Georgia has its first August scrimmage scheduled for Saturday. In at least one aspect, Smart isn’t downplaying its importance.
Coach Kirby Smart said Wednesday returning starter Greyson Lambert, junior Brice Ramsey and freshman Jacob Eason are still even in the competition. The coaches are eager to see one of the three emerge, and Smart says being tested Saturday under more game-like conditions could be revealing.
Smart said the scrimmage “is going to be a big indicator of who is going to continue to get more reps after that.”
I’ve made no secret of my preference for some separation to begin taking place sooner rather than later. There are a lot of new moving parts in Georgia’s offense, from the new coaches to the new wide receivers who are going to become a part of the rotation, and it behooves Smart and Chaney to use every precious rep left this month to build rapport.
So, yeah, I’ll be a little disappointed if the word comes Monday that the competition remains in its current state. What about you guys?
Get The Picture 
Tough to argue otherwise. Also I like that the scrimmage will put a lot of mental pressure on the QBs. Let’s find out who is a gamer.
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If we want to find a gamer, go live and see who has IT.
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I’ll wait another week and the second scrimmage before worrying about something I can’t do anything about.
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I don’t for one second believe the coaches don’t have some sort of pecking order right now. Again, we only see 10 min of practice.
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I do. The three are inversely related between talent and experience. Certainly Eason has the largest upside but with the talent at skill positions that we have it’s important to have someone that can make calls, read defenses, and get the ball to the ones who can make plays. It still remains to be seen how Eason holds up to handling complex coverages, blitzes, and getting hit. He can make more plays with his arm than the others but the most important quality in a qb is still not turning the ball over. Especially with a backfield that features Chubb and Michel.
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I suppose we can take encouragement from the fact that Eason is ‘even’ at this point. Lambert was the starter for the majority of last season and Ramsey has been around for years. So, for a high school kid who has only been in the system for a very short period of time to be considered ‘even’ gives me hope he is making rapid progress. I suspect Eason may not be the starter in game one, but I don’t think it will take long for him to take over. The caveat being, how much leeway does Kirby feel he really has. We have talked all summer about the fact that as a first year head coach with somebody else’s players Kirby deserves a year or two to settle in. On the other hand, we have also talked all summer about the average fan’s expectations that since we fired a proven 10 game winner Kirby ought to be able to top that immediately. We will soon see.
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I agree on Eason’s upside, but the cynic in me marvels that Eason could be even with two veterans…shades of last year, if true and not just PR, it gives merit to the old saw about having more than one QB.
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This is my thought as well. If a true freshman is the best QB we have, then we are up shit creek with a turd for a paddle.
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People need to get off the 10 win coach horse, it’s dead. We were the only P5 team with 10 wins to finish the season unranked in history, that should tell people all they need to know. We fired a coach who wasn’t competitive in big games, couldn’t beat ranked opponents, had become lazy and was not paying attention to the details and made bonehead in game decisions. The fact he was able to beat a bunch of weak teams was no reason to keep him.
If Kirby can’t get a championship of some kind in four years, he needs to go too. The paying a guy millions for years with nothing to show for it is over. Win something that matters or get out.
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You cite assertions which support the argument that Smart should win no less than 10 games this year. The same weak SEC teams we beat last year are on our schedule this year. The same weak Tech team is on our schedule this year. Unless you are arguing that Smart is lazy, not paying attention to details and will make bonehead in game decisions, you claim an upgrade in coaching. Same five weak SEC teams we beat last year plus the same weak Tech team we beat last year plus better coaching; why would we not win at least as many as last year.
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Probably should but if he doesn’t I’ll give him a pass this year. Next season, the honeymoon is over.
In reality; I think UNC is better than Ga. Southern and Tennessee and Florida will probably be better than last season and Ole Miss is not a lot worse than Alabama so the schedule may be a little tougher than last season. From what I’ve seen, Smart is not lazy and seems to really be paying attention to the details, we’ll see if it translates to wins on the field.
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We lost to Tennessee and Florida last year so an improved UT team and an improved UF team will not cause us to lose more games than last year. If you believe Mississippi will be tough we will be substituting a loss to UM for a loss to Alabama, so UM will not cause us to lose more games, either.
UNC is probably better than GA Southern. When we beat UNC we will have that hurdle behind us, and will have to just beat the teams you disparage to get to 10 wins.
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I say no way our schedule will be as weak as last year. We played 3 teams with a pulse last year.
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++++++++++
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Your rant is unfounded and you seem to know less about college football than I do, so that’s a lot.
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I thought that you had said all that needed to be said about this situation.
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Well if you follow the logic that Lambert is a burning trash pile with a pasta noodle for an arm, Eason being even with him is a pretty depressing thought.
If you think that Lambert is a 10-2 returning starter then Eason being even with him is pretty awesome.
The truth lies therein.
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Question to all you guys who know waaay more about football than me (just a fan), but if you have a Sr. and a Jr. that hasn’t separated themself from a freshman why not start the freshman just based on more potential upside?
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I agree, but the fact is that as a general rule, head football coaches are as conservative minders group as you’ll ever find. If all else is equal, they’re usually gonna go with the option that’s less likely to throw an interception. And that’s generally gonna mean picking a 5th year senior over a true frosh. But again, I agree with your mentality. But I also am not tied up in the wins & losses for Kirby’s first year, as long as whatever he does is building a foundation for the future. Now I do expect big results in year 2 and going forward, but in year 1 I’d rather see some young guys with high ceilings getting reps (at multiple positions, not just QB) and learning from their mistakes with an eye towards the future.
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*conservative “minded”
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I have read more than one analysis concluding that turnovers are the single biggest statistical factor in determining a season’s result. Therefore, I understand the desire to avoid interceptions.
I respectfully disagree on the willingness to suffer this season for future seasons. I am a lot older than you and I am getting to the point where there are not going to be too many future seasons. I want to enjoy as many wins now as I can.
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Taking care of the ball is the #1 job of the qb. The greatest arm talent in the world will get you beat in every game if he is a turnover machine. Kirby’s first consideration needs to be which guy will not lose the game for him with turnovers.
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Ahh, but then all of our armchair ” fans” will rail about playing not to lose instead of playing to win.
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Maybe the coach wants to win as many games as he can this year and figures that a Mason or Lambert type production will produce more 2016 wins than a Staford 2006 production will.
Of course, if the coach believes Eason 2016 will be better than Stafford 2006 and will produce more wins than Lambert or Ramsey 2016 then he goes with Eason due to best current performance rather than potential for 2017.
Figure Chaney and Smart are better able to make that call than I am.
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If just for the excitement and mystery with possibilities, I’ll go for Eason. Lambert may just be, same olde, same olde.
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I agree with concentrating the reps down to two (that being one of the vets and Eason) after this scrimmage but am less hung up with drawing a mandatory line that a full decision must be made prior to the last week. I see the first two games as being opportunity to make that “final” selection. If it is a “no brainer” decision after this Saturday’s scrimmage, or the next scrimmage, great but I don’t see it as critical that we have that resolution. We just need to be moving forward from this 3 way division of reps with the #1s. So what I hope to see next week is Ramsey being a full time punter or Lambert practicing with the backups and holding a clipboard for the 2nd scrimmage. After that, have a plan for the top 2 to play some in the opening OOC games to grab the job before we head to Mizzou.
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The plan, as per Smart, is to make the selection in time to give the designated #1 unit to practice for at least a week together as a unit before the NC game.
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And I think that plan it great, if the evidence supports that. I just think there is a “we have to be there” attitude developing and I feel that is self-imposed and erroneous. Narrow the field by one soon, let what happens occur naturally, not be forced by some subjective date. Difference between “like to have”, and “must have”. Dealing with human performance always requires flexibility, this is even more true when we are talking a freshman QB’s early development. OOC games are not the priority here, getting ourselves positioned to make a run at the East is job one.
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I wouldn’t know since I’m not a coach.
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Thanks for the compliment, what gave me away?
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I’m fine with whoever…tee it up and feed the BEAST.
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If somebody hasn’t separated by now, what makes you think someone will emerge as a leader after one scrimmage in August? This battle is going to continue and multiple QB’s will play at the beginning of the season. I suspect to two getting PT will be Lambert and Eason.
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That QBR quail you put out there won’t hunt this time, Bluto. The savant group here has decided to disregard all references to that all important definer until we get a game-played stat that we can argue about – or not.
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For me, it’s all predicated on whether somebody actually does separate himself from the others. I would think, however, that the QBs will continue to look fairly even all the way up to the UNC game when accounting for all of their individual skills and weaknesses if the UGA coaches choose to be open-minded. On that note, yes, it probably makes sense to begin making decisions and be less open-minded soon so that there is a game plan around who the coaches think will be the starter. As an armchair coach lacking the necessary knowledge to actually know what I’m talking about, I’ll still say that my preference would be to start Ramsey and switch to Eason if he plays poorly for a whole quarter. Yes, Lambert is the safer bet, and yes maybe he has improved a good bit under Chaney. If so, I have no gripes with him starting. But if not, then Ramsey is more veteran than Eason but allows UGA to stretch the field more, and he is best able to scramble and make plays with his legs. Just give him one shot, Coach Smart. I’m sure he’s grown up a bit this year after losing the job last year perhaps from not stepping up enough as a leader.
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A further point about Lambert – I think he’s the one that can best handle not getting the starting call, and he’ll be most mature and reliable coming off the bench if UGA needs a steady hand. He won’t be so self-absorbed as to come in off the bench and make horrid decisions trying to prove himself as the next Brett Favre whereas that is always possible with Ramsey and Eason.
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The longer this competition lasts, the more I think Eason wins it.
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I’m hoping the one who emerges fits Chaney’s offensive preferences best. Just because CMB was able to adjust from a gifted Murray to a limited Mason doesn’t mean every OC can do it. Last year’s Schotty-Lambert ‘dink’ passing game and ultra vanilla offense drove me nuts. I’d hate for Chaney to be stuck in that same situation – with a QB who physically can’t make a range of throws. Who knows, maybe Lambert’s been able to improve his long and intermediate passing during the off season.
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What if Chaney’s offensive preference, given his available talent, is dink and dunk ultra vanilla offense? Dont we have the ace for that?
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Yea. Nick Chubb.
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What is that saying about “even”.
So Eason is “even” with the two other QBs who have been in the program and on campus for 2 years.
Well, if “he is ‘even’, he leaving”.
Say hello to your new QB starter.
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Deja vu all over again.
I have thought since Gday that Eason was going to start week one. But if he doesn’t separate from the group this weekend then I guess it has to be Lambert.
I don’t know what will happen if Ramsey somehow starts against UNC. My head might explode.
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Eason. What have you got to lose that you have won with another qb on the roster?
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ummm…football games?
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this was my first thought, too.
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The coaches are saying what they have to say to keep the 2nd & 3rd string QBs from transfering, and to keep them working hard. Ramsey probably has the most potential to transfer, especially if told he wasn’t going to start 3 weeks away from the season. Lambert is probably out of time and has no where else to go.
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Ramsey didnt transfer after being made the punter. He isnt going anywhere.
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This is a good point. If he didn’t leave after getting demoted to 3rd string, punting, and the coach getting fired, can’t see him leaving now.
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Yeah, if Ramsey doesn’t think he’s the 3rd Stringer for sure then he’s as dumb as a fence post.
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Not buying all the ‘been in the system/program for three years’ mumbo jumbo. New coach, new system, new verbiage. All three QBs are on the same page in that respect, because Eason was here in the spring. Just get me the W this year. We’ll worry about style points next year.
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You got 3 employees busting ass for a promotion, Why would management name the winner to soon, even if they know who they are going to promote, and loose all that productivity?
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It all depends how you define “too soon.” I really buy the argument that too soon is better than too late. There’s a huge benefit to the whole team – including the QB – knowing who is going to start and being able to give a single QB all the first-team reps with the team so they can practice almost exclusively with each other for a longer period of time before they enter the first game.
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QBR! QBR! QBR!
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I only have one requirement for Kirby this year, no repeat of the fla game. It isn’t just that we got beat, it is the stupid, pathetic, embarrassing way we got beat. I want to see a TEAM show up and play heads up, mean, nasty, tough football. Hopefully the zebras won’t screw us and we’ll get a W to go with the effort.
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Yeah, I lost money on that game also.
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