greene_dawg
Senior Member
which isn't saying much...
This is the 2009 Dawgs according to yours truly, so take it for what it's worth... which isn't much...
OFFENSE:
QB - Joe Cox. What to say here? A slightly above average QB physically who the coaches have expressed nothing but confidence in. His teammates have raved about him since being named the #1 guy and they're backing him 100%. Seems pretty heady. I think most fans are hoping he plays within the system that he should know like the back of his hand. Most will be happy if he turns out to be a JPW or a Matt Flynn... Logan Gray seems to have a grasp on the #2 and from what I've seen, he's more than capable which makes me feel a little better about Cox @ #1. Gray will see the field in special situations to mix things up a little bit ala Shockley in 02-04... He runs a 4.5 40 but don't discount his passing abilities. Will also serve as the PR man on kicks inside the 10 (why???). The two freshmen are still lagging behind a little bit but I get the feeling that the staff hopes to play Murray this season. We'll see.
RB - Samuel has control at the #1 spot with Thomas backing him up. Seems like a pretty good duo on paper. Last year Samuel ran like a video game player with the controller stuck on full speed ahead. He was only 17 and is still a youngin at 18 this season but let's hope he's learned a bit more patience this year and can grip the football. He's one of the smartest and strongest guys on the team. Thomas, to me, is the most intriguing and I wouldn't be surprised if he broke out against OSU and proved to be the best back on the roster. Everyone is scared of his size (5'7 180ish) but it doesn't bother me in the least. I expect more of a Warrick Dunn than a Tyson Browning. King? Who knows? He might not make the strip to Stillwater and I wonder if his psyche will ever recover from finally being #1 to getting hurt AGAIN and slipping to #3. Kelvin Daniels is #3... Ealy was set back with a hyper extended elbow and playing time or redshirt will be decided down the road. Jackson has fallen off of the radar... Chapas will bring the hammer at FB, not worried about that one.
WR - Very talented but young.
Green is back but at full speed this season and over the groin injury that nagged him throughout 08. He'll draw doubles but I'm not sure it will matter. He's a stud. Nuff said.
Moore has some shoes to fill replacing MoMass but if the bowl game and practice reports are any indication he should be a solid target out there with exceptional blocking abilities. Should profit from the attention thrown Green's way.
T. King comes in with a year in the system under his belt and plenty of talent to boot. 6'1 180 lbs, 4.4 and great jumping abilities. After racking up over 1600 yards as the #1 WR prospect in the state, he ended up redshirting after an injury during the ASU game.
Marlon Brown brings the biggest expectations of the incoming guys and for some reason some are asking if he can do what Green did last year which is putting way too much on him. At 6'5 and over 200 lbs, he dominated a smaller division of Tenn football. He has excellent skills and was a standout basketball player. His height and jumping abilities give him an instant advantage over most DB's.
R. Wooten is a smaller guy at 5'10 and 160 lbs but has the wiggle that will get him some reps. I'd love to see him on some screens with Brown and Moore out front blocking for him. If you haven't seem his youtube highlights from his HS days in Florida, you should. It's worth it just to listen to the announcer. I personally expect him to have a pretty big impact.
After that you've got Troupe, who was the #1 WR in the state two years ago and has begun to show that promise this offseason but other than some sub time I wonder if he'll be able to break in with all of the other talented guys on the roster.
TE - Ladies and gents, we'd like to welcome the TE position back to the Univ. of Ga. Last season was horrible. Some of it was due to injuries and others to the fact that our starter was a slow white guy who couldn't catch.
A. White might get the nod to start and he's grown into the position a little. At 6'4 230 he's still not huge but he's really fast with great hands.
O. Charles - By all accounts, he is a freak. 6'3 230ish. He's a gym rat and seems to have a Pollack/Moreno type motor. He has been the most impressive freshmen on campus and I can't wait to see the ball come his way. He racked up 1440 yards and 24 TD's teamed up with Murray at Plant HS in Florida. He's an instant mismatch with LB's covering him.
Artie Lynch - Bruiser TE at 6'3 245. Should be great in run support but reportedly a good pass catcher as well.
Bruce Figgins - The most physical of the bunch. On 6 game suspension for violation of team rules.
OL - Could be the strongest unit since Richt got to Athens or at least since 02 when the Dawgs went 13-1 and won the SEC. Looks like Sturdivant, Boling, Glenn, C. Davis, and Jones are the starters with AJ Harmon, Vince Vance, Ben Harden, Bean Anderson, Kevin Perez, Burnette, etc... to provide some quality depth behind those guys. People who don't know much about football look at UGA and say that they can't replace Moreno and Stafford but they look past the point that UGU has played behind a makeshift OL for the past few seasons and this year is appears to be the teams strong point on offense. Provided the team stays healthy, I have little doubt that Coach Searels will put together one of the best OL's in the SEC which should help mask some of the turnover in the backfield.
Overall thoughts on offense: I expect UGA to run plenty of I-Formation with Chapas punishing defenders and a hard running Samuel laying the wood as well. Thomas will bring a change of pace and homerun ability. Should set up well for play action to a group of talented but inexperienced WR's and TE's. Plenty of screens to both the RB's and the WR's. Green will be moved around A LOT and I expect there will be several packages for Gray to run a sort of spread option. My biggest worry on this side of the ball is the lack of depth at WR and Cox isn't going to scare anyone with the deep ball. Teams will put eight in the box and UGA will have to counter that with bubble screens and hitting the TE a good bit this year. A healthy OL is key, if we start losing linemen then it could make for a long season.
DEFENSE
DT: Atkins, Owens, and Weston will make what might be the best interior DL in the SEC. Rodney Garner has publicly compared the unit to the one that had Stroud and Seymour a few years back. Good depth with Tyson, Crawford, Wood, and true frosh Abry Jones pushing to keep the redshirt off. Should be the strength of the defense.
DE:Everyone knows this is a question mark but at least the practice reports are promising. Battle and Dobbs get the nod as the starters with Houson suspended for the first two games. Washington moves over from LB and he's looked good. I'd love to see him pull a Marcus Howard but that's prolly asking too much. Montez Robinson has impressed as a true freshman and I wouldn't be surprised to see him make some noise. I'm a little discouraged by the lack of news on C. Washington. He was a big fish in last years class, has been hurt a lot but now that he's healthy there isn't a whole lot of pub on him. Does that mean he's been average? Houston was the stud of the spring and he'll likely move to starter when he returns. Neland Ball will see the field plenty too. For a team that is known for bringing the rush from the edge, last season was tough to watch. Was it injuries, lack of talent, of coaching? I think maybe all of the above. One thing is for sure, the key to Martinez's defense is getting pressure with the front four. If that doesn't happen it is a long day for the Dawgs. His job depends on how this unit performs more than any other.
LB: Another strong point for the team.
Rennie Curran might not get the pub that a B. Spikes gets but he's every bit the player. I love watching him play ball. Flat out tackling machine. With Dent, Dowtin, and White in the middle, Dewberry and Gamble on the strong side, and Rennie on the weak side backed by Hebron, Williams, and Robinson it's a strong set of LB's with a lot of experience coming back.
Secondary:
CB:
Brandon Boykin has locked up one spot and he looks the part. He's bulked up in the offseason. His jumping abilities have impresses his teammates (he was the HS slam dunk champ for the state of GA). Poised to be a future star at UGA but he's still just a Sophomore so we'll have to wait and see how he performs as the man.
Prince Miller is the starter on the other side of the ball and is UGA's best CB going into the season.
Branden Smith is sort of the X-factor of the unit being the top player in Ga coming out of HS. He's lightning fast who didn't get the ball thrown his way too much after OC's knew who he was. That won't be the case as a frosh in the SEC. He'll get tested early and often. WM said he's the first CB coming off of the bench.
Cuff will see some PT as well. They'll all get tested early and often by Dez Bryant in Stillwater.
Safety:
Reshad Jones is the starting SS for better or worse. He's one of those guys who seemed to suffer from lack of live tackling during practice last season as evidenced by Roddy Jones still scoring TD's. He has all of the tools and his decision to come back to UGA makes me think he's serious about working to get better.
Bryan Evans has been a little bit of a surprise at FS and I think he'll prove to be a very good one. CJ Byrd was as steady at the position as they come but he lacked the ball hawking abilities that I'm hoping Evans brings to the position. The coaches have been impressed with how he's stepped up and taken control of the secondary.
Backups at the safety spots are Rambo, Pugh, and Commings.They've gotten plenty of work with the starters out a couple of weeks with sore hammies and the coaches raved about them.
Special Teams:
They were special in a bad way last year. Nowhere to go but up, right?
Walsh: Did a good job kicking FG's as a true frosh and I'd expect him to get better. His kicking the ball out of bounds during kickoffs was maddening though. I don't blame him though, It seemed to be a case of a stubborn staff trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. They brought in Brandon Bogotay from a JC out in Cali with the hopes he can kick it over the bridge. Looks like Walsh took it as a challenge and has stepped up his game. The coaches aren't saying who'll be the KO man. I just hope the send a guy out there and tell him to kick the snot out of it.
Drew Butler has been doing great during practice punting. Let's hope he carries it into the season.
Return men: Looks like Prince Miller will return punts with Gray doing the work on the punts around the 10 (again, why?). KR will likely be a combo of Samuel, Boykin, Evans, and Branden Smith.
Overall thoughts: I've said it before, IF we can stay healthy and find a pass rush, the Dawgs will make a run at the east. It won't be because Cox is a stud or because Samuel turns it up a couple of notches. It'll be because we got a bunch of big uglies back from injury. UGA will need someone to step up at DE and a freshmen or two to step in at a skill spot (Charles, Brown, Wooten, Smith) and play at a very high level. The lines are strong minus the question at DE... Last year we played with great skill players with below average lines. This year it looks like there will be great lines with above average (great in some instances) skill players. They'll have to get better at creating turnovers (they were something like second to last in the SEC in 08) which, once again, will need to have the DE's coming off of the edge in a furor ala 07. With as tough of a schedule as I've seen UGA have, I see a 9-3/10-2 season likely with 11-1 with a win over Florida being beyond all expectations. A few key injuries and no DE's stepping up could lead to an 8 win season and a pink slip for Willie. That's how I see it without trying to be too much of a homer. Can't wait until kickoff!!!!
This is the 2009 Dawgs according to yours truly, so take it for what it's worth... which isn't much...
OFFENSE:
QB - Joe Cox. What to say here? A slightly above average QB physically who the coaches have expressed nothing but confidence in. His teammates have raved about him since being named the #1 guy and they're backing him 100%. Seems pretty heady. I think most fans are hoping he plays within the system that he should know like the back of his hand. Most will be happy if he turns out to be a JPW or a Matt Flynn... Logan Gray seems to have a grasp on the #2 and from what I've seen, he's more than capable which makes me feel a little better about Cox @ #1. Gray will see the field in special situations to mix things up a little bit ala Shockley in 02-04... He runs a 4.5 40 but don't discount his passing abilities. Will also serve as the PR man on kicks inside the 10 (why???). The two freshmen are still lagging behind a little bit but I get the feeling that the staff hopes to play Murray this season. We'll see.
RB - Samuel has control at the #1 spot with Thomas backing him up. Seems like a pretty good duo on paper. Last year Samuel ran like a video game player with the controller stuck on full speed ahead. He was only 17 and is still a youngin at 18 this season but let's hope he's learned a bit more patience this year and can grip the football. He's one of the smartest and strongest guys on the team. Thomas, to me, is the most intriguing and I wouldn't be surprised if he broke out against OSU and proved to be the best back on the roster. Everyone is scared of his size (5'7 180ish) but it doesn't bother me in the least. I expect more of a Warrick Dunn than a Tyson Browning. King? Who knows? He might not make the strip to Stillwater and I wonder if his psyche will ever recover from finally being #1 to getting hurt AGAIN and slipping to #3. Kelvin Daniels is #3... Ealy was set back with a hyper extended elbow and playing time or redshirt will be decided down the road. Jackson has fallen off of the radar... Chapas will bring the hammer at FB, not worried about that one.
WR - Very talented but young.
Green is back but at full speed this season and over the groin injury that nagged him throughout 08. He'll draw doubles but I'm not sure it will matter. He's a stud. Nuff said.
Moore has some shoes to fill replacing MoMass but if the bowl game and practice reports are any indication he should be a solid target out there with exceptional blocking abilities. Should profit from the attention thrown Green's way.
T. King comes in with a year in the system under his belt and plenty of talent to boot. 6'1 180 lbs, 4.4 and great jumping abilities. After racking up over 1600 yards as the #1 WR prospect in the state, he ended up redshirting after an injury during the ASU game.
Marlon Brown brings the biggest expectations of the incoming guys and for some reason some are asking if he can do what Green did last year which is putting way too much on him. At 6'5 and over 200 lbs, he dominated a smaller division of Tenn football. He has excellent skills and was a standout basketball player. His height and jumping abilities give him an instant advantage over most DB's.
R. Wooten is a smaller guy at 5'10 and 160 lbs but has the wiggle that will get him some reps. I'd love to see him on some screens with Brown and Moore out front blocking for him. If you haven't seem his youtube highlights from his HS days in Florida, you should. It's worth it just to listen to the announcer. I personally expect him to have a pretty big impact.
After that you've got Troupe, who was the #1 WR in the state two years ago and has begun to show that promise this offseason but other than some sub time I wonder if he'll be able to break in with all of the other talented guys on the roster.
TE - Ladies and gents, we'd like to welcome the TE position back to the Univ. of Ga. Last season was horrible. Some of it was due to injuries and others to the fact that our starter was a slow white guy who couldn't catch.
A. White might get the nod to start and he's grown into the position a little. At 6'4 230 he's still not huge but he's really fast with great hands.
O. Charles - By all accounts, he is a freak. 6'3 230ish. He's a gym rat and seems to have a Pollack/Moreno type motor. He has been the most impressive freshmen on campus and I can't wait to see the ball come his way. He racked up 1440 yards and 24 TD's teamed up with Murray at Plant HS in Florida. He's an instant mismatch with LB's covering him.
Artie Lynch - Bruiser TE at 6'3 245. Should be great in run support but reportedly a good pass catcher as well.
Bruce Figgins - The most physical of the bunch. On 6 game suspension for violation of team rules.
OL - Could be the strongest unit since Richt got to Athens or at least since 02 when the Dawgs went 13-1 and won the SEC. Looks like Sturdivant, Boling, Glenn, C. Davis, and Jones are the starters with AJ Harmon, Vince Vance, Ben Harden, Bean Anderson, Kevin Perez, Burnette, etc... to provide some quality depth behind those guys. People who don't know much about football look at UGA and say that they can't replace Moreno and Stafford but they look past the point that UGU has played behind a makeshift OL for the past few seasons and this year is appears to be the teams strong point on offense. Provided the team stays healthy, I have little doubt that Coach Searels will put together one of the best OL's in the SEC which should help mask some of the turnover in the backfield.
Overall thoughts on offense: I expect UGA to run plenty of I-Formation with Chapas punishing defenders and a hard running Samuel laying the wood as well. Thomas will bring a change of pace and homerun ability. Should set up well for play action to a group of talented but inexperienced WR's and TE's. Plenty of screens to both the RB's and the WR's. Green will be moved around A LOT and I expect there will be several packages for Gray to run a sort of spread option. My biggest worry on this side of the ball is the lack of depth at WR and Cox isn't going to scare anyone with the deep ball. Teams will put eight in the box and UGA will have to counter that with bubble screens and hitting the TE a good bit this year. A healthy OL is key, if we start losing linemen then it could make for a long season.
DEFENSE
DT: Atkins, Owens, and Weston will make what might be the best interior DL in the SEC. Rodney Garner has publicly compared the unit to the one that had Stroud and Seymour a few years back. Good depth with Tyson, Crawford, Wood, and true frosh Abry Jones pushing to keep the redshirt off. Should be the strength of the defense.
DE:Everyone knows this is a question mark but at least the practice reports are promising. Battle and Dobbs get the nod as the starters with Houson suspended for the first two games. Washington moves over from LB and he's looked good. I'd love to see him pull a Marcus Howard but that's prolly asking too much. Montez Robinson has impressed as a true freshman and I wouldn't be surprised to see him make some noise. I'm a little discouraged by the lack of news on C. Washington. He was a big fish in last years class, has been hurt a lot but now that he's healthy there isn't a whole lot of pub on him. Does that mean he's been average? Houston was the stud of the spring and he'll likely move to starter when he returns. Neland Ball will see the field plenty too. For a team that is known for bringing the rush from the edge, last season was tough to watch. Was it injuries, lack of talent, of coaching? I think maybe all of the above. One thing is for sure, the key to Martinez's defense is getting pressure with the front four. If that doesn't happen it is a long day for the Dawgs. His job depends on how this unit performs more than any other.
LB: Another strong point for the team.
Rennie Curran might not get the pub that a B. Spikes gets but he's every bit the player. I love watching him play ball. Flat out tackling machine. With Dent, Dowtin, and White in the middle, Dewberry and Gamble on the strong side, and Rennie on the weak side backed by Hebron, Williams, and Robinson it's a strong set of LB's with a lot of experience coming back.
Secondary:
CB:
Brandon Boykin has locked up one spot and he looks the part. He's bulked up in the offseason. His jumping abilities have impresses his teammates (he was the HS slam dunk champ for the state of GA). Poised to be a future star at UGA but he's still just a Sophomore so we'll have to wait and see how he performs as the man.
Prince Miller is the starter on the other side of the ball and is UGA's best CB going into the season.
Branden Smith is sort of the X-factor of the unit being the top player in Ga coming out of HS. He's lightning fast who didn't get the ball thrown his way too much after OC's knew who he was. That won't be the case as a frosh in the SEC. He'll get tested early and often. WM said he's the first CB coming off of the bench.
Cuff will see some PT as well. They'll all get tested early and often by Dez Bryant in Stillwater.
Safety:
Reshad Jones is the starting SS for better or worse. He's one of those guys who seemed to suffer from lack of live tackling during practice last season as evidenced by Roddy Jones still scoring TD's. He has all of the tools and his decision to come back to UGA makes me think he's serious about working to get better.
Bryan Evans has been a little bit of a surprise at FS and I think he'll prove to be a very good one. CJ Byrd was as steady at the position as they come but he lacked the ball hawking abilities that I'm hoping Evans brings to the position. The coaches have been impressed with how he's stepped up and taken control of the secondary.
Backups at the safety spots are Rambo, Pugh, and Commings.They've gotten plenty of work with the starters out a couple of weeks with sore hammies and the coaches raved about them.
Special Teams:
They were special in a bad way last year. Nowhere to go but up, right?
Walsh: Did a good job kicking FG's as a true frosh and I'd expect him to get better. His kicking the ball out of bounds during kickoffs was maddening though. I don't blame him though, It seemed to be a case of a stubborn staff trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. They brought in Brandon Bogotay from a JC out in Cali with the hopes he can kick it over the bridge. Looks like Walsh took it as a challenge and has stepped up his game. The coaches aren't saying who'll be the KO man. I just hope the send a guy out there and tell him to kick the snot out of it.
Drew Butler has been doing great during practice punting. Let's hope he carries it into the season.
Return men: Looks like Prince Miller will return punts with Gray doing the work on the punts around the 10 (again, why?). KR will likely be a combo of Samuel, Boykin, Evans, and Branden Smith.
Overall thoughts: I've said it before, IF we can stay healthy and find a pass rush, the Dawgs will make a run at the east. It won't be because Cox is a stud or because Samuel turns it up a couple of notches. It'll be because we got a bunch of big uglies back from injury. UGA will need someone to step up at DE and a freshmen or two to step in at a skill spot (Charles, Brown, Wooten, Smith) and play at a very high level. The lines are strong minus the question at DE... Last year we played with great skill players with below average lines. This year it looks like there will be great lines with above average (great in some instances) skill players. They'll have to get better at creating turnovers (they were something like second to last in the SEC in 08) which, once again, will need to have the DE's coming off of the edge in a furor ala 07. With as tough of a schedule as I've seen UGA have, I see a 9-3/10-2 season likely with 11-1 with a win over Florida being beyond all expectations. A few key injuries and no DE's stepping up could lead to an 8 win season and a pink slip for Willie. That's how I see it without trying to be too much of a homer. Can't wait until kickoff!!!!
Last edited:
