I guess I’m supposed to feel reassured by this:
Kirby Smart said Georgia had "a little bout" with Covid in the last few weeks, adding:
“Lost some guys, and got most of them back. The biggest thing is getting back to full strength when it matters most, and that’s what we’re shooting for.”
— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) December 29, 2021
“Most” is doing some heavy lifting there, Kirbs.
**********************************************************************
UPDATE: Also, this.
Kirby Smart says it bluntly: "Stetson is our starting quarterback." He said whether JT Daniels is "healthy enough" would have a bearing on whether he could play.
— Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) December 29, 2021
“Healthy enough” doesn’t sound like “we prefer Stetson’s mobility”, does it?
Filed under Georgia Football, The Body Is A Temple
“We remember the Sugar Bowl, I think it my junior year of high school, we let Alabama beat us twice,” Brinson said of a team that also lost to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. “We’re not letting Alabama beat us twice. In the Sugar Bowl in 2018, they… thought they should have been in the playoffs and lost to Texas.” -- AB-H, 12/27/23
Get The Picture
To your question, the answer is “no”, but one answer also doesn’t exclude the other, so I guess we’re left standing at the same point we’ve been for almost three months….
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COVID has me in full Munson mode until I see which guys take the field.
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The reasons for and status of J.T. Daniels’s health are the best kept secrets since the Coca Cola recipe. Sheesh!
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And coke had a good reason for keeping it a secret.
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Has anyone seen if “Save J.T.” has been painted on any local water towers? My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with a girl who saw J.T. pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it’s pretty serious…
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Curious that JTD was the only name that got leaked as having COVID.
Pickens name was out there, but by the time it was floated it also included the caveat that he had already had a negative test as well.
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I suspect JT has had limited arm strength all season. They keep it secret in case SBiv goes down and JT is forced into action. Lots of run plays and underneath passing would then be the game plan. Telling the other team we can’t throw deep would be counterproductive. Suspect is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here (nod to Bluto).
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I think there may have been some undiagnosed cases trying to play in the SECCG. Sure would explain the lack of pressure/fire from the defense.
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There could have been some guys with the flu. It’s going around colleges like it used to, but people have forgotten that it’ll kick your butt. We’ve all been conditioned to test for COVID and if it’s negative move on.
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There was helluva lot wrong with the Dawg’s D in the SECCG. Scheme mostly. Maybe a bit of underestimation after watching how those dickweeds from the barn roughed Bama up the week before. No way I’ll ever be convinced that Lanning wasn’t distracted with all that Oregon shit dividing his attention. Of course the opponent had a say so in that performance also.
If the Dawgs and the staff don’t get their head out of their fourth point of contact it won’t be any better. I have confidence that ass kicking woke em the fuck up.
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I wanna be an airborne ranger..
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They pay more to stay in the aircraft 🙂
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Golf Clap
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Best job I ever had!
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“They pay more to stay in the aircraft.”
Whatever the pay is it’s not enough. I recognized a Warrant Officer who was a red door student in Florida years before. He didn’t know me from Adam’s house cat. But that didn’t deter him from accepting every drink I sent his way.
I still owe you rotor heads.
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Before I went to paradise I was stationed at Benning. Supported the jump school flying medivac and gunships supporting the infantry guys in OCS. Fun times out of Lawson.
I have some hilarious stories, but this isn’t the proper place when we have QB’s to discuss 🙂
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Hey bud, havent seen you in a few days. Glad all is well.
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I don’t know what is going on with the quarterbacks, but I am 100 percent certain that we haven’t been told the full truth about JT Daniels really at any point along the way.
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“Healthy enough” from the bout with Covid? Or “healthy enough “ from all his other ailments?
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It’s just math to me. Every team is being hit and it’s just a matter of who and how many. I’m kinda indifferent about it at this point. We’ll field a competent team or we won’t.
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Yeah, there’s a good article over at dawg sports that explores the general malaise a lot of folks have, me included. (Now I have to worry about being in ranger’s sights)
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😉
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I’d imagine the leaked news and limited information is smoke and mirrors. They leaked JT’s malady as a means to cover up the fact they will be starting Muschamp at QB. Pickens will be used as a scatback so we can run wheel routes all day and Bennett will be substituted at DT to give Jordan Davis rest reps. Lanning is going to employ a 1-9-1 defensive scheme with Davis as the down lineman with 9 linebackers and Cine at safety to shut down the run. They will likewise use the Alabama strategy of defensive pass interference on every passing play, effectively pile driving their wideouts on every play until there are no receivers left. Harbaugh will use the wishbone the rest of the game, probably to no avail because who can run against 9 linebackers? There will be 27 penalties for a CFB record of 335 yards, but Michigan will gain no more than ten yards all day. Muschamp throws three passes, all to Pickens, en route to a 10-0 win. Bowers kicks the field goal since he never lines up as a TE instead being used as a LB in the 1-9-1 scheme.
This is all done, of course, because we have to play five dimensional chess the next week against Saban. In that game, we will use a 0-0-11 scheme, with 11 secondary players and no down linemen. They’ll start McConkey at QB and run Wildcat all day long, Bennett lined up at wideout for some fun double passes, and Pickens will play the star in the defensive scheme. Jordan Davis will be ejected after the first play of the game, as he was instructed to break Saban in half by running out of bounds and then throwing Bryce into the upper deck for the rest of the game. Podlesny will be the acting DC after Lanning returns to Oregon to explain what a 1-9-1 is and then writes a book about it. He later hires Urban Meyer as an offensive analyst just so he can fire him hours later. Georgia beats Alabama 1-0 based on field position rules used in middle school football because the viewing audience just wants the madness to end. Georgia is crowned national champions and CFB moves to dissolve the SEC based on anti-trust laws and the agreement that the 0-11-0 defense is banned for life. Will Muschamp is named the new coach of Auburn and hires Bobo back immediately. Daniels enter the transfer portal and agrees to play for Deion Sanders at JSU. Bennett is selected as the 13th pick in the draft by the NY Giants. Beck and Van Dergriff both transfer to South Carolina and let Beamer deal with the fresh hell of quarterback controversies as Smart lands on Serena Joy Cavendish III as the new starting quarterback after an open tryout for walk ons at the UGA campus. She is 4’11” and can only hand the ball off, which pushes her immediately to the top of the roster. Zeus returns for another year of action and rushes 425 times for 9,987 yards and 50 touchdowns. Georgia goes undefeated and beats Memphis for the national championship. In a controversial move, freshly minted DC Hines Ward uses a 11-0-0 scheme of all defensive linemen to sack Memphis 42 times in one game with -224 yards rushing. Cavendish is named the MVP and wins the Heisman, never throwing a single pass but rushing for over 10k yards using single wing concepts from Notre Dames past.
Kirk Herbstreit is discovered to be fixing games for Vegas. Corso comes out as an alien. Dan Mullen is named head coach of the Jaguars.
Fuck, why not?
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That was a fun read, thanks!
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You left out the QB controversy on message boards complaining that Nathan Priestley has been in the program 3 years now as opposed to this being Muschamp’s first season and Priestley has been higher on the depth chart so so obviously Smart is playing favorites at QB. That topic dominates the fan boards and media questions.
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Priestley was used as a “galaxy” inside linebacker in the 1-9-1 scheme. He finished the game with 9 tackles, 6 TFL, and credited with a half sack and one PBU.
Fun fact, Jalen Carter was used heavily at safety once all wide receivers were injured. He also saw action at TE.
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Did getting tackled by safety Jalen Carter in practice cause all our wide receivers to be injured?
I guess all that cross training with QBs and DL is why Kirby closed practices, right?
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Nathan Priestley is Jerry Priestley’s grandson, right? The old Tek quarterback? Good bones.
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“Corso comes out as an alien.” Lanning returns from a “galaxy” cluster far far away to explain what an alien is and then writes a book about it. He later hires Todd Graham as an offensive analyst just so he can fire him hours later. Kirby is named head coach of the Jaguars and tells Trevor to get a haircut and get a real job
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Just saw Thorogood in Albany a couple weeks ago, dude hasn’t slowed down any, great show!
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I saw George and The Destroyers in ’89 in Columbia, SC. They played for hours. Took a break, came down and drank beers and mingled with us and rocked some more. Outstanding show. I’m happy to hear he’s still rolling.
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Ha! I’m an educator and we currently are on Christmas Break. Normally I only have time to stop and read when I’m in the bathroom most days, so my posts are generally terse or non existent.
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Serena Joy Cavendish III
lol
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My first reaction after the intro was “Boom still has eligibility left?!?” Suit the MF’er up!
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I’m curious as to what time you have to dump that blotter to peak at noon?
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I watched Miss St try to play without a chunk of their front 7 2-deep last night. Not pretty. Doesn’t explain their offensive no-show, but TTU ran all over them. Side note: looked like TTU took more juice from the Leach-TTU Feud than Leach’s guys.
I’m guessing all 4 playoff participants manage to field full rosters.
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I don’t imagine the Bizarro Dogs gave one flip about Leach not getting his bonus.
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Nope. But there was a lot of media chatter about Leach wanting to exact revenge on TTU and wanting to embarrass them. Have to believe some of that ended up on TTU’s bulletin board. Pretty funny in retrospect. Leach runs his mouth, gets gibbeted.
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Well, only one group really had to deal with Leach himself.
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I’m starting to think there is something seriously wrong with JTs health. I fear it’s not a sports injury.
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He may be a Lizard Person.
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Lol okay now he’s really trolling our asses.
I trust Graham Coffey (Dawg out west) more than most and he’s is highly certain a plan is in place to play JT, and not just if Stetson struggles. Said JT took significant reps with the 1s this week and you wouldn’t do that week leading up to the playoff just to do it.
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Different situations to be sure, but it worked for Urban in ‘14 (although he had his hand forced). New QB, no real film to work with. Cardale’s skill set meant more carries for Zeke and more play action off that. Worked like a charm.
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Graham is pretty sharp for sure, but he’s not bang on in all his prognostications.
That said, Kirby was been telling us this months ago. Paraphrasing, “JT is going to have a big impact on our season.”
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“Healthy enough” Simply means recovered from Covid enough to be a reliable, viable backup.
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There are 2 yet-to-be-written books that will one day top the best seller’s list: What the actual fuck happened during the 2015 season and what the actual fuck is going on in that QB room this season.
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THIS SEASON?
To paraphrase the Senator, “this season” is going a lot of heavy lifting there. 😉
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Well it’s already been six years without a peep regarding 2015. I doubt that book is ever coming.
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We still haven’t got to the bottom of the whole “Butts and Bryant fixed the 1962 Georgia-Alabama game – AND someone wrote a book about it!
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All I know is that Friday can’t get here fast enough.
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Graham’s ‘JT is getting the reps with the 1s’ comments shouldn’t be outright ignored. I don’t think we’re going to see a “switch” at game time, but I’ve said since losing the SECCG that the case is now easier for giving JT reps.
I don’t hold with the theory that Kirby has been hiding JT as a secret weapon… mostly because it ain’t that secret. His game is what it is, and there’s plenty of tape on it. But, where many have made the argument that JT should have been inserted in the SECCG to win that game, I can offer this:
a) The SECCG was not necessary to the goal of winning the National Championship.
b) There was value in leaving Stetson in and getting him the reps against Alabama, as well as in NOT giving Alabama direct reps against JT.
Maybe they believed in Stet enough to say “let’s see if he can lead us back without risking JT in a game that ultimately isn’t a must-win.” Both Monk and Kirby said they didn’t even talk about putting JT in, so it makes sense that the SECCG could have been seen (at least by the time the game was played and Michigan and Cincy were already “in”, as well as OSU and Oregon having lost) as non-essential.
All of that said, 1st team reps are important. Your backup usually gets 15% or so of them… because there is a low chance he’s getting called on, and if he does, the gameplan will likely change. More important to get your primary guy the lion’s share. If JT is suddenly increasing his workload in practice by a healthy amount, that likely means either
a) they have a direct plan for him to play in particular packages/situations or in a snap-share plan.
and/or
b) Stetson’ margin for error has shrunken considerably.
Friday is a Must Win. That’s a different animal. In a must-win, you’re more willing to play a talented yet seemingly fragile guy in a situation where your other guy isn’t getting it done.
I’d say expect Stetson to start, and if he and the offense are playing well, staying on schedule, and scoring, you may not see JT. If he falters, you could see JT warming up sooner rather than later.
1-game season.
Go Dawgs.
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“b) There was value in leaving Stetson in and getting him the reps against Alabama, as well as in NOT giving Alabama direct reps against JT.”
I dunno man. I’m pretty sure Stetson had gotten plenty of reps against Bama already seeing how they did the exact same thing to him last year. I also disagree on any value at all coming from keeping JT out; as if Bama not seeing him would help us at all. Unless JT has recently learned how to run like Michael Vick that is.
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Every team is different every year. People who don’t understand that don’t understand college football. It’s why you go 8-5 one season, and 13-1 and play for a National Title the next. Also, Bennett improved a great deal in his play against Bama, though the results were similar. That’s something many don’t want to accept, but it is absolutely true.
As for them not seeing JT… the value is in
1) he doesn’t risk getting hurt in a meaningless game (and for those who get in their fee-fees about the word “meaningless” being attached to the SECCG.. essentially, it was. We lost and are in the title hunt).
2) When you play against someone, you learn more about them than you do when you watch film or practice against scouts.
For instance, after multiple reps practicing against a particular offensive tackle, I got to where I could have success against him on a fairly usual basis (I’ll exclude my definition of ‘success’ from this convo). However, there’s no way Coach would have put me into a game against live competition when it mattered.. because the advantage I had gained would be nonexistent.
“It’s difficult to beat a good team twice” isn’t just because the coaches learn how to scheme better… but the actual players learn how to play their matchups better. DLmen learn the tendencies of the guys pass-blocking them. Linebackers learn how to better tackle individual players. Offensive linemen learn which moves the guys they’re blocking will employ.
That will include DBs and Quarterbacks. It can happen over the course of a single game… a DB misses on a couple of passes before he’s able to pick one off… because he’s adjusted to that QB.
So, there’s value in not giving them a shot to get “up to speed” against JT, if you believe JT is going to factor into your gameplan in the playoff.
So then, you’ll say… why is there value in getting Stetson those reps if the ultimate goal is for JT to face Bama? Because if you do face Bama, and choose to start JT, there is a much-higher-than-zero-percent chance he gets hurt, and you’re gonna go right back to Stetson… and him having already played THIS group of players, will be a factor.
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(and of course, as with anyone else’s opinion on this, mine is pure conjecture)
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If JT played in the SECCG, and somehow won, Bama wouldn’t be in the playoffs.
The goal was to beat Bama for many reasons.
1. Make it 1-6 in the last seven meetings.
2. SEC Champs
3. Bama is knocked out of the playoff making it the easiest path for UGA. Norte Dame probably gets the fourth spot.
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Brian Kelly is probably still in South Bend in that scenario.
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If JTD is getting more reps than normal it’s prob because he just had Covid, and thus can’t (well, shouldn’t) be at risk of testing positive again. SB4 has the higher risk of being quarantined between now and FRI, so’s you take your chances…
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If Georgia handles Alabama in the SEC-CG, then the playoff field is Georgia vs ND, Michigan vs Cincinnati. Georgia’s a prohibitive favorite in that scenario.
You get a shot to kill the king, you take the shot.
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I disagree the committee punishes Bama for losing a post-season game to the team nobody could beat all year, when Notre Dame has no great wins to its credit, and doesn’t play at title game.
Another team in that situation? Maybe. Bama? I doubt it.
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ND was fifth in the final rankings. I can’t believe a 2L Bama drops only from 3rd to 4th. I agree totally on Notre Dame being badly overrated. But there they were.
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Also, putting JT in that game at the point you’re considering (after either of Stetson’s picks) doesn’t guarantee a win, and the risk is likely greater than the potential benefit at that point.
They never even TALKED about putting him in… means he was a “break glass only in case of dire emergency’ situation… which a possible loss evidently wasn’t.
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Remember: You don’t know what you don’t know!
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Senator, you might want to share this article on Nakobe Dean’s charitable use of his NIL money in tomorrow’s batch of posts. It’s a very nice read.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/32952501/georgia-nakobe-dean-new-life-college-football-star
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“It’s a very nice read.”
Yes it was.
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Clemson.
They suck.
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Yes they do.
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Brock Purdy obviously bet on Clemson.
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