Man, what a difference a year makes. Last preseason, it seemed like all we heard about from Georgia’s head coach were the talent deficiencies with which he was stuck. Compare then to now:
The Georgia football coach took it a step further on Wednesday morning during an interview with Atlanta’s “Front Row” on 680 The Fan when asked if there was a game-changer at wide receiver.
“I think as a whole, it’s a great unit,” Smart said. “It’s now one of the more deeper positions on our team, where last year I didn’t feel like it was that way, especially from a special teams standpoint.”
Seven wideouts are starters on special teams, Smart said.
“Is there going to be that open, mind-blowing game-changer, I don’t know,” he said. “Terry has certainly shown some ability to do that. It would be helpful if he could. The young kids are coming along well, Mark Webb, Matt Landers, Trey Blount. All of those are really pushing.”
He said he doesn’t really consider early enrollee J.J. Holloman as a freshman anymore.
“He’s one of the most physical receivers I’ve been around,” Smart said. “It’s been a good group.”
Well, shee-it. I wonder who gets the blame if this group doesn’t produce this season.
Get The Picture 
As I’ve been saying since spring, we have a very good team on our hands, and Smart is far more confident now in this group than he was last year this time. Indeed we are in fantastic shape at the WR position for years to come. On the OL front, Thomas and Cleveland have really come along, while Wilson is still a bit of a project yet will see more and more playing time as the season goes along.
Eason’s continued inconsistent play at times gives me some pause, otherwise I’d consider upping my 11 win prediction this year to 12.
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Got-Dayum the Kool -Aid is strong this morning! I’ll have some more please.
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KS will almost certainly blame some player/unit for a shortfall this season but I don’ t think it will be the receiving corp in 2017. They may be the least likely group to get the blame, imo. They may be the third strongest group behind the RBs and defensive front. Maybe no All American guy (maybe Nauta could pull that off) but lot of quality talent fighting for a spot, including some brand new guys like Hollomon, Webb, and Crumpton along with a few returning, improved veterans. Look elsewhere for a place to moan about a talent shortfall.
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I was thinking the same thing yesterday. Last year Kirby was crying poor mouth and mostly lamenting the lack of size, depth and experience. Unfortunately, he turned out to be right. let’s hope he is equally as prescient this time around.
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Agreed, Paul. I’m shocked he’s been this positive about any position group. Didn’t think it was his style.
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you know who’s going to get the blame if it goes sideways: Former excellence demanders will blame Richt and Bobo, and the former Disneys will blame the guy who has spent two years putting this roster together and training it. Winning has plenty of parents (or people willing to take the credit), but defeat is an orphan.
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Clemson offers 2 examples: 1. They should have canned Bowden after 2003 but he kept convincing them to extend his contract till 2008. 2. Dabo didn’t do much his first 3 years but then started to turn things around in year 4 and 5
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just hope we don’t have six or seven trying to block eight or nine and then blame the blockers. Sure kope we see some influence from Jay Johnson… a little misdirection could go a long way and help open up the middle.
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“Blockers” got a rise out of me after seeing an FU blog this week lamenting the loss of several players in their first game. Someone mentioned that one of the guys was a good blocker and would be missed, but another blogger replied that judging from the practice they just had, FU players were seen blocking their own teammate – again!
Practice makes swerfect (Swamp perfect).
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I suspect we won’t win anything until our HC finds an actual OC that can bring something new to the game.
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If we do have passing game problems, the blame could become a battle royale between current OC Chaney and WR coach Coley – who has plenty of OC experience from previous gigs.
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