The offense fared better than the defense in Georgia’s G-Day spring intra-squad game on a sunny Saturday in Sanford Stadium.
The Red team, which included the Bulldogs’ No. 1 offensive unit, piled up 261 yards in the first half and went on to a 27-24 victory over the Black team, which featured the first-string defense.
Here are some of the storylines witnessed by a crowd that Georgia said numbered 46,073:
THE QUARTERBACKS
Preparing to open his first (and last) season as Georgia’s starting quarterback, rising senior Hutson Mason seemed to reinforce the team’s comfort level about his readiness for the role.
He completed his first five passes of the game and 17 of 25 in the first half, including a 10-yard touchdown throw to wide receiver Reggie Davis that gave the Red team the lead for good at 10-7. Mason played sparingly in the second half, finishing the day 18-of-27 for 241 yards. He threw no interceptions.
“I thought Hutson did a nice job, like he has been doing all spring long, of finding the open targets, getting us into the right plays and right protections,” coach Mark Richt said. “I thought he stood in the pocket very well and bought some time back there a couple of times to make some plays. He did a nice job, overall.”
Mason was pleased with his accuracy on short and intermediate passes, but “I just wish I would have thrown the deep ball a little better,” he said.
Of the two quarterbacks competing for the No. 2 job behind Mason — Faton Bauta and Brice Ramsey — Bauta had by far the better day. Playing for the Black team, Bauta completed 16 of 28 passes for 232 yards; he threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter (a 41-yarder to Uriah LeMay and a 4-yarder to A.J. Turman) to make the final score close. Splitting time between the two teams, Ramsey completed two of 13 passes for 78 yards.
But Richt said afterward that no determination has been made on who will be the No. 2 quarterback come next season.
“I’m not going to sit here today and say what kind of pecking order we have,” Richt said. “It was just one day.”
THE NEW DEFENSE
As expected, new defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt and his all-new staff kept things pretty basic, making certain not to put anything on film that might prove to be useful information about the remade unit for the season’s first two opponents, Clemson and South Carolina. The defense experimented with various personnel combinations and, typical of scrimmages, generally was not permitted to hit the quarterback. All in all, it was no surprise that the offense carried the day.
“I think we started off kind of slow, but after halftime we picked it up,” said cornerback Damian Swann, who played for the Black team (which actually wore white jerseys). “We started getting stops, started getting the offense the ball back.”
Indeed, after allowing 261 yards in the first half, the Black team’s defense gave up 144 in the second half. For the game, it allowed the Red team 314 yards passing and 91 rushing. It particularly had no answer for Red receiver Chris Conley, who caught six passes for 124 yards, including one for 53 yards.
Said Richt: “I thought (the defense) did fine. I think the offense is ahead of the defense right now, and that makes sense (because) the entire offensive staff is back, the entire system is back, many veterans on offense know exactly what to do. Defensively, everybody is learning” — the players learning Pruitt’s system and Pruitt learning the players.
Pruitt and the other assistant coaches were not available for interviews after the game. Linebacker Leonard Floyd said Pruitt “gave us a pep talk” each time the No. 1 defense came off the field. Floyd admitted the pep talks were mixed: “some positive, some bad.”
Among the defensive highlights were interceptions by cornerback Aaron Davis, a walk-on who surprisingly vaulted to the top of the depth chart at his position this spring, and safety Brendan Langley.
THE STAR TAILBACK
Todd Gurley touched the ball only nine times, but that was enough to remind the crowd of his potential impact on next season.
Gurley got 70 yards out of the limited plays, including 32 yards rushing on six carries and 38 yards receiving on three catches. His best run was his first, a 13-yard gain. He later scored a touchdown on a 2-yard run.
Most important, he appeared healthy after playing in only 10 of Georgia’s 13 games last season and missing parts of others, mainly because of an ankle injury.
Richt said he wasn’t sure going into spring practice if Gurley would be able to go full-speed. Once he realized Gurley was healthy, Richt prodded the star tailback to show more effort in practice.
“It wasn’t awful. But when you’re Todd Gurley, people tend to notice what you do, and you can’t hide,” Richt said. “We just talked a little bit about his ability to lead … by practicing hard and buying into what the coaches are doing. He took everything very well. I think it did pick up his practice effort.
“And I’m not making excuses for the guy, but when you’re a big-game competitor kind of guy and have been through it a year or two, spring ball probably just doesn’t get him too excited, quite frankly. He’s, like, ‘Let’s get this going here; let’s play ball.’ But even though he may feel that way, he still has to give effort on a daily-best basis to become great. Those are some of the things we talked about, and he was awesome with it.”
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