It’s hard to replace Aaron Murray, he’s almost irreplaceable. Murray threw for 3,075 yards, 26 TDs and nine ints completing 65% of his passes (225-347). He was quite a signal caller. But the Dawgs have a pretty competent replacement for Murray, who was drafted in the fifth round by the Kansas City Chiefs and if he can get his knee in order could be an excellent professional quarterback. Hutson Mason will take over. The senior has waited his turn and has played some. He came in and started the last two games of the season when Murray was knocked out for the year with an ACL tear in his knee. Mason completed 67-110 passes (61%) for 968 yards, five TDs and three ints. He had a good spring game completing 17-of-26 passes for 188 yards and a score and no ints. He’s better than a game manager, though he has some game management ability and I mean that in a good way. He looks like a good leader as a game manager much like A.J. McCarron was. McCarron was an excellent quarterback, but you have to have some game management in your game as well. McCarron had that and won a lot of football games. Mason doesn’t look as explosive as McCarron or Murray, but he can win you a lot of games with his accuracy and his intelligence.
Georgia lost their opener to Clemson, 38-35, @ Clemson in a tough, hard-fought excellent football game. Could have gone either way. Then they beat South Carolina (41-30), North Texas (45-21) and won a thriller between the Hedges over LSU, 44-41, in a classic. The next week the Dawgs faced somewhat of a trap game against Tennessee with Missouri coming up next and won it in OT, 34-31. But in that game they lost running back Keith Marshall, wide receiver Justin Scott-Wesley and another key player. Malcolm Mitchell, their stud wide out who almost single-handedly beat Florida along with Murray the year before, was lost for the season in the Clemson game with a torn up knee. So the Dawgs started piling up the injuries. All-American running back Todd Gurley was banged up throughout the year. The Dawgs got blasted by Missouri at home, 41-26. But Missouri was a heckuva football team, particularly on offense. Georgia just couldn’t overcome all the injuries and finished 8-5 overall, losing a tough one in the TaxSlayer. com Gator Bowl to Nebraska, 24-19.
But there are a ton of players back on offense. Gurley is back for his junior year after running for 989 yards and 10 TDs last year in an injury filled year. He was just kind of nicked up all the time. A sprained ankle here and just some nicks that hindered his play. I expect him to be back to being the Todd Gurley we expect to see on Saturdays this year. Gurley is 6’1″, 232 and runs a 4.4. He is a potential Heisman candidate if he can stay healthy. Keith Marshall will be back to back him up, and there is a guy A.J. Turman who looks like he can help. Brendan Douglas, who played a lot last year as a freshman will help. And the two running backs who are coming in, Sony Michel and Nick Chubb, are epic talents. Michel is a five-star out of Plantation, Florida who is 5’11”, 205, and I watched film on him and love him. He’s got power and speed. He can run between the tackles very effectively and take it to the house on any carry if he breaks through the first line of defense. Chubb (5’11”, 218) is a 6.0 four-star by Rivals, the highest four-star you can be, and is a tough runner who can break it as well. Loved the film on both of these guys. These two will make an early impact for this football team. Excited pair of runners coming in.
Wide out looks good when Mitchell, Scott-Wesley and tight end Jay Rome return in June for summer workouts. Mitchell is a game breaker and if he’s recovered fully from his knee injury, will be a game changer for the Dawgs. Scott-Wesley is an excellent wide receiver and Rome an excellent pass catching tight end. Aulden Bynum is a 6’5″, 261 redshirt freshman who should give Georgia some help at tight end. Then you have the stud Chris Conley at wide out. Can make the big catches and can take it the distance. Michael Bennett is as sure handed receiver as you’ll find in college football. Reggie Davis a 6’0″, 170 flanker, looks like a guy who can help Mitchell and Conley with explosive plays. The offensive weapons are in place. Like all SEC teams though, the Dawgs need to stay relatively healthy. With 85 scholarship players, you need to stay as healthy as possible to have a chance to win your division and go to Atlanta. The offensive line returns three starters in center David “Boss” Andrews (6’2″, 295), and tackles John Theus (6’6″, 298) and Kolton Houston (6’5″, 280). Those sizes don’t look tremendous, but I think they’re bigger than that from watching them in the spring game. The Dawgs will have new guards. Redshirt sophomore Greg Pyke (6’6″, 326) is a guy the coaches are really high on. He looks like a dominator and moves and blocks well on the run for pulling purposes. Brandon Kublanow looks like their other starter at guard. He’s a sophomore and 6’3″, 290. There looks to be some pretty good depth there. Those two guards need to develop and the line needs to get the chemistry right. If they do, this will be an explosive offense.
On defense, last year’s defensive coordinator, Todd Grantham, who was Mark Richt’s guy for three years, decided to take his talents and his confusing defenses, up to Louisville to chase cheerleaders and dance girls with Petrino and Pitino. Louisville wants to win, so they threw their ethical compasses out the window and hired Bobby Petrino. I don’t know if Petrino will be as patient with Grantham as Richt was. But Jeremy Pruitt comes to Georgia from Florida State where he built an excellent defense in Tallahassee. Pruitt was a huge hire by Coach Richt and will turn around that defense and make it one of the better ones in the conference. Will it happen this year? Not positive he has all the horses in place, but he’s got some talent. Outside linebacker Leonard Floyd is outstanding. Floyd (6’4″, 220, sophomore) looks like he’s ready for an All-American season. Last year, he posted 9.5 tackles for loss of 63 yards and 6.5 sacks for 55 yards. He’s a potential dominator on defense this year in the SEC and nationally. Ramik Wilson (6’2″, 232) is a senior inside linebacker, who led the team and the conference in tackles with 133, with 11 for loss of 38 yards and four sacks. Jordan Jenkins (6’3″, 246) will be another stellar linebacker. He finished with 12 tackles for loss and five sacks last year. So linebacker looks good. Amarlo Herrera finished second on the team with 112 tackles and five for loss. He’s excellent. The defensive line has talent, but needs to develop this summer in the weight program and in fall workouts in August. Josh Dawson (6’4″, 275) is a defensive end primed for a good year. Some more guys need to step in and become physical football players. Secondary is led by cornerback Tray Matthews and safety Damian Swann. Pruitt will coach the secondary along with his role as DC, and he’s a very good secondary coach, having worked for Nick Saban at Alabama and coaching a very good secondary at Florida State last year. He’s a coach who is on the rise in the SEC. Look for him and of course, Kirby Smart to be the next guys in line if big jobs open up in the conference or at a big national name. There are three other new defensive coaches for the Dawgs. Mike Ekeler takes over the inside linebackers.He comes from USC where he coached under Coach O last year. Tracy Rocker, the famed Auburn Tigers defensive tackle in the ’80’s, will take over the defensive line and Will linebackers. Kevin Shearer will coach Sam linebackers and the star position, a hybrid safety and linebacker. Richt really upgraded his defensive staff. Can this defensive staff help get the Dawgs to Atlanta? They can if the players do their part and develop in the summer and fall camp. The coaching is there.
2014 schedule:
The Dawgs open at home against Clemson on Saturday, August 30th. I like this Clemson team a lot. They’re explosive on offense and their defensive line is potentially a dominating group. They will be a lot better on defense in Brent Venables third year as coordinator. Chad Morris will once again commandeer an excellent offense with Cole Stoudt taking over as quarterback from Tajh Boyd. I watched some of the Clemson spring game and liked Stoudt and really liked their running backs and skilled players. Offensive line looks good too. They lose Boyd and Sammy Watkins, but return some very good talent with Dabo having recruited extremely well the last couple of years. Dabo has it going at Clemson. With that said, I like the Dawgs in this one. The Dawgs lost last year at Clemson and I expect them to be very motivated for this one. No TV announced yet, but I’m looking for a Saturday night game between the Hedges at 8 PM ET/7 CT with ESPN or ABC on the call. Like the Dawgs to get it done in a great game here. The Dawgs have a week off then go to Columbia in a huge game Sept. 13th against the Gamecocks and Ball Coach. SC looked fantastic on offense in the spring, so this should be a classic. Not going to pick it until I see them both play their first games. South Carolina hosts A&M and a pretty good East Carolina team before the Dawgs come to Columbia. Should be an epic Sept. 13th. The Dawgs then play Troy, UT and Vandy at home the next three weeks before going to Missouri and Arkansas then playing the Gators in that always classic game in Jacksonville on Nov.1. This game could have major implications in the East as I believe the Gators will be greatly improved on offense under new OC Kurt Roper, who came over from Duke where he was highly successful under the outstanding David Cutcliffe. So this will be a war. Then the Dawgs are at Kentucky, host the outstanding Auburn Tigers in Athens, Nov.15th then host Charleston Southern and play Georgia Tech in Athens.
I can see the Dawgs getting to Atlanta. The South Carolina and Florida games are tremendously huge and really the Clemson game is going to be huge. Auburn is always a big game for both teams. I can see Georgia emerging from the East, but I’m not going to pick them yet. I like South Carolina a lot, and I’m liking Florida some more, so it’ll be a war for the SEC East. Dawgs can get to Atlanta if the defense develops and the offense and defense stay healthy.