So, I saw this David Hale tweet yesterday…
… and my first thought was, no, Georgia Newman doesn’t need to be Georgia’s savior in order for the Dawgs to succeed this season.
But then I paused and thought about how success will be defined in 2020. Winning the SEC East? Yeah, Newman doesn’t have to be a savior, because there isn’t a dominant quarterback in the division. Conference championship? Probably the same and for the same reason.
But come the CFP, the level of quarterback play is going to step up significantly. If Georgia indeed reaches the semis, what kind of play from Newman will it take to win then? Let’s face it — a game manager only got the Dawgs so far in the last three seasons.
What say y’all?
Get The Picture 
A game manager had us one blown defensive coverage from a NC. Also, maybe 1 missed FG and a defensive stand from another playoff trip.
Newman doesn’t have to be Baker Mayfield. He just has to be solid running whatever the new O is, not turn the ball over, and our top notch D needs to be what they were last year. 9 returning D starters and a ton of quality returning backups with significant experience indicate the D should be able to do that.
If Newman kor whoever) is efficient and takes care of the ball, and our new PK is reliable, I will take my chances. If the O is explosive, the rest of the east butter buckle up.
Game 3 should show us all where we stand. It wont be the final word, good or bad, but we will see what we have.
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Agreed. The fact that Newman is a solid passer and has the ability to turn and run with success is something we haven’t had. Teams hopefully will try the same tactic and load the box but it appears that we have better than good receivers, better than good runners, better than good OL and the QB as another threat to run in any situation. And finally, probably the best defense in the nation. Now if we can figure out how to get the nation healthy and play football this year.
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‘Bama didn’t exactly get stellar QB play in that game.
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Our D was pretty good then, too. We just need to scout backup QBs better. 🙂
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YGBKM. That game made Tua a legend. No Tua, UGA wins in 2017 and 2018.
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Tua was hot and cold in that game. More effective than Hurts (3-8 for 21 yards, 0/0, 47 yds rushing on 6 carries) for sure, but he hit a couple of risky throws that made the difference and could have gone either way. He threw a pick early (Fromm promptly gave the ball back the next play) and finished 14-24 for 166 and 3 TDs with 12 carries for 27 yards. It was enough to get them the win with Georgia’s offense turtling up, but certainly not a transcendental performance.
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I realize Tua had many great games against “ok” defenses. But I can’t remember any great performances against very good defenses. Like you said, he made a few great ( lucky ) plays against us in the NC game. We shut him down in the SECCG and Clemson completely shut him down by following our lead.
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We don’t have Sony and Nick anymore.
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agree….”game manager” tag is just ridiculous, more than a “game manager”
The success of the team the past 3 years had a great deal to do with Fromm.
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Georgia fans love just getting close. To most of them it feels exactly like winning.
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SO!…..as a “DawgPhan, when is the last time you felt like a winner??
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It took a year and a half (LSU 2018) for CFB to start to figure out the game manager’s Achilles heal, and it wasn’t until 2 and a half years of starting that teams shut the offense down.
Last year the offense was good enough to win the East, but the gap between us and a legit CFB playoff champion was obvious in the SEC championship game. I think Newman can be good enough to be competitive against next year’s LSU, but winning will take some luck or the defense to shut them down.
For fun, who gets drafted higher, Fromm or Newman?
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We just might be next year’s LSU.
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Newman might be this/next year’s Burrow.
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I’d take 1998’s Tee Martin myself.
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I think the level of QB talent in the top 1% tier of D1 teams is fairly close. If you add the right dynamics to that talent you get elite results. Burrow sat behind Haskins but when he inserted into the LSU system with Brady and Ensminger and Coach O bought into the type offense they fielded, suddenly Burrow is the best QB we’ve seen in years. There’s no reason the same cannot happen for Newman with Monken. But as we all know, many things need to fall into place for that to happen. First and foremost is…..are we gonna get to play football this year?
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I say see AJ McCarron and Greg McIlroy.
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The game has changed so much in the last few years. I don’t think a McCarron or McIlroy-like is winning a title in 2020 or beyond.
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Greg McElroy began his college career 13 years ago and ended it a decade ago.
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He was the #1 rated QB in 2012.
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Oops. You’re talking about McElroy. I’m talking about McCarron.
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Newman has to be a playmaker when plays are there to be made and he has to limit his turnovers. Obviously, he was working with less talent a year ago, but he had too many TOs in my opinion (11 TOs). That number has to be cut down, especially given that his YPA (7.9) was rather pedestrian in modern football standards.
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Odds are we’ll need some really special QB play to 1) get to the CFP and 2) to have any chance at winning the CFP. This isn’t news.
That being said, we (Dawg Nation) are sitting around arguing whether he’s just “solid” or “something special”, when the truth is we don’t even know if he’s truly solid yet.
IF we have a “regular” regular season this year, talk to me after the Bama game and I’ll tell you what I think we’ve got at QB. Until then? Who knows.
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We came really close with a game manager. It wouldn’t take much more talent to get it done. If the QB is just a little more talented and the refs don’t cheat…
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It’s an interesting question — I don’t see Newman as a Russell Wilson or Jalen Hurts. Both of which were Freshman starters for their teams. If Newman can manage the game, I think we will all be happier than we know with a new offensive scheme being implemented.
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If Newman puts up similar stats to Russell Wilson in his grad transfer year at Wisconsin (73% completion rate, 3175 yds, 10.3 YPA, 33-4 TD-INT), I’ll take it right now.
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This is what I am hopeful will happen. At the time remember, the general consensus was that Wilson was a good but not great QB, perhaps a bit overrated. (57.8% completion rate, 8545 yds, 7.2 YPA, 76-26 TD/INT, 135.5 rating) He also had been labeled as being a bit selfish because he played minor league baseball. Wilson however did start his last 33 games at NC State and he played 34 total.
Wilson also played 70 games for the Asheville Tourists the summer before he transferred to the Badgers. Wilson did not participate in Wisconsin’s spring practice because he didn’t announce he was transferring to Wisconsin until June 27th. Of course, he played lights out for Wisconsin and has most likely had a HOF NFL career.
Newman has played in 19 total games in 3 years at Wake so experience is a big difference. However his completion % and rating are a bit better than Wilson’s time with the Wolfpack. (60.5% completion rate, 3959 yds, 7.8 YPA, 35-16 TD/INT, 142.7 rating)
All the accounts and reviews about Newman indicate he is mature, hardworking and serious. He has a degree from “Work” Forest for cripes sake. The loss of spring practice could be detrimental compared to Wilson since he isn’t as game experienced as Wilson. However we do know from this that he is working football instead of trying to hit a curveball.
https://www.si.com/college/georgia/news/jamie-newman-georgia-qb-justin-fields-working-together
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I totally agree with your assessment — which is why I think I will stay grounded with a game manager who can keep drives moving with his legs versus someone who is going to carry the team with his arm and legs.
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If Jamie Newman can be Jake Fromm this year then you can sign me up for that every day of the week and twice on Sunday. That game manager had Georgia two downs from either a national championship or a second overtime with the title still on the line as a freshman and then as a sophomore he had Georgia in once again had Alabama over the barrel and Georgia position to get back into the playoff if only they’d prepared for a backup quarterback on defense and maybe not made a ridiculously ill advised fake punt (despite having the play clearly covered when Alabama noticed Justin Fields in the game).
Give us that level of “game management” and Georgia will win the national championship in 2020 with this defense.
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I like your optimism!
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The headline for this post is gendered language and I’m disappointed
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To be the person you’ve gotta beat the person.
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No elite QBs may mean defenses come back a little this year in conference play. May make for some more interesting games and perhaps upsets. We don’t need Newman to be elite to win the East, but I do think we’ll need him to be elite in the SEC Championship and playoff, especially if we have to play the Buckeyes. Bama can be had this year and Clemson’s D is young.
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You obviously need great QB play to win the national title.
Not solid. Not game manager. Not best play is high fiving the punter QB, but legit great next level QB play.
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Agree. Watched Clemson-LSU last night on YouTube. So many designed QB runs and roll-outs. And both Lawrence and Burrow successfully attacked the middle of the field and threw deep. So: to win the big one you need a truly mobile QB with a big, accurate arm. Don’t want to restart the JF debate, but damn. We had one and we let him get away. I know it’s much more complicated than that, and I’m not making even a semblance of an argument that JF should have been the starter in an offensive scheme designed to translate his talent into points on the scoreboard, but: damn.
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If Newman performs similarly to Fromm in the passing game and adds an element with his feet such that short yardage is managed more easily and we pick up a few cheap first downs a game by a scramble or extending a play, we’ll be fine.
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I don’t want to be “that guy”, but nobody else pointed it out and since we are such good friends, I will. “Georgia doesn’t need to be Georgia’s savior…”. I think you meant: “Newman doesn’t need to be Georgia’s savior…”.
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D’oh!
Thanks for catching.
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But cant only Georgia save Georgia?
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I thought that was Obi Wan. 😉
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CFP winning formula is Heisman type talent on the O, especially at QB. If Newman is let loose, then maybe. Otherwise we likely stall in the SECCG again…assuming there is one.
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Florida is better if Jones steps up?
That’s quite the leap.
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like a foot leap
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UGA’s football team doesn’t require a savior for success, QB success will occur when a certain progression with the OC happens (“with a little lady luck looking down on us”)…any QB with confidence is useful and dangerous on the field of play…UGA’s “D” and special teams play (above average) will help in not putting the QB in bad situations (mentally)
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I love the media’s indecisiveness on Trask. On one hand they say he’s at the top of the QB stack. Then out of the other side of their mouth, they say UF needs Jones to step up. So is Jones some Heisman phenom hidden away at UF? lol I doubt it.
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I don’t think it’s that as much as Jones is better suited to run the kind of offense Mullen prefers to run.
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He’s the next Nick Fitzgerald, more likely. Tough. Solid. Not going to win a championship.
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With no football this is only gonna get worse.
I wanna stand on a corner of a non busy intersection with a mask on and yell, ” get your hot takes hot takes right here get your hot takes hot takes right here”
FWIW all signs point to Newman being legit. He can throw a good ball, he can run, he’s currently built like hes going to an MMA fight, hes smart, hes a good QB height.
But my biggest hope is we can actual run real options. He doesn’t want to he a running QB, me neither, but being able to run that 5-10% of time either by design or bc it’s there is a must. Some play last season fromm had easily 15 yd of nothing but open field in front of him. Now he didn’t need to be Herschel Walker and run over two corner backs for a touchdown, but even a reasonable run would of got 20 yards. Very frustrating. You’ve given the defense an extra defender.
And Monken is like Yoda to Coleys 5 year old padawan, it’s not even close.
So where as I agree that we don’t need massive leaps on the offense to improve, some simple basic improvements will make a big jump right away, and furthermore, I think we’re gonna do much better than that anyways.
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It’s possible that Joe Burrow is the harbinger of a new era of college football. He was the highest rated QB last year and had the highest rating of any of the last 10 national championship QBs (by a fair margin).
But he’s the exception of the last 5 years. Lawrence was #12. Hurts was #20. Watson was #19. Coker was #31. So good has been good enough over the last five years.
But the prior five was more like what we’re assuming for the future. Only McCarron in 2011 was ranked outside the top 2 (#25). And he was ranked first in 2012.
Elite QB play is always welcome. But I don’t think Newman needs to be Joe Burrow in order for UGA to win a championship.
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Burrow had the greatest season ever in college football. That’s not gonna be an annual CFB thing.
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I’m going to go ahead and say it. Newman isn’t going to be a game manager “like Fromm” for UGA. That isn’t the kind of qb he is. He’s going to rip it 20 yards or deeper and do so more accurately than Fromm and he’s going to take off running with his big body. A guy that can throw it deep on a dime in the ACC can do it anywhere. His legs will be especially important with the lack of practice time (although wouldn’t be surprised if the NCAA adds a week to fall workouts.) Thinking he’ll look more like Cam Newton with UGA’s ol and skill players than a Jake Fromm.
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