the Philadelphia Eagles. Linebacker Quay Walker was chosen 22nd overall by the Green Bay Packers. Defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt was picked 28th by the Packers. And safety Lewis Cine was picked 32nd overall by the Minnesota Vikings as the final selection of the first round. Wide receiver George Pickens was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers as the 52nd pick in the 2nd round, and looked every bit the 5 star player part he was coming out of Hoover High School in Birmingham, and, when healthy, the player he was at Georgia, when he played for the Steelers on Saturday in their 32-25 preseason game 1 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. Pickens caught 3 passes for 43 yards, that included a 26 yard TD reception, in which he made a terrific over the shoulder catch and niftily kept both his feet inbounds in the end zone. Running back James Cook was selected by the Buffalo Bills as the 63rd pick in the second round. Linebacker Nakobe Dean, quite possibly Georgia’s most valuable player in 2021, was selected as the 83rd pick in the 3rd round by the Eagles. And running back Zamir “Zeus” White was selected as the 122nd pick in the 4th round by the Las Vegas Raiders, among others selected.

So Smart has a lot of reloading to do. There is super young talent, but a lot of inexperience on defense. The secondary is strong, but the linebackers and defensive linemen are youthful. The offense could be prolific if Stetson Bennett can replicate most of his performances from the 2021 season. But sophomore Carson Beck looked pretty stellar in the spring game, so Bennett needs to perform, although Smart has been loyal, at times to the detriment of his team, when sticking with quarterbacks. He did it with Jake Fromm, and Fromm ended up leaving after his junior season, and is now struggling in the NFL as a free agent after being a backup for the Buffalo Bills and the New York Giants. Bad decision. Justin Fields was so frustrated, he transferred to Ohio State. It took the Dawgs a lost 2020 season to recover from that. Bennett is a loyal guy and has done well. He threw three TDs in the spring game, but also tossed 2 interceptions. He has a propensity to make big plays and a propensity, at times, to have miscues. It’ll be interesting to see how he performs this season after winning the national championship for his team in 2021. He’s earned the start from his resume, but he’s 5”10”, and gets a lot of balls batted down and can throw ill-timed interceptions. So while he can lead his team on the field as a 6th year senior, he needs to minimize his mistakes for his team to be successful. Nonetheless, you have to play defense in the SEC, and that is a bit of a question mark for Georgia heading into 2022.

Bennett put up some nice numbers in 2021, completing 185-of-287 passes, 65%, for 2,862 yards, 29 TDs against 7 ints. He had the third highest QBR, the quarterback rating metric, in the country behind No.1 C.J. Stroud of Ohio State and No.2 Bryce Young of Alabama. Against the Crimson Tide in the national championship game, Bennett threw a 40 yard TD toss to Adonai Mitchell with 8:09 left in the game, and then threw a 15 yarder to then stud freshman Brock Bowers with 3:33 left in the game. Then redshirt freshman cornerback Kelee Ringo clinched the game with a 79 yard pick six on a beautiful run after the int. It just goes to show you it’s about players deciding whether their team wins or lose a game. Coaches can prepare, make some good decisions during games and make good play calls, but Smart and the whole coaching staff were telling Ringo to get down after he intercepted the pass, but he was having none of that. He was going to take it to the house and that’s just what he did and he won the game for his team along with Bennett and the rest of the players. The best thing coaches can do is recruit great players. That’s 80% of winning big.

Bennett got it done when his team needed him to also in the most clutch moment a quarterback can have in college football.

Bennett has done a lot of good things and deserves the starting job. Beck, a sophomore, completed 10-of-23 passes for 176 yards and 2 TDs against 2 ints last season. Redshirt freshman Brock Vandergriff was a 5 star, and 5 star freshman Gunner Stockton is waiting in the wings.

So a lot to like about the quarterback room for the Bulldogs.

The running game lost Zamir White and James Cook, but is still loaded with senior Kenny McIntosh, 6’1”, 210, and junior Kendall Milton, 6’1”, 220. Junior Daijun Edwards, 5’10”, 201, is a potentially superb back as well. All have plenty of talent and game experience. Branson Robinson is a 97, 4 star freshman who looks like he could be a stellar back in the future, and possibly in 2022 if there are enough carries to go around or there are injuries, which happen to running backs. Andrew Paul is an 88, 3 star freshman also.

Tight end is tremendous, and, very likely, the strongest position group on the team. The great sophomore Bowers, 6’4”, 230, was a one man wrecking crew last season. Bowers caught 56 passes for 882 yards and 13 TDs. He is a leader on the team and a massive weapon. Darnell Washington is 6’7” 265 who caught 10 passes for 154 yards and a TD last season. I’m sure Coach Smart and offensive coordinator Todd Monken want him heavily involved in the offense this season. Another tight end who can play some wide out too is Arik Gilbert, 6’5”, 248. Gilbert didn’t get a ton of chances last season, he was injured some, but caught 2 TD passes in the spring game and looked dominant. He was the No.3 ranked player in the country, according to ESPN, coming out of high school in 2020. And then you have true freshman Oscar Delp, 6’5”, 225, who was a 96, 4 star in high school, and was an early enrollee catching 7 passes for 91 yards in the spring game. So another terrific talent there. It’s mind spinning the talent in that room.

Wide receivers are Adonai Mitchell, who is back after catching 29 passes for 426 yards and 4 TDs in 2021. He’s 6’4”, 190, a sophomore. Redshirt sophomore Ladd McConkey is a Wes Welker type receiver, but more explosive. He’s 6’0”, 185. McConkey caught 31 passes for 447 yards and 5 TDs last season. Senior Kearis Jackson, 6’0”, 200, caught 16 passes for 194 yards and a TD and is a weapon in the punt return game. They probably want to employ Jackson more in the passing game with Jermaine Burton now with the Crimson Tide. Sophomore Arian Smith, 6’0”, 185, sophomore Jackson Meeks, 6’2”, 205, junior Marcus Rosemy- Jacksaint, 6’2”, 195, and 4 star freshmen De’Nylon Morrisettee and C.J. Smith will add to the depth and talent to a pretty loaded position for Georgia.

The offensive line has good size and experience. Sophomore center Sedrick Van Plan is 6’4”, 310, sophomore left tackle Broderick Jones is 6’4”, 315, not massive, but very athletic,sophomore left guard Tate Rutledge is 6’6”, 320. Senior right guard Warren Ericson is 6’4”, 305, and junior right tackle Warren McClendon is 6’4”, 300. So they’re not massive linemen, but they’re physical and agile and have enough size to get the job done for Bennett and the skill players. There is good depth and size behind them.

Senior outside linebacker Nolan Smith is ready to make his mark in the SEC and nationally. He was a 5 star out of high school in 2019 and has done some good things, but was somewhat overlooked with the talent on that side of the ball last season. He’s 6’3”, 235. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter, a 6’3”, 310 junior, is also ready to step it up. He had 8 1/2 tackles for loss and 3 sacks last year. His production should skyrocket this season. Zion Logue, 6’5”, 295, is a junior nose tackle and is expected to be a disruptor this season. The front 7 has plenty of talent, however it’s largely untested. Sometimes you’d rather have more talent than more experience and the talent is off the charts yet youthful in playing experience. Like the tight end room, the secondary is superb. Ringo is back for his redshirt sophomore season at corner. He’s 6’2”, 205. Sophomore Kamari Lassiter, 6’0”, 180, will man the other cornerback spot. Junior transfer Tykee Smith is the free safety, senior Christopher Smith, who picked off 3 passes last season, will be the strong safety, and senior William Poole will man the Star position, the hybrid safety’/linebacker spot. It’s a secondary with talent, experience and good depth. Definitely a strong suit for the team.

Freshman Brett Thorson will punt, returning senior Jack Podlesny will kick. He has a lot of experience and talent. McIntosh and Jackson will return kickoffs, and Jackson and McConkey, in that order, are the punt returners.

The 2022 recruiting class was third in the country, according to 247 Sports, behind A&M, which had 8, 5 stars and 20, 4 stars. Alabama was 2nd with 3, 5 stars and 21, 4 stars. Georgia hauled in 5, 5 stars and 17, 4 stars. This 2023 class is No.5 so far with 2, 5 stars and 12, 4 stars. The Crimson Tide is No.1 with 4, 5 stars, and 12, 4 stars. Notre Dame is second, Texas is third and Ohio State, or what are we supposed to call them permanently, The Ohio State now? Petty. They’re 4th.

Schedule

The Dawgs open the season versus Oregon in the Chick Fil-A Classic at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The game kicks off at 2:30 PM CT on Saturday, Sept. 3rd on ABC. Smart will go against last year’s terrific defensive coordinator for Georgia, Dan Lanning, who is now the Oregon head coach. Georgia plays Samford in game 2 on Saturday, 9/10, at home with a 3 PM CT kickoff on the SEC Network. Then they’re @South Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 17th at the always tough 11 AM time slot on ESPN. That’ll be a tricky one. Tough place to play and Shane Beamer has it going in Columbia. The Dawgs host Kent State Saturday, 9/24, at 11 AM CT on SEC Network+ and ESPN+.in week 4. Then it’s @Missouri on Saturday, 10/1, with kickoff and TV to be determined. That’s the case for the rest of the games. Then vs. Auburn at Sanford Stadium, Saturday, 10/8, vs. Vanderbilt, Saturday, 10/15, Off, 10/22, Florida in Jacksonville, Saturday, 10/29, Tennessee at home, Saturday, 11/5, @Mississippi State, Saturday, 11/12, @Kentucky, Saturday, 11/19, in another tricky one on the road as Kentucky has become a stellar program, and Georgia Tech in Athens, Saturday, 11/26. The SEC Championship Game is at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday,, 12/3, at 3 PM CT on CBS.

So it’s tough with a young defense, but possible to have a big year with a youthful, but talented group, at least in the front seven, but a stellar secondary,, and a loaded offense. But you gotta play defense in the SEC, so we’ll see how quickly this young group in the front seven can acclimate themselves to the SEC and play the type of defense Georgia is used to playing under Smart. It’ll be tough to duplicate last year’s production, but with some experience early against teams that are beatable, except for South Carolina, which will be tougher, this defense may be up to the task by midseason and come November. They’ve got a shot to excel this season and win the East and a shot to make the Playoff, but there is a lot of growing up that needs to be done on defense pretty quickly. Will Muschamp is the co defensive coordinator along with Glenn Schumann. Don’t know a lot about Schumann, but Muschamp is certainly a known commodity with Smart heavily involved. The offense should be exceptional.

Coming up next, Texas A&M, either the latter part of this week, or Monday of next week, 8/22.