Earlier this year, I posted a picture of a Dawg flag hoisted in the Himalayas. Now, from reader Rick, here’s one from scenic Antarctica:
Damn, but we do get around.
Filed under Georgia Football, GTP Stuff
You may have heard that former Wake Forest, now graduate transfer quarterback Jamie Newman has enrolled at Georgia. While it’s worth pointing out that nothing’s official until the school says it is, it’s also fair to say that the news has proven exciting in certain familiar quarters.
From your lips to Gawd’s ears, Coach.
PFF loves Newman, calling him the third best returning quarterback in all of college football (behind Lawrence and Fields, if you were wondering).
Jamie Newman recently caused chaos in college football when he unexpectedly announced his decision to transfer from Wake Forest. The decision still looms over what team Newman will be a part of in 2020, but with programs such as Oregon and Oklahoma in need of a replacement, they have to be salivating over the possibility of him joining. Through the first 11 weeks, college football’s highest-graded quarterbacks were Joe Burrow, Justin Fields and Jamie Newman. He ended the year slower than the start, but Newman still is one of college football’s biggest breakout players of the season.
The tight-window passing he has put on display has been next level and a large reason why he is highly sought after on the transfer market. Joe Burrow is far and away the highest-graded quarterback throwing to a tight window, but Newman is second — and third isn’t anywhere near him. He also limited his uncatchable pass rate to the fourth lowest.
Newman has some rushing ability and has seen the eighth-most designed rushes for a quarterback (128). While some may say it’s his rushing that can be his greatest weapon, it’s clearly his arm. He’s the second highest-graded on 20-plus yard throws and was worth the 12th most wins above average in college football, despite playing in fewer games than everyone else. As said, if I’m Oregon or Oklahoma — I’d be sending the house to pick up Newman for the 2020 season.
I’m excited by the level of talent Newman brings to the program — yeah, I’m assuming he didn’t enroll just for the hell of it — but, more than that, I’m hopeful for what that says about Kirby Smart.
Smart, after all, hasn’t had a problem starting a true freshman quarterback, whether by design or necessity. The decision not to entrust the job of replacing Jake Fromm to Mathis or Beck is an indication he’s not going down that road again. (I’ll leave it to you to draw conclusions about Stetson Bennett.) 2020, in other words, won’t be a Dantzlerian throwaway season.
I also think that Smart recognizes in this day and age that a quarterback in a successful college offense has to present something of a running threat. (To be fair, it’s not like Smart hasn’t signed that kind of quarterback before.) For whatever reason, he and Coley made a decision not to allow Fromm to use his feet, despite heavy playcalling with RPOs and read options. While I don’t see Newman running over ten times a game this season, I am hopeful his running abilities won’t be deliberately ignored.
I am sure we’re going to hear the usual banal talk from both Smart and Newman that nothing’s been guaranteed, that he’ll have to compete and win the job and that may well be a battle continuing all the way into fall camp, but there’s no way Newman transfers to Athens without thinking he’s down here to start. Unless he’s a complete flop in the spring game, the best thing that could happen for 2020 is that he wins the job outright in the spring and has all summer to establish a rapport with a receiving corps that will have its own share of new faces.
So, hello, Newman. Let the games begin. Bring on that G-Day QBR!
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UPDATE:
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UPDATE #2: It’s official now.
Filed under Georgia Football
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