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AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 04
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Another Saturday in Athens!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re spending some time in the Classic City this week while on spring break to see my folks and my son the UGA senior, visit some of our favorite hangouts (like Hodgson’s), and, of course, attend G-Day.
G-Day isn’t quite the big thing it was when I was a kid and they played it more like a real game, with celebrity head coaches (winning team ate steaks for dinner, losers got hot dogs). Nowadays, it’s more like a semi-controlled scrimmage.
And it’s been a while since they tried something fun like playing against the alums. (Remember Kent Lawrence sneaking on the field from the sideline to catch a long pass?) I think that approach was pretty much doomed after the alums put a few extra men on the field and injured the QB in a sack.
But, hey, any day you get to sit in Sanford Stadium and watch guys wearing UGA uniforms playing football is a good day, even if they don’t return kicks and the refs whistle the play dead whenever a defender gets within 5 yards of a quarterback.
The best thing about G-Day is getting an early look at what kind of team the Dogs will field this season, and with that in mind these are some of the things I’ll be watching on Saturday:
THE PASSING GAME: Now that quarterback is settled, with established starter Matthew Stafford getting better and better and Joe Cox a more than able backup, the key question here will be protection. With the Dogs having to replace three starters on the offensive line as well as the tight end, Stafford might end up having to scramble a bit more than the coaches would like (though you get the feeling he’d LOVE to take off rambling with the ball). As for the receivers, we’ve had the talent all along, but over the past couple of seasons they’ve just dropped the ball too much. Getting Sean Bailey back will be a big help if he picks up where he left off at the end of the 2005 season. It took him a while to stop dropping the ball himself that season, though, so that’s something to watch. I think Mikey Henderson will show he’s more than just a kick returner, too.
THE RUNNING GAME: If everything we’ve heard about Knowshon Moreno’s potential pans out, Georgia should be even stronger at the tailback position, despite the loss of Danny Ware. Moreno apparently will give us the breakaway long-run threat we haven’t had in a while. Leading rusher Kregg Lumpkin is back at full-strength and a steady producer. (When they give him the ball, that is. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo won’t be as quick to abandon the run as his boss was at times last season.) Hopefully, Thomas Brown will bounce back quickly from his injury this fall (I doubt we’ll see him Saturday), though I still don’t think it makes sense to run him up the middle. Better to use him on the outside or throw it to him out of the backfield. We have one of the conference’s best fullbacks in Brannan Southerland and should continue to make heavy use of him.
THE BLOCKING: The key question again in the effectiveness of our running tame is the offensive line. And despite our bringing in lots of beef to bolster it, there’s always the likelihood that between injuries and disciplinary problems, we’ll still be thin as tissue paper there. Hopefully, though, new OL coach Stacy Searels’ simplified schemes will speed up the maturing process for our young linemen.
THE DEFENSE: Again, we’re replacing a lot of experience up front and in the middle. Of course, that experience didn’t always pay off last year, as our D was maddeningly inconsistent, looking great at the beginning and end of the season but absolutely terrible during the mid-season collapse. It’ll help a lot if Brandon Miller can finally live up to his billing. Ditto all those redshirts. We should be in good shape in the secondary, but we’re green at defensive end and really need to develop an effective pass rush fast.
THE KICKING GAME: Let’s just pray that Brandon Coutu stays healthy. It’ll be interesting to see whether holdover Brian Mimbs (hero of the bowl-game onside kick) or incoming freshman (and Bulldog legacy) Drew Butler winds up as the starting punter. I just hope we don’t give them reason to flinch like Gordon Ely-Kelso did the latter half of last season after we gave up those blocked punts. As for returning punts, if they follow the usual practice of recent G-Days we won’t see that on Saturday, but I can’t wait to have Mikey Henderson back on the field waiting on a punt! Plus we’ll have Thomas Flowers back.
I’m hoping Saturday’s game shows progress in all those areas. We’ll see the No. 1 offense and No. 2 defense on one team and the No. 1 defense and No. 2 offense on the other. C’mon out and join us at the game!
Through Friday, tickets can be purchased in person at the Butts-Mehre ticket windows between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Tickets also can be purchased starting at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday at Sanford Stadium Gates 2, 4, 6 and the Main Gate located below the Sanford Drive Bridge. Proceeds from the game will benefit Hope Haven. If you can’t be there but have the CSS channel, you can catch it on TV.
