Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. It’ll be every bit as hard to beat Georgia this year as it was last year. Any rival fan who thought the Dawgs were going to take a step back should now realize that step is relative. Maybe it was wishful thinking that there was hope for another team in the SEC East. Maybe the doubt folks had in Georgia was never about Georgia.
KIRBY SMART PLAYER UGA FULL
But now he’s had a full offseason with one dude as his QB1, and we’re seeing the wide-open offense Smart hired Monken to run after we were shellacked by that legendary LSU offense in 2019.
In his second season, musical chairs between JT Daniels and Bennett at quarterback hindered him.
KIRBY SMART PLAYER UGA INSTALL
Monken’s attempts to install his offense in his first season were marred by COVID-19. Just as important as Bennett’s continuity was offensive coordinator Todd Monken.
KIRBY SMART PLAYER UGA PLUS
Georgia reaped the benefits of that, as Bennett went 25-of-31 for 368 yards and two touchdowns through the air, plus a rushing touchdown. Namely, he spent the entire offseason as the presumptive starter. Leaving aside the fact he’s already won us a national championship, the circumstances of this season are much more conducive to offensive success. The much less legitimate question was whether Stetson Bennett could be entrusted with the offense. Now he’s on a similar path to Cine: three years in college, then a high pick in the NFL Draft. He finished the game with a team-high in both total (eight) and solo (five) tackles. In his first game as a Bulldog, Starks snagged an eye-popping interception that put all the momentum in favor of Georgia on Oregon’s second drive. But Smart knew he had Malaki Starks from right up the road in Jefferson waiting in the wings. A lot of folks, including me, thought he should go out and grab someone from the portal to shore up the secondary. Lewis Cine was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings, leaving the Dawgs with only Chris Smith, walk-on Dan Jackson, and a few true freshman safeties. That means he looked at his roster and saw no holes to fill or improvements to be made over the dudes he recruited to Athens.Ĭase in point: safety. If a coach needed to fill a hole or improve at a position, he would hit the portal and bring in a transfer. The loosening of transfer restrictions and massive amounts of NIL money being thrown around led to more player movement than we’ve ever seen.
What should have signaled how good the Georgia defense would be this year was Smart’s activity in the transfer portal, or lack thereof. The 2022 defense can, and likely will, be worse and still be one of the best in college football this season. Almost every college defense that steps on a field will be worse than the 2021 UGA defense, one of the best in the history of the sport. So, yes, there was a fair expectation that the Georgia defense would be worse. Nine of those 15 came from the Georgia defense, and five of those nine were selected in the first round, another record for most players from a single school taken in the first round.
Fifteen Dawgs were selected in the 2022 NFL Draft, a modern record. The biggest, and most fair, question before the season was how Georgia’s defense would recover after losing most of its stars to the NFL. But I saw enough from Smart in his first six seasons as head coach to believe he had answers. There were legitimate questions about the massive amount of talent Georgia lost through both the NFL Draft and transfer portal following the title win. What people outside the Georgia football sphere failed to do this offseason was give Smart and Georgia the benefit of the doubt. (If they did, I question their mental faculties.) But there were those who thought the defending national champions would take a step backward, and that the idea of repeating as champ was pure fantasy. No one thought we would struggle week-in-week-out and be happy to go bowling in December. More importantly, we know how well he’s recruited and how good those Dawgs on the field are, even if you haven’t learned all their names yet. We know Kirby Smart is one of the best coaches in college football, with a commensurate staff by his side. This comes as no surprise to any of the Georgia faithful. Yes, the Dawgs proved they’re still those dudes you saw dominating college football last year keeping opponents out of the end zone and doubling point spreads. Georgia opened its 2022 season with a 49-3 dismantling of the Oregon Ducks in Atlanta. There were a lot of Georgia doubters this offseason.
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