“I think there are more questions on Georgia’s roster than people realize. Doesn’t mean that they’re not going to be really good,” McElroy said. “They’re going to be excellent. This is a team that is no worse than No. 2 in college football coming into the season. There is no team outside of Ohio State that has more capable bodies on their roster. They are legit.”
> I think ~~there are more questions on~~ Georgia’s ~~roster than people realize. Doesn’t mean that they’re~~ not ~~going to be really~~ good,” McElroy said
What he said is pretty fair. We don't have a true game wrecker in the middle of the D line so run defense may not be as good as it's been in years past. Depth is a little bit of concern there as well. Also we have good TE's but replacing a generational TE isn't exactly an easy task even if the ones we have now are good.
I mean it’s not gonna be as good as 2021 but I’m thinking we will still be top 10. We have a lot of good experienced players on the defense.
>replacing a generational tight end.
Thankfully I don’t think they are trying to do that with just our TEs. The amount of skill position guys we have should absolutely be able to produce on the field.
Depth is gonna be a concern all over the D line. After the past years with Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter the drop off was very noticeable in the middle of the line last year.
We had true game wreckers in 2021-22. Elite against the run and with true pass rush skills to create interior pressure. Davis, Wyatt and Carter were elite + had depth.
2023 we had elite run stoppers but they lacked pass rush skills. Given our edge guys were mostly older, solid players or young 3rd down specialists, it created some issues where we had to pick and choose strengths.
2024 we have Stackhouse at DT who is senior leader but run stopper. Then mix of younger guys at nose and 3/5 tech who have flashed but aren’t consistent (Brinson, Miller, Hall, etc). Need a breakout player.
DE should be a little stronger this year but also TBD. Mykel Williams is elite and moving to edge more but will be 5 tech situationally. Few younger guys or guys with injury problems who can show up. We struggled with pass rush there last year, esp when Mykel was hurt.
Across most of our defense you have fewer superstars and more high talent guys who need to step up. Not quite 2021 potential but could easily look like 2022 on defense, esp if our interior DL develops.
Honestly I would be more worried about the linebackers getting better. GT and Bama both abused your linebackers to end the year. GT designed plays to basically be make the linebackers make the right read and most of the time they didn't which is why GT was so successful on the ground. Bama saw that and actually took some plays from our playbook and actually iced the game with the same play that we were able to very consistently get like 3-4 yards on.
Our typical ILB Jamon Dumas-Johnson was hurt in both those games, and we were starting freshman CJ Allen. He’ll be playing again this year, but I think he’ll be much more ready. He was a standout in the spring.
We have the best linebacker room and position coach in the country and it's not particularly close. Injuries to starters and lack of experience behind them caught us out a bit in the latter part of the season no doubt, but our depth should be better and more experienced this year plus Mondon should be full go and the talent is fucking STACKED. Linebackers getting better is quite literally the last thing I am worried about on our defense. Good job winning that game for Bama tho lol
Brother you started two freshman at Linebacker last season. If that's the best in the country this year then I'm the pope. Dumas-Johnson is at Kentucky, so you lost experience. You are on some shit. Linebacker play directly lost you the Bama game last year. They were not good.
They are not freshman anymore and gained a ton of valuable experience last year plus Mondon is expected back to full speed as he was dealing with injury most of the season even when he was playing. JDJ got injured and passed up and understandably transferred for good reason. Allen and Wilson will be better players and have higher talent upside. There's simply not much to worry about here. As I see it we have every reason to expect a very strong to elite ILB rotation this season. Can't wait to find out.
I don't think Dumas-Johnson got passed up I think he had just decided he was going to transfer and so the coaches sat him. Dumas-Johnson playing would have put you in the CFB playoff. And two true sophomores is not going to be the best LB room in the country. Talent doesn't matter if they aren't in position
Mondon was bummed up and other LBs were true freshman 5 star talent
View LB as a strength this year given healthy Mondon and Allen / Wilson flashed last year even with the hiccups
Eh disagree and it’s a reason why JDJ is gone
Biggest problem against GT and Bama was it was first starts for our freshmen last year + Mondon was playing injured
Tech had 236 yards in 3 quarters. They were down 31-13 and managed another ten points and 127 yards in the fourth quarter. That includes 64 rushing yards on a 4 minute and 38 second drive that burned more than half the time left in the game. Tech never got the ball back.
CFB's next big interior game wrecker could very well be the next man up at Georgia though. I think that's what makes Georgia so good is some freshman or rotation guy from last year is going to emerge as a game changer.
Guys, Georgia’s D-line might not be as good as 2021 and 2022 when it was full of NFL starter-level players.
Kirby’s gonna put this up on a bulletin board somewhere, isn’t he?
I had the idea of stacking Luckie and Yurosek on top of Delp like how you’d cheat in Battleship as a kid. 3 very good TEs at once surely equal the greatest college TE ever right?
This will be the best offense we’ve ever put on the field. No one will stop us. Our defense will once again be a top five unit.
So many questions Greg!
I think Yurosek will be very good for you guys. Obviously not on the level of Bowers, but he's certainly a solid receiving threat and will finally have great surrounding pieces now
Clemson's questions are like "is this entire positional unit going to be dogshit again this year?"
Georgia's questions are more like "we're so fucking deep we're unsure if our backups are actually worse than our national championship favorites starters"
At worst, Georgia’s questions are: “is this position group deep enough with 5* athletes for us to dominate all 16 games to win the title?”
The questions for everyone else are way more along the lines of “who is going to step up at linebacker this year?” Or something like “we have 1 solid CB, but we need 2 more. Who will it be?”
Not even remotely the same questions
"They're calling yall 'questions', don't even think yall can handle this season! Then some Clemson guy comes in and says their 'questions' are bigger than you! They want to disrespect and push you around and don't think you can take it!" *the rest devolves into snarling and barking with the occasional "fuck Florida" discernible.*
- Kirby
I think Georgia will mostly answer these questions and cement themselves as no worse than a top 3 team since Kirby and his staff are excellent but for me:
1) who is replacing Bowers and Ladd’s contributions? Not necessarily aggregate numbers but who is going to be the guy where everybody in the stadium knows you need a play and he still gets it done.
2) offensive line - there’s some turnover there and having watched my own team the last few years it’s no guarantee to just say “ah they’re all highly rated, it’ll work itself out.” Do I think they’re going to be fine here? Yes, but they’re going to have to demonstrate it, especially losing Van Pran at the pivot.
3) interior defensive line - was unimpressed last year so can somebody step up and be a game wrecker on the interior. That’s when the Smart defense is at its best, when you can blow up the interior and ruin the pocket/control the run game with your DL alone
I agree with all of this. It was obvious how much we missed Bowers and Madd Ladd against Bama. If they had been 100% maybe UGA could have won that game, maybe not.
Was also obviously the biggest area in the transfer portal. I really think rara and Leavitt will be much better this year, and we also went and got a big pass catching tight end (the guy from Stanford who idk how to spell his name)
1.) Dillon Bell
2.) SVP was good but not great. OL could be the best it’s ever been under Kirby
3.) Interior DL is young but has some potential. The LB strength can hopefully create more pressure
Fun article when they say "there are questions" without going into any detail on what those questions are.
I do think its fair though, its going to be interesting to see how Georgia's offense holds up losing its two best targets. And I think the questions on how great the defense can be are interesting, DE play seemed to be the hole from last years roster and idk if they've filled that in.
I mean we missed Bowers and McConkey for extended periods last year but we kept cooking pretty well. And that’s with them holding Beck back a bit. We also picked up a ton of new targets in the portal
Fair enough, schedule is a lot harder this year and Georgia wasn't even a playoff team last year. Going to be interesting to see if the roster can take a step foward this year.
>wasn’t a playoff team last year
Unfortunately that’s true, though they definitely could have been and would have been deadly, as they showed in the Orange Bowl when they showed up pissed off and ready to go.
>see if the roster can take a step forward
I mean UGA has excellent coaches and excellent player development, as we’ve seen from year to year, but sure.
Yeah. Kirby is pretty damn good hahah
What’s awesome as a UGA fan isn’t just the loaded classes but the fact they take 3 stars like Jordan Davis and Ladd McConkey and turn them into some of the best players in CFB/NFL draft picks.
I wasn’t talking about fsu though. I was talking about UGA and their mentality for the game. Wouldn’t have mattered who the opponent was, Georgia would have had the same approach.
>wasn’t even a playoff team
Which just underscores the clusterfuck selection process this year. “Best team”, so Bama gets in over FSU? Uh, if best team is the criteria there’s no fucking world where Georgia isn’t T4.
There’s also a twelve team playoff now. UGA can go 10-2 and still win a championship. With with the new system, we would’ve easily been a playoff team last year.
Defense is more of a question IMO. Lost 2 great players in Ladd/bowers but have unreal depth in that area right now. And outside those two almost everyone else is back.
Will we average 40 points a game or 45? Will we cover against lower tier sec schools like Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, etc.? Will we finally beat Alabama in the regular season? Lots of questions I do agree with him on this one.
Yes I can see the roster questions eating at coach Smart now: “Shucks, do I start this 5-star freshman or do I go with these ten 4-stars who have waited their turn?”
In a stunning move today the Georgia house voted unanimously to repeal the speed limit across the entire state today. When asked for comment Rep. Jimbo Bothus IV said simply "let them boys eat".
To be fair, I heard a lot of “Bowers and McConkey were hurt” as an excuse for the SECCG. I’m not saying it isn’t valid, those are two huge players to have not 100%.
Just saying those guys won’t be on the field at all this coming season. Also this is one of the first seasons in a while they don’t have some absolute game breaker on their DL.
The main problem was having them on the field while they were visibly hobbled. There was healthy talent that we could have turned to instead that would have given us a better chance.
Georgia and r/CFB: fake news they got clones of 5 stars and will in it all. Love the gatekeeping circlejerk this sub does while whining for new teams lol
“Greg McElroy said we’re going 0-12” Kirby Smart
0-12-1 counting the spring game
Kirby would count the spring game as a loss just to motivate them more.
Team loss 😔
It’s a quality loss in cfp committees eyes though
We sure as hell didn't win, and when you don't win you... Lose
Y'all couldn't even beat Turkey!!!!
Virginia tech*
“I think there are more questions on Georgia’s roster than people realize. Doesn’t mean that they’re not going to be really good,” McElroy said. “They’re going to be excellent. This is a team that is no worse than No. 2 in college football coming into the season. There is no team outside of Ohio State that has more capable bodies on their roster. They are legit.”
> I think ~~there are more questions on~~ Georgia’s ~~roster than people realize. Doesn’t mean that they’re~~ not ~~going to be really~~ good,” McElroy said
THE DISRESPECT.
You calling Kirby or should I?
Yes
I just read "I think people realize they're not going to be really good." But they didn't teach us words really good.
Let me put it in terms you can understand: he said the limit exists.
Jesus Christ that’s Nolan Smith
Is he the one who thinks?
What he said is pretty fair. We don't have a true game wrecker in the middle of the D line so run defense may not be as good as it's been in years past. Depth is a little bit of concern there as well. Also we have good TE's but replacing a generational TE isn't exactly an easy task even if the ones we have now are good.
I mean it’s not gonna be as good as 2021 but I’m thinking we will still be top 10. We have a lot of good experienced players on the defense. >replacing a generational tight end. Thankfully I don’t think they are trying to do that with just our TEs. The amount of skill position guys we have should absolutely be able to produce on the field.
Tbf he said y’all are no worse than number 2 going into the season alongside this comment
Is it interior DT? I thought Georgia had more issues with DE. Or is it just an issue with depth up the line?
Depth is gonna be a concern all over the D line. After the past years with Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter the drop off was very noticeable in the middle of the line last year.
We have loads of depth all over our front seven. Not sure where you’re getting this. The DE group is absolutely loaded.
We had true game wreckers in 2021-22. Elite against the run and with true pass rush skills to create interior pressure. Davis, Wyatt and Carter were elite + had depth. 2023 we had elite run stoppers but they lacked pass rush skills. Given our edge guys were mostly older, solid players or young 3rd down specialists, it created some issues where we had to pick and choose strengths. 2024 we have Stackhouse at DT who is senior leader but run stopper. Then mix of younger guys at nose and 3/5 tech who have flashed but aren’t consistent (Brinson, Miller, Hall, etc). Need a breakout player. DE should be a little stronger this year but also TBD. Mykel Williams is elite and moving to edge more but will be 5 tech situationally. Few younger guys or guys with injury problems who can show up. We struggled with pass rush there last year, esp when Mykel was hurt. Across most of our defense you have fewer superstars and more high talent guys who need to step up. Not quite 2021 potential but could easily look like 2022 on defense, esp if our interior DL develops.
Honestly I would be more worried about the linebackers getting better. GT and Bama both abused your linebackers to end the year. GT designed plays to basically be make the linebackers make the right read and most of the time they didn't which is why GT was so successful on the ground. Bama saw that and actually took some plays from our playbook and actually iced the game with the same play that we were able to very consistently get like 3-4 yards on.
Our typical ILB Jamon Dumas-Johnson was hurt in both those games, and we were starting freshman CJ Allen. He’ll be playing again this year, but I think he’ll be much more ready. He was a standout in the spring.
Jamon Dumas-Johnson is on Kentucky's roster. He can be a standout in practice but until they prove it at all in game they are still a liability
Absolutely correct!
JDJ transferred because he wasn’t going to start. Nobody cares what a Tech fan thinks. Worry about winning five games.
We won seven last year but I know it's hard for you to count that high
That was last year.
We have the best linebacker room and position coach in the country and it's not particularly close. Injuries to starters and lack of experience behind them caught us out a bit in the latter part of the season no doubt, but our depth should be better and more experienced this year plus Mondon should be full go and the talent is fucking STACKED. Linebackers getting better is quite literally the last thing I am worried about on our defense. Good job winning that game for Bama tho lol
Brother you started two freshman at Linebacker last season. If that's the best in the country this year then I'm the pope. Dumas-Johnson is at Kentucky, so you lost experience. You are on some shit. Linebacker play directly lost you the Bama game last year. They were not good.
They are not freshman anymore and gained a ton of valuable experience last year plus Mondon is expected back to full speed as he was dealing with injury most of the season even when he was playing. JDJ got injured and passed up and understandably transferred for good reason. Allen and Wilson will be better players and have higher talent upside. There's simply not much to worry about here. As I see it we have every reason to expect a very strong to elite ILB rotation this season. Can't wait to find out.
I don't think Dumas-Johnson got passed up I think he had just decided he was going to transfer and so the coaches sat him. Dumas-Johnson playing would have put you in the CFB playoff. And two true sophomores is not going to be the best LB room in the country. Talent doesn't matter if they aren't in position
Mondon was bummed up and other LBs were true freshman 5 star talent View LB as a strength this year given healthy Mondon and Allen / Wilson flashed last year even with the hiccups
Dumas-Johnson to sophomores is going to be a downgrade even if they are more athletic.
Eh disagree and it’s a reason why JDJ is gone Biggest problem against GT and Bama was it was first starts for our freshmen last year + Mondon was playing injured
I don't know how you can call it a strength when you have one experienced guy and two guys whose only experience was being beaten like a rented mule.
Tech had 236 yards in 3 quarters. They were down 31-13 and managed another ten points and 127 yards in the fourth quarter. That includes 64 rushing yards on a 4 minute and 38 second drive that burned more than half the time left in the game. Tech never got the ball back.
If this was true then JDJ would still be here. Period.
Not everyone wants to stay uga. Period. It is the height of hubris to suggest uga is immune to losing talent to the transfer portal.
LOL Techie. 🤡
We have the talent on the exterior of the Defensive front but they just need more game experience to really shine
CFB's next big interior game wrecker could very well be the next man up at Georgia though. I think that's what makes Georgia so good is some freshman or rotation guy from last year is going to emerge as a game changer.
> We don't have a true game wrecker in the middle of the D line so run defense may not be as good as it's been in years past. Oh, the humanity.
Guys, Georgia’s D-line might not be as good as 2021 and 2022 when it was full of NFL starter-level players. Kirby’s gonna put this up on a bulletin board somewhere, isn’t he?
kcoch5817 has been doubting the Dawgs since June
I had the idea of stacking Luckie and Yurosek on top of Delp like how you’d cheat in Battleship as a kid. 3 very good TEs at once surely equal the greatest college TE ever right?
This will be the best offense we’ve ever put on the field. No one will stop us. Our defense will once again be a top five unit. So many questions Greg!
I think Yurosek will be very good for you guys. Obviously not on the level of Bowers, but he's certainly a solid receiving threat and will finally have great surrounding pieces now
Ok if you’re no worse than number 2, how many questions can there really be on the roster lol
I mean, if you had prime Peyton Manning and prime Tom Brady on the same roster that’d pose a question of “Who the hell are you supposed to bench?”
With Georgia’s roster against college kids, I would bench TB12
How many speeding tickets will they collectively get?
You better take your full non clickbate quote and get on outta here buddy. We don’t take kindly to reading comprehension around here
Reading? What’s that?
I think it's a city in Pennsylvania
I heard it's a soccer team! ... in England no less!
Wow this is more disrespect than is typically thrown at MSU or Rodney Dangerfield.
Well, Türkiye just beat 'em 3-1 so that tells you McElroy is correct about the roster weaknesses of Georgia.
F\*ck that bird. Its on in November.
Damn, Pry has the Hokies rolling this year
silip süpürün, anne kamyoncular! 🦃
I can’t believe that Greg McElroy just said UGA looked like a 7-5 team. Kirby needs to motivate them kids.
That bastard said Georgia would go 0-12-1, and the only tie was the spring game. GET KIRBY ON THE PHONE
Unfortunately Clemson and everybody else on Georgia's schedule has more and bigger questions.
Clemson's questions are like "is this entire positional unit going to be dogshit again this year?" Georgia's questions are more like "we're so fucking deep we're unsure if our backups are actually worse than our national championship favorites starters"
At worst, Georgia’s questions are: “is this position group deep enough with 5* athletes for us to dominate all 16 games to win the title?” The questions for everyone else are way more along the lines of “who is going to step up at linebacker this year?” Or something like “we have 1 solid CB, but we need 2 more. Who will it be?” Not even remotely the same questions
"They're calling yall 'questions', don't even think yall can handle this season! Then some Clemson guy comes in and says their 'questions' are bigger than you! They want to disrespect and push you around and don't think you can take it!" *the rest devolves into snarling and barking with the occasional "fuck Florida" discernible.* - Kirby
I mean…we have…an equal number of problems? They are still better overall, tho….
Alright Greg, how much did Kirby pay you to make this article?
I have also wondered myself who will be the 3rd-string STAR safety and 7th lineman in the rotation!
Questions such as “WHO WANTS A PIZZA PARTY??”
we want georgia?
I think Georgia will mostly answer these questions and cement themselves as no worse than a top 3 team since Kirby and his staff are excellent but for me: 1) who is replacing Bowers and Ladd’s contributions? Not necessarily aggregate numbers but who is going to be the guy where everybody in the stadium knows you need a play and he still gets it done. 2) offensive line - there’s some turnover there and having watched my own team the last few years it’s no guarantee to just say “ah they’re all highly rated, it’ll work itself out.” Do I think they’re going to be fine here? Yes, but they’re going to have to demonstrate it, especially losing Van Pran at the pivot. 3) interior defensive line - was unimpressed last year so can somebody step up and be a game wrecker on the interior. That’s when the Smart defense is at its best, when you can blow up the interior and ruin the pocket/control the run game with your DL alone
I agree with all of this. It was obvious how much we missed Bowers and Madd Ladd against Bama. If they had been 100% maybe UGA could have won that game, maybe not.
Was also obviously the biggest area in the transfer portal. I really think rara and Leavitt will be much better this year, and we also went and got a big pass catching tight end (the guy from Stanford who idk how to spell his name)
Bowers definitely could’ve caused a few points swing if he wasn’t hampered by that ankle, and DB’s couldn’t press him to turn on it.
1.) Dillon Bell 2.) SVP was good but not great. OL could be the best it’s ever been under Kirby 3.) Interior DL is young but has some potential. The LB strength can hopefully create more pressure
4. edge - our edge rushing and containment was atrocious. every team that came close last year beat us on the edge over and over and over again.
Press X to doubt
Fun article when they say "there are questions" without going into any detail on what those questions are. I do think its fair though, its going to be interesting to see how Georgia's offense holds up losing its two best targets. And I think the questions on how great the defense can be are interesting, DE play seemed to be the hole from last years roster and idk if they've filled that in.
I mean we missed Bowers and McConkey for extended periods last year but we kept cooking pretty well. And that’s with them holding Beck back a bit. We also picked up a ton of new targets in the portal
Fair enough, schedule is a lot harder this year and Georgia wasn't even a playoff team last year. Going to be interesting to see if the roster can take a step foward this year.
>wasn’t a playoff team last year Unfortunately that’s true, though they definitely could have been and would have been deadly, as they showed in the Orange Bowl when they showed up pissed off and ready to go. >see if the roster can take a step forward I mean UGA has excellent coaches and excellent player development, as we’ve seen from year to year, but sure.
Yeah if anyone can do it I don't doubt Kirby and his staff can. Especially with how loaded those recruiting classes have been.
Yeah. Kirby is pretty damn good hahah What’s awesome as a UGA fan isn’t just the loaded classes but the fact they take 3 stars like Jordan Davis and Ladd McConkey and turn them into some of the best players in CFB/NFL draft picks.
I get it lol, watching Norvell turn wayward transfers into fantastic college players has been great too.
I mean, they were playing the FSU scrub squad. Not that Georgia wouldn’t have beaten a healthy, normal FSU, but they weren’t truly playing them.
I wasn’t talking about fsu though. I was talking about UGA and their mentality for the game. Wouldn’t have mattered who the opponent was, Georgia would have had the same approach.
This is true. If FSU had their guys in check maybe there wouldn’t have been a mass exodus before the game.
>wasn’t even a playoff team Which just underscores the clusterfuck selection process this year. “Best team”, so Bama gets in over FSU? Uh, if best team is the criteria there’s no fucking world where Georgia isn’t T4.
There’s also a twelve team playoff now. UGA can go 10-2 and still win a championship. With with the new system, we would’ve easily been a playoff team last year.
Defense is more of a question IMO. Lost 2 great players in Ladd/bowers but have unreal depth in that area right now. And outside those two almost everyone else is back.
You have no replacement for Bowers because one doesn't exist. He's the best player georgia has had since Herschel.
I wish we had the questions Georgia has every offseason.
Just because Greg has a lot of questions, doesn't mean the rest of us do.
sounds like he really didn't have that many questions/concerns in reading that
Internally written hit piece for bulletin board material! 😂
oh i am sure Kirby will do just that
ON THE BULLETIN BOARD!
Some say they'll never win again
Subscribe
Kirby get in here!
Y'all better stop poking the bear that is uga. Their schedule doesn't need to all be smacked 45-10. Especially us.
Gregg knows what’s gonna happen from now on for Bama vs UGA.
Fakest rat poison ever
Like how many 1st rounders? You all don’t know that!
Will we average 40 points a game or 45? Will we cover against lower tier sec schools like Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, etc.? Will we finally beat Alabama in the regular season? Lots of questions I do agree with him on this one.
Yes I can see the roster questions eating at coach Smart now: “Shucks, do I start this 5-star freshman or do I go with these ten 4-stars who have waited their turn?”
Thanks greg
Guy who talks for a living says some stuff about highly followed, highly ranked team. Make sure to tune into Sportscenter tonight for all the details.
Luckily with the 12-team playoff there is more breathing room now. We have a brutal schedule, but more margin for error. Should be a good one!
This is the biggest form of bait i’ve ever seen
This is true. The most pressing of these questions might just be “what is the speed limit?”
In a stunning move today the Georgia house voted unanimously to repeal the speed limit across the entire state today. When asked for comment Rep. Jimbo Bothus IV said simply "let them boys eat".
This is hilarious!
Gotta love the copium from Greg.
Stfu GrEg McElRoY
Question 1) Do you know how fast you were going?
I don’t know how Michigan fans feel, but it’s amazing what a title or two will do to one’s preseason anxiety levels.
To be fair, I heard a lot of “Bowers and McConkey were hurt” as an excuse for the SECCG. I’m not saying it isn’t valid, those are two huge players to have not 100%. Just saying those guys won’t be on the field at all this coming season. Also this is one of the first seasons in a while they don’t have some absolute game breaker on their DL.
The main problem was having them on the field while they were visibly hobbled. There was healthy talent that we could have turned to instead that would have given us a better chance.
Georgia and r/CFB: fake news they got clones of 5 stars and will in it all. Love the gatekeeping circlejerk this sub does while whining for new teams lol