This really is puzzling to me. Today, Tony Barnhart looks at five SEC quarterback battles to watch and here’s what he says about Georgia’s:
Georgia: Joe Cox, Aaron Murray: I like Joe Cox. Here is a guy who came to Georgia with impressive credentials out of Independence High School in Charlotte. He redshirts behind D.J. Shockley, a guy who waited four years behind David Greene. Shockley leads Georgia to an SEC championship in 2005 and then it looks like Cox will get his turn. Enter Matthew Stafford in 2006 and Cox has a big decision to make. He stays at Georgia and waits his turn. There is no question that Cox can play the position. He will be a steady hand at the wheel behind what will be a good offensive line and a stable of very good running backs. But here is the question: Can Cox become an every down quarterback over the long haul of an SEC season? Is Murray, the highly-recruited freshman from Tampa, a talent on the level of Stafford, David Greene, Eric Zeier, and Buck Belue? All four of those guys not only played but excelled in their first seasons (Greene was a redshirt freshman in 2001). Does the other freshman, Zach Mettenberger, get in this mix? In my opinion the position belongs to Cox until Murray’s talent demands he be put on the field. I just don’t think that happens early. The Bulldogs can’t go to Stillwater, Okla., on Sept. 5 with an 18-year-old quarterback.
Notice there’s a name missing there?
Barnhart’s far from alone in overlooking Logan Gray in analyzing the Georgia QB situation. I understand the kid’s not the compelling story (i.e., he who waited, or the hot new things) of the bunch, but still.
Get The Picture 
Whats really sad is that everything I’m hearing is that Logan Gray is having a really impressive spring. Unfortunately I believe that we see him starting at some point this season.
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talk about a lame incomplete story
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I wish Barnhart would use smaller fonts. I mean, seriously.
Logan Gray reminds me of the girl in Not Another Teen Movie. “She wears glasses! And a ponytail! And there’s paint all over her clothes! There’s no way she could win prom queen.” In reality, he’s the hotness. I am rooting for Joe Cox to be the man. Really, I am. But Logan Gray seeing a fair amount of playing time would not hurt my feelings.
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Logan Gray is really good. He was awesome in the G-day game last year. I hope he gets some snaps this year and starts next year. We need to give those freshman qb’s a couple of years to come up to speed. Look at Stafford’s freshman year, as talented as he was, freshman qb’s just aren’t ready to play in the SEC.
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David Greene – SEC Freshman of the Year 2001
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DG was a redshirt freshman.
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Oh, he was? …… Nevermind.
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There’s going to be an SEC Freshman quarterback of the year every year. That doesn’t mean they excelled, i.e. Drew Weatherford in the ACC.
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I saw Gray at the G-Day game last year and thought he looked like a star, too. I don’t get why he’s such an afterthought among the writers. Are they that uninformed, or that lazy?
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Believe me, after the first couple of games we’ll be accustomed to seeing Logan come in for a couple of series each game, ala JD Stokely.
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Didn’t JD Stokely play at the University of Auburn?:)
I agree with you I think Gray is too athletic and dangerous to hold the clipboard all season.
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Yeah, I was referring to DJ Shockley, or JD Stokely, if you ask Lou Holtz.
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Omitting Gray was a serious “oops.”
He also had this little gem in a previous column:
“While a lot of Georgia fans seem to be concerned about rebuilding the secondary, it won’t matter who plays defensive back if the Bulldogs can’t rush the passer…”
Me thinks Georgia fans have been more concerned about DE than the secondary this offseason.
Waiting in eager anticipation for the “I think the Ol’ Ball Coach has something up his sleeve for the Dogs” column the second week of September.
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Troy… need to say something… about Troy…
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Stafford excelled as a freshman? I don’t think so, and I’m a Stafford homer.
Playing Stafford as a freshman might have been the best option in 2006, but I’d like to see Richt get back to stockpiling the quarterback talent so that the younger guys have time to develop.
Here’s to Cox in ’09, Gray in ’10 & ’11, and Mett and Murr duking it out after that.
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Maybe TB is trying to keep our secret weapon out of the limelight? http://www.bulldawgillustrated.com/blog/213/Logan-Gray-and-the-WildDawg-formation
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From my lofty perch atop my trusty Coaching Armchair, I degree that Logan Gray receive no less than 15% of this season’s meaningful snaps. I’m not sure about the “WildDawg” in particular, though that is all the rage these days and I think it would be fun to see, but the fact is we need Gray to get significant time as a change of pace QB. Tebow is the most obvious example for comparison, although Gray’s skillset is more comparable to a Tyrod Taylor or Kodi Burns (hopefully his on-field performance will exceed theirs, though).
It would awesome to see some spread-ish elements in our offense to spice things up, but I think the most important reason for doing this is preparing Gray for the starting job next season. Even if he doesn’t end up panning out, we still need to fit him into the game plan as early and often as possible, so that if he is a bust, we’ll know soon enough to start getting our freshies some meaningful playing time.
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Why is everyone making Cox the second coming of Christ? What has he done since he has been at UGA, nothing really! He had that one game against Colorado then looked like crap against Ole Miss. Logan is really a terrific athlete and he did look great in the spring game last year. I think they should throw the QB position open and let the best man win, ala running back, offensive line, etc. To quote Pete Carroll, ” I will take talent over experience every time.” makes sense to me after all Bradford did pretty well as a freshman!!!!
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