Wednesday, April 11, 2007
My thoughts on G-Day...
Having had a few days to digest the events of the Georgia spring game as well as 2 additional viewings of it from my Tivo, I have come to the following conclusions.
1. Matt Stafford is very good. This is of course, not a big surprise to those of us of the Bulldog persuasion. Still it is striking to see the improvement he's made in the last few months. His passes seem crisper, more on target. There's a level of touch to them we didn't see last year. And we also saw him audible, which suggests his command of the offense is much better than a year ago. In short expect big things from number 7.
2. Knowshon Moreno is the real deal. Yes, I know backs have had good spring games in the past, only to flame out when the band plays; but I doubt that will be the case here. He has the tremendous combination of speed, power, and vision that all the great ones must have. In fact I'm not sure that he's not a better back than Kregg Lumpkin right now. Lumpkin's much more advanced knowledge of the offense will keep him in the starting role, but don't be surprised to see Mr. Moreno pushing for some serious PT.
3. The receivers caught the ball. I can't recall a single drop all day, and after watching the Dawgs seemingly drop like 7 passes a game last year, this counts as a rather significant development. We've got 3 seniors(Bailey, Henderson, Bryant) and 3 juniors (Massaquoi, Harris, Goodman) near the top of our depth chart and it looks like that experience is starting to pay dividends. Add in the most impressive performer of the day in Sophomore Kris Durham and you've got the makings of something very nice at WR. BTW, Durham looked great, showed terrific hands, good speed after the catch, and with his 6-5 frame he's a difficult cover for all but the largest DBs. Honorable mention shout out to Tripp Chandler at TE. All those extra reps in the spring paid off, as he also looked great on Saturday.
4. The Oline held up. With 2 frosh and a Juco starting there was reason to be concerned, but they held up well. There were holes for the backs, and the QBs had time to look down field and hit some big plays, and that my friends is all you can ask for. I really expected the offense to struggle behind these guys, but it didn't happen and that tells you they were doing their job.
5. I know that the flurry of points caused some concerns about the D, but allow me to make a few points. First off on about the second play of the game, Bryan Evans one of our starting corners, left the game with a wrist injury and didn't return. Fortunately the injury wasn't serious, but the loss of Evans hurt the first team D and undoubtedly opened up a few deep balls that mightn't have been there otherwise. Secondly since they weren't allowed to hit the QB, the Dline was undoubtedly more cautious than they would have been otherwise. Plus the D was fairly vanilla, there was little blitzing and no real stunts that I could see up front. The LB play left something to be desired, but I suspect a lack of experience played a role there. Given time this should be a very good group, because they all have the physical tools to be successful. I love our secondary. Oliver is a tremendous corner, Stafford didn't even really challenge him. Byrd can hit, Johnson provides senior leadership, and Allen and Miller are talented young corners. The second team safeties are even more physically impressive than the first, and only experience seperates them from starting.
In short, I'm optimistic for '07. If everything breaks right it could be a SEC championship type year. Even if things don't break right it's hard to envision more than the 4 losses of a year ago. For my prediction I'll split the difference and say 2 losses, one to somebody we expect and one to somebody we don't. Hunker Down and GO DAWGS!!!!
1. Matt Stafford is very good. This is of course, not a big surprise to those of us of the Bulldog persuasion. Still it is striking to see the improvement he's made in the last few months. His passes seem crisper, more on target. There's a level of touch to them we didn't see last year. And we also saw him audible, which suggests his command of the offense is much better than a year ago. In short expect big things from number 7.
2. Knowshon Moreno is the real deal. Yes, I know backs have had good spring games in the past, only to flame out when the band plays; but I doubt that will be the case here. He has the tremendous combination of speed, power, and vision that all the great ones must have. In fact I'm not sure that he's not a better back than Kregg Lumpkin right now. Lumpkin's much more advanced knowledge of the offense will keep him in the starting role, but don't be surprised to see Mr. Moreno pushing for some serious PT.
3. The receivers caught the ball. I can't recall a single drop all day, and after watching the Dawgs seemingly drop like 7 passes a game last year, this counts as a rather significant development. We've got 3 seniors(Bailey, Henderson, Bryant) and 3 juniors (Massaquoi, Harris, Goodman) near the top of our depth chart and it looks like that experience is starting to pay dividends. Add in the most impressive performer of the day in Sophomore Kris Durham and you've got the makings of something very nice at WR. BTW, Durham looked great, showed terrific hands, good speed after the catch, and with his 6-5 frame he's a difficult cover for all but the largest DBs. Honorable mention shout out to Tripp Chandler at TE. All those extra reps in the spring paid off, as he also looked great on Saturday.
4. The Oline held up. With 2 frosh and a Juco starting there was reason to be concerned, but they held up well. There were holes for the backs, and the QBs had time to look down field and hit some big plays, and that my friends is all you can ask for. I really expected the offense to struggle behind these guys, but it didn't happen and that tells you they were doing their job.
5. I know that the flurry of points caused some concerns about the D, but allow me to make a few points. First off on about the second play of the game, Bryan Evans one of our starting corners, left the game with a wrist injury and didn't return. Fortunately the injury wasn't serious, but the loss of Evans hurt the first team D and undoubtedly opened up a few deep balls that mightn't have been there otherwise. Secondly since they weren't allowed to hit the QB, the Dline was undoubtedly more cautious than they would have been otherwise. Plus the D was fairly vanilla, there was little blitzing and no real stunts that I could see up front. The LB play left something to be desired, but I suspect a lack of experience played a role there. Given time this should be a very good group, because they all have the physical tools to be successful. I love our secondary. Oliver is a tremendous corner, Stafford didn't even really challenge him. Byrd can hit, Johnson provides senior leadership, and Allen and Miller are talented young corners. The second team safeties are even more physically impressive than the first, and only experience seperates them from starting.
In short, I'm optimistic for '07. If everything breaks right it could be a SEC championship type year. Even if things don't break right it's hard to envision more than the 4 losses of a year ago. For my prediction I'll split the difference and say 2 losses, one to somebody we expect and one to somebody we don't. Hunker Down and GO DAWGS!!!!
