Murray stays healthy — and plays solidly — at quarterback
For a redshirt freshman who has never taken a snap in a college game, Aaron Murray is vitally important to this Georgia season.
The Bulldog Nation cringes at the thought of what would happen in the event of a Murray injury. Zach Mettenberger, who might have been the backup quarterback, was kicked off the team and moved on to Butler Community College in Kansas. Logan Gray, who might have been the backup quarterback, was moved — at his request — to wide receiver.
That left just three newly arrived freshmen — the recruit Hutson Mason and the walk-ons Parker Welch and Greg Bingham — playing quarterback behind Murray on the Georgia practice field this month.
An injury to Murray, the nation’s No. 3 quarterback prospect coming out of high school in Tampa, might result in Gray hastily moving back to quarterback, but how effective would he be after focusing his preparation on receiver?
With starters returning at the other 10 offensive positions, Georgia desperately needs Murray to stay healthy and play stably.
“I’ve got to respect the football and, when the play is there, make the play,” Murray said.
That’s pretty much it. That, and get back to the huddle healthy for the next play.
The new defense plays a lot better than the old one
After back-to-back disappointing seasons, Georgia’s defense turns the page: Three new coaches, including coordinator Todd Grantham, and a new scheme, the 3-4 replacing the 4-3.
The Bulldog Nation has embraced Grantham’s mantra: “We want to be aggressive. We want to attack. We want to be relentless in our pursuit to the ball.” But how much the defense can improve in his first year on the job is unknowable at this point.
“I know defensively there’s a lot of our young men wondering how it’s going to go,” coach Mark Richt said. “We have coaches and fans wondering how it’s going to go, too. That’s an exciting thing for us. It’s provided a lot of energy and excitement.”
Despite finishing 10th in the SEC in scoring defense last season, the Bulldogs had five defensive players taken in this year’s NFL draft. So they’ll need new leaders on the field in addition to the new coaches and new scheme.
They’ll need breakout seasons from DeAngelo Tyson on the defensive line and Bacarri Rambo in the secondary, as well as a special season from pass-rushing outside linebacker Justin Houston.
Dogs’ turnover margin improves drastically from ’09
Georgia had the second-worst turnover margin among the nation’s 120 FBS (formerly Division I-A) teams last season, a horrid minus-16. That means the team lost 16 more turnovers (28) than their opponents (12).
Georgia threw 17 interceptions, seven more than their opponents, and lost 11 fumbles, nine more than their opponents. Implausibly, Georgia recovered only two opponent fumbles all season — fewer than any other FBS team.
Improving last season’s 8-5 record starts with improving last season’s turnover margin.
“If we just turn that around, we win a minimum of 10 and probably 11 games [last season],” Richt said. “So we’ve got to get better at that.”
That will require protecting the ball better on offense despite having a redshirt freshman replacing a fifth-year senior at quarterback, and it will require forcing more turnovers, which is part of the premise behind Grantham’s pressure defense.
“The more you can do to disrupt the quarterback,” Grantham said, “the more you’re going to create turnovers.”
Productive running game picks up right where it left off
Last season the run game started slowly, averaging 97 yards in the first six games, and finished fast, averaging 216 in the final seven.
The turnaround came after Washaun Ealey shed his redshirt to form a 1-2 tailback tandem with Caleb King and offensive-line coach Stacy Searels settled on a lineup of left tackle Clint Boling, left guard Cordy Glenn, center Ben Jones, right guard Chris Davis and right tackle Josh Davis (who was still rehabbing from shoulder surgery earlier in the season).
This season, Georgia needs its running game to set the tone from the start despite preseason problems that included Jones’ arthroscopic knee surgery, Glenn’s battle with mononucleosis and, most recently, Ealey’s arrest early Friday.
“We got on the same page [last year], but it took too long to do that,” offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said. “We’ve got to come out of the chutes playing like we’re capable.”
The plan is for the run game to take pressure off Murray and provide a dilemma for defenses that must focus on star wide receiver A.J. Green.
“I think there’s a chance to have a great complement of run and pass and keep people very honest with it,” Richt said.
Big penalty problem is solved by ‘aggressive, but smarter’ play
The Bulldogs seem sick and tired of the penalty problem that has marred — and, in some minds, defined — their past two seasons. It remains to be seen if they will do something about it.
“Coach Richt told us we were the worst penalized team in the SEC, and that when people talked about Georgia that’s what we were known for,” tight end Orson Charles said. “We’re tired of it. This year we’ve got to change that.”
In 2008, Georgia was penalized 72.2 yards per game, ranking last in the SEC and 116th in the nation. In 2009, the results weren’t much different: 67.6 penalty yards per game, last in the SEC and 107th nationally.
“We’ve got to play aggressive, but smarter,” Charles said.
The Bulldogs hope to re-establish themselves this fall after their worst season under Richt in 2009, and eradicating the penalty problem would be a significant step in the right direction, symbolically and otherwise.
-- Tim Tucker
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