Okay, it’s not exactly “4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 cokes” territory, but it’s a little disconcerting to see UGA’s athletic department take a step like this.
Sure, some of that can likely be chalked up to a post-COVID hangover, but not all. If this is a inkling of what’s to come, even at a successful program like ours, were I Josh Brooks, I’d be getting a wee bit concerned.
Filed under Georgia Football
My name is Deangelo Tyson and I am asking that you please help my wonderful family including my five children and beautiful wife during this difficult time. As a former Georgia Bulldog and Baltimore Raven I know what it means to fight through hard times. However, at 32 years old I am now facing the biggest fight of all- Colon Cancer!
During June we received devastating news that has jeopardized my family and my life. After several months of losing weight (which I attributed to no longer playing sports). I began experiencing severe stomach pains. After a visit to the ER and multiple tests I received the words no one ever wants to hear- “Deangelo you have colon cancer”. I have since had surgery to remove the tumor and will begin chemotherapy right away. There are many hard days ahead.
Because of the extended time off work during the past few months I lost my job and have no steady income. My wife also was working but was terminated due to her caring for me. We have five wonderful children and currently have no jobs or ways to support them. The medical bills are piling up and will certainly grow as the treatment continues. For those of you who know me or my family you know that I don’t like a lot of attention on me. When I was blessed to be in the NFL for several years I was able to help families and young children which meant so much as a kid who grew up in a boys group home in South Georgia. Those resources have now gone away and it is hard for me to say it is me and my family who need help.
He’s already raised better than half his goal. If you can help a Dawg out, do what you can.
Filed under Georgia Football, The Body Is A Temple
I’m not sure I’m in the minority on this, or if it just feels like I am because the other side of the take on JT Daniels’ health last season has been so vociferous, but I never felt like anyone outside of the program has a real understanding of why it took so long for Daniels to get his first start.
Given that, I’ve always found it of interest when I hear any of the decision makers involved touch on that subject, even indirectly, which Kirby Smart did last week at SEC Media Days.
Learning the offense and the mental side of the game, however, isn’t where Daniels has made the biggest leaps this offseason. According to Smart, the biggest area of growth has been on the physical side.
“I think physically he has improved himself with strength, weight, mobility,” Smart said in a meeting with the UGA beat prior to taking the stage at SEC Media Days. “Those are the things that he’s really grown in since the end of the season.”
Big, if true. If he has fully bounced back from the knee problems — which, remember, weren’t fully disclosed at the time — that should have a significant impact on his deep ball mechanics and his ability to escape the rush. One thing’s for sure: it won’t take very long for us to find out.
Filed under Georgia Football, The Body Is A Temple
Barrett Sallee spoke with Kirby Smart at SEC Media Days and touched upon a number of subjects of interest — the opener, the anticipated growth in Georgia’s offense, Arik Gilbert, the player he fears will be missed the most on defense, NIL, transfers, etc.
You can watch it here.
(h/t)
Filed under Georgia Football
There’s definitely a trend here.
It’s not as if Georgia ran out of quality running backs after Chubb and Michel. The running game is slowly losing its outsized degree of emphasis (and note that accelerated under Coley).
Where do you think that percentage lands in 2021? (For comparison’s sake, note that last season Alabama ran on 52.8% of its plays, but its rushing yards were only 33.8% of its total yardage.)
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!, Strategery And Mechanics
This JT Daniels answer should be right up some of y’all’s alley.
Q: Do you follow outlets such as Pro Football Focus that grade the different metrics of your game?
A: “I don’t follow any of that. I don’t know the metrics or what they measure. Everything I watch and analyze is based on me, the rest of the quarterbacks in the quarterback room, (offensive coordinator) Todd Monken and (head coach) Kirby Smart. What they say is something I will genuinely listen to, because they’re the only ones who actually know the system and actually know the context.
“You can make as many numbers as you want. It’s just difficult in this sport to understand how many moving pieces that there are if you’re not in those meeting rooms. I could watch an entire Ole Miss game, and I could not tell you if Matt Corral did everything perfect or if he didn’t do his job once based on what he’s taught to do by his coach.”
So there.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
I think of Arik Gilbert and I drool over the possibilities.
Where he fits: Gilbert is a mismatch wherever he plays. UGA recruited him to play wide receiver and he is listed as one on the roster. But he’s going to get some looks at tight end. JT Daniels mentioned at SEC Media Days how Gilbert is meeting with tight ends coach Todd Hartley. In fact, if Georgia doesn’t find ways to use him in tight end-type of role, it’ll be leaving some yards and points on the table. He has the ability to block linebackers and defensive ends and it virtually impossible for any box defender to hang with him in coverage. He also needs to spend plenty of time split out because he’s too big for cornerbacks and nickel defenders. He can beat them with the ball in the air or as a blocker.
2021 Impact: As long has he picks up fairly quickly on the offense, he’s going to play a ton and he’s going to catch quite a few passes. The fact of the matter is that Gilbert is likely the most talented pass catcher on Georgia’s roster. His combination of size, speed, and athleticism isn’t easy to find and he showed that he has the ability a season ago at LSU. As long as he stays healthy, focused, and engaged, the Bulldogs have a serious weapon at their disposal.
Gilbert played in an offense last season directed by an offensive coordinator who’s been replaced, directed by three different quarterbacks over the course of the season (two of whom were freshmen), only appeared in eight games and still managed eleven more catches than Georgia’s tight ends combined. If Monken can’t deploy him as serious weapon in Georgia’s offense this season, he’s not as good an OC as I thought he was.
Filed under Georgia Football
Hey, look who’s developed a sudden attack of conscience!
Oklahoma and Texas heading to the SEC is looking increasingly likely by the hour, but that doesn’t mean all is nirvana within the athletic offices of schools throughout the conference.
As we reported here on Wednesday evening, discussions have been happening between the SEC office and the two Big 12 schools since late last year. As is so often the case in college athletics, it appears the deal was almost done by the time the backdoor dealings became public knowledge.
Much has been made about Texas A&M’s feelings on the potential addition. Athletic Director Ross Bjork spent Wednesday afternoon on a media blitz, making it clear to everyone in Hoover that he didn’t want the league to add another team from Texas.
The SEC’s members have had a gentleman’s agreement for years that the conference wouldn’t add a team in a state that one of the league’s institutions already resided in. Well, not anymore.
Said an SEC source to Dawg Sports, “The last time around it was about opening up new states and metropolitan areas for television deals. This time it’s about cumulative eyeballs.” In the era of streaming, brands like the Longhorns and Sooners are a massive coup to the league.
A high-ranking official at the University of Georgia, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Dawg Sports that the school understands that, but they don’t necessarily like it. “It will never be public knowledge because the school will present a united front with the rest of the conference, but nobody in the administration is really excited about this.”
Let me see if I’ve got this straight. A notoriously money-grubbing organization that was fully on board with a poorly thought out, strictly for revenue enhancement, conference expansion move accomplished by taking two teams from the Big 12 now has grown a pair of scruples over another round of revenue-enhancing conference expansion accomplished by taking *** checks notes *** two more teams from the Big 12?
Oh, puh-leeze. Just STFU and stuff a few more bills under the reserve fund mattress, okay?
Filed under Georgia Football, It's Just Bidness, SEC Football
… is everything you’d expect. Literally.
“I think the Clemson game is huge, (because) if Georgia can find a way to beat Clemson, the schedule sets up really nicely for them,” Barnhardt said. “You’ve obviously got to play Florida in Jacksonville and you’ve got to go to Auburn, I understand that, but if you beat Clemson you’re in really great shape.
“If you lose to Clemson, then all of your margin for error is gone, and you’ve got to run the table and probably beat Alabama in Atlanta. So I think there’s a lot riding on the Clemson game.”
And to think information like this is just out there… for free.
Filed under Georgia Football, Mr. Conventional Wisdom
Aaron Murray, on what’s in store for Georgia’s offense this season:
“I think they’ll be open to more concepts and less mirror routes. Even if both guys on the outside run the same route, maybe the guy over the middle runs a deep dig,” Murray said. “I think you’ll see that, but you’ll also see a lot more full-field reads from JT, which really puts a lot of stress on defenses, and I think he’s able to handle that. It’s going to be a lot more open, a lot more gun, a lot more 11 personnel.”
More 11 personnel? I guess that may be so, if you call Arik Gilbert a wide receiver…
Filed under Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
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