This post at A Bulldog in Exile, comparing Aaron Murray’s and John Brantley’s credentials, inspired a hypothetical. Presume for a moment that Murray succumbed to the charm of going to his state school and became a Gator instead of a Dawg. It’s likely that he’d be backing Brantley up this season.
So here are my questions: were that the case, how many pundits do you think would be promoting the idea as the year progressed that Murray the backup, feasting on opponents at garbage time, would be good enough to start for “x” number of SEC teams? And how large a number would that “x” be?
I’ll hang up and listen to your answers.
Get The Picture 
I hear what you’re preaching. The pundits would absolutely make that argument, and they’d put the number around nine. They’d say he could start for every team except Florida, Alabama and probably Arkansas given the lovefest over Ryan Mallet.
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I’m a Florida fan so take it for what it’s worth. Brantley is getting the benefit of the doubt because we’re the best program in the East. Had UGA won 3 of the last 5 East titles, 2 SEC and 2 national titles, Murray would be getting the hype. You can knock Meyer but facts are facts. The last 2 QB’s he recruited for his system ended up as 1st round picks.
Bama has to replace, what, 9 guys on their defense? They are getting the same benefit of the doubt. It’s Saban! They’re Bama!
Murray is a stud. Who cares what the pundits think? It’s going to be fun as hell watching him and Brantley air it out the next couple of years.
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Good point, but it’s not like Richt is exactly a slouch in that department.
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Classy from a Flordia Gator fan. These two quarterbacks should be stars in the near future.
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I’ll give you a Coke if Tebow or Alex Smith (there’s still time!) have a better career than me.
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They both certainly had a significantly better college career
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Semantics, etc., but Urban Meyer didn’t recruit Alex Smith. He was already there when he arrived at Utah.
And, Cam Newton is starting for Auburn… pretty sure he was recruited by Meyer for his system.
But, I get the point you were trying to make. The last two big name, multi-year starters that Meyer has had under center six of his seven years were first round draft picks.
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Under center? Was Tebow ever there?
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+1
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This scenario makes the presumptuous assumption that Brantley would even be the starter had Murray chosen UF. I don’t mind telling you Senator, I am offended by it.
If JB #4 is such a hot shot, how come he never got any significant playing time against those high school teams when Florida had a commanding lead? I think we all know the answer to that.
I’ll tell you what I think. I think JB #4’s feet stink and he doesn’t love Jesus…if he did, I doubt he would be playing for the freakin anti Christ.
Gators are bad guys. Legacy gators are even worse.
That’s the way I see it.
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Presumptuous? Mebbe.
But you’ve got to figure a guy who would let Tebow sit behind Leak would also let Brantley start ahead of Murray, right? 😉
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I think that is right. Like someone said, both guys were highly recruited. The current advantage Brantley has over Murray are the natural ones that any talented redshirt Junior has over any talented redshirt Freshman. Say what you want, but any real game experience, even garbage time experience, is better than no experience.
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Good point.
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Actually Red, the legacy Gators recall the stories from the Dads when the Gators weren’t worth a sh*t.
4th and dumb, etc.
They may have the same cocky demeanor as their familiy members and wear flip-flops and jean shorts to church, but deep down they understand what it meant to be a Gator pre-1990.
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Yeah, but there is that whole JB1 begat JB2 that begat JB3 that begat JB4 thing. The sins of the father if you will.
JB3 led the Gators in passing back in 78 with
1,334 yards 11 TD’s and 13 INT’s. His miraculous stats led the Gators to an amazing 4-7 record. I wish the goofy looking seed of his loins the same level of success.
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+1.
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what it meant to be a Gator pre-1990
I fit in that category, so I bring more balance and perspective than the younger fans, but the older fans are more bitter after years of suffering through poor performance on the field.
So tell me, how does it feel to be a post-1990 dawg fan?
Sit!! Good dawg!
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Why, how very “Jim in Duluth” of you…
I’d be willing to bet ‘more than half’ would be the answer the pundits would provide.
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Ironically I suspect Murray would probably fit better in UF’s and Brantley in UGA’s respective Offensive System’s.
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Which brings up something I never understood. I heard AM was a Gator fan who ditched going to UF because of Meyer’s offense. Now you are saying what I have felt, since Murray is mobile and not the classic drop-back, Pro QB, why is it again he chose UGA? Don’t get me wrong, I am pleased we have him and feel he will be damned good for us, but there is something I am missing? Perhaps a conflict with Urbie? (I do hate we don’t have a solid back-up this year and will have to keep him reined in from his natural tendencies.)
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Eyes on the prize maybe? Pro system feeding into NFL better than spread?
Before Tebow went in the first round (how again) a lot of people were saying how those QBs failed to get drafted and if they did, never panned out; also how scouts did not prefer spread QBs. Maybe this was Murray’s thinking/motive in wanting to be in the UGA offense
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Yeah, I think that is right but at 5′ 11″-6’0″, moving the pocket to find open lanes is the better option, even in college. He could certainly have looked at Richt’s success in developing traditional pro style QBs, but for someone who grew up a big Gator fan in nearby Tampa, this feels like something else. Whatever it is, I am glad to have him on board and think he will do a solid job for us over the next 3-4 years. My only QB concern this year deals with depth, not talent or experience. Sure, I wish he has gotten a few snaps under his belt last year, and he would have except for the arm issues, but this offense should be a rocking chair for him.
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I’m not so sure Murray is going to be the prototypical drop back passer. Has anyone heard that this was the goal for Murray? For some obvious reasons, Charlie Ward comes to mind… If he would have gone into the NFL instead of the NBA, I believe he would have been a high draft pick. There may be something there that influenced Murray to come to UGA. Granted FLA’s had success recently, but Coach Richt’s resume is second to none (Ward, Greene, Shockley, Stafford). He was Charlie Ward’s Off Co. and QB coach at FSU and I have a hunch that Coach likes the dual threat quarterback running his offense and believes he might have that same formula in Murray- just like he had in Ward and Shockley.
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Well, he could have watched some DJ Shockley film, too. DJ’s mobility was a big plus in his years at Georgia, including his year as a starter when he brought home an SEC Championship. Those parts of the playbook were taken out while JTIII, Stafford, and Joe Cox were playing quarterback, but you can bet they’ll be back in for Murray. Richt and Bobo have shown a willingness to adapt the playbook for their personnel.
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The number is at least one. Since I’m pretty sure he could at least start for Georgia.
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Well played.
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I think what might be holding Aaron Murray up, at least in the media’s eyes, is that if he wasn’t good enough to unseat Joe Cox last year, how good can he be?
But then again, a reasonable person who watched any Georgia games last year would know that Joe Cox had a very decent year (minus the int’s) and that our record was indicative of a sloppy defense, not necessarily a shoddy offense. And add in the fact that Aaron Murray was hurt most of last fall.
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The national media doesn’t have a clue that Aaron Murray spent most of the fall with a nagging injury. To know that, they’d have to dig deeper than the headlines they skim for their columns.
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I’m going to go with five, and maybe eight:
Georgia (over Logan Gray), Tennessee, Vandy, Kentucky, and Mississippi State for sure. Depending on how good he looked, maybe LSU and South Carolina. Possibly Ole Miss as well depending on how the Masoli experiment works.
Not Mallett or McElroy for sure. Probably not Auburn because Newton is a physical freak who will be thought of highly almost no matter how he plays because of that, not to mention he’s a better fit for the system.
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Georgia, Tennessee, Vandy, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, LSU and South Carolina.
Actually, I’m glad Brantley chose Florida over Texas. If not for that, Aaron Murray could be the starter for Florida this season and he’d be picked to lead the Gators to the Sugar Bowl.
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Do some of you realize that you overparse your description of Murray? Murray is a pocket passer and that’s what Richt wanted and has always wanted. He trains them and they go to the bigger game where they want pocket passers.
Murray is a 5-star qb compared to 4-star Brantley. Lawrence, the FU fan, states it succinctly. It will be great to watch them both. Murray’s championship games and leadership abilities were tangential qualities that make him better for any team. Brantley gets more media time because he is leading a media-frenzied team. It’s understandable . But Murray is the “chosen” one and is the best. “He will become great” many of you have told us. God help us have the patience so that he might fulfill what many say and quote Bobo while doing so.
Murray would start any and all schools except Arkansas. He ain’t tall enough. Of course the other side of that coin is who would start ahead of Murray at UGA? And Mallett can’t hide very easily from a low rushing, growling ball of teeth , hair, eyeballs and testosterone blowing in on a full Bull rush. There will be a lot of red in that game and it all ain’t goin’ to be uniform dye. Justin’s number may get reddened into his uniform before that game is over.
Practice hard and SIC’EM DAWGS!
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I like our guy and hope he stays healthy. We will be talking about the great 3-4 years he gave us.
Go back and watch video on this guy. Go back and see the recruiting wars. We have a kid with good character too according to everything I’ve seen.
I wouldn’t trade with anyone. Who would you trade for?
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Exactly right.
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I think we should let the season play out and see what “Erron Intercept-a-Murray” can do!
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Give me a prime number and several dozen zeros Alex.
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