Optimism abounds in the Bulldog Nation. There’s nothing unusual about that, in and of itself. Georgia fans always expect the most out of their football team, regardless of previous disappointments. But that has manifested itself in other ways this year.
Especially monetarily. According to UGA’s director of development, Mark Slonaker, Bulldogs fans have stepped up with donations to the Bill Hartman Fund — required to qualify for season tickets — to the tune of $25.4 million. That’s with a couple of weeks to go in the fundraising period.
To put that into perspective, the most Georgia has received in that regard before a season was $26.1 million in 2008. That was the spring before the Matthew Stafford/Knowshon Moreno-led Bulldogs opened the season ranked No. 1.
Nobody’s putting that kind of label on the 2015 team. It appears to be considerably more flawed, but there is a lot of excitement and anticipation as the Bulldogs prepare to begin spring practice Tuesday.
Here are the top five spring priorities:
Settle on a quarterback. Georgia coach Mark Richt, despite being given numerous opportunities to do so, refused to declare sophomore Brice Ramsey as the No. 1 quarterback heading into spring drills. He played the most among the backups behind senior Hutson Mason last season, and he finished the game when Mason went out with a concussion in the Belk Bowl.
Nevertheless, Richt insists that reserves Faton Bauta, a rising junior, and Jacob Park, a redshirt freshman, will receive equal time and consideration to become the starter. And Georgia’s coaches indicated there likely won’t be a resolution during the 15-practice spring period.
Finding a new 'Boss.' As important as a good quarterback is to an offense, so is the job of the man charged with delivering him the ball. And Georgia has been tremendously blessed in that department. After four solid years of having Ben Jones, the Dogs made a seamless transition to David Andrews, who handled the position with aplomb the past three. But the heir apparent to the man nicknamed "Boss" is not as clearly defined.
It appears there are two primary candidates. Hunter Long (6-foot-4, 302 pounds) is a senior and a career reserve who has apprenticed for the job for most of the past four years. And sophomore Isaiah Wynn (6-2, 283) is a sophomore who was recruited with the idea of playing the position. But the coaches have vowed to mix and match across the offensive front until they find who they deem the best five overall. So with the possible exception of left tackle John Theus, any of the four returning starters might be considered for a position change.
Coaching adjustments. While most of Georgia's offensive personnel are back, the same can't be said for its leadership. The Dogs in the offseason lost three of their five offensive coaches. Coordinator Mike Bobo and line coach Will Friend left for new challenges at Colorado State and receivers coach Tony Ball went to LSU.
That created quite a shakeup in the group that will lead Georgia’s traditionally productive offense. Brian Schottenheimer came from the NFL to coordinate and coach quarterbacks and Rob Sale, previously of McNeese State, will coach the line. Meanwhile, Thomas Brown came back to Georgia from Wisconsin and will switch coaching positions with his former teammate, Bryan McClendon, who moved from running backs to wideouts, the position he played and previously coached.
The Dogs don’t plan to change philosophically, nor will they use new terminology. But there will be a lot of adjustments to be made among the players and coaches.
Man-up in the middle. Nowhere did Georgia enjoy more production the past two seasons than what it got from the middle of its defense. Inside linebackers Amarlo Herrera and Ramik Wilson accounted for 50 starts and an astounding 470 tackles.
Now the Bulldogs have a couple of understudies who have played in enough significant moments to think they are capable of continuing such a legacy, Reggie Carter and Tim Kimbrough. Between backup duties and special-teams roles, the two rising juniors have played in 44 games the past two seasons and appear seasoned to succeed.
But defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt is taking no chances. Competition will come this spring from transfers Chuks Amaechi and Jake Ganus, midyear enrollee Natrez Patrick and returning lettermen such as Detric Bing-Dukes and Ryne Rankin.
Identify skill players. When Pruitt arrived last year, he immediately identified a defensive deficiency — speed. He set about addressing that in the secondary with the players he had at his disposal, but has recruited several more. So while three of four starters return in the secondary, there will be a casting call not only to replace the graduated stalwart Damian Swann, but to improve speed and athletic ability across the board.
The same can be said of the wide receivers. Georgia has some decent skill returning in the form of Malcolm Mitchell and Justin Scott-Wesley. But the Bulldogs have a long way to go to replace the dependable productivity of Michael Bennett and Chris Conley and need to identify a consistent big-play threat opposite Mitchell.
