FROMM STAYS UPRIGHT
Everything about Georgia in 2019 starts and ends with quarterback Jake Fromm. A third-year starter, Fromm has been given more autonomy not only to change plays at the line of scrimmage, but even to make suggestions and recommendations on game-scripts and personnel. Word is that he has taken his game to a new level. But what if he's not around? The Bulldogs have backups, of course. But sophomore Stetson Bennett is undersized and just arrived from junior college. Freshman D'Wan Mathis has great size but was held out of scrimmage work in the preseason following emergency surgery to remove a brain growth this summer. That leaves walk-ons, most of them newly arrived. A precarious situation.
STARS ALIGN ON D-LINE
The only preseason all-star mention one will find for any of Georgia's defensive linemen was for Tyler Clark, and then the senior received only a third-team all-SEC nod from the coaches. Championships generally aren't won without all-star play on the defensive line, but the Bulldogs feel like their group is a lot better than advertised. Clark has proved himself a dominant force before, as demonstrated in the College Football Playoff run of 2017. Gargantuan sophomore Jordan Davis is said to be in the best shape of his life. Georgia just brought in one of the better recruits in the nation in Travon Walker. The Bulldogs need those guys and a few others to step up this season.
SHUT-DOWN CORNER, PART II
Georgia knew it had a great cornerback in Deandre Baker last season, and the rest of the world learned that when Baker became a first-round draft pick of the New York Giants. By the second half of the season, the secondary basically was having to defend only one-half of the field because opponents weren't going to throw Baker's way. A weakness was exposed when Baker skipped the Sugar Bowl to get ready for the draft. If Tyson Campbell, Eric Stokes, Tyrique Stevenson or any of the other corner candidates can come through at a level even approaching what Baker played at, it could do wonders to solidify the defense.
COUNT ON ME, COACH
The Bulldogs lost their top five receivers off last season's team. Between them, Riley Ridley, Mecole Hardman, Isaac Nauta, Jeremiah Holloman and Terry Godwin accounted for 2,323 yards, 154 receptions and 27 touchdowns. That's a ton of production no matter how it's broken down. But while that factoid might flip out a lot of Georgia fans and more than a few analysts, it only excites those still suiting up for the Bulldogs. There are at least a dozen wideouts and a half-dozen tight ends who have raised their hands to the question, who will replace all those catches, yards and touchdowns? Some of them even arrived as 5-star recruiting prospects. Odds are some of them might even be as good as advertised. One or two who can be counted on in the clutch is all Fromm needs.
BE COORDINATED
Changing coordinators typically means things are going very well or very poorly. The Bulldogs find themselves breaking in new ones on offense and defense because they've been very successful. But there's no guarantee of that going forward. In offensive coordinator James Coley, Georgia has a coach who has done it before, in a co-starring role at Florida State, as a solo act at Miami and with Jim Chaney on the Bulldogs' staff. So there's a track record there. That's not the case with new defensive chief Dan Lanning, who has been a college assistant coach since only 2016, and never before a coordinated a defense. But for every successful young coordinator out there, there was a head coach somewhere who took a chance on them. Alabama's Nick Saban did that with a guy named Kirby Smart.
NO DROP-OFF AT CENTER
Georgia's offensive line was one of the better ones in college football last season — as its second-place finish in the voting for the Joe Moore Award will attest — and it's expected to be better in 2019. That's understandable, with four returning starters across the front, including an All-American candidate at left tackle in Andrew Thomas. But to assume the Bulldogs will be just as good in the middle, where they lost center Lamont Gaillard, is a big assumption. Gaillard was a seasoned player and good enough for the Arizona Cardinals to spend an NFL draft pick on him. Sophomore Trey Hill is bigger and stronger, so if he can replicate Gaillard's ability to call protections and blocking schemes, the Bulldogs will be back in business.
D'ANDRE 2,000
Georgia has lots of options in the offensive backfield, where the healthy presence of redshirt freshman Zamir White has created an endless buzz throughout preseason camp. But the most dynamic player the Bulldogs have on offense is junior running back D'Andre Swift. Not only can he run the ball, with more than a 1,000 yards rushing last season, but he's also Georgia's leading returning receiver as well. If Swift can stay healthy all season and catch and run the ball with the effectiveness he did in an almost part-time role last season, the Bulldogs not only will win a lot of games, Swift could make good on all those preseason predictions to contend for the Heisman Trophy.
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