re: Spring Practice News And Notes

Anyone know how the scrimmage went?

It feels like several db's haven't been mentioned this spring. I haven't seen anything about Daniel, Peal, Rhett and not much about Jones and Aguero. Not counting Dan Jackson, we have 15 scholarship db's right now, same as last year. With Dan running first team safety, good chance that number will be lower in a few weeks.

The S depth chart in real games will likely be Starks and Aguero starting with Pope and Bolden as primary backups.

It is anybody’s guess who starts in August but Aguero is practicing at STAR and S. That is fact. The top 3 at S are going to be Starks, Bolden, and Aguero. They may not have gotten there yet but it will be.

Here's what Kirby Smart said about the defensive line after the scrimmage. He basically dispels the notion that he thinks our DL is weak or disappointing. I think some pundits have taken Kirby's normal coach speak and turned it into perceived criticism. I'd be surprised if Kirby's not feeling pretty good about where the DL will be in September. Secondary is a bigger question mark IMO.

quote:

---

“Yeah, I’m not down. I don’t know where this is coming from. Maybe there’s a narrative out there that I don’t know about. I have no idea what you guys are reading, saying or seeing. I’m not down on our run defense. we are not as good as we are that year but we’re better than we have been a lot of other years. The scales of that in terms of that. I wouldn’t trade our group for any group in the country in terms of defensive line groups and a collective whole. We’ve got a group that can get the job done. They’re going against one of the best three or four offensive lines they’ll go against all season each and every day. Iron sharpens iron and we’re getting better by who we go against.

I don’t really do the comparison thing. I’m not really going to compare them to Devonte, Jordan and Jalen who were all here at different times. There were years with those three and there were years one of those three was here. It has varied every year.

I’m pleased with where we are. We have to get better and we have players on our defensive line that can get better. The worst feeling as a coach is when you don’t have players that you can get better. There are coaches all across the country right now that don’t have one 300-pounder. We have several. We just got to continue to get them better and execute at a higher level. It’s not about them sometimes, it’s about the guy behind them, making sure he sticks his nose in the right place too.

---

I'm no expert, but I heard KS say that he thought it might be a product of our OL being so GOOD that the DL seems to be struggling. I'm telling ya, this is a bold statement to make, but this might the best OLine we've had in....maybe....EVER! There doesn't seem to be a weakness there. We are experienced, athletic, deep, and strong, VERY strong. I don't know who can confirm this or if there is any insider stuff floating around, but I've read some rumors on other boards that Morris, Fairchild, Ratledge, Greene and Wilson, mainly Morris and Fairchild, are not just some of the strongest players on this team, but in the entire country.

I've read comments from several people, like Jim Donnan, saying that this OL could be Georgia's best ever. Which is saying a lot because UGA would've won the Joe Moore award at least once if not twice in the last three years if anybody objective had been making the choice.

Unfortunately in 2021 and 2022 (and maybe 2023, not sure), Auburn man Cole Cubelic was head of the Joe Moore award committee. In 2021 he decided that Michigan's OL was #1, which was a complete joke as we saw in the Orange Bowl playoff game. Georgia's defense shredded the Joe Moore winners, allowed 3.3 yards per rushing attempt, harassed their QB relentlessly, sacked him four times and eventually ran him out of the game. Those Michigan linemen were cursing and shaking their heads on the bench between series. Michigan had 328 total yards of offense and 120 of that was garbage time in the 4th quarter after they were down 34-3, including their only touchdown drive with 4 minutes left.

Meanwhile, Georgia's runner-up OL (according to Cubelic) dominated Michigan's supposed all-world D line, to the tune of 521 yards, nearly 8 yards per play, even though Stetson threw one pass in the 4th quarter and handed off 17 times. Michigan's defense had four sacks against Washington, 6 against Wisconsin, 7 against Penn State, 4 against Ohio State. In the lead up to the Orange Bowl, ESPN and Michigan pundits were breathless with excitement about how the terrible tandem of Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo could not be stopped. Michigan had zero sacks against Georgia, and only two tackles for loss for 3 yards total. Joe Moore, whoever he is, must have been rolling over in his grave.

Getting back to 2024, I guess it greatly depends on how well Jared Wilson can handle the mental aspect of center position. Van Pran was very good at that, partly because he played a lot of football for Georgia.

He said it on his YouTube-cast this week with Brett Thorson.

Thanks for the clarification. That's why I read here, to get the real story instead of the bullshite.

Give us more details