Who is Georgia’s most indispensable player?

Yeah, Sturdivant’s injury sucks.  And Groo gets a couple of bonus points for mentioning Michael Lewis’ portrait of the offensive left tackle position in his book The Blind Side.

So, no question that it’s a significant blow.  But can Georgia survive it?

The timing of this is interesting in that Bruce Feldman, in his blog at ESPN.com comes up with his list of the ten most indispensable players in college football today.  I would have put the GPOOE™ at the top of the list; however, Feldman chooses to rank him second, behind Missouri’s Chase Daniel.  Why?  Primarily because of depth.

… But [Tebow] ranks behind Daniel because the feeling here is that the Gators have better options should they have to go to the ‘what-now?’ scenario. Big Cameron Newton can bang through tacklers in Tebow-fashion and John Brantley might be an even more polished passer. Both would probably start at a bunch of other SEC schools this season…

I’m not sure I agree with his assessment of Florida’s backups, but I get his point.  Moreno doesn’t make Feldman’s list (no Bulldog does, as a matter of fact), but LeSean McCoy, a very similar player to Moreno, is third on Feldman’s list, because Pitt has few other viable options on offense.

As accomplished a year as Sturdivant had, we have to hope that Georgia has enough talented depth on the o-line to fill most of the gap.  We also have to hope that Bobo and Searels can manuver around the situation.  With regard to the first point, there are plenty of candidates.  We’ll just have to wait and see who steps up.  As for the latter, the good news is that we know from last season that the coaches have experience with exactly this problem.

So, back to the question I raised in the header to this post.  Who is Georgia’s most indispensable player?  Note that’s not the same thing as Georgia’s best player.  If I had to choose today, it would come down to one of two:  Rennie Curran or (gulp!) Blair Walsh.  Of course, another key injury or two would no doubt change my choice.

What are your thoughts on this?

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UPDATE: MaconDawg at Dawg Sports has some thoughts about the Sturdivant injury here.

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UPDATE #2: Speaking of indispensable, Groo breaks down the replacement options for Sturdivant.

7 Comments

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7 responses to “Who is Georgia’s most indispensable player?

  1. dean

    Is Sturdivant done for the year? I haven’t seen any news regarding the long term prognosis.

    I guess I would have to go with Walsh. I wouldn’t want to lose Stafford or Moreno (obviously) but I think we have capable back ups in those positions. The same cannot be said for PK.

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  2. at this point I have to think that Davis, Vance or whomever replaces Sturdivant becomes the most important piece. Sure there are other backups and while the line looks a lot less solid today than it did yesterday, another injury to the left side puts us in a bad place.

    Hard for me to say someone who has never played is indispensable, though Walsh should be a very important part of the team.

    Reshad Jones would be my pick on Defense just because safety is the one spot where we arent deep at all at least in terms of experience, but really I dont see anyone on the D being all that “indispensable” which is a pretty nice place to be.

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  3. Blair Walsh, definitely…which is why he damn well be bubble-wrapped until the games start. Switching Coutu out and putting the ever-delightful Andy Bailey in during the ’06 stretch was THE difference between 9-4 and (an albeit hollow) 11-2.

    The loss of TS is rough, but right- depth. And coaching.

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  4. Darryl Strawberry

    Stafford. The obvious answer, but the truth. With Cox as our starter, we start the season ranked 15-18.

    And without Knowshon, we are in a ton of trouble as well.

    Let’s just look at it this way…Thank God when the tackles and DEs collided yesterday, Stafford’s leg didnt get caught in the pile.

    We have a ton of depth on the O-Line, so this can be patched…

    Praying that Sturdivant can make it back.

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  5. Additionally, I suppose I’m happy that the defense has apparently gotten the taste for blood after eating some Colt Brennan chum in January.

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  6. GatorSkeptic

    It has to be Moreno. His energy gets everyone going and without him we are probably a 9-4 team at best last year. Sturdivant is done for the year by the way.

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  7. Hobnail_Boot

    It’s either Stafford or Owens.

    Stafford because the O runs through him, Owens because he allows the rest of the DL to make plays.

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