Alex, what is Todd Monken’s 2020 salary?
More than Coley’s, but less than Jim Chaney was making. (If I’m not mistaken, Monken is still receiving something from the Browns after being canned.)
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UPDATE: And check this out.
A pay cut to come to Athens. For now, anyway.
Filed under Georgia Football
While I don’t think it’s as high-profile as his change of offensive coordinators, here’s another modification of Kirby Smart’s approach to offense that’s significant.
There aren’t as many empty seats in Georgia’s quarterback meeting room as there have been in the past and that’s a very good thing.
When Kirby Smart arrived at Georgia in 2016, he acted quickly and secured the signature of Jacob Eason, giving him three quarterbacks to start his first season as a head coach. The following season, UGA added Jake Fromm in the 2017 class to join Eason and Smart was able to convince Brice Ramsey to stick around after he considered transferring for his final year of eligibility.
When 2018 rolled around, Ramsey was out of eligibility and Stetson Bennett IV, who was offered a scholarship to stay, transferred to Jones County Community College (Ellisville, Miss.). Justin Fields joined the program in January of that year and it gave the Bulldogs just two scholarship signal callers on the roster.
Fields transferred to Ohio State a year later but Smart, once again, didn’t waste any time. He brought Bennett back on scholarship as a redshirt sophomore and flipped D’Wan Mathis from Ohio State to give the Bulldogs three quarterbacks on scholarship.
Now, in January of 2020, Smart has more quarterbacks than he ever has before and he’s clearly hoping to keep that number as high as possible. Fromm left early for the 2020 NFL Draft but the Bulldogs brought on Wake Forest graduate transfer Jamie Newman, the clear favorite to win the starting job, and signed four-star triggerman Carson Beck out of Mandarin High School (Jacksonville, Fla.) [Emphasis added.]
I tend to agree with Rowe’s assessment there. I don’t think Kirby was comfortable with his depth situation at the position last season and, given Newman’s ability to run the ball, it wouldn’t be sensible to play things that close to the vest this season, especially with Mathis’ health remaining in question.
Given transfer trends at the position, that’s likely another reason to carry more depth, but it also puts additional pressure on a staff to run a scheme that’s relatively easy for a college quarterback to master. We’ll see how good Monken is in that regard sooner rather than later, I suspect.
Filed under Georgia Football
Seth Emerson ($$), in the header quote, is referring to Georgia’s cornerbacks for 2020, but to be honest, that line could be applied to every defensive group with the possible exception of free safety.
It’s truly an embarrassment of riches. It’s also the reason the Dawgs should be favored to win the East again.
Filed under Georgia Football
This piece isn’t really much from an Xs-and-Os perspective, but if you want to get a little feel for Jamie Newman’s physical attributes and his ability to work in pressure situations, there’s some stuff worth looking at.
Though I’m not sure how much I buy into this:
Newman isn’t Fromm. Their games, strengths and weaknesses are different. If he’s asked to run the same offense Georgia ran last season, the Dawgs will be setting Newman up for failure.
I don’t know how anyone can safely predict what Georgia’s offensive scheme for 2020 will look like, but Newman’s said he wanted to play in a pro-style attack this season to prepare him better for the NFL. My uneducated guess is that whatever Monken constructs, it’ll look more like Georgia’s 2019 offense than Wake’s.
Filed under Georgia Football
I’ve noticed a fair amount of chatter suggesting we might ought to be a little concerned about Jamie Newman’s 2019 stats, considering that he had a couple of good wide receivers to work with.
Might I suggest something of a talent rebuttal to that?
Between that, George Pickens and the tandem of running backs he’ll have available to hand off the ball, I suspect Newman’s pretty happy with the change of scenery. What do you think?
Filed under Georgia Football
Like it or not, this story does not paint a pretty picture. That being said, this particular premise seems to be doing a lot of heavy lifting:
Herzog’s research shows U.S. bulldog registration remaining flat for decades and then climbing slowly but steadily from 1986 onward, from a little shy of 7,000 dogs registered to a little more than 20,000 by 2005. A rise like that suggests sustained cultural exposure to the bulldog. “It’s certainly possible,” Herzog says, that college football games on cable provided that exposure and led to the increase in popularity — and in turn the bulldogs’ health problems.
Certainly possible? Well, I’m convinced.
Filed under Georgia Football
Mark Weiszer has a piece up about the strengths and weaknesses of Jamie Newman, from the perspectives of three former NFL quarterbacks who watched him play last season while doing broadcast work. It’s generally informative and worth a read.
This part had me drooling a little:
Wake Forest used unique designed runs for Newman, Hasselbeck said.
“They’re kind of sometime QB follow type plays,” he said. “It’s not just a normal zone read. He literally ends up like being the backside seal blocker at times at Wake with some of the stuff they did. He’s just big and strong. If you look at Cam Newton with the Carolina Panthers, there was a pretty good stretch when he was their best goal-line back. I could see a scenario at Georgia where it’s a part of their offense now inside the 5-yard line, now all of a sudden, one of your best goal-line backs is your 230-pound quarterback and now you’re defending 11-on-11. You can get an extra blocker because of his ability as a runner.”
It’s not that I’d want him doing that every time down at the goal line, but planting that possibility in the minds of defenders and defensive coordinators? Hells yeah to that.
Filed under Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
