UGA launches into SEC Media Days, preseason
Some call it the unofficial start to college football season, even though six weeks remain until Georgia’s opener against Clemson. Others might say it’s talking season.
Whatever one calls the mid-July event that’s magnified across the Southeast, it’s the moment where excitement and anticipation around college football and the sport’s beloved league begins and persists for fiveplus months. For Georgia, which has its name in national title contention for yet another year, it’s where the program returns to the spotlight and head coach Kirby Smart, quarterback JT Daniels and defensive tackle Jordan Davis get to dress to their best and represent the Bulldogs.
Once Smart stands at the podium and ends his filibuster-like opening statement with “I’ll open it up for questions” around 10 a.m. on Tuesday (SEC Network), the frenzy in Hoover, Alabama begins. Many questions will be fired in the direction of those wearing the ‘Power G’ pin on their sportcoats — some to get a laugh and others on narrowed topics about the upcoming season.
Georgia finished its pandemic-shortened season with an 8-2 record and a comeback win in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The expectations are even loftier for the 2022 campaign, however, with full capacity expected in Sanford Stadium, a premier game to open the season and a slew of key returns and additions to bolster the Bulldogs’ potential.
The chatter begins at SEC Media Days, but continues through August and leads up to the opening boot by Jack Podlesny inside Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
Here are four storylines to watch at the podium and through the following weeks of preseason football.
What does a full season of JT Daniels mean?
With all due respect to Stetson Bennett and his performances to lead Georgia to a handful of victories last season, the Bulldogs found their full-time answer at quarterback after Daniels dazzled in a victory over Mississippi State. The Southern Cal transfer never relinquished the role, and has elevated himself into an upper tier of SEC signal callers.
It’s confirmed by the choice by Smart to send Daniels as a team representative: Georgia not only has its man behind center for 2021, but it’s depending on him to lead the offense under second-year offensive coordinator Todd Monken.
Georgia faced some attrition in the offseason around its offensive playmaking as George Pickens suffered a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and Demetris Robertson transferred to rival Auburn. The Bulldogs received reinforcements in the form of two early enrollees at wide receiver, the expected return of Marcus RosemyJacksaint and Dominick Blaylock along with the addition of LSU transfer Arik Gilbert (who originally planned to play at Florida before changing his mind) listed at wide receiver instead of his previous position of tight end.
In only four games, Daniels threw for 1,231 yards, 10 touchdowns and two interceptions in 2020. The Bulldogs already noticed growth through spring practice, too, as Daniels developed a stronger rapport with his offensive weapons and with Monken’s philosophy.
There’s reason to believe No. 18 can replicate his flash of success for a full season. If so, it gives potential for Georgia’s offense to reach its highest point in the Smart era.
“It was a whirlwind in terms of trying to install different things. The pace at which we are doing walk-throughs and being able to do things offensively has been much better,” Smart said in early March on Daniels’ development. “This time last year, I don’t even have a clue what he was doing. He was rehabbing from a knee; I mean he has come a long way in terms of the volume of information he has gotten.”
Did Georgia fill the holes in its secondary?
At the end of last season, it nearly felt like a mass exodus in the Bulldogs’ secondary. A lot of talented pieces — including safety Richard LeCounte, first-round cornerback Eric Stokes and soonto-follow selection Tyson Campbell — were ready to advance to the professional ranks. All the while, former defensive backs coach Charlton Warren accepted a new role at Indiana.
All of a sudden, it felt like safeties Lewis Cine and Christopher Smith found themselves on an island. A slew of players who had barely touched the field in a Georgia uniform surrounded them, including running back Lavosea Carroll, who shifted into the secondary during spring drills.
The Bulldogs needed bodies and development.
“It’s just a lot of young guys that haven’t played a lot of college football,” Smart said on April 3. “They’ve played a lot of football, and they’re good football players, but we’re a long way from being ready in terms of what we need to do with the secondary because we’ve just got a lot of inexperienced players.”
Although Smart denies using the transfer portal as a primary means of recruiting, it served as Georgia’s lifeline over the summer. The Bulldogs added former West Virginia cornerback Tykee Smith (and his position coach Jahmile Addae) and Clemson All-American transfer Darion Kendrick, who gets an immediate reunion with his old team.
Georgia also will have a healthy Kelee Ringo, who missed last season with a significant shoulder injury, in the fold. A group of freshmen, led by four-star Nyland Green, also join the unit. The unit is far from a state of freefall, but the Bulldogs have a lot of new faces in a group that once had some of football’s premier talents.
Is anybody talking about this new-look offensive line?
The discussion around Georgia’s offensive line might’ve gotten slightly overshadowed by mass changes elsewhere. Nonetheless, the Bulldogs lost two important pieces up front and will suddenly feature a new-look unit.
At the offensive tackle positions, everything looks the same for the Bulldogs as Jamaree Salyer and Warren
McClendon could anchor those spots for another year. The center and guard positions, however, will have a different look after Trey Hill and big-bodied Ben Cleveland signed NFL contracts.
The good news for Georgia, though, is that Matt Luke hadn’t missed a beat in recruiting since Sam Pittman took his spot as Arkansas’ head coach. The Bulldogs feature plenty of depth, with names who were known as some of the country’s best as high school prospects. Georgia even featured it last season as Xavier Truss and Sedrick Van Pran-Granger earned some meaningful game action.
Other names to fill vacant roles and important reserve spots include Clay Webb, freshman Amarius Mims, Tate Ratledge, Owen Condon and Broderick Jones.
“The depth, I hope, is there,” Smart said on April 10. “The beauty is, we’ve got guys out there that are getting better and competing each day, so we’ll see where we are but we certainly have not arrived.”
A new role for Gilbert at Georgia, apparently
It might be easy to gloss over, but Gilbert is featured
at a new position on Georgia’s official football roster. The former LSU tight end recorded 365 yards and two touchdowns in eight games as a freshman, but he won’t be in the same role as a Bulldog.
He will line up at wide receiver, which is a position of need after Pickens’ injury and might’ve been a selling point for a player who originally transferred to Florida before switching to Georgia shortly thereafter.
Gilbert’s frame is rather interesting and nearly makes the sophomore a unicorn among pass catchers in the SEC. He stands at 6-foot-5, 248 pounds with the versatility to play receiver and tight end. Georgia needs his talents on the offensive perimeter after Pickens’ injury. It also allows Smart to use Kearis Jackson and Arian Smith in the slot positions to a greater degree.
Gilbert could be one of Georgia’s biggest additions of the offseason, and it awaits to be seen how a new role suits a player who could be one of the nation’s most-unique weapons, along with sophomore Darnell Washington — who is unique enough in his own right as someone who can bulldoze defenders as a larger tight end.