who's got my back? ....
So I guess now is as good a time as any to start taking stock on the losses and possible replacements for Georgia for next season. Since I love defense and feel a little bit better discussing it, not to mention it's the rosier side of the ball, we'll start there. All of this is, of course, wildly speculative, as should be expected from someone like me, and will be subject to the vagaries of injuries, trangressions, and even the possibility of the new kids coming in this year (although I consider that a low possibility since the bulk of the losses are in the defensive backfield, and in my opinion, players tend to not really come into their own at CB until there 2nd or 3rd season there at the college level, i.e. Bruce Thornton, Tim Wansley, Jennings and Minter this season, just to name a few). And after that long parenthetical outtake, here we go.
The first happy thought needs to be that, we actually have a lot of experience coming back on defense. We're returning roughly 7 guys I consider starters from last year and the other 4 spots will probably be manned by guys who saw good playing time this year. So, barring injuries there won't be an absolute necessity to break in totally new guys on defense.
So things will probably look something like this.
DE's
Charles Johnson (a de facto returning starter, should have started in front of Thompson last year in my opinion)
Quentin Moses (and thank god he is back, the line would have been an area of concern for me if he had bolted)
DT's
Jeff Owens (played serious minutes and solid contribution last year)
Ray Gant (has played serious minutes and spot started over the last 2 years)
I feel good about the defensive line, or more properly, about the starters on the defensive line. Depth becomes a question here. The only other guys with any real serious playing time would be Mudcat and Dixson who cause me varying levels of head shaking and poor Marcus Howard who's outweighed by most of our linebackers. So we're definitely looking at the possibility of some new names playing serious minutes in backup roles here. We'll get a chance to see if Kade Weston has progressed and if Roderick Battle is ready. I would think Demarcus Dobbs and Brandon Wood from this year's class will get a chance to contribute at end and the lack of depth at tackle will give this year's guys like Michael Lemon and Richardo Crawford a chance to contribute Jeff Owens style if they come in ready. Overall, until the quality depth questions are answered, we probably have to consider this group as being slightly below the group from this season for the time being.
Q, returning to deliver The Drizzle from anxiety
LB's
Sam
Brandon Miller
Mike
Tony Taylor
Will
Jarvis Jackson
Experience and depth wise, linebacker will be the strength of the defense coming back. We lose no one here, every one of these guys started at some point last year. You've also got DVW, who started last year as well. The loss of TKO during the season and the fact that Ellerbee got nabbed for DUI and is indefinitely suspended are the downsides here. Man beast Marcus Washington is coming off a year of special teams though, and we've got a crop of guys coming in like Dewberry, Hebron, and Dent. Odds are, at worst, Dewberry will be ready to contribute, and hopefully all 3 will be seeing minutes before the year is over. Quite frankly if the incoming freshman look good, I'm still strongly in favor of moving Brandon Miller back to defensive end to bolster some depth there. My expectation would be that Tony Taylor will quarterback the defense this year. Overall, this group gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling, although as I said in the post Sugar Bowl wailings, I am looking forward to downsizing and speeding the position up a little.
DB's
CB's
Paul Oliver (solid nickel work this year and start in the Auburn game)
Thomas Flowers (nickel work at times and experience at PR)
S
Tra Battle (returning starter)
Kelin Johnson (solid playing time, start in the Kentucky game)
Unfortunately, the bulk of losses aren't spread across the defense, they're localized at the back, which could lead to many hands on the knees and eyes to heavens poses for me next year. Like I've said, recent past has taught us that it takes guys a couple season to really come into their own at the corner. I do think that Oliver is ready, last year really seemed to be his breakout year. Beyond that though, questions abound. Flowers is the de facto pick here since he was the next guy off the bench last season and he's got serious playing time at PR. Who's the next guy off for injury though? Who plays nickel? Well, we've signed several guys at varying levels of studness between last year and this year (knock on wood until signing day). Last year had stud Bryan Evans and Donovan Baldwin and this year looks to have studs Asher Allen and Prince Miller. At least one of these guys is going to see serious time. A year of experience probably gives Evans the edge, but the numbers on Allen and Miller are serious, and Allen will have the added benefit of his January enrollment.
At safety, feel good story Tra Battle will still be there. I give the other spot to Kelin Johnson because for reasons funny only to me and my friends, he was assigned to be my boy. Truth be told, I'd love if someone stepped up and took Battle's spot, he may have a solid year of starting experience, but the physical skills are nothing like what we'll see from someone like say, C.J. Byrd, who's already wasted one year of eligibility on special teams. I think if we did that without serious plans to give him a chance to start this year, then it was a total waste. Lots of signings at this position in the last couple years, but lots of injuries too. However, considering Martinez handles DB's, I expect to see some good work out of his personal unit. Regardless, it's the biggest hand wringer.
Anyway, we again lost some big names and there are serious questions as to the experience in the 2 deep. Tons of talent, just not a lot of playing time. So, one might assume we may experience some early season growing pains, but short of playing West Virginia again, I still expect this to be a Top 15, if not Top 10 defense, and again, the strength of the team.
-In Other News
Realist most accurately reflects my thoughts on USC and the handling of its "legacy." For all the heritage of college football, it's amazing how quickly teams are discarded. One of my friends, who'd become kind of a tertiary USC fan during their run and who shared my hatred of Texas called me after the game and told me, this really bothers me, I shouldn't care this much, but I do. And I told him, look at it this way, they'll talk about it tomorrow, on Friday they'll discuss it a little more, and on Saturday, the wild card games start and it'll be like college football ended months ago, it'll disappear just that fast. The beauty of the game I guess, good or bad, next season is only a year away.
And now, with victories by Seattle and Pittsburgh, we now have set the stage for the Super Bowl that will rival the Giants-Ravens for the one I couldn't possibly give less of a crap about. Upside, UGA will be represented on both sides, but considering Pittsburgh sports more Georgia boys and Roethslisberger is officially the sports star whose head and facial hair most closely mimics my own studied look, I guess I'll back Pittsburgh. Although, my former boss is a Pittsburgh fan and anything that would bring joy to him, with all apologies to Brian, brings me right to the edge of kitten sniping.
Who knew that a happy Hines Ward and a kitten in mortal danger would ever be so closely linked?
And in the best news of all, according to AMC, Arachnophobia has now achieved the level of an American Movie Classic.
The first happy thought needs to be that, we actually have a lot of experience coming back on defense. We're returning roughly 7 guys I consider starters from last year and the other 4 spots will probably be manned by guys who saw good playing time this year. So, barring injuries there won't be an absolute necessity to break in totally new guys on defense.
So things will probably look something like this.
DE's
Charles Johnson (a de facto returning starter, should have started in front of Thompson last year in my opinion)
Quentin Moses (and thank god he is back, the line would have been an area of concern for me if he had bolted)
DT's
Jeff Owens (played serious minutes and solid contribution last year)
Ray Gant (has played serious minutes and spot started over the last 2 years)
I feel good about the defensive line, or more properly, about the starters on the defensive line. Depth becomes a question here. The only other guys with any real serious playing time would be Mudcat and Dixson who cause me varying levels of head shaking and poor Marcus Howard who's outweighed by most of our linebackers. So we're definitely looking at the possibility of some new names playing serious minutes in backup roles here. We'll get a chance to see if Kade Weston has progressed and if Roderick Battle is ready. I would think Demarcus Dobbs and Brandon Wood from this year's class will get a chance to contribute at end and the lack of depth at tackle will give this year's guys like Michael Lemon and Richardo Crawford a chance to contribute Jeff Owens style if they come in ready. Overall, until the quality depth questions are answered, we probably have to consider this group as being slightly below the group from this season for the time being.
Q, returning to deliver The Drizzle from anxiety
LB's
Sam
Brandon Miller
Mike
Tony Taylor
Will
Jarvis Jackson
Experience and depth wise, linebacker will be the strength of the defense coming back. We lose no one here, every one of these guys started at some point last year. You've also got DVW, who started last year as well. The loss of TKO during the season and the fact that Ellerbee got nabbed for DUI and is indefinitely suspended are the downsides here. Man beast Marcus Washington is coming off a year of special teams though, and we've got a crop of guys coming in like Dewberry, Hebron, and Dent. Odds are, at worst, Dewberry will be ready to contribute, and hopefully all 3 will be seeing minutes before the year is over. Quite frankly if the incoming freshman look good, I'm still strongly in favor of moving Brandon Miller back to defensive end to bolster some depth there. My expectation would be that Tony Taylor will quarterback the defense this year. Overall, this group gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling, although as I said in the post Sugar Bowl wailings, I am looking forward to downsizing and speeding the position up a little.
DB's
CB's
Paul Oliver (solid nickel work this year and start in the Auburn game)
Thomas Flowers (nickel work at times and experience at PR)
S
Tra Battle (returning starter)
Kelin Johnson (solid playing time, start in the Kentucky game)
Unfortunately, the bulk of losses aren't spread across the defense, they're localized at the back, which could lead to many hands on the knees and eyes to heavens poses for me next year. Like I've said, recent past has taught us that it takes guys a couple season to really come into their own at the corner. I do think that Oliver is ready, last year really seemed to be his breakout year. Beyond that though, questions abound. Flowers is the de facto pick here since he was the next guy off the bench last season and he's got serious playing time at PR. Who's the next guy off for injury though? Who plays nickel? Well, we've signed several guys at varying levels of studness between last year and this year (knock on wood until signing day). Last year had stud Bryan Evans and Donovan Baldwin and this year looks to have studs Asher Allen and Prince Miller. At least one of these guys is going to see serious time. A year of experience probably gives Evans the edge, but the numbers on Allen and Miller are serious, and Allen will have the added benefit of his January enrollment.
At safety, feel good story Tra Battle will still be there. I give the other spot to Kelin Johnson because for reasons funny only to me and my friends, he was assigned to be my boy. Truth be told, I'd love if someone stepped up and took Battle's spot, he may have a solid year of starting experience, but the physical skills are nothing like what we'll see from someone like say, C.J. Byrd, who's already wasted one year of eligibility on special teams. I think if we did that without serious plans to give him a chance to start this year, then it was a total waste. Lots of signings at this position in the last couple years, but lots of injuries too. However, considering Martinez handles DB's, I expect to see some good work out of his personal unit. Regardless, it's the biggest hand wringer.
Anyway, we again lost some big names and there are serious questions as to the experience in the 2 deep. Tons of talent, just not a lot of playing time. So, one might assume we may experience some early season growing pains, but short of playing West Virginia again, I still expect this to be a Top 15, if not Top 10 defense, and again, the strength of the team.
-In Other News
Realist most accurately reflects my thoughts on USC and the handling of its "legacy." For all the heritage of college football, it's amazing how quickly teams are discarded. One of my friends, who'd become kind of a tertiary USC fan during their run and who shared my hatred of Texas called me after the game and told me, this really bothers me, I shouldn't care this much, but I do. And I told him, look at it this way, they'll talk about it tomorrow, on Friday they'll discuss it a little more, and on Saturday, the wild card games start and it'll be like college football ended months ago, it'll disappear just that fast. The beauty of the game I guess, good or bad, next season is only a year away.
And now, with victories by Seattle and Pittsburgh, we now have set the stage for the Super Bowl that will rival the Giants-Ravens for the one I couldn't possibly give less of a crap about. Upside, UGA will be represented on both sides, but considering Pittsburgh sports more Georgia boys and Roethslisberger is officially the sports star whose head and facial hair most closely mimics my own studied look, I guess I'll back Pittsburgh. Although, my former boss is a Pittsburgh fan and anything that would bring joy to him, with all apologies to Brian, brings me right to the edge of kitten sniping.
Who knew that a happy Hines Ward and a kitten in mortal danger would ever be so closely linked?
And in the best news of all, according to AMC, Arachnophobia has now achieved the level of an American Movie Classic.
posted by The Drizzle at 10:21 PM
5 Comments:
Other surprising American Movie Classics:
Meet Joe Black
Insomnia
Tremors 2: Aftershocks
The real question is, during the Bond run a few weeks ago, how come every time I flipped over there, The Living Daylights was coming on and I'd just missed Thunderball or Dr. No? Seriously, like 8 times, what are the odds?
You were lucky it wasn't On Her Majesty's Secret Service...
DL:
I like Gant but I'm not sure how I feel about him starting every game. I'm just not sure how capable a front line DT he is. Of coutse, there's been endless speculation that he and Charles Johnson would flipflopm but until I see I don't pay it too much attention.
Dixon, when healtht, I think was starting to make contributions. So hopefully he can step foward next year.
You didn't mention Kade Weston, who will hopefully benefit from a redshirt year under his belt. He's certainly got that mammoth DT size (I think he's 6'5").
Out of the recruits, I'm expecting to see Crawford play. He's an impressive speciman; at 6'0" and 300 lbs he can apparently dunk a basketball. He's in school early, which will help give him a leg up. He could really get in the mix.
Lemon will probably need time more than anyone. He went to the same highschool as now former Nebraska DT LaKevkin Smith. They're not GHSA but GISA. It's very small time, and the level of competition is not up to part with many GHSA schools. So he's the person I'm most expecting not to hear from for 3 years. Gifted athletic ability notwithstanding (dazzled at our camp, and is a major contributor on the basketball team), a transition like that can be tough. And we've had mixed results with GISA kids (JT Wall out of John Milledge was pretty good; Cedric Haywood out of CFCA didn't pan out and left school).
Despite potential depth concerns, and the doubts I have about some guys, I think the DL will be pretty good. Who ever plays the most opposite Moses should have a pretty good year, since he could get double teamed quite a bit.
LB:
Word on the street was that the staff was considering moving Miller to DE but had doubts about doing it. Not a rumor I'm inclined to give much credibility to (I mean, it's no more or less likely than 80% of the other rumors I seem to hear).
This is where I have the most concern on defense though. I don't want to bash our guys but they simply didn't make enough plays this year. With Jarvis jackson and Tony Taylor, I am inclined to think that the number of injuries combined with having to change positions at times helped reduce their overall productivity (they were good in spurts). Jarvis, though, seemed to finish the season on a down.
DVW is not an SEC calbier starter IMO. Miller can be good but seems invisible for long stretches - anotehr case where injuries certainly had an effect.
Depth is a real problem, especially if Ellerbe winds up in hot water. It looks like the guys coming in are talented and fast (I agree we seem to need more speed here), but I've got mixed feelings about the "downsizing". We don't have anyone really blowing up blockers, which might just indicate that last year we lacked a true MLB. Maybe Washington will be that guy. While I do want us to get faster, I don't think the LBs where physical enough last year as a unit.
I do wonder how well coached they are. We started the year taking good angles on plays, wrapping up, and just tacklingt well. We ended the year doing none of these things- and signs of it came before the WVU game.
DB -
Tra plays his heart out, but maybe isn't a guy who needs to be starting. As for Byrd, I have to assume they figured he'd be in the mix as long as he worked hard and cleared all the typical hurdles. I hope the injury doens't slow him up too much. I thought Oliver really started to come on last year as well. Flowers play at CB (which has been limited) has left me indifferent. I like him as a PR guy (when he isn't having one of his shaky, I might cough this up if I field it, days). But I'm kind of expecting someone like Evans to step up and take the job. And let's not forget Ramarcus Brown. Who is at least fast.
I also wonder if Prince Miller might not get a look on O. He was getting rave reviews at the NC/SC game (and practices), and he played offense. I guess it depends on a number of factors. There are some big time skill position recruits in state next year and I keep reading that several of them project at DB. So how quickly Asher Allen bounces back and how well Evans develops might affect this decision.
I'm pretty sure I meant to give Weston a mention, if for nothing than the excitement over his signing last year. But, I don't really include him to heavily at this point because he isn't a guy you heard much about during the season, perhaps with only a year or two of actually playing football, it's taking him a bit longer to adjust. Point being, he isn't someone like Battle that you heard things about him improving and being ready for next year during last season. I definitely agree that Crawford is infinitely more likely to be ready to go next year. If he can contribute anything vaguely approximating Jeff Owens type minutes from this year, that's a huge plus.
You're probably more concerned about linebacker than I am. I agree if Ellerbee's trouble ends with him going away then depth becomes a serious concern. I did think LB play dropped off near the end of the season, but I'm more ready to attribute that to things like Taylor never really getting healthy, which hopefully won't be an issue this year. But I definitely agree that Miller just disappeared for huge stretches last year, hence my thoughts on moving him to DE. Washington could obviously be a huge space filler, literally, in the middle if he's ready to go, which after they already used one year of his eligibility on special teams and one or two games mop up duty, you'd think they're counting on that. Regardless, I think probably 2 of the 4 incoming guys will have to play this year. Dewberry should be a given, I'd say the other spot is wide open.
As far as DB's, I couldn't agree more, especially vis a vis the younger guys.
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