Georgia Bulldogs

Time go restart whatever game week traditions you have.  I say that because game week is here.  Yep, doesn’t seem like that long ago that we were wrapping up bowl season but it’s here.  I’m not sure what part my writeups may or may not play in your own little game week prep, but just thought I’d take a second as I start to work on it to remind you of the schedule.  I’m pretty sure the standard time is sometime Wednesday night as for when I post it on here.  I’ll probably still mail out the pdf just because there are some folks who still like to forward it.

Anyway, off to write.  This week’s writeup might come out a day early if I get it ready but we’ll see how that goes.

I spent much of the weekend doing things around the house, things I typically do but not all in one weekend and certainly not of my own volition.  I just found time somehow.  Things like edging the driveway, straightening my closet, etc.  Things that typically require at least one (ok, maybe 3) comments from my wife.  I couldn’t figure it out.  Then, as I was straightening up some tools in the laundry room I realized what was going on (I think).

I’m nesting.

My wife and I don’t have any kids other than our dog Walker and we got him on a whim, so I’m not entirely positive on this but I’ve heard from lots of folks about how women act when the baby is on the way.  Well, college football is my metaphorical baby, and it’s almost here.  On some subconscious level I was getting everything in it’s right place so that when football arrived I’d be ready.  No possibilities of having to do anything on a weekend that would remove my focus from the new arrival.

Now let me say that I’m not entirely sure what actual nesting entails but from what I’ve been able to gather it involves copious amounts of cleaning and organizing.  I’m assuming the idea there is more that all things are properly accounted for when the bundle of joy (college football) arrives.  Male nesting for football season involved more outdoor-sy projects like grass cutting, edging, trimming, etc.  I even did a small carpentry project I’ve been putting off for months.  I honestly couldn’t figure out why I felt compelled to actually get all of these things done that I’ve put off for various reasons but now it makes sense.  College football is almost here and a part of me knew I needed to be ready for it.  I didn’t actually understand why I was doing those things but a part of me knew it was the right thing to do.  I can’t afford to be trying to trim my shrubs on a random Thursday when South Carolina will be playing NC State in an hour.  We play South Carolina in week 2, I can’t just let that game go unwatched.  At this point, I’d settle for San Jose St. and New Mexico going at each other.  OK, maybe not, but I reserve the right to decide now that I’ve cleared the majority of the honey-do list.  I have to be able to focus on the important things, right?

So with my lawn now in order, bring on college football.  I’m ready.  Are you?

Apparently Ben Jones suffered some type of ankle or foot injury during practice today.  Richt hasn’t commented yet due to injury privacy issues.  So what does this mean?

Worst case scenario is probably a dislocated and/or fractured ankle.  He’d likely be lost for the year with that I’d imagine.  I still remember that Jason Kendall injury back when he played for the Pirates.  Ugh.  Best case scenario would probably be some type of painful bunion.  I’m thinking we probably end up with some type of high ankle sprain.  With a high ankle sprain you’re looking at a potentially nagging injury and potentially missing the opener, maybe more depending on severity.

As for contingency plans, the most likely option would be to slide Chris Davis over from guard to center and shift either Vance or Anderson into his vacant spot at guard.  One thing about all the OL injuries we sustained last year, it made our OL quite possibly the most flexible OL we’ve fielded that I remember.  A case could be made (quite easily) that Jones was the toughest OL to replace, but unlike the past two years, we’re still another injury or two away from starting guys for the first time.  Vance and Anderson both started games for stretches last year before injury.  Once we get back Josh Davis at OT, we’ll be picking up another former starter (albeit forced by injury last year).

It’s hard to consider a true sophomore OC as a leader but Jones has that heart and grit you want in an ideal center and OL.  Hopefully we’ll find out he’s out for a couple of weeks at most, ideally day-to-day but if you’ve ever had a sprained ankle you know how tender those things tend to be.  Oh well, we’ll find out in the next day or so (hopefully).

Edit:  That was fast.  Just an ankle sprain and he’s day-to-day.  Honestly the best case scenario when you hear your starting OC goes down screaming 2 1/2 weeks ahead of the opener.

This is the time of the year when it’s easy to get caught up in the hot new true freshman and what level of impact they’re going to have.  AJ Green’s don’t come along every year so odds are Marlon Brown and Orson Charles probably aren’t going to have the impact we anticipate.  Don’t get me wrong, I’d love it.  I mean, we’ve gotten some good freshman play in recent years (true freshmen at that) from guys like Trinton Sturdivant, Clint Boling, Ben Jones, Cordy Glenn, AJ Green, DeAngelo Tyson, etc.

Now to the point.  Odds are we’re going to have a redshirt freshman provide far more impact than one of our true freshmen.  They’re a year older, a year more experienced and, given our generally stellar recruiting record, pretty darn talented.  Every year it’s easy to forget about these guys.  In the instant gratification era of impact freshmen it’s easy to forget these guys and start up the questions of whether or not they’ll ever pan out when most times they’re 19 years old.  So in honor of those kids who gutted it out on the practice squad last year, here are the 3 redshirt frosh who are most likely to make an impact this season (in my humble opinion).

3) Baccari Rambo – Safety – back to back days for Rambo on these pages.  He’s got that ideal size, he’s an excellent athlete (evidenced by Richt’s use of him in wildcat practices last year) and he’s got one of the better last name’s out there for a football player.  Enter your own First Blood joke here, but if this guys doesn’t wear a black headband dangling out of the back of his helmet I’m going to be more than a little disappointed.  Pugh is probably the more natural ball-hawking safety coming over from CB but Rambo is going to be the hammer…maybe not Blue or Davis, but who is.  He could be a special teams ace.

2) Carlton Thomas – RB – the smallest guy on the team not counting trainers, he’s like Tyson Browning, only smaller.  He’s that guy we’ve struggled against on other teams in recent years.  Small, shifty, powerful, low-to-the-ground, quick, pretty much the ideal change of pace back to a guy like Samuel.  Where Samuel is all power and speed, Thomas is quick and sudden.  He’ll be hard to spot behind that big OL and I fully expect to see him break a few ankles out there this year.  His HS tape was just unreal.  Richt’s FSU offense’s had a lot of Warrick Dunn-type scat backs and Thomas fits that mold.  Like Curran on defense, this undersized guy has fan favorite written all over him.

1) Tavares King – WR – OK, this was cheating a bit as TK actually played some last year before going down with a season-ending injury.  TK holds state HS receiving records for a reason.  He doesn’t have the size of AJ or Marlon Brown but the NFL is full of WRs in the 6-0 range.  King is just so smooth.  Brandon Boykin said covering TK is as tough as covering AJ.  That’s enough for me.  Someone is going to benefit tremendously from the double teams AJ draws and honestly that person can really be any of the other 5 scholarship WRs but I just think King is set up for a big year.  He reminds me a lot of Massaquoi honestly.  I’d take 4 more years of that.

• In other news, I’m not entirely sure what to make of Marcus Washington’s move to DE.  He’s got the bulk but he’s probably doesn’t have the length to really get into some OTs.  He was good there at G-Day, but I’ve been burned by that in the past.  We’ve had healthy DEs this year so I don’t think it’s an issue that we need bodies there.  We’re just really, really deep at LB and I’m thinking we’re trying to figure out ways to get some of these guys on the field.  Let’s face it, DE was an issue last year and if Washington can help, let him do what it do.

You’d have thought that the new laptop would have spurred a rash of posting but instead I found myself doing stupid stuff like upgrading my version of Wordpress and revising some things on the site a bit…adding some little behind the scenes stuff that I can nerd out on later.  I always saw people say things about upgrading websites and never knew why.  Now I do.  Anyway, enough about me, on to the footballish things.

Fall Camp has come and gone.  Wow.  It seems like that used to be a lot longer.  What did we learn from practice?  Well, not a whole lot, but here’s the condensed version of things as I see them…

• Joe Cox’ arm is fine.  Some of you might have heard the rumors that he was experiencing arm troubles.  The best line I’ve heard from this was from Cox himself (supposedly) when he said “they’re just used to seeing Stafford throwing it.”  Cox looked solid in every opportunity and is a clear leader on the team and I expect him to have a big year.
• RB is still not settled.  King was set to be the man and everything I heard said his offseason was truly impressive, then he pulls his hamstring right about the time Richard Samuel goes off and racks up about 200 yards of offense in a scrimmage.  We knew it was going to be a committee approach to RB and this cemented it.  Samuel needs to fix teh fumble bug though as he had another one.
• The thin WR corps keeps dwindling due to injury.  Tavares King’s back.  Marlon Brown’s hand.  We’ve only got 6 scholarship guys.  We can’t afford injury here.
• At TE the freshmen look solid.  All the hype seems to center around Orson Charles and rightfully so, the kid has apparently lit it up since he stepped on campus but the other freshman, the more traditionally skill-setted Arthur Lynch, could end up having an equal impact, coming in with the size and strength our TE corps currently lacks because of Figgins’ indescretions.
• The OL appears to be the strength we hoped it would.  We dodged a bullet with the Boling wrist injury when it turned out to only be a sprain.  A talented, deep, somewhat experenced OL…something Stafford never saw in Athens, at least wearing red and black.
• On the DL, our DTs are as good as advertised and apparently Roderick Battle is the pick to emerge as the DE savior.  Of the freshmen, the most intriguing might be the last one to arrive in Kwame Geathers.  He’s still out of shape but he could be the pick to see PT of the freshmen this year as we make an effort to get folks ready for the post-Atkins-Owens-Weston DT era.
• LB is the deepest position on the team and it’s not even close.  We go 4-deep with scholarship guys.
• At safety the starters are set and it looks like Makiri Pugh is making a name for himself.  My pick (since G-Day) for breakout safety player is Baccari Rambo. Kid just looks like a tackler.
• At CB Boykin and Miller have cemented themselves as the starters.  Cuff is still there as the 3.  I can’t wait to see how quick Branden Smith is.

Nothing new or crazy here amongst the folks who follow UGA with any level of seriousness.  If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask in a comment or something.