Latest News

Let's continue our series on "Ranking the Rooms - SEC Edition".
Scrimmage #1 is in the books and we’re inching closer to the start of the season. We’re finding out what the starting lineups might look like, which freshmen might be able to contribute, and who might be able to surprise everyone.Position room leaders and team leaders have been established, including Georgia’s loaded tight end room.
The Dawgs not only have one of the best tight end rooms in the SEC, it’s one of the best in the country. I was somewhat surprised there aren’t stronger rooms in the SEC, but a lot of offenses have transitioned to using more receivers. I based the below rankings off of experience, stats of returning players and transfers, and also considered blocking ability in the run game.
My thoughts on the list below is that there are two teams on top, then a gap to teams 3-6.Teams ranked 7-10 are pretty similar talent wise, followed by 11-16.
1. OLE MISS - The Rebels are known to have an explosive offense with Lane Kiffin at the helm and it doesn;t look like that will stop anytime soon. I gave Ole Miss the second best receiver room in the SEC and believe they have the best tight end room as well. Caden Prieskorn is the leading returning tight end in the SEC after hauling in 449 yards and four touchdowns last season. He’s on the preseason Mackey Award watch list and is joined by new teammate Dae’Quan Wright, who had over 500 yards receiving in two years at Virginia Tech. The strength of this duo, along with the offense they run and the quarterback they have shot them up to #1 over Georgia for me.
2. GEORGIA - While Ole Miss has what looks like a more dynamic duo this preseason, the Dawgs have more talent and promise in their room than probably anyone in the nation. You can’t mention Georgia tight ends without emphasizing how big it is to lose Brock Bowers and his 714 yards receiving and 6 touchdowns to the NFL. Simply put, he’s one of the best college tight ends to ever play the game. Saying that, Kirby Smart and Todd Hartley still have a ton of tight end talent between the hedges. Oscar Delp is becoming more of a team leader and has all of the talent in the world. You’re just not going to get a ton of catches with Bowers on the field. Lawson Luckie looks like a well built machine and is a very good run blocker. They were joined this summer by Ben Yurosek, who had over 1300 yards receiving in three years (he only played 6 games last season due to injury) at Stanford. If he can get into this offense and return to pre-injury form, then the Dawgs could jump the Rebels for the top spot in the SEC.
I do have Ole Miss and Georgia easily having the top tight end rooms in the SEC, while the next four teams have somewhat comparable rooms.
3. TEXAS A&M - Donovan Green is a former highly ranked prospect who started four games as a freshman. He missed last season to a torn ACL, but is poised for a big 2024 campaign. He is on the preseason Mackey watch list. Shane Calhoun pulled in more than 600 yards receiving in 4 seasons at East Carolina. Garrett Miller is a grad transfer from Purdue and Tre Watson is a senior transfer from Fresno State. I have them at #3 due to the talent of Green, the experience the three transfers bring to the room, and Collin Klein running the offense.
4. TENNESEE - The Vols are here due more to potential more than returning stats. Ethan Davis is a state of Georgia guy and very athletic. He’s sure to have a good season in this offense. Josh Heupel pulled in another Georgia native this past offseason when Holden Staes decided to transfer in from Notre Dame. While he only had 187 yards in two seasons with the Fighting Irish, he is a talented player. Miles Kitselman played mostly special teams last season for Alabama. Again, not much stats to lean on but a very talented room. They’ll have plenty of opportunities in the Tennessee offense.
5. LSU - I’d have the Tigers over Texas A&M if it weren’t for experience and depth. Mason Taylor had the third most yards last season out of all of the tight ends returning this year at 348 yards and 1 TD. They lost two first round 1000 yard receivers to the NFL. Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr also accounted for 31 touchdowns in 2023. So they’re going to have to replace that production with someone. LSU is top 5 because of these reasons. They’re not top 3 due to depth. There’s just not much there after Taylor. They do have highly ranked true freshman Trey’Dez Green who is having a strong camp. As talented as he is, no team wants to have to rely on a true freshman at tight end in the SEC. Their third option Ka’Morreun Pimpton had one reception last season.
6. TEXAS - The big news out of Texas right now is the loss of their top two running backs, CJ Baxter and Christian Clark. Although they still have a couple of talented backs, this could mean more short yardage opportunities for the tight ends. The Longhorns did lose Ja’Tavion Sanders and his 682 yards receiving to the NFL, but they added Amari Niblack from Alabama. He has the fourth most receiving yards for SEC tight ends returning this season. Gunnar Helm also returns. The senior had almost 200 yards receiving in 2023.
For the next tier of tight end rooms, I have South Carolina over Mississippi State, Auburn, and Florida. Give me the Gamecocks as the top room in this next group with more experience and more production returning.
7. SOUTH CAROLINA - The Gamecocks will be relying on all transfers in the tight end room this season and I’m very interested to see how they play in the SEC. Joshua Simon is a 6th year player who spent his first four seasons in traditionally high powered WKU offense. He had 256 yards receiving for Shane Beamer and company last year. Brady Hunt is a first team All-MAC player with over 500 yards receiving in his career. He missed 2023 due to injury. I have them higher than the three teams below them due to experience, returning production, and the fact that I like Shawn Elliot a lot as a tight ends coach. He returns to South Carolina after leading Georgia State for seven seasons. Former Georgia running backs coach Dell McGee replaced him at Georgia State.
8. MISSISSIPPI STATE - Seydou Traore might be the most interesting player on the team. The 6’7” goalie from England started playing 11 man football his senior year. He led Arkansas State in receiving in 2022 with 655 yards and 4 touchdowns. That was good enough for fifth in the NCAA amongst tight ends in receiving yards and made him an All-American honorable mention.
9. AUBURN - While the Tigers do have the third leading returning tight end yards in the SEC from Rivaldo Fairweather, they just don’t have a lot after him. Tyler Fromm transferred to Georgia Southern and Luke Deal has 14 total receptions in five years. Brandon Frazier is heading into his fifth year with 11 total receptions.
10. FLORIDA - The Gators to have a good bit of experience returning, but not much production. Arlis Boardingham returns with 289 yards and 4 touchdowns. Keon Zipperer has managed over 100 yards receiving each of the last three seasons, but it looks like he’ll be starting the season off on the injured list. Billy Napier has to be hoping that Hayden Hansen and Tony Livingtson can become contributors as sophomores. He also has Amir Jackson, a true freshman who is easily the most athletic of the bunch.
This next tier is at the bottom mostly due to experience, returning production, and honestly……just overall talent level. That’s not to say these guys aren’t talented, they’re playing college football in the SEC. The teams above them just seem to have a little more to their depth charts.
11. ALABAMA - That’s right, Alabama has the eleventh best tight end room in the SEC. Who would have ever thought that we’d see the Crimson Tide with a TE room in the bottom tier of the SEC. As stated above, they lost their top TE Amari Niblack to Texas. CJ Dippre and Robby Ouzts barely have over 200 yards receiving between the two of them. Josh Cuevas brings 100 yards receiving from Washington, where he was with new Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer. I also had the Crimson Tide with a somewhat weak receiver room, but their offensive line and running backs should be pretty nasty. Alabama tight ends were in for blocking purposes in 75% of their plays last season. Will that change any under DeBoer?
12. VANDERBILT - YES! Vanderbilt isn’t bottom two in something! All kidding aside, they actually have a pretty talented tight end room. I’d have them even higher if I thought they had a chance of scoring on anybody in the SEC. Remember I take into account their offense, the coordinator, head coach, schedule, style of play, etc. If it was based on just talent alone, I might would rank them over Alabama and Florida. The duo of Eli Stowers and Cole Spence could actually cause problems for some teams. Spence had to sit out last season with a torn ACL, but had a strong spring for the Commodores. Stowers (a former quarterback) pulled in 366 yards and 2 touchdowns for New Mexico State last year. That includes 4 receptions for 48 yards and 1 TD in their big win against Auburn. Kamrean Johnson probably should have redshirted last year, but was forced into action with Spence getting injured.
13. MISSOURI - The most talented and promising returner has to be Brett Norfleet, who was an All-SEC Freshman scoring three touchdowns last season. Stephens provides the Tigers with a veteran presence in the room, while Jordan Harris played mostly on special teams last year. It will be interesting to see how much they use their tight ends with the strong receiver room they have.
14. ARKANSAS - Sam Pittman has Luke Hasz returning with 253 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Razorbacks also have Var’keyes Gumms returning. He had a bigi 2022 season with North Texas before making his way to Arkansas in 2023. He couldn’t duplicate the production from the season before, contributing only 3 catches in 11 games. It would be big for new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino if Gumms can return to 2022 form. Andrew Paaske joins them as more of a blocking tight end.
15. KENTUCKY - The Kentucky trio of Josh Kattus, Jordan Dingle, and Khamari Anderson combined for only 389 yards and 2 touchdowns last season. They’ll begin 2024 with another new quarterback, former Georgia player Brock Vandagriff. This actually could be advantageous for the TE room, especially early on when Vandagriff might be more prone to short dump off passes. 
16. OKLAHOMA - As far as receiving yards the tight end room was basically non-existent in 2023, with Sooner tight ends accounting for a grand total of 6% of their offense last season. Brent Venables is trying to change that by bringing in transfers Bauer Sharp from Southeastern Louisiana and Jake Roberts from Baylor. While both went over 200 yards receiving last season for their respective schools, I’m in “believe it when I see it mode” after last year’s production. Kaden Helms was injured in 2023 and Davon Mitchell is a talented freshman.
Ranking the QB Rooms in the SEC
Ranking the RB Rooms in the SEC
Ranking the WR Rooms in the SEC

"Who would you rank as the coaches most important to UGA's success?"
A DawgsCentral user posting under the name PiousMonken posed that question to me in the spring of 2023, and I quickly realized that a good answer would require quite a bit of consideration. 
When thinking about the question, I kept coming back to an old football cliche, "It's not the X's and the O's, but the Jimmys and the Joes that make the difference." I found myself considering the players who suit up on Saturdays. Good gameplans and great play calls are key to the success of any college football program, but they are usually only as good as the personnel executing them. With that in mind, I decided to broaden the scope of the rankings beyond members of the coaching staff. 
It sparked a series of longform articles called 23 For 2023. The premise was simple- Profile the 23 people who were most important to Georgia’s success on the gridiron in 2023. To create such a list, one must make value judgments on what on and off-field assets are most important to a modern college football program. 
It focused on players and coaches within the UGA program. Collectively, the series served as a giant preview for the season ahead. It became a favorite of subscribers, and it forced me to ask questions that I hadn’t before. 
This year, I am bringing the list back once again. Naturally, it will be called 24 for 2024. 
With his former mentor now manning a microphone on ESPN, Kirby Smart is college football’s most accomplished coach. In 2024, Smart will have to navigate significant staff turnover and seismic changes within the sport itself. Georgia came up short of a third straight national championship in 2023, but winning it all this season would give the Bulldogs three titles in four years. That achievement would cement the program as a modern dynasty. 
Whether or not Georgia can reach that lofty pedestal, and how they go about trying to do it, will be largely influenced by the roles these 24 individuals play. 
Today we continue the rankings with #16 and #15. The first entries in this series have not been paywalled, but they will be as we enter the top 15. Let’s get after it…
 
Previous Entries
#24 - David Hill
#23 - Will a True Nose Tackle emerge for the Dawgs?
#22 - Benjamin Yurosek
#21 - Will Muschamp
#20 - Dominic Lovett
#19 - Jalon Walker
#18 - Chidera Uzo-Diribe
#17 - Daylen Everette
#16 - Trevor Etienne + #15 - Josh Crawford
Georgia's football program came by the "RBU" moniker honestly. 
Herschel Walker arrived in the 1980 season and went on a three-year tear through college football, leading the Bulldogs to an undefeated season and a national championship in 1980 before winning the 1982 Heisman Trophy. His 5,259 rushing yards (that total doesn't include his bowl game stats) remain the most ever by any player in the SEC. 
For decades, those seasons cast a wide shadow over the Georgia program. Every coach and player who came to Athens did so looking to lead the Dawgs back to a promised land that none had reached since Walker carried the program to the top of the sport. The Dawgs came within 5 points of an undefeated season when Garrison Hearst ran for 1,547 yards in 1992. Mark Richt fielded multiple Georgia teams that looked capable of ending the title drought. The 2002 team went 13-1 and captured UGA's first SEC title since '82 with Musa Smith rumbling for 1,324 yards on the ground. The 2012 team was buoyed by freshman Todd Gurley and his 1,385 rushing yards a decade later. They came up 5 yards and a few seconds short of clipping Nick Saban's ascendant Alabama dynasty in the SEC Championship, but Richt would never come closer than that before being ousted from the program after the 2015 regular season. 
Richt's final campaign started with great expectations after Georgia happened upon its next great back the season before. A true freshman named Nick Chubb flew onto the scene when he ran through multiple Clemson Tigers and out of his shoe for a TD on his second career carry the season before. Chubb's 47-yard TD flashed a blend of power and burst that made many whisper the name of Walker. When Gurley was suspended due to an NCAA investigation, Chubb showed he had the same type of stamina that #34 had possessed. He carried the ball 38 times at Missouri. Then he toted it 30 times for 202 yards the next week against Arkansas. He capped off that spectacular season with 266 yards rushing in the Belk Bowl against Louisville. That effort gave him a bowl game record and a season total of 1,547 yards. That tied him with Hearst for the highest single season total by any Bulldog not named Walker. 
Chubb started his sophomore season like he ended his freshman one. He went for 745 yards in his first 5 games, and his 146 yards against Alabama were the lone bright spot in a blowout loss that sealed Richt's fate in the eyes of many. The next week in Knoxville, Chubb would suffer a knee injury so horrific that many wondered if he'd ever play again. Chubb did play again, but the next time he suited up for UGA it was with Kirby Smart at head coach.
Georgia's Burgeoning Dynasty Started on the Ground
Smart's debut came in Atlanta against North Carolina, and it probably would've ended in a loss without Chubb's somewhat miraculous return. He ran for 222 yards in a come from behind victory over the Tar Heels, but he struggled to regain his prior form as Georgia stumbled to an 8-5 record in year one of the Smart era. As he watched Georgia Tech players tear pieces out of Sanford Stadium's famed hedges, he vowed to return to Athens for his senior season. His best friend, roommate, and fellow 1000+ yard RB Sony Michel joined him. So did fellow seniors Davin Bellamy and Lorenzo Carter. 
Those four players formed the emotional foundation of a team that would get out to a 9-0 start and avenge its only loss by beating Auburn in the SEC Championship. Late in that season, Chubb started to look like the back he had been before the injury. He broke a long TD run against Kentucky in a 151 yard performance in mid-November, and then made Oklahoma's secondary look silly after UGA fell behind to the Sooners in the CFP Semifinal at the Rose Bowl. His backfield mate would "run the Dawgs back to Atlanta" with a Wildcat carry in overtime. Nick had helped force OT when he took his own Wildcat snap in for a TD down on the goal line with the clock nearing triple zeroes late in regulation.
Kirby Smart's 2017 team ultimately came up just short of a national title, but they got the Bulldogs back to the season's final game for the first time since Walker was in a Georgia jersey. The team's style of play was easy to embrace for any Bulldogs who were raised on those previous glory years. They ran the ball on 68.7% of their offensive snaps, and relied on a hellacious defense to smother most opponents. Smart's team didn't just return Georgia to national relevance, it put the R-B back in RBU. In the end, Chubb finished second on the SEC's career rushing leaders list to Walker. 
Georgia evolved, and it eventually broke its national title drought in 2021 with a balanced offense and an elite defense. It was the RB tandem of James Cook and Zamir White who delivered the final blows as the Dawgs wore down the Crimson Tide in Indianapolis. 
Kirby Smart has brought Bulldogs fans good times that surpassed the wildest dreams of many. As we sit here today, Georgia hasn't lost a regular season game since November of 2020. There was the dream defense of 2021, and the ruthlessly efficient offense of 2022. It was Bowers and Bennett and so many others who ultimately delivered the grand prize to the program, but the plane may have never gotten off the ground without an inherited RB tandem that loved Georgia too much to leave her after an 8-5 season in 2016. 
Dell McGee Helped Georgia Close its Borders
The man who coached their position room was a Peach State product in his own right, a formed high-school coach named Dell McGee. His rapport with coaches throughout Georgia provided crucial contributions to Smart's foundation. Between 2005-2012, McGee had built Carver-Columbus High School from a doormat into one of the state's most consistent programs, turning out NFL talent like Jarvis Jones and Isaiah Crowell along the way. The Dawgs have become a national recruiting powerhouse, but they built their brand with home grown talent before spreading their wings across the continent. McGee's roots were deep in the Columbus area, and he helped UGA close off the southern and western parts of the state to programs like Alabama, Auburn and Tennessee. Smart's staff won the types of in-state recruiting battles that so many UGA staffs before him often lost.
They landed Richard LeCounte, Andrew Thomas and Jake Fromm, three of the top five players in Georgia, during the 2017 cycle. All three played significant snaps as freshmen, with Fromm and Thomas becoming key offensive starters.  used the momentum created by the 2017 season to land 8 of the state's top 11 players in the 2018 cycle. They put a wall up when five-star tackles Broderick Jones and Tate Ratledge came of age in the 2020 class. Georgia has always tried to keep its best players home, but the Dawgs began to have more and more options as the program rose to prominence in recent years. Naturally, there were some coaches in Georgia who didn't like that. They wanted to see the flagship in-state school recruit their players. McGee served as a translator of sorts for the program, and ensured that a strong level of trust remained between UGA and the high-school coaches who develop the talent the program needs. 
This offseason, McGee got the job offer that he had long deserved, becoming the head coach at Georgia State in Atlanta. There was nobody happier for him than Kirby Smart, but with McGee's departure came an open position on the UGA staff. Many names were thrown around, but Smart eventually tabbed Georgia Tech WR coach Josh Crawford to take the reins of the Georgia RB room. One might wonder why Smart hired a WR coach to come oversee his running backs, but the logic behind the hire becomes obvious when considering who Crawford was replacing.
Hiring from Within the Peach State
Crawford spent 11 years coaching offensive football at some of Georgia's most prominent high-school programs. He was part of three Georgia 6A state championships across stops at Colquitt County, Valdosta, Lee County, Jefferson County and Greater Atlanta Christian. Smart first interviewed Crawford when WR coach Bryan McClendon left Georgia for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kirby strongly considered hiring Crawford, but he decided to hire former UGA OC James Coley away from South Carolina instead. When the RB position opened, Smart knew who he wanted to bring in. 
"Felt so strongly about him as a football coach," said Smart. "I don't think you have to be any certain position if you're a good football coach. That was evident across the state, the places he's coached in our state. I have a lot of respect for the places he's coached, how he's done, and we think he fits our program.” 
Crawford jumped to the college level at Western Kentucky in 2021. That season he coached outside receivers for one of the sport's most prolific offenses. QB Bailey Zappe threw for 5,967 yards and Crawford had a 1900 yard receiver and a 1400 yard receiver. He was promoted to WR coach/co-OC for 2022 and hired to Georgia Tech by Brent Key after that season. Like McGee, Crawford came to Athens with a reputation for being a fantastic recruiter who knows how to relate well to players. Crawford recruited four-star WR Isaiah Canion to Tech during his time there, which was considered a major coup for the program. In Athens, Crawford gets to recruit to a program with a rich history of running back excellence while tapping into the relationships he's built across the state of Georgia in past years.
UGA's 2024 RB Room Could be its Deepest in Years
Any concerns about Walker's lack of experience coaching running backs at the college level should be eased by the fact that he played the position at Morehouse College from 2004-2006. It helps that Crawford has the good fortune of rolling into a running back room that is already well stacked with talent. McGee landed four-star Roderick Robinson in the 2023 class out of California and his final haul in the 2024 cycle included five-star Nate Frazier, four-star Dwight Phillips Jr. and four-star Chauncey Bowens. He also inherits Branson Robinson, who was the #1 rated running back nationally in the 2022 recruiting class.
Through almost two weeks of fall camp, this group looks like the deepest and most competitive RB room that the Bulldogs have had in years. Frazier has made quite the first impression, flashing excellent lateral quickness and top end speed that should be enough to force his way into the rotation despite not enrolling until this summer. Branson's form after returning form a ruptured patellar tendon has been nothing short of a revelation. Always a strong, powerful back, the Mississippi native now looks quicker than before the injury according to sources. Roderick Robinson was named the California Player of the Year by MaxPreps after rushing for 2,378 yards and 37 TD's as a senior at Lincoln High School in San Diego. He did all of that at 240 pounds, displaying unusually smooth footwork for a back of his size. After a year in UGA's conditioning program, he is playing at 230 pounds and carrying just 6% body fat. He could end up being one of the most physically unique running backs in UGA history, and that's saying a lot. Roderick is battling turf toe issues in camp, but he did score a long TD on a wheel route in last weekend's scrimmage. That's a reminder that Robinson is not just a battering ram. He is a well-rounded back with soft hands and receiving skills who can hurt opposing defenses in multiple ways. 
Those 3 running backs all appear ready for action, but it appears that they will start the season behind transfer Trevor Etienne. Of all the players on Georgia's 2024 roster, none represent the new era of college football more than Etienne. Last fall he was playing against the Bulldogs when they faced hated rival Florida in Jacksonville. By Christmas Eve, Etienne had announced his intentions to transfer to the other side of the rivalry and enroll at Georgia for his junior season. 
From Overlooked to Sought After Transfer
Etienne is the younger brother of former Clemson star Travis Etienne. The elder Etienne racked up 4,952 rushing yards in college and amassed over 6,000 yards from scrimmage during his time with the Tigers. He had over 1600 yards rushing in both 2018 and 2019, averaging nearly 8 yards a carry over those seasons. He finished his time at Clemson as the ACC's all-time leading rusher and his 70 career rushing TD's are 18 more than the next closest player in conference history. 
If you head west on Interstate 10 out of Lafayette and drive for about 45 minutes, you'll quickly reach the small town of Jennings, Louisiana. It was here where Travis and Donnetta Etienne raised their boys. A family with creole roots, Travis Sr. worked in the oil industry while Donnetta was a nurse at a local hospital. Jennings has a population of almost 10,000 people today, and perhaps the small size of the town is why the Etienne brothers were both somewhat overlooked coming out of high-school. Travis was a four-star recruit, but only the nation's 15th highest rated RB. His success would lead one to think that Trevor might have gotten a closer look from the recruiting services, but at 5'9" and 218 pounds he was not seen as a priority recruit by some of the services. On3 ranked him as a three-star and the nation's 59th best running back. 247 had Trevor as the cycle's 46th best back. The coaches evaluating him seemed to disagree, and Etienne landed scholarship offers from most of the SEC's top programs as well as Clemson. Instead of choosing to follow his brother, Trevor went to Gainesville to play for the Gators. His brother had been drafted to Jacksonville and his family had relocated there, and Etienne said that he felt like he had already experienced Clemson for four years after being there a lot for his brother's games. 
Etienne proved any doubters wrong off the bat in Gainesville. In his debut at home against Utah, Etienne ran for 64 yards on just 5 carries, with 48 of those yards coming after contact. On just 5 rushes he forced 5 missed tackles, serving notice that he was extremely elusive for a 200+ pound back. Despite being the most talented back on the team in the eyes of many, Etienne only eclipsed 12 carries in a game twice his freshman year. One of those games was against Florida State where he put up 129 yards on 17 carries. He would finish 2022 averaging 6.1 yards a carry behind a mediocre offensive line while running for 719 yards on just 118 attempts. A skilled pass catcher, Etienne only saw 9 targets with 9 receptions for 66 yards in his first college season. 
Many expected his work rate to be higher in 2023, but Etienne's rushing attempts only jumped up 12 carries. He managed 756 yards last year with 8 TD's, but he was second on the team in carries behind Montrell Johnson. A former Louisiana transfer, Johnson had followed head coach Billy Napier to Florida after his freshman season in 2021. Etienne, and other critics, felt like Napier might be favoring the wrong running back when distributing carries amongst his room. Etienne had more yards per carry, more yards after contact per carry, and more missed tackles forced than Johnson in 2023, but he remained second in the pecking order. At the end of the season he decided to transfer. 
Etienne talked about the decision to transfer out of Gainesville on the Real Talk Georgia podcast in March. "I’d been with Florida for two years. I went through that whole process of rebuilding. It was kind of still rebuilding. And I felt like there was a lot of uncertainties," said Etienne. "A lot of questions was unanswered. There was a lot of unknown going on. And I felt like ‘I can stay here and do what I’ve been doing for another year or two, or bet on myself and take a chance somewhere else.’ So pretty much to sum it up, I could either be RB2 on a losing team or go somewhere and possibly be RB1 and win a natty.”
Etienne was one of the best players to enter the transfer portal last December, but he was tied to Georgia almost from the start. That wasn't due to other teams not pursuing him, but Etienne's priorities were more grounded in competing for titles than fishing for the biggest NIL deal around. He later said that Georgia and Ohio State were the only two schools he considered, and he delivered UGA fans an early holiday present by dropping his commitment on Christmas Eve. 
Etienne was attracted to the functional nature and tight bonds of the Georgia locker room, and he embraced UGA's offseason skull sessions that focus on team bonding. “That’s definitely something, I’d say, that Florida didn’t have," said Etienne. "Our locker room wasn’t the closest. We got along, but coming here and seeing all the guys get along — I feel like having those goal sessions, I feel like that plays a big part. Coming from another program, I see how y’all interact with each other. I see how y’all care and love one another. That made it a lot easier for me to get to know everyone, because we’re all getting along.”
Etienne is Ready to be Georgia's Home Run Hitter
For Crawford and the rest of the Georgia staff, there is no mistaking why Etienne joined the program. The rising junior was disgruntled by the lack of playing time he got at UF, and is looking to be the feature back in Georgia's offense. Sources have unanimously told DawgsCentral that they expect him to be UGA's clear #1 man in the backfield. He wowed both staff and players with his combination of speed, lateral quickness and ability to run through contact when he started practicing with Georgia back in the spring.
Though he rarely got large chunks of carries in games at Florida, Etienne has shown that he can be the type of back who gets better as the game wears on. Against Tennessee last season, Etienne ran for 172 yards on 23 attempts. He forced 10 missed tackles over the course of the game and averaged 5.26 yards after contact per a rush attempt. Florida ran a lot more zone scheme than gap scheme over the past two seasons, but 13 of those 23 carries against the Vols came on zone runs while 10 came in gap.
Looking at his tape, Etienne seems comfortable behind both blocking schemes. That should help UGA break tendencies in 2024. There were stretches of games in 2023 where it felt like Daijun Edwards and Kendall Milton ran better behind one scheme versus the other. The 2021 and 2022 Bulldogs were almost 50/50 in terms of gap versus zone runs called. That allowed them a release valve if a defense started keying on the run game. Last year's Bulldogs were a zone scheme team on almost 67% of carries. It will be interesting to see if that was because of the skill set of Edwards and Milton or more about Mike Bobo's preferences as a play caller. In Etienne, Georgia has a well-rounded back who can break big runs at any time.
Etienne should also help UGA's passing game out of the backfield after the Bulldogs took a step back in that department in 2023. For his career, Etienne has 30 receptions on 30 targets. He averaged 9 yards after the catch per reception last season, and he could provide Carson Beck with a lot of easy yards on checkdowns in 2024. 
With Etienne on the roster, RBU has another super star level running back. Georgia has always loved and embraced elite backs in a unique way, and Etienne could be the next player to be embraced by Bulldog Nation. When talking to friends of the site who are familiar with the Etienne family, there were some who believe that Trevor is the more talented Etienne brother. If that's anywhere close to true, the potential for Trevor's 2024 campaign seems limitless. 
With a schedule that could stretch to as many as 17 games, there will be more opportunities than ever before for a strong back to put up gaudy statistics. Georgia is likely to manage Etienne's carries against lesser opponents, but his top end speed gives him the home run ability that UGA hasn't had in the backfield since maybe D'Andre Swift. The Florida offensive line he played behind last year wasn't great, but Etienne has the ability to turn a crease into a big gain. With UGA's OL paving the way and Beck's arm talent keeping defenses honest, Trevor could create multiple chunk runs every week of the season. 
For new RB's coach Josh Crawford, it's the perfect time to transition into the program. Crawford has developed a reputation as a coach who demands excellence one every rep while creating competition. This year's RB room has at least four guys who should demand regular touches, and that should make all of them better. The ceiling for what Etienne and the rest of the UGA RB's could accomplish is sky high. It may be looked back on as McGee's final gift to a program that he gave his heart and soul to for 8 years. That should give Crawford plenty of ammunition on the recruiting trail in the years ahead, ensuring that Georgia continues to bring in backs who can carry on the tradition of the school known as RBU. 

Georgia football wrapped up their first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday ahead of one of the Bulldogs' toughest regular season schedules in recent memory. 
The college football season is just on the horizon with the No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs kicking off the season against Clemson on Aug. 31 in one of the most anticipated non-conference matchups of the year. The Bulldogs look to head into the regular season much more healthier than they have become accustomed to over the last couple years (knock on wood).
While meeting with the media on Tuesday, head coach Kirby Smart spoke with the media to discuss Saturday's scrimmage and how he feels heading into the season.
Opening statement
"We're in the process of going through camp, obviously. I don't look at camp as ending until Saturday's scrimmage. We get through scrimmage two, I would consider that the close of camp. Unfortunately, our academic calendar doesn't match up perfectly with what we've got going on. School will start for the players tomorrow. They're getting their books, they're back to being student-athletes. It's hard to do that in camp early on. We get that for a lot more time up until tomorrow. It makes it a little bit tighter schedule for us.
Progress has been good. I would say that the first scrimmage wasn't completely up to the standard of our expectations. We did not have a lot of enthusiasm, didn't play until the level that I think we need to play to. But the good news is they've got another chance this Saturday and really every day to go out to practice. I have been pleased with like all the details that go into the leadership in terms of like showing a younger player how to do it. Guys are coaching guys, guys are on time. We must have 6,000 checks and balances in the last two weeks of what time you've got to be somewhere. Guys have been great about that, which says a lot about them as people.
We've got a long way to go as a football team. We are nowhere near or even close to where we need to be. I feel like we have less depth than we've ever heard. That's kind of a common theme talking to other coaches I talk to. I call it the deterioration of football because every year we've been here, I feel like we've had more players capable of going in and playing winning football. Every year that goes down. We've got to keep working to increase that number."
On injuries and if there is a way to limit them
"That's the unanswerable question. How do you play football, practice football, without getting injured? The guy that figures that out is going to be worth a lot of money. You can't do that. You have to be smart, you have to be calculated, you have to know your positions. Injuries are a part of football year-round. It's not like this time of year. We don't really do anything different this time of year than we do in spring. We don't do anything really different this time of year than we do in November or December. Injuries are a part of football. We've been lucky so far. We haven't had significant injuries, but we have a lot of guys that are soft-tissue, beat up, banged up. We're trying to get them back."
On expecting familiarity when the team begins to prep for their matchup against Clemson
"I'd reserve that until we start worrying about them. We've got a lot to fix. We're not where we need to be in terms of depth and having enough guys to play winning football. I'm really so focused on how we can get better today and how our team can get better. That's down the road."
On if the transfer portal has affected the depth of the roster and if freshmen can play a bigger impact as a depth piece now
"Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if it's the transfer portal or the deterioration of football. It could be less people playing. High schools not having as much of an opportunity to develop kids because their practice regimen and practice schedule is tougher. It's a trickle-up effect, so we get the guys coming from the high school level. We have the same number of players, so you can't blame the transfer portal for that. I think you lose some continuity in terms of guys that have been in the program multiple years. Therefore, your next statement of making it easier for a younger player to play, I don't know that it's any easier because he's up against guys that come out of the portal. But we have less guys that know and execute our system. We're not even really considered a portal team. I don't know how many we've averaged over the last four years. I can't imagine it's even double-digits. We don't have many guys coming from that. It's not as much quality depth that I'm used to, but we probably have more than a lot of people."
On Jared Wilson and Chaz Chambliss' injuries
"Jared's doing well. He's been dealing with Achilles tendinitis. He's been great. He's worked on the side. He's been able to push, was able to do some things yesterday. He continues to ramp up his exposure and ramp up his reps. He's doing well. Chaz is dealing with a soft-tissue hamstring he's dealt with before. He's been able to do some things too. He did more yesterday and will do more today. Both are dealing with some nagging injuries."
On the status of Jordan Hall's injury
"Jordan was coming back, starting to run from his stress fracture in his tibia. He is now dealing with the exact same thing in the other leg. The other leg had the same thing, it was strange for it to occur but he didn't acknowledge it until he started running to get back from the first one. We had to fix the other one. He's on a good timeline, it's not a long term deal, and now he knows what to expect because he's had it done to the left and the right. He had the other one fixed. He's going to be back. We don't know the exact timeline for that but he's been in good spirits. Just glad they found it when they did."
On the team's explosiveness
"I've seen both sides of it. One day it's one way, the next it's the other way. There's not been a dominant side of the ball. There's been explosives, and then there's not been explosives. A little bit of that is predicated off of eye control, execution, depth, who's in practice, who's out of practice. At the end of the day, both units have had glaring moments of success and moments of not success. There was a consecutive four play stretch from the offense where they had four explosives in a row Saturday, but there were some stretches when they didn't. It's like every year, I can't sit here and tell you one side has been explosive and the other side has given them all up. It's a balance."
On explosive run plays
"I would've thought before you said that we've had less explosive running than we've had in the past, but maybe that's just when you start looking at the big numbers. We do have a lot of 10-12 yard runs but we haven't had the home runs, the long runs we've historically had which is like another category of explosive. It's something that we pride ourselves on, and to be honest with you, explosive passes happen off play action, so you're not going to be an explosive passing team off play action if you can't run the ball. The balance of those two is really critical. We've been more explosive passing the ball in the last two years than previous years. A lot of that has to do with skill players, it has to do with quarterbacks, it has to do with how the coordinators call the game. But we certainly need to be explosive in both. I think we've got the backs to be an explosive run team, we've got the perimeter blockers to be an explosive run team and we've got the offensive line to be an explosive run team. I hope that we're more capable of longer explosives so that when we get through to 10-12, we can turn those into 40-50 and not 20-30 yard plays."
On freshman running back Nate Frazier
"I don't know that we know that yet. He's certainly a guy that's trying hard to learn to understand. I don't think he's ever had the detail of, 'On this run, this is your key.' He just gets the ball and runs and there's a lot to our blocking schemes. Who is he reading? Who is he looking at? What are his steps? What does he have to do in protection? He's got a lot to learn. He didn't go through spring so his spring is now. His spring was in the summer. He's got a lot of catching up to do. He is an explosive kid. He's got good track times. He's got good speed. He's got great toughness. He's a little ball of energy. 
But there are a bunch of guys in that room that are doing a great job. Chauncey is going do a great job, young kids, Dwight is doing a good job. Those guys are all doing a great job and we need them to help us this year." 
On the running back room
"That room has been really good in camp. They've worked really hard. Cash is a guy they just don't give enough credit to. He's great at picking things up. I feel like Trevor is the leader of the room and understands things. He does a really good job of setting the tempo and setting the standard. 
Branson has been great. Roderick has been dealing with a little bit of a toe injury that he's dealing with. And then the three freshmen. We're looking forward to getting all of those guys ready to go."
On Carson Beck and his teammates around him
"Yeah, I think I talked about it a little bit. The one's can go out there and execute get calls and line up. Might not do it just as right but there's not a lot of errors. There's a good nucleus of guys that have played a lot of football when you count Arian, Dillon, Oscar, Dom and those guys. 
But there is not the depth around Carson at the skill positions that there have been at the past. That puts more pressure on him to feel like he's got to be perfect. To feel like he's got to make the right decision, the right protection check, do this, do this. Can I count on that guy who hasn't done it yet and trust that he's going to be able to do it, even though he's a freshman. Those are things that Carson, he's got to get familiar with those other guys. That's the hardest part in the depth. We count on our quarterback to put us in the right play or make the right decision on so many plays. Carson does a great job of that. I think he's had a very detailed, attentive camp. Assertive is not something that he is. He's not naturally going to go out there and be assertive vocally. He's assertive in his checks and he's assertive in decision making. That's certainly much more important than what he says to the group as a whole."
On what stood out from the defensive backs on Saturday
"Got a long way to go. We don't have a lot of proven playmakers. They have to prove it by how they play. They have to have better eye control, got to tackle much better. We did not tackle very well. We didn't run to the ball and punch the ball out to the level we need to. 
I got a lot of confidence in the players in the secondary. They have to go do it live action, scrimmage this Saturday, practice every day to get to where we're going to be really comfortable with them."
On the team's usage of helmet communications so far
"It's great. We do it every day. Every opportunity we get we use it. We use it in scrimmages. We communicate with the guys. I think logistically it may be an issue when all the people in the stands, the crowd noise [is a factor]. I'm really interested to see how this is going to work for guys. Can they hear it in an SEC stadium because you see a lot of NFL players covering their ears and they're, like, trying to really hear it. A lot of times are stadiums, especially at the national level in the SEC, can be hard, and so there's no rule for that. There's no, like, you've got to tell them to be quiet so we can hear. You've got to have a plan for how you're going to execute it."
On the potential raise of available scholarships to 105
"Not really doing anything with it. We're focused on our team, our roster. We have to make some decisions. We have a timeline set apart for like the off weeks, different times in the season when we sit down and look at our roster currently, our roster next year, how that looks, what do we have committed and how are our numbers going to be. 
I think you're referring to the 85 to the potentially 105. There's a lot of gray area in that. You don't have to go to 105. A lot of people may choose to. I don't know that 105 scholarship players is the right way to go about it. Because you've got 105 NIL capabilities there. You've got more people that would be unhappy. You don't have walk-ons when you do that. 
I don't think it's set in stone yet that everybody is going to rush off and go to 105. That's a huge burden on the budget of the athletic department. And honestly there are a lot of kids here that do a great job for us as walk-ons and you would be dismissing them to say you're going to go out and sign 20 more kids. We haven't really gone down the path of the numbers yet."
On if he can identify one or two areas where their depth is concerning
"Yes."
On if he will identify those areas
"No."
On what he's seen from Raylen Wilson and CJ Allen
"More comfortable. They've been thrust into the limelight and had to play earlier — probably before they were ready, to be honest. You grow up when you have to do that. I think you forget sometimes, like, what year they are. It happens to me all the time. 
I think Raylen and CJ are, like, experienced vets on our team because they're in the upper echelon of play time and upper echelon in terms of years here because the majority of your team is young. Even our midyears — I'm out at practice, and I'm thinking, 'Man, this kid's already been here a year.' No he hasn't. He's only been here five or six months. You've got to grow up fast with the way this thing is now because young players have to be ready to play."
On Damon Wilson
"Damon's been good. He's been able to be a contributing factor more on first and second down. I think learning his assignment — like, he could go play on third down and play with reckless abandon and do a really good job last year. Now, first and second down he knows what to do, he understands it, he has better keys, he has better strike, he can hold up against a really physical tackle. He's improved. Just by merely being here and going through the spring he's improved. He's also gotten a good bit of work with Chaz and some of the injuries we've had there."
On Jamal Meriweather, Daniel Calhoun, and Jahzare Jackson
"Yeah, all three of those guys, they all have gone with the twos and threes. Daniel's probably gone a little more at the twos with Jared's injury and moving guys around where the other guys have gone with the twos some and threes. They continue to get better. They need to. They're still considered young offensive linemen in our program, and that's the hardest place to play besides quarterback in the SEC. There's nowhere you will get exposed more than on the offensive line, so those guys are going to continue to get better and develop. They all three have size on their side."
On Jamaal Jarrett
"Jah's been good. His weight has been up and down. I think it's something that he knows and he's trying to work on. He has moments — flashes— of being able to help us, and we need help at that position in terms of depth because we've got, you know, injuries at those positions. I think he's getting better. He's more dependable. He has a little more stamina, but there's still an area for improvement that he's got to be able to play more consecutive snaps. That's what we challenge him to do each and every day."

"Who would you rank as the coaches most important to UGA's success?"
A DawgsCentral user posting under the name PiousMonken posed that question to me in the spring of 2023, and I quickly realized that a good answer would require quite a bit of consideration. 
When thinking about the question, I kept coming back to an old football cliche, "It's not the X's and the O's, but the Jimmys and the Joes that make the difference." I found myself considering the players who suit up on Saturdays. Good gameplans and great play calls are key to the success of any college football program, but they are usually only as good as the personnel executing them. With that in mind, I decided to broaden the scope of the rankings beyond members of the coaching staff. 
It sparked a series of longform articles called 23 For 2023. The premise was simple- Profile the 23 people who were most important to Georgia’s success on the gridiron in 2023. To create such a list, one must make value judgments on what on and off-field assets are most important to a modern college football program. 
It focused on players and coaches within the UGA program. Collectively, the series served as a giant preview for the season ahead. It became a favorite of subscribers, and it forced me to ask questions that I hadn’t before. 
This year, I am bringing the list back once again. Naturally, it will be called 24 for 2024. 
With his former mentor now manning a microphone on ESPN, Kirby Smart is college football’s most accomplished coach. In 2024, Smart will have to navigate significant staff turnover and seismic changes within the sport itself. Georgia came up short of a third straight national championship in 2023, but winning it all this season would give the Bulldogs three titles in four years. That achievement would cement the program as a modern dynasty. 
Whether or not Georgia can reach that lofty pedestal, and how they go about trying to do it, will be largely influenced by the roles these 24 individuals play. 
Today we continue the rankings with #17. The first few entries in this series were not paywalled, but we are nearing the spot in the list where it will become a subscriber’s only feature. Let’s get after it…
Previous Entries
 
#24 - David Hill
#23 - Will a True Nose Tackle emerge for the Dawgs?
#22 - Benjamin Yurosek
#21 - Will Muschamp
#20 - Dominic Lovett
#19 - Jalon Walker
#18 - Chidera Uzo-Diribe
 
#17 - Daylen Everette
Georgia CB Daylen Everette almost never ended up in Athens. He committed to Clemson in July of 2021, and at the time it appeared the Tigers had won the type of big boy recruiting battle that separate playoff contenders from title contenders. A native of Norfolk, VA, Everette was a five-star’s kind of five-star. He had verified 4.4 forty times and 33-inch arms to go with a big frame that measured in at 6’1” and 190 pounds. Everette attended IMG Academy for his last two years of high-school. Winning games, competing for titles, and playing with other talented prospects was always important to Everette, and he never made any effort to hide that fact. 
Like many heralded prospects today, Everette planned a summer commitment ceremony so he could make a college decision and put recruiting behind him before the start of his senior season. At that July commitment ceremony, Everette chose between finalists of Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Florida State, North Carolina and Oregon. The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide never gave up on recruiting him though. At that point in time, it was Clemson and Alabama who were seen as the sport’s two most accomplished programs. Kirby Smart’s UGA program was still considered ascendant, but 2021 would mark four years since UGA’s national title game appearance in the 2017 season. That 13-2 season had helped the Dawgs sell title dreams to blue-chip recruits, and Kirby Smart had put together top three ranked classes every year since. Now some were beginning to ask if those dreams were ever going to become reality. Georgia scored a 10-3 neutral site win over Clemson on the opening weekend of the 2021 season. That victory gave the Bulldogs a win over a program that had made six straight appearances in the College Football Playoff, and it also provided Georgia with a new leg to stand on in its pursuit of Everette. Their recruiting position grew stronger as a suffocating defense propelled them to a 12-0 regular season record and a CFP berth. 
In the end, Everette’s recruitment turned into a battle between Clemson, Georgia and Alabama. The five-star decommitted from Clemson on December 10th and committed to the Bulldogs four days later. One day after that, he signed with Georgia on Early Signing Day. In many ways, the recruiting win for Georgia was emblematic of what was to come a few weeks later when it won the 2021 national title in Indianapolis. Prior to the 2021 season, Clemson and Alabama had won five of the sport’s last six national titles. Georgia has won two since then, and the Tigers and Crimson Tide have won zero. In the case of Clemson, UGA’s flip of Everette happened at the moment in time where the trajectories of the two programs crossed each other. The Dawgs were on the way up, and the Tigers were on the way down. 
Everette Started Turning Heads Upon Arrival
Going back to his high-school days, everyone who encountered Everette was impressed by his maturity. He came to Athens with a reputation as a tough-minded kid who took coaching well. There is a learning curve for any player who shows up on UGA’s campus, but Everette’s curve was shorter than most. 
Sources close to the Bulldogs program raved about Everette during his first fall camp and throughout the 2022 season. Everette had a bigger role on the 2022 Georgia team than most were aware of. His play in practices was strong enough for to push starters Kelee Ringo and Kamari Lassiter, and Smart used his emergence to help ensure those two were focused during every rep. If his starters made a mental error or played poorly for a stretch in practice then Smart would put Everette in with the first-team defense.
That same pattern played out late in the second quarter of the 2022 Vanderbilt game. Ringo was almost always lined up as the right boundary CB that season, but on this drive he and Lassiter were flipped from their usual spots in the formation. Lassiter made errors in coverage that led to consecutive receptions by Vandy WR Will Sheppard. Displeased, Smart inserted Everette in for Lassiter in the middle of the drive. The true freshman was playing the role that is usually reserved for UGA’s #1 corner. On the next play, Vandy would look to Sheppard again. Everette knocked him off his route and forced him inside. Sheppard made a tough contested catch for a 3-yard gain, but Everette had disrupted the wideout. On the very next play, the Commodores tried to target Sheppard once again. The WR ran down the boundary, but Everette was in his hip pocket all the way and broke up the pass as it arrived. It served notice to all that Everette was ready to play when needed. 
Everette would end up playing a total of 141 snaps across 11 games during his freshman season of 2022. Most came late in wins that the Bulldogs had long since secured, but Everette established himself as the first man off the bench at corner. The work he did that year gave him the inside track for a starting job that would open when Ringo departed for the NFL Draft. 
Examining Everette’s Debut Season as a Starter
Daylen would compete with fellow sophomore Julian Humphrey throughout the offseason, but he was named the starter opposite Lassiter when the Bulldogs opened 2023. It was immediately clear that he had a strong grasp of Georgia’s defensive scheme. That helped him win the job. Understanding coverage switches and zone rules are important if you want to start for Kirby Smart. So is getting off blocks and making tackles against the run and perimeter screens. Everette used his long frame to achieve those tasks last season, and the trust he earned as a tackler was a big reason for his playing time. Everette had 34 total tackles in 2023. Impressively, 29 of those were solo. Georgia trusts Everette to tackle in space on the edge, and that stops explosive plays from happening. You could be the best cover corner on Earth, but if you don’t tackle on the perimeter then you’re never going to get playing time at Georgia. 
The 2023 Bulldogs returned more defensive production than any national champion in a long time. Georgia’s secondary featured a pair of safeties who had already accomplished plenty at the college level. Malaki Starks was a finalist for the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award after leading UGA with 7 pass breakups and racking up 68 tackles. Javon Bullard had played UGA’s “STAR” position prior to last year, but he finished the 2022 season by forcing three turnovers and winning Defensive MVP in the College Football Playoff National Championship. Bullard went 58th overall in the second-round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Kamari Lassiter was coming off an excellent first season as a starter, and would be taken 42nd overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. Finally healthy after having multiple seasons derailed by injuries, former All-American Tykee Smith slid into Bullard’s former position at STAR. He was taken 89th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. 
On any given play, the football has to go somewhere. If you were an offensive coordinator drawing up a plan to attack the 2023 Georgia defense, what would you do? Are you throwing at the two future NFL safeties? Are you throwing at the future NFL corner? How about the future NFL slot defender? I think I’d pick on the sophomore who had yet to prove himself at the college level, wouldn’t you? 
It is interesting to reexamine Everette’s 2023 season through this lens. He was tested early and often in SEC play, and there were times where he struggled. South Carolina targeted him 8 times and he allowed 7 receptions on those plays. Future first-round receiver Xavier Legette beat Everette a couple of times in the on plays that helped the Gamecocks build a 14-3 halftime lead. After the half, UGA had Everette and Lassiter switch sides when Legette lined up on Everette’s side of the formation. 
Everette played well in his first SEC road start at Auburn. He gave up just one reception for 11 yards and followed that up by not allowing a reception against Kentucky or Vanderbilt. He struggled at times in Jacksonville while facing star Florida freshman Eugene Wilson. The Gators picked on Everette with in-breaking routes on short throws underneath, and Wilson was able to create enough separation early in his routes to keep Everette from tackling him when the ball arrived. Wilson had 4 catches for 38 yards and 1 TD on 4 targets vs Everette, and 27 of those yards came after the catch. UGA quickly adjusted after Wilson made some big plays early. He went on to have 11 receptions for 72 yards in the game, but UGA was able to limit his yards after the catch after his early receptions against Everette.
Everette again got off to a slow start against Missouri the next week. Mizzou star Luther Burden got behind Everette for a 39-yard TD catch on the first drive of the game, and Georgia again quickly adjusted. Daylen would face off with Theo Wease for the next three-and-a-half quarters, and gave up 3 catches for on 6 targets for 58 yards against him. Late in the game, Mizzou converted a fourth-and-10 and a third-and-long by throwing back shoulder fades to Wease with Everette in coverage. That sequence highlighted an ongoing issue with Everette in 2023, in that he was often in position but struggled to turn and find the football at times. Malaki Starks eventually came down from his safety spot to guard Wease and the Bulldogs were able to force a game seals in interception a couple plays later. 
That Mizzou game was probably the low point for Everette. He gave up 45 yards in on 4 targets/3 receptions in consecutive games against Ole Miss and Tennessee, but he allowed just 7 yards against Georgia Tech. He only gave up 37 yards in coverage against Alabama, but some of that came on a 15-yard TD pass that Jermaine Burton caught. 
As the season wore along, Everette was clearly the weak link in coverage for UGA. That made him a target for criticism from both fans and pundits, but it’s interesting to look back on his stats for the season. In total, Everette allowed 367 yards on 54 targets/29 receptions (12.7 YDS per catch) with a 53.7% reception percentage allowed. 69 of those yards came after the catch. He also gave up 3 TD’s while pulling in 1 INT and having 4 pass breakups. 
367 yards allowed across 14 games is hardly getting torched. In Kamari Lassiter’s first season as a starter he allowed 419 yards on 55 TGT/32 REC (13.1 YDS per catch) with a 58.2% reception percentage allowed. Lassiter gave up 175 yards after the catch and allowed 2 TD’s with 0 INT’s and 2 pass breakups. In Tyson Campbell’s first season as a starter at Georgia he allowed 411 yards on 51 TGT/31 REC (13.3 YDS per catch) with a 60.8% reception percentage. Campbell gave up 138 yards after the catch and allowed 2 TD’s with 0 INT’s and 1 PBU. ‘
Time For a Leap?
Those numbers show us that Everette’s first season as a starter produced numbers that were similar to, if not a little better than, both Lassiter and Campbell. Lassiter’s first season as a starter came opposite of Kelee Ringo, who went to Philadelphia in the 4th round of the 2023 draft. Campbell played across from DeAndre Baker, who won the Thorpe Award for college football’s best defensive back before being drafted 30th overall in the 2019 draft. of those players went early in the second round of the NFL Draft (33rd for Campbell in 2021 and 42nd for Lassiter in 2024). Campbell has become a high level CB in Jacksonville and received a 4-year extension worth $76.5 million this offseason. Lassiter’s impressive play has been turning heads in Houston since he arrived. 
Playing cornerback in the SEC is hard. You have future NFL wideouts littered throughout the schedule, and you face the best coaches and coordinators in college football on a weekly basis. Any corner who is young is going to be tested. That’s especially true if they’re lined up across from a more proven commodity. 
Everette took his lumps at times in 2023, but so have many of those who walked in his shoes before him. A lot of those players used what they learned in their first seasons as starters and honed their games to become lockdown cornerbacks at the college level. Now we’ll have to find out if Everette can make a leap like Campbell, Lassiter and other Georgia corners of the Kirby Smart era. 
Through the first 10 days of Georgia’s fall camp, the signs seem to be pointing to yes. “I think Daylen Everette will prove to a lot of people that he’s not the same guy from last year. He’s trying to be a pro and he looks like a corner who will be NFL ready by the end of this year,” said one source to DawgsCentral. Another source said that Everette might be the most improved player on Georgia’s entire defense. “He’s getting better everyday and is clearly our best (cornerback). He’s developed the confidence to flip his hips and turn his head instead of playing the receiver. The way he plays the ball is entirely different than last year.”
It could have a major impact on UGA’s 2024 defense if Everette becomes the shutdown corner that many think he can. The Dawgs will be breaking in a new starter at Safety. Everette will also start across from one of Daniel Harris or Julian Humphrey. Everette taking away his side of the field would allow the Bulldogs to shade more help to the other boundary if needed. A strong secondary could also help a defensive line that saw a 16.1% drop-off in QB pressures from 2022 to 2023. 
UGA’s schedule will include dates with QB’s like Quinn Ewers, Jaxson Dart, Nico Iamaleava and Jalen Milroe this season. Having a lockdown corner to stick on each opponent’s top receiver would go a long way towards limiting big plays. It could also help UGA return to the top of the sport for the third time in four years. Everette came to Georgia to win championships. With the way things are trending, this might be his last season in a red and black uniform. 

"Who would you rank as the coaches most important to UGA's success?"
A DawgsCentral user posting under the name PiousMonken posed that question to me in the spring of 2023, and I quickly realized that a good answer would require quite a bit of consideration. 
When thinking about the question, I kept coming back to an old football cliche, "It's not the X's and the O's, but the Jimmys and the Joes that make the difference." I found myself considering the players who suit up on Saturdays. Good gameplans and great play calls are key to the success of any college football program, but they are usually only as good as the personnel executing them. With that in mind, I decided to broaden the scope of the rankings beyond members of the coaching staff. 
It sparked a series of longform articles called 23 For 2023. The premise was simple- Profile the 23 people who were most important to Georgia’s success on the gridiron in 2023. To create such a list, one must make value judgments on what on and off-field assets are most important to a modern college football program. 
It focused on players and coaches within the UGA program. Collectively, the series served as a giant preview for the season ahead. It became a favorite of subscribers, and it forced me to ask questions that I hadn’t before. 
This year, I am bringing the list back once again. Naturally, it will be called 24 for 2024. 
With his former mentor now manning a microphone on ESPN, Kirby Smart is college football’s most accomplished coach. In 2024, Smart will have to navigate significant staff turnover and seismic changes within the sport itself. Georgia came up short of a third straight national championship in 2023, but winning it all this season would give the Bulldogs three titles in four years. That achievement would cement the program as a modern dynasty. 
Whether or not Georgia can reach that lofty pedestal, and how they go about trying to do it, will be largely influenced by the roles these 24 individuals play. 
Today we continue the rankings with #18. The first few entries in this series will not be paywalled, but as we get further down the list it will become a subscriber’s only feature. Let’s get after it…
Previous Entries
#24 - David Hill
#23 - Will a True Nose Tackle emerge for the Dawgs?
#22 - Benjamin Yurosek
#21 - Will Muschamp
#20 - Dominic Lovett
#19 - Jalon Walker
#18 - Chidera Uzo-Diribe
Success breeds turnover in many industries. There are few businesses where it happens as rapidly as it does in college football. Dan Lanning’s meteoric rise from 28 year-old Alabama graduate assistant to 35 year-old Oregon head coach is a perfect example. He left the Tide after a national championship season and joined Memphis as the ILB coach for two years. After a 10-3 record in 2017, Lanning got a call from Kirby Smart to come to Athens. After 4 years as a position coach and 3 years as a coordinator, Lanning was running a high level program of his own.  
Lanning left for Oregon following Georgia’s 2021 national championship season. When he left, the Bulldogs had to replace its defensive play caller and its outside linebackers coach. Georgia recruited and developed stars at the Edge/OLB position under Lanning. 
Look back on the 2020 roster and you’ll find a nuclear absurdity of talent at the OLB position… 
Azeez Ojulari’s talent was focused and honed by Lanning before he became the 50th overall pick in the 2nd round of the 2021 NFL Draft.  Former 5* Adam Anderson went from a skinny pass rush specialist to a defender who could set the edge and play gap sound football under Lanning’s watch. Off-field trouble would derail his chances of going pro.  Jermaine Johnson came to UGA and was coached into a guy who became a first-round pick and the ACC Defensive Player of the Year after one season at FSU. People close to the Seminoles’ program said he was the best player on the team the moment he stepped foot on campus. Nolan Smith was a 5* true freshman in 2020. Lanning helped him develop pass rush moves and learn to two-gap against the run. He became a key starter for the 2021 Bulldogs and went onto be drafted #30 overall by the Eagles in the 2023 NFL Draft. Robert Beal Jr. was a reserve on that 2020 team, but he began to shine late in the 2021 season and became a key starter for UGA’s 2022 team that went 15-0. He was drafted in the 5th round of the 2023 NFL Draft by the 49ers.  Lanning didn’t just develop stars. He signed them too. He was the primary recruiter for Nolan Smith when he was the #1 overall player in his recruiting class. Lanning also had a hand in landing highly rated players at other positions. Five-star prospects like Malaki Starks, Brock Vandagriff, Nakobe Dean, and Marvin Jones Jr. were all close to Lanning before signing with the Bulldogs.
Kirby Smart took his time finding Lanning’s replacement. The hire was an important one for his program, and the coach he brought in needed to be the right fit. Do you want to coach OLB’s at Georgia for Kirby Smart? Here are some of the boxes you’ll have to check… 
Enough skill and charisma as a recruiter to ensure that UGA lands the most talented players in the country. Kirby Smart has explained his philosophy many times in the past- You can’t out-scheme talent, so you better have the best players and you better have them at every position.  A coach who is confident enough to find their voice amongst sharp defensive minds like Smart, Glenn Schumann, Will Muschamp, and now Travaris Robinson, while also being humble enough to be collaborative with experienced coaches who have a proven track record of success.  After all of that, you’ve got to teach the players in the OLB room how to play in UGA’s defense. The Bulldogs ask a lot out of their edge defenders. They have to be able to “two-gap.” That means the OLB has to control the run lane to the outside of the offensive tackle as well as stopping any carries that try to come between the tackle and the guard.  Do you remember Nolan Smith’s consecutive forced turnovers against Florida in 2021? He lined up with his hand in the dirt on the end of the line and played both gaps on the first play. UF quarterback Anthony Richardson took off downhill towards Smith’s edge. Nolan pushed off his blocker and met Richardson in the hole before ripping the ball out of hands as he fought for more yards. On the next drive, Smith lined up outside the box in front of a Bunch Set of UF wideouts. Richardson dropped back to pass, and Smith backpedaled 12 yards deep while moving towards the middle of the field. It was there where he caught an interception that DE Travon Walker had tipped into the air from his own spot in UGA’s zone coverage scheme.
Being able to make both of those plays requires versatility, strength, and a great deal of intelligence out of one position. That level of play is the standard that Georgia has come to expect from its OLB’s, and the position is a key part of how Georgia creates havoc for opposing offenses. 
The Hire
After an extensive search, Smart hired Chidera Uzo-Diribe from TCU as Georgia’s new OLB coach on February 6, 2022. Not yet 30 years old, his name was previously unknown to many fans. Uzo-Diribe had no previous connections to the Georgia staff prior to 2022. A phone call with Glenn Schumann turned into a video call with other members of UGA’s staff. Pretty soon, it became clear that Uzo-Diribe was a fit for what Smart, Schumann and Muschamp wanted on the defensive staff. 
Uzo-Diribe starred as a player at Colorado, and his 17 sacks are the sixth most in school history. In 2013, he was on the final watch list for the Ted Hendricks Award, given annually to college football’s best defensive end. 
Sources said that Uzo-Diribe fit in well at UGA right off the bat. Veteran returning OLB’s like Nolan Smith and Robert Beal Jr. took to him almost instantly. As a younger coach, Uzo-Diribe related to his players well, and his success as a player gave him instant credibility among the players already in the room. Smith and Beal both had many years of experience in the room. In some ways, Uzo-Diribe learned from them early on. He empowered both to be vocal leaders in the position room, and those roles eventually carried over to the rest of the team. Throughout 2022, Smith and Beal were two of UGA’s core leaders, and both players were key to a 15-0 season and a national championship.
His own playing experience gave Uzo-Diribe a leg up on understanding the challenges of playing OLB at Georgia. Some of the players who line up on the edge for the Bulldogs also line up at other spots on the defensive front depending on down and distance. Chidera had coached the defensive line at SMU and TCU after spending two years as the OLB coach at Kansas. That experience was valuable for someone who has to coach a position that is sometimes asked to play like a linebacker while being a defensive lineman at other moments. 
On the recruiting trail, Uzo-Diribe’s first class spoke for itself. He got off to as good of a start as you could imagine in the 2023 cycle, signing what could be the best OLB/EDGE class in program history. Those players were…
•    5-Star Damon Wilson
•    5-Star Samuel M’Pemba
•    4-Star Gabe Harris
Uzo-Diribe was the primary recruiter for all three of those signees, and all three of them were among the top 12 ranked edge defenders in the cycle. Wilson, M’Pemba and Harris were ranked among the top 65 overall players in the 2023 class as well. 
With those promising young edge players already in the program, Georgia didn’t sign as many true OLB’s in the 2024 cycle. Chidera helped UGA land 275-pound 5* defensive lineman Joseph Jonah-Ajonye out of Texas. He also snagged 260-pound 4* DL Quintavius Johnson out of Mays high-school in Atlanta. For the 2025 cycle, Uzo-Diribe has already gotten commitments from 5* EDGE Isaiah Gibson and 4* Darren Ikinnagbon. He is the primary recruiter for both players. 
UGA’s Defense Needs a New Group of Stars at EDGE
Nolan Smith was one of the unquestioned leaders of the UGA defense during Uzo-Diribe’s first season in 2022. He was also the best edge defender that the Bulldogs had. The Dawgs often use two OLB/Edge players on obvious passing downs, but on a lot of plays they have just one on the field. When the chips were down, Smith was the guy who Georgia put in the game at their “Jack” position (the Jack is a standup Edge/OLB who plays the end of the line, ideally as both a primary pass rush threat and a stout run defender). When Smith wasn’t in the game, Robert Beal often was. 
Georgia lost Smith for the season in the first quarter of the Florida game. Suddenly the luxury of having two experienced OLB’s to split snaps among was gone. Uzo-Diribe took backup Chaz Chambliss and made him a productive piece for the Bulldogs. His play improved throughout the season. True freshman Jalon Walker started fall camp as an ILB but UGA felt his skillset could help the team at OLB. By January, he was coming up with key pressures in the College Football Playoff. 
There were times where it felt like UGA might run out of bodies at OLB, but Uzo-Diribe and the rest of Georgia’s defensive staff continued to come up with solutions. The first rule of the Kirby Smart philosophy of football is that nobody runs the ball on Georgia. Despite injuries and depth issues, the dam never broke in 2022. 
In 2023, things never really materialized at the position. Marvin Jones Jr. was a five-star recruit that Lanning secured before leaving for Oregon, but he started the year battling injuries and never really found his footing during his sophomore campaign in Athens. He only amassed 5 total pressures and he struggled with gap control against the run. When he did arrive at the ball on time, he sometimes missed tackles. Jones Jr. was supposed to be the immediate future of the position, but he left for FSU this offseason after a 2023 season that made it clear he wasn’t a fit for the array of responsibilities that UGA puts on its edge defenders. 
Georgia came into the year thinking the depth at edge would allow Walker to move back to ILB, but he ended up playing more OLB in 2023. Veteran Chaz Chambliss did an admirable job playing the run, and ended the year with 10 pressures. He drew the ire of some UGA fans because he doesn’t have the obvious physical makeup of a 5* future NFL draft pick, but he got the most out of his talent with good technique and a consistent motor. The freshmen trio of Wilson, M’Pemba and Harris also flashed in limited roles, but they were not yet ready to contribute on a regular basis. 
In general, Georgia struggled to set edges in the run game at times last season. Kirby Smart has said he’d rather see runs go out towards the boundaries than up the middle, but the truth is that not seeing any chunk runs is his real preference. The 2023 Dawgs didn’t seem to control the edges against the run like they had in the two years prior. 
On the opposite side of the Jack position, Mykel Williams played DE at a high level despite dealing with injuries throughout the year. Williams was very good against the run, but his gap responsibilities on the inside often kept him from pinning his ears back and rushing the passer. 
That changed in Georgia’s 63-3 Orange Bowl victory against Florida State. In the lead up to the game, Williams practiced in more of a true OLB role. It let him hunt the QB more often as a stand-up pass rusher, and the results was 6 pressures and 2 sacks in just 17 pass rush snaps against the Seminoles. 
When talking about the 2024 team, the conversation starts right there. Williams has shown he can be a high level SEC run defender in the interior gaps. He has also flashed the raw pass rush skills of a 10+ sack OLB. Georgia plans to let him do both this year, and that should add some oomph to its pass rush. Williams will probably handle the edge opposite of Uzo-Diribe’s Jack linebackers when he isn’t being used as a true 7-tech rusher.
Uzo-Diribe is also working some of the time with ILB Jalon Walker. He will once again be used in pass rush packages off the edge after he and Williams tied for the team lead in pressures last season. 
It is possible that two of UGA’s best pass rushers at OLB won’t even be full-time OLB’s. That’s more of a luxury though. Sacks matter, and they kill drives, but Georgia has shown it doesn’t have to have them in large numbers to be an elite defense. What the Bulldogs do require to be elite on defense is gap control and edge setting against the run. 
The aforementioned trio of blue-chip recruits are now sophomores, and getting contributions from them will go a long way towards UGA becoming as good as it wants to be on defense this season. Wilson displayed an impressive get off last season and he coupled it with the type of bend you can’t teach. We know he can get after the quarterback. He had a 29.3% win rate against pass blocking on 43 pass rush snaps last year. Significant offseason weight gain that has Wilson up near 240 pounds makes him really intriguing coming into 2024. He could be ready to play the run at a high level, and he would become an every down option if that’s the case. 
Harris has shown a toughness against the run that has made him into more of a DE than an OLB this offseason, but he could certainly play either role depending on the personnel package. M’Pemba has impressed in the weight room and can fly to the football, and he may be the freakiest athlete in the room. Is his technique good enough to contribute this year? 
The trio of sophomores are joined by the 2024 enrollees mentioned above. Both Johnson and Jonah-Ajonye are bigger DL type bodies, but they are both good enough athletes to challenge those positional definitions.
Leading the room once again is the veteran Chambliss. He will be the safest option in situations where UGA values execution over upside. The question now is whether or not he has been able to instill some of his knowledge of UGA’s system onto the young up and comers on the depth chart. 
How to manage the sophomores as well as Williams and Walker is a legitimate question. Can UGA teach some of the talented pass rushing talent how to two-gap well enough to play up to the standards it established in 2021 and 2022? Can those explosive pass rushers defend the run well enough to be trusted to play in big road games in Tuscaloosa, Austin and Oxford? Where should the snaps go in key moments? All of that, as well as the in-season development of the position, will be up to Uzo-Diribe. 
How those questions are answered will go a long way towards determining how good this Georgia defense can be in 2024. If the edges answer the bell the Bulldogs may return to the top of college football’s mountain.
 

Georgia football's fall camp is underway and the Bulldogs are expected to have one of the top offenses in the country.
Despite losing top offensive pieces such as Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey, offensive coordinator Mike Bobo expect a big year from the offense. The Bulldogs are returning key names like Carson Beck and Dillon Bell, but will also be debuting transfer acquisitions in Ben Yurosek, Trevor Etienne and more.
The Bulldogs are entering year two of the Carson Beck and Mike Bobo era and many expect the Bulldogs to be the favorite heading into the 2024 season. Beck has been named a favorite for the Heisman Trophy and to be the first player taken in the 2025 NFL Draft while Bobo looks to continue Georgia's offensive success from last year.
While meeting with the media ahead of the Bulldogs' practice on Thursday, Bobo discussed the upcoming year and what the offense looks like heading into the season.
On his adaptation as a coach 
"Me and Coach T-Rob were talking about it earlier about back in the day the game may have been a little bit simpler. It was a little more physical, but you've got to adapt. The game is played in space nowadays. I don't want to adapt so much that we lose our physicality as an offense and what this program's built on and what Coach Smart's built it on. It's toughness and physical on offense. You know, you want to be innovative and play the game in space and try to be explosive. You've got to be explosive on offense nowadays, but at the same time you don't want to lose your physicality as an offensive unit. That's something we pride ourselves on. It's a staple of what Coach Smart's had here since he's been here at the University of Georgia."
On who or what he uses to study offense and change offensively
"That's a good question. We've all got friends in this business that we talk to on a regular basis that are coaching and trying to stay fresh and new with how you do things. Football's football. You know, we're really running very similar plays that we ran 27 years ago when I started coaching. It might be just out of different formations and different personnel and using different guys.
Then I rely on coaches that have coached me that have a lot of experience -- Coach Richt and Coach Donnan. Coach Donnan, who I played for and then worked for, and then Coach Richt, who I worked for for a long time, have got a lot of experience, so you lean on guys with experience. My own dad will be at practice today and was a coach a long time. I ask his opinion about how things looked and what we're doing. I tell the players all the time: 'You've never arrived. You're always learning.' And that goes for us as coaches, too. We're always trying to find new ways to do things — not necessarily new, but ways to do things better where we can be efficient on offense."
On the changes Carson Beck has made from last year's fall camp to this year's
"I see a guy that's trying to have a sense of urgency every day about everything he does and not taking anything for granted. He wrote a bunch of things on our board in our meeting room of what we needed to do as a quarterback, and number one was be where your feet are. You hear that a lot, but here's a guy that, you know, had a good season, his first season [as a starter]. There's a lot of noise outside this building about the future, but he can't control that. What he can control is being where his feet are every day. 
In the meeting that we're going to go to here in less than an hour, it's going to be an install, but it's not going to be a new install for him. It's going to be a lot of things that he's heard over the four or five years that he's been here, but he's going to be locked in, being where his feet are, paying attention. There might be one little nugget today that is a little bit different than last year or something that's going to help him be better at whatever play we're installing. 
So I think he's got a really, really good mindset of focusing every day and controlling what he can control and getting better because last year's last year, tomorrow's tomorrow. The most important thing is today, and that's a hard thing to do. That's a hard thing to do for me and I'm 50, but we've got a head coach that's going to stress that daily of the most important thing is our meeting here in a minute with the players, how we go out there in walk-through, how we go out there and do stretch, how we do everything on a day-to-day basis. He's doing a good job of that."
On what he saw from Ben Yurosek's Stanford film
"You saw Ben make plays on the perimeter. You saw Ben make plays downfield. What I've seen of him now, I've seen those things. I see him, another guy that didn't go through spring practice and got here in May, but he didn't go through spring practice. He's a little bit behind, but he's very intelligent. He's done a great job of continuing to get in the playbook. We're asking him to do things that maybe he didn't do at Stanford. I've seen him accept that, accept that challenge. 
He's not worried about getting uncomfortable. If he doesn't do something well, he's going to work at it. You don't see him making the same mistake twice, which is a good thing. Any time you add depth to your program is a good thing. Here's a guy that's played a lot of football. He's here trying to figure out how we do it the Georgia way now and done a nice job so far."
On if the Bulldogs' offensive rating in EA College Football 25 is a indicator of how good the offense will be this year
"I don't know. The only video game I ever played was Tecmo Bowl and Super Tecmo Bowl. A couple of times I sat down with my sons Jake and Drew, and they were playing when we had some time off over the summer. It's amazing, you know, the plays, the concepts, the defense. There's a lot of good things in there. My son's trying to battling for the quarterback job at Prince, and sitting down and seeing what the defense does and making decisions. 
I'd go with Tecmo and Super Tecmo Bowl. I always played with the Oilers. Warren Moon was hell, and Chris Dishman on defense, he could pick off about anything on Tecmo Bowl."
On the Bulldogs' second string center, and his son, Drew Bobo
"He's hell on wheels."
On the status of Jared Wilson and the opportunity to coach his son
"Jared has missed some things, but he's gotten to do as much as possible. That's a very important position on the offensive line and in the offensive unit. They communicate really to everybody what goes on up front. Jared still being able to do that with a large majority of what we're doing. We're just being careful with Jared, but it also gives guys more opportunities to work at center and make those calls. 
We lost a four-year starter in Sed Van Pran that's made the calls 100 times and was confident making those calls and communicating, so everything we do from walk-through to practice is an opportunity for those centers if Jared's not getting work to make those calls and communicate with those other guys. It's probably more important this year because we've got so many young linemen that might not be able to hear the call and know what they got, and a lot of times that center's got to pass everything down the line and make the call front side and back side for those guys. It's a little bit uncomfortable for guys like Drew, but the only way they're going to get comfortable is to keep doing it and putting them under those pressure situations."
On incorporating Arian Smith and his skillset into the offense
"Well, on a daily basis I get to spend a lot of time with Arian. He's definitely a big special teams player for us, and that's been a big role for him, but a lot of times he's repped so many things in special teams I get to have him during those special teams periods and really work on techniques of running certain routes. We're not running full speed all the time, but talking about routes and body control, working on the deep ball, adjusting to the deep ball with our eyes — not necessarily running, you know, a full-speed post or a full-speed go. 
Anytime you've got a guy like Arian or anybody that's got track speed when they're on the field, sometimes you might not see the impact they have on a play because we might not have gone to them, but I guarantee you that defense knows when No. 11's on the field because of the speed and the ability to make not just a 20-yard explosive. He's a guy on our team that can have a 70-yard explosive at any time.
And the thing with Arian is that we're trying to be consistent every day. He's a track guy that played track I believe his first two years, was injured a lot before I got here, knock on wood, and is trying to be consistent in being an overall receiver. He's a really good kid and works extremely hard, and we're excited he's back this year."
On pushing Carson Beck to be more excited when good things happen
"First of all, I want Carson to be himself, OK? Carson can't be Coach Bobo, he can't be Coach Smart, but the nature of the position and what you play, you're the leader of the offense and a lot of times the leader of the team. His actions and his body language speak volumes to guys. It could be getting on somebody's ass or it could be encouraging somebody. I just want him to be him. He has a great trait that he has such an even temperament, whether we score a touchdown or we go three and out or he happens to throw a pick or something, his temperament doesn't change. That allows him to stay calm in the moment, and one of our core DNA traits is composure. 
I think he has great composure, but also his position and his job is to enhance the play of others, you know? He's going into his second year. Last year he was a first-year starter, and we're trying to get him off on solid ground. As the season went on, he gained confidence, confidence, confidence, and he has confidence. There's things he's got to work on, but he's a confident young man. He's got to instill that confidence in the players that are around him, and it could be a word to them, it could be putting an arm around them. Just knowing the impact that he has on guys because these young guys that are coming in or the first guy that walks on that field for the first time, they're looking at a guy in Carson Beck that has done it. He's done it in SEC games, done it on a big stage, and they're going to look for him for how to act and how to respond. What he says and what he does goes a long way in building belief in our football team."
On the evolution of tight ends over the years and what could have caused it
"I think it's a little bit more how they're being used in today's game. You see more tight, Orson Charles, he didn't even know how to get in a stance when he got here. Aron White was a receiver in high school. A lot of these kids, whether it's 20 years ago or now, these guys are big receivers in high school. Their frame's going to allow them to put on weight and be a tight end. Again, the game is space. They're probably playing in space more, using tight ends. The last guy we had, we handed him the ball on jet sweeps, put him in the backfield, put him out, threw screens to him, and obviously using him downfield vertically and running option routes and stuff like that. 
I think they've become valuable because of matchups they can create. Your running backs and your tight ends create matchups with linebackers and safeties, that gives you an advantage some. Now, I think football's evolving more and more where tight ends are getting more and more entering the core. You look at the game at the next level, see them playing 12, 13 personnel, tight ends with hands in the dirt. They're running counters and powers, not just cutting off on the backside. Our offense is a little bit more where we're going to ask the guy to do everything where some offenses nowadays that just totally spread guys. Here at the tight end position, you're going to learn how to play in the core, you're going to learn how to move, to be an H-back so to speak. You're going to learn when we split you out and how to run routes. We try to do it all and have a big volume of offense. All positions for us offensively, it takes a lot of learning. We put a lot on them. But that position in particular, because it's the run game and the pass game that they're heavily involved in, it takes a guy that's extremely bright."
On the backup quarterbacks
"The quarterback position, how Jaden came about, Coach is on record that we wanted four scholarship quarterbacks. We were looking for a fourth scholarship quarterback. Because of the portal, we were able to get Jaden. We'd loved to have gotten Jaden in here before spring. It didn't work out that way, but he was able to get here early May and start trying to learn the playbook. He's in the process of learning it now. All those guys are doing an outstanding job every day of coming in and controlling what they can control. 
Carson made a great statement in our first meeting, tried to set the tone. He said, 'I want to say something to you guys. You need to take this camp like you're getting ready to play Clemson the first game. I didn't do that when I was young. I wasn't taking advantage of every opportunity to get ready to be the starter.' That's an easy thing to say rather than do. I've been saying it for 27 years coaching quarterbacks. You're getting ready to play. Your opportunity's every practice. But then Carson to step up and say that in a meeting and stop me mid-meeting and say that to those young quarterbacks, hey guys, you're getting ready to play Clemson in that first game. That's how you should approach it. Those guys have done a great job of that this camp, I don't even know what practice we're on, I think seven. They're doing a great job of preparing every day and going out there and learning from their mistakes and learning from the things that they do well."
On the Bulldogs' transfer wide receivers
"Colbie Young, London, and Michael Jack have done a nice job. All three were here in the spring, so that helps the transition where you're able to go through the spring and 30-plus days of a practice and then a walkthrough, a practice then a walkthrough. Then all summer. These guys are now at the place in their job where they can actually compete. In spring, they're just trying to figure out how to line up. I'm running this route, they're running how it looks in the playbook. Now they're able to line up faster and they're able to be coached more on technique on what we're trying to do on each particular play."
On his thoughts of the running back room
"Well we have more depth than we had last year at this time. We were dealing with a couple injuries in camp. We've got more depth at that position, which has allowed us, one, we're not wearing down our guys. We're able to space out the reps, which you've got to always be careful of. You see a group of guys that pay attention to Coach Crawford. They don't mind being coached hard. They're picking it up day by day. You see guys that do a good job in the run game and have traits in the passing game, which is what you look for in a running back. All those guys have done a nice job and continue to work. I'm pleased with that group."
On Dillon Bell and his progression after becoming a full-time receiver
"Really, you don't really get into your personnel and moving guys around until really you're through camp. Right now, we're still installing. We're on day seven of our install. It's human nature, you want to start moving guys around to try to maybe win the drill or put your guys… But at the end of the day, we're trying to teach offense. Dillon has almost 100 percent been working at the receiver position. Coach Coley has really done a nice job teaching him the finer points of route running and execution, those little things, playing with pad level, working your releases off press, and just becoming a complete receiver. 
Dillon did a great job for us last year making contested catches, which is awesome. We're now working on trying to create more space and how to create more space. A lot of times, he is our X receiver. He's in the boundary. When you're in the boundary in this league, you're not going to get any off coverage. You're going to get press. How do you handle press, how do I beat press? Really working on the finer points of winning one-on-one battles."
On what he thinks the offense is good at so far and what still needs improvement
"Not necessarily scheme or identity yet. I think we're still forming our identity as an offense. One thing I feel really good about, us as an offense, I think we have connection as an offense. I think that's important. We've been connected when practices or drills have gone good or they've gone bad. We've addressed it and nobody's flinched in that room when they've been challenged to respond, whether it's during practice or in the meeting the next day. There hasn't been any pointing fingers. 
I think that's always good because you want connection in that room. It's going to take everybody in that room. That's something, obviously, another DNA of ours, Coach Smart's, is connection. It's one thing to say it, it's another thing to live it. The leadership in that room has done that. I think our offensive line, you've got so many guys coming back that have played so much ball and have been through so many camps. They're leading the way of showing these guys, not necessarily the linemen but the whole team, how to come to practice every day ready to go. 
There's a ton of things that we've got to continue to improve on. We're not near ready to play and that's okay. That's part of camp. We're still trying to form our identity. That will shape out even more after we have the first scrimmage. Coaches are kind of back and guys are out playing ball. Then we'll go through the second scrimmage. We're going to have a big volume of offense. We're going to install it. Then we're going to shrink it down and figure out what we do best. Maybe we're not as good at this as we were last year. So not being able to take it out, we're going to put it to the side and continue to work on that. We're still trying to figure that out as an offense, what we do really well and what we've got to work on. Right now, in my mind and those players' minds, we've got a lot to work on every day. There's nothing we do well."
On what improvements Carson Beck can make and what he has focused on
"One, he does a great job of processing, getting the ball out quickly. I don't remember what his completion percentage was, it was extremely high last year. 
One area that we addressed in the spring and the beginning of fall camp is the deep ball. Not necessarily the deep ball, it doesn't always need to be a perfectly thrown ball where you hit the guy in stride. Sometimes we want it to be that way as a quarterback. But it's a lot just giving the guy a chance. Not throwing the ball so far where you don't have a chance or throwing it out of bounds. Give the guy a chance to make a play. He's done a better job of that. Every time we complete a deep ball, he's looking at me or looking at Coach Gummy because he knows that's what he's focused on, giving those guys a chance. 
Sometimes when you struggle hitting something or doing something as a quarterback, you start to aim. You're thinking about it too much. Take your drop, read your progression, throw the ball, and play football, not get in your head of well, I can't hit it, I'm trying to aim it or throw the perfect ball. Throw it and give the guy a chance."

We’re just over three weeks until the Georgia Bulldogs take on the Clemson Tigers in Atlanta and I can feel the excitement starting. The Dawgs have started fall practice and our subscribers have the Dawgs Central forum rocking!
UGA sits atop the preseason coaches poll as the #1 ranked team in the country. This is obviously due to the amount of talent on the team and how deep the position rooms are in Athens. We previously talked about Kirby Smart and company having the second best quarterback room in the SEC and the top running back room in the SEC. Now let’s take a look at how Georgia’s receivers stack up against the rest of the conference. Let us know your thoughts on the following rankings:
1 MISSOURI - This wasn’t a hard one for me. The Tigers have the leading returning receiver in the SEC in Luther Burden (over 1200 yards, 9 TD), who is also seen as one of the top receivers in the nation. Theo Wease is a great compliment to Burden and could easily be WR1 on a lot of teams. Missouri also returns their third leading receiver from last season, Mookie Cooper.
2. OLE MISS - With Tre Harris and Jordan Watkins returning, the Rebels would have probably been at least in the top five on my list. The addition of Antwane “Juice” Wells gives Lane Kiffin one of the most formidable receiving trios in the nation. That’s not to mention Ayden Williams beginning his sophomore campaign. And everyone knows the type of offense they run in Oxford.
3. GEORGIA - While the Bulldogs may not have the tried and true #1 receiver at the top of the depth chart, Georgia might just have the deepest room in the SEC. I see this to be true even after removing Rara Thomas from the depth chart. Dominick Lovett has a really good chance to take the next step in his career and establish himself as the go to target. Dillon Bell is in my opinion one of the most underrated receivers in the SEC, while Arian Smith is poised to have a breakout year. Colbie Young is already making plays as a big bodied target, while Michael Jackson is coming into his own in Athens. Anthony Evans is also one to keep an eye on, as he’s flashed at the right times. This room could really go six or seven players deep and not lose much of a step.
4. TEXAS - The Longhorns bring a pretty promising offense into their first season in the SEC with elite quarterback and running back rooms. That doesn’t stop with this receiver group. It will be interesting to see them compete in the weekly SEC grind, but they already have SEC type players in this room in Johntay Cook and Isaiah Bond. Of course Bond is since he transferred from Alabama. If we were just ranking top duos I’d probably have the Longhorns at #3,, but the room in Athens is deeper.
5. TENNESSEE - Here’s where I started going back and forth a little with a few teams. I have 5-9 ranked very close and could have gone a few ways with it. I went with the Vols at #5 mainly due to the production of Squirrel White and the offense they run. Bru McCoy also returns after having an interesting career filled with transfers and injuries. Adding transfer Chris Brazzell from Tulane gives Josh Heupel a pretty nasty trio that will be hard to stop.
6. OKLAHOMA - This group may hinge on the play of highly talented, but unproven young quarterback Jackson Arnold. Deion Burks transferring in from Purdue strengthens this room to a top 6 group, but his teammates are also really good football players.Andrel Anthony, Nic Anderson, Jalil Farooq, and Jayden Gibson will put a strain on defenses.
7. LSU - Gone are two first round NFL Draft picks. Malik Nabers went #6 overall and Brian Thomas Jr. went #23 overall. Star quarterback Jayden Daniels was drafted #2 overall. You just can’t replace that kind of star power and production in one offseason, not even with NIL and the transfer portal. The Tigers have a trio of talented receivers in Kyren Lacy, Aaron Anderson, and Chris Hilton. They also added Zavion Thomas from Mississippi State. This gives them potential, but not a lot of production.
8. KENTUCKY - I’m high on returning production and I’m also high on Barion Brown. He’s produced over 500 yards receiving two years in a row and is poised for a breakout season. I see him doing well with Brock Vandagriff under center. Dane Key had just as many yards and touchdowns last season and is a strong second  or third option. Jay Maclin had over 1000 yards receiving and 11 touchdowns with North Texas last season. He started his career off at Missouri.
9. FLORIDA - Eugene Wilson III is the leading receiver with over 500 yards last season. That may not seem like much for a WR1, but he really turned it on in SEC play (Vandy, South Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, LSU) midseason. Wilson had 11 catches for 75 yards and 1 TD against Georgia in 2023. Chimere Dike had over 1000 yards receiving combined from his last two seasons at Wisconsin, while Elijhah Badger went for almost 1600 yards combined from his last two seasons at Arizona State.That’s not a bad trio at all for the Gators, especially if Graham Mertz can have a good year.
10. ALABAMA - I know…..I know, many are going to say this is pretty low for a normally loaded Alabama squad. But is it? They lost Isaiah Bond to Texas and Jermaine Burton to the NFL. While talented, their two returning receivers (Kendrick Law and Kobe Prentice) went for a combined 449 yards receiving and two touchdowns last season. Germie Bernard came over from Washington with new head coach Kalen DeBoer, while Ryan Williams reclassified to enter college early. He’s talented, but you don;t want to have to count on a true freshman who should be a senior in high school.
11. TEXAS A&M - The Aggies begin the season with a new coaching staff and a new quarterback………….sort of. Conner Weigman played well in his first three games in 2023 before suffering a season ending foot injury against Auburn. The Aggies lost the promising Evan Stewart to Oregon, but have Moose Muhammad, Jhadae Walker, and Noah Thomas returning. That’s almost 1300 yards and 9 touchdowns, which isn’t too shabby. You could easily put this group over Alabama’s room.
12. AUBURN - This group would probably be lower if not for Hugh Freeze taking over the offense and the emergence of true freshman Cam Coleman. The bad news is the Tigers will still have Payton Thorne taking the snaps. More good news is that Perry Thompson is also a former 5* true freshman, but will he be ready to contribute.Freeze added 800 yard receiver Robert Lewis from Georgia State, as well as 600 yard receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith from Penn State. I’d definitely have them top 7-8 if they had someone other than Thorne throwing the ball.
13. MISSISSIPPI STATE - Everything is new at Mississippi State this season. New coach (Jeff Lebby - Oklahoma OC), new offense (Lebby - high powered), new quarterback (Will Rogers - Washington), new running back (Woody Marks - USC), and new receivers (Zavion Thomas - LSU, Lideatrick Griffin - Raiders). The Bulldogs will have to depend on junior Jordan Mosley, who only had 3 receptions for 145 yards in 2023. Kevin Coleman brings 800 combined receiving yards in 2022 and 2023 from Jackson State. The key here is going to be Kelly Akharaiyi, who had over 1000 yards receiving and 7 touchdowns with UTEP last season. It will be interesting to see what former Baylor QB Blake Shapen can do in this Lebby offense in the SEC.
14. ARKANSAS - As much as most UGA fans love Sam Pittman, he’s in trouble with his job status as the head coach of the Razorbacks. He has to hope that new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino (I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M TYPING THAT) can help him. Former Boise State quarterback Taylen Green joins them, with KJ Jefferson now at UCF. The Razorbacks will rely heavily on Andrew Armstrong, who had 764 yards receiving and 5 touchdowns last season.Isaac TeSlaa is also a returning contributor. They’re joined by 6’7 Tyrone Broden from Bowling Green.
15. SOUTH CAROLINA - Gone is 1200 yard receiver Xavier Legette to the Carolina Panthers (1st round - #32 overall). Gone is starting quarterback Spencer Rattler to the New Orleans Saints (5th round - #150 overall. Gone is promising and talented receiver Juice Wells, the heir apparent to WR1 after Legette. The Gamecocks lost him very early on to injury last season and as stated above, he is now at Ole Miss. The Gamecocks are excited about talented redshirt-freshman LaNorris Sellers at quarterback. He is joined by former Auburn QB Robby Ashford. They’ll be throwing the ball to ultra-athletic Nyck Harbor, who didn;t have much production at all as a freshman. He’s joined by Luke Doty (yes, the QB) and three transfer receivers. Dalevon Campbell had almost 600 yards receiving at Nevada in 2023, while Gage Larvadain went for almost 700 yards with Miami-Ohio. Jared Brown has the most production of the transfers, with over 1500 yards combined in 2022 and 2023 at Coastal Carolina. I’d have this group higher if not for the quarterback situation.
16. VANDERBILT - I thought about just leaving them off the list since they’re probably going to be ranked #16 in almost every category. Like a lot of people I don;t care for James Franklin much as a head coach, but it’s becoming more and more impressive what he was able to do at Vanderbilt while he was there. Of course we have to lead off with the Commodores losing promising receiver London Humphreys to UGA. He’ll be a good one for the Dawgs in the future. It’s really going to hurt them losing AJ Swann to be Nussmeier’s backup at LSU, while also losing Ken Seals to TCU.Leading receiver Will Sheppard is now at Colorado. Returning receivers Quincy Skinner and Junior Sherrill had a combined 500 yards in 2023. They’re joined by former Texas Tech receiver Loic Fouonji. Unfortunately for this trio, the SEC is just getting harder and Vandy is still Vandy.

"Who would you rank as the coaches most important to UGA's success?"
A DawgsCentral user posting under the name PiousMonken posed that question to me in the spring of 2023, and I quickly realized that a good answer would require quite a bit of consideration. 
When thinking about the question, I kept coming back to an old football cliche, "It's not the X's and the O's, but the Jimmys and the Joes that make the difference." I found myself considering the players who suit up on Saturdays. Good gameplans and great play calls are key to the success of any college football program, but they are usually only as good as the personnel executing them. With that in mind, I decided to broaden the scope of the rankings beyond members of the coaching staff. 
It sparked a series of longform articles called 23 For 2023. The premise was simple- Profile the 23 people who were most important to Georgia’s success on the gridiron in 2023. To create such a list, one must make value judgments on what on and off-field assets are most important to a modern college football program. 
It focused on players and coaches within the UGA program. Collectively, the series served as a giant preview for the season ahead. It became a favorite of subscribers, and it forced me to ask questions that I hadn’t before. 
This year, I am bringing the list back once again. Naturally, it will be called 24 for 2024. 
With his former mentor now manning a microphone on ESPN, Kirby Smart is college football’s most accomplished coach. In 2024, Smart will have to navigate significant staff turnover and seismic changes within the sport itself. Georgia came up short of a third straight national championship in 2023, but winning it all this season would give the Bulldogs three titles in four years. That achievement would cement the program as a modern dynasty. 
Whether or not Georgia can reach that lofty pedestal, and how they go about trying to do it, will be largely influenced by the roles these 24 individuals play. 
Today we continue the rankings with #19. The first few entries in this series will not be paywalled, but as we get further down the list it will become a subscriber’s only feature. Let’s get after it…
Previous Entries
#24 - David Hill
#23 - Will a True Nose Tackle emerge for the Dawgs?
#22 - Benjamin Yurosek
#21 - Will Muschamp
#20 - Dominic Lovett
#19 - Jalon Walker
When Jalon Walker arrived in Athens, he did so to considerable hype. He was yet another name in a long string of five-star inside linebackers who had come to play for LB coach Glenn Schumann. Like many others with his blue-chip pedigree, he came with hopes of picking up the mantle that names like Roquan Smith, Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker had carried while ushering in a new era of Bulldog glory. The play of those individuals had been good enough to turn them into first-round draft picks, and turn UGA into college football's modern version of "LBU."
As a high-school senior, Walker already had the physical build of an 8-year NFL starter. The obvious college readiness of his frame and the departure of Dean and Walker only created more talk of Walker playing early at Georgia. Smael Mondon and Jamon Dumas-Johnson, two other names in that string of heralded linebackers, would ascend to the starting roles instead. In his first 5 games at Georgia, Walker played just 22 total snaps. All of those came in garbage time with victory well secured. 
I was sitting in the press box of a fairly sleepy Sanford Stadium when Walker came into the game against an overmatched Vanderbilt team in the fall of 2022. These weren't high stakes reps in a heated battle, but it was still the first-half and the first-team defense was still in the game. Interested to see Walker in action, I scanned the ILB positions to find him before the snap. That's when I realized he wasn't lined up there.
Walker was in the wrong spot... I mean, he wasn't lined up in the wrong spot per say, but he also was not lined up at linebacker. Freshman linebacker Jalon Walker was in the game, but he wasn't playing linebacker. Walker was lined up on the edge of Georgia's defensive line at the Bulldogs' "JACK" position. The snap came, and Walker came outside the tackle's shoulder to set the edge. More snaps came, and Walker started making tackles. Then more snaps came after that, but this time Walker was lined up at his traditional LB position. Once again, he made a tackle. 
When that day was done, Walker had played 19 snaps. He took 10 of those as an edge defender and 8 of them as a LB. He played in coverage and he rushed the quarterback, he dropped back into coverage a few times too. He made 4 tackles for the Bulldogs in that game, and all of them resulted in unsuccessful plays for the opposing offense. I have never seen Jalon Walker on a football field and thought he was in the wrong position again. 
Walker didn't have a single QB pressure that day against Vanderbilt, which is a bit ironic when you consider the player he has become since then. Those 19 snaps were the most he played in a single game in 2022, but that season might not have ended with a 15-0 Georgia team hoisting a trophy in Los Angeles if he hadn't been a Bulldog. 
A week earlier, Georgia's defense was being torn to pieces by CJ Stroud and an array of future NFL receivers in the CFP Semifinal against Ohio State. The desperate Dawgs finally realized that Stroud would pick them apart all night if they let him sit back and scan the field. Georgia started throwing the kitchen sink at Stroud, sending rushers from all levels of the defense in the hopes of confusing him. With injuries across the front seven, Walker pitched in 3 pressures that night. One of them forced a throwaway by Stroud on 3rd down with under 5 minutes to play. It forced OSU into a FG that made the score 41-35, and it got Stetson Bennett the ball back for the game winning drive. 
Another one of Walker's pressures came after the TD that put Georgia ahead. Walker came screaming off the left side of the defensive line and flew past a TE. He was in Stroud’s face before he could finish his drop or set his feet to throw. Stroud spun away, but he was forced to run backwards in order to throw the ball out of bounds. 
That final third-down pressure by Walker kept Ohio State from getting the yards it desperately needed. Buckeyes kicker Noah Ruggles had never made a 50-yard FG before that night, and he still hasn't to this day. 
How do you use a guy who can do everything? 
Walker's turn at EDGE certainly didn't happen by mistake, but he was cross-trained there at least in part due to UGA's exceptional LB depth his freshman year. Those Dawgs had veterans Rian Davis and Trezmen Marshall to rotate in and spell Mondon and Dumas-Johnson. Today's college football landscape is filled with turnstiles- A heralded recruit whose not starting is likely departing.
Walker wasn't just physically talented when he got to Athens his freshman year. He also came in and picked up UGA's defense right away. His demeanor and work ethic was more akin to an upperclassman than a lost freshman. In short, Walker was a guy who deserved some playing time, but he was in a position where there was none to be had. 
Everyone thought his longterm future was at LB, and many still do, but the experiment at edge was too successful to abandon. He finished 2022 with 13 pressures on just 64 pass rush snaps. The sample size was small and the competition varied, but Walker's pass-rush productivity rate was a smidge higher than Nolan Smith's (102 pass rush snaps/19 pressures) in 2022.
Walker's workload increased last season despite missing spring practice due to offseason labrum surgery. He saw most of his snaps with Georgia's first-team, and he played in all 14 contests, but he didn't become an every down player for the Bulldogs. It's hard to interpret exactly why because last season made it even harder to define what position Walker plays. 

When looking at Walker's 2023 snap counts, the Missouri game immediately pops out. The 32 snaps that Walker played in Georgia's hard fought win over the Tigers were the most that he has had in any game as a Bulldog. The immediate reaction to seeing that was to remember that Jamon Dumas-Johnson suffered a broken arm against the Tigers, and assume that Walker played increased snaps after Dumas-Johnson left the game. That assumption is wrong. 
If you go back and watch the Missouri tape you'll see Walker on the field for Mizzou's very first drive of the game, but he's lined up on the defensive line instead of as an inside linebacker. In reality, Walker played over two-thirds of his snaps at defensive line that day. Even after the injury to Dumas-Johnson, he was playing as an edge defender much more than a LB.
Walker is still treated as a linebacker, and he often trains with Georgia's linebackers. There is a belief by some that his NFL future is brightest at there, and it is possible that Georgia feels keeping him in the mix at LB is the best thing for him. I would argue that the opposite may be true
Embracing The Pass Rush
When you think of a prototypical pass rusher, you usually think of guys with length. they are 6'4 or 6'5" and they have long arms and athletic frames. Walker arrived at UGA at 6'2" and roughly 225 pounds. The normal person's wingspan is equal to their height. Walker's 76-inch wingspan is plus-sized for his 74-inch frame, but guys like JJ Watt and Myles Garrett have wingspans that are approaching 7-feet. Walker's is nowhere near there.
I'm telling you all of that to tell you why the argument exists for Walker's home to be at linebacker. Now I'm going to tell you why none of that should matter, at least not right now.
Trivia question for you... Who led 2023 UGA in QB pressures? 
It's a bit of a trick question because there are two answers. Both Jalon Walker and Mykel Williams had 26 pressures for the Bulldogs last year. It's impressive that Walker tied a surefire future first-round draft pick like Williams for team lead, but it's really impressive when you realize that Williams did that despite having just 124 pass rush snaps to Mykel's 236. 
It'd be unfair to not point out that Williams was shaded further inside and had interior gap responsibilities in the run game that slowed his get off at times. It should also be mentioned that Walker rushed from the LB position at certain junctures as well. Still, even after accounting for all of that, Georgia has a pressure machine in Walker. When you look at his production in 2023, it could be argued that he was underutilized last season. Here are a few numbers that pop out...
Walker's PFF Pass Rush Grade of 85.4 led all players on the 2023 Georgia roster. Walker's win percentage on pass rush snaps was 21.5%. The next highest win percentage among Bulldogs with 100+ pass rush opportunities last year was Warren Brinson's 12.8. That win percentage jumped to a whopping 24.5% when Walker faced true pass sets* *True pass sets are plays where a QB drops back into the pocket without play-action, rollouts or screens. It is a way of measuring a rushers true value as a rusher. 
The statistical arguments for Walker not being a linebacker anymore are strong. His body has also changed significantly since he enrolled in Athens. He is now a stout 245 pounds, which is around the size where UGA edge defenders like Nolan Smith, Azeez Ojulari and Robert Beal Jr. played. The tape might speak most loudly of all though. 
When you watch Walker play off the edge you don't see a LB taking a vacation from his normal duties. His burst at the snap is fantastic, and he bends extremely well when coming around the outside of an opposing offensive tackle as a speed rusher.
Walker has also shown he can get home against some of the best offensive lines in the SEC. He had 4 pressures on 17 pass rush snaps against Missouri's Javon Foster, who was taken 114th overall in this year's NFL Draft. Walker isn't padding stats against FCS schools and the bottom feeders of the SEC. He had a career high 5 pressures and 2 sacks against Alabama in the SEC Championship. Ironically, that game does present an argument for using Walker in some creative ways that don't involve him putting his hand in the dirt at the end of the line of scrimmage. 
One of his sacks came early in the game on a simulated pressure on a third-down. Georgia ran a three-down linemen look where Walker stood over the A-Gap* before the snap and threatened to blitz. When the play began he stayed disengaged from the offensive line but walked upfield as a spy on Bama QB Jalen Milroe. When Milroe tried to step up and to the left and escape the pocket, Walker mirrored his movements and came upfield and wrapped him up for a sack without ever letting an offensive linemen touch him. Later in the same quarter, Bama faced a 3rd & 9 from the UGA 25 yard-line. Walker lined up on the edge and speed rushed his way past LT Kadyn Proctor, flushing Milroe out of the pocket at the top of his drop. 
*The "A-Gaps" are between the Center and the Guards. The B-Gaps are between the Guards and Tackles.
If Georgia wants to use Walker to contain an athletic quarterback that makes sense, but the Bulldogs should rarely need him to play a traditional LB role or drop into pass coverage. They have recruited loads of linebacking talent, but the current UGA roster is not deep on proven pass rushers.
Walker played just 12 snaps against the Crimson Tide. Only 7 of those were in pass rush. He had 5 pressures and 2 sacks in those 7 pass rush snaps. Considering Georgia's struggles getting to Jalen Milroe in that game, it is fair to wonder why that number wasn't higher. There were times in that Alabama game where Walker was asked to play LB and drop into coverage in third-and-long. His athleticism made him effective in that role, but you can also keep an explosive pass play from happening by forcing the QB to get the ball out before deep routes can develop. 
In truth, it's fair to wonder why Walker's usage rate wasn't higher throughout the 2023 season. 
Last year's UGA team took a big step back in pass rush production. Their 222 total pressures were 61 fewer than they amassed in 2022, and 70 less than they created in 2021. The Dawgs do like to use their ILB's in pass rush packages where they crash upfield into the A-Gaps at the snap, but Walker has shown he can beat people off the edge.
When it was all said and done, Georgia's 2023 leader in pressures had just the 7th most pass rush opportunities on the team. 58 of his 224 total snaps were spent in pass coverage, far away from the QB. His rush percentage on passing downs was only 68.4%, which seems low for a guy with the ability to get to the passer. 
The ability of an edge defender to set the edge on first and second down is obviously crucial to a defense's success. Walker has shown flashes of both good and bad as a run defender at the EDGE/OLB position, and that is probably the biggest area of growth for him if he wants to be more of an every down player next season. Still though, Walker's value is immense. If it's second-and-long or third-and-long, then he should probably be chasing the QB. Georgia's usage of him last season was creative, but it might have been a little too creative at times. 
As for Walker's NFL future, it's worth noting that there is precedent for a player of his size to be drafted highly.
Haason Reddick came out of Temple at 6'1" and 230 pounds with a 4.52 forty-yard dash time (Walker has run in the 4.50 range in the past). He had racked up sacks at Temple under Matt Rhule, but at the Senior Bowl he was encouraged to switch to LB because he was seen as too small to be an NFL edge defender. His instincts were solid, and he shot up draft boards with good measurements.
He was picked 13th overall by the Arizona Cardinals, but Reddick struggled early in his career because they weren't exactly sure how to use him. He started just 20 of his first 48 career games. In 2018, he played 79.8% of his snaps as a linebacker and produced 4 sacks and 18 pressures. The next season, he was at linebacker for 68.4% of his snaps and he had just 1 sack and 23 pressures. Reddick's career was on the rocks.
In Week 6 of that season, Reddick came into the game at EDGE after starter Chandler Jones was injured. He had 2 sacks in that game against the Cowboys, and then finished the season on a tear. By the end of the year, he was 4th in the league in sacks. He signed with the Panthers that offseason and reunited with Rhule, putting up 11 sacks and 62 total tackles.
The next year, Reddick went to Philadelphia and became the lynchpin of a defense that made a run to the Super Bowl. In the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship, Reddick sacked 49ers QB Brock Purdy twice, forcing a fumble on one of those plays. It helped seal a Super Bowl trip for Philadelphia, and was the cherry on top of a 16 sack season. His LB skills allowed him to be crucial to Philly's run, following RB's out of the backfield and being physical against the run. Reddick was a good LB who also happened to be a great pass rusher, and he became a weapon that the Eagles could move to create pass rush mismatches or have an extra man in coverage.
Reddick's LB skills have value, but they don't have as much value as getting to the quarterback. All 10 of the NFL's highest paid defensive players in 2024 are linemen. Two of them are DT's Chris Jones and Christen Wilkins. The other eight are edge rushers. There is nothing more valuable to a defense than sacks, and that might be informative when it comes to Jalon Walker. 
The 2024 Bulldogs have a DE/EDGE player in Mykel Williams who could be one of the top players taken in the next NFL Draft. They also have a trio of heralded young edge defenders who are coming into their second year- Gabe Harris, Samuel M'Pemba and Damon Wilson. They also have a veteran OLB in Chaz Chambliss.
Yes, the Bulldogs are long on promise and also have some strong experience in the OLB room. No, you can never have too many guys effecting the quarterback. Walker can have value to Georgia playing in pass coverage or crashing into a RB as a linebacker, but it won't be as great as the value he can have if set loose to attack the QB. If it's a passing down and Jalon Walker is on the field, he should probably be chasing the quarterback down. 
Georgia's march for a three-peat was derailed in Atlanta last December for many reasons. There were injuries that piled up and controversial calls. There were mental miscues on offense. The interior of UGA's defensive line struggled to plug its run lanes at times. All those things hurt. So did the inability to get to Jalon Milroe with four pass rushers. Georgia was forced to either put numbers in coverage or numbers in pass rush, but it didn't have the ability to be balanced. In the end, it cost them a chance at history. 
The 2024 Dawgs have their own chance to do something historic by winning the program's third title in four years. To do it, they'll have to find more ways to bother the quarterback than they did last season. In Walker, they have a player who symbolizes the riches of talent that Kirby Smart has acquired for his program. Yes, he could be an NFL linebacker. He could also be a 10+ sack pass rusher in the SEC. Choosing which of those he should be, and when, could have an outsized effect on the Georgia defense's ability to create havoc. 

“Who would you rank as the coaches most important to UGA’s success?” 
A DawgsCentral user posting under the name PiousMonken posed that question to me in the spring of 2023, and I quickly realized that a good answer would require quite a bit of consideration. 
When thinking about the question, I kept coming back to an old football cliche, "It's not the X's and the O's, but the Jimmys and the Joes that make the difference." I found myself considering the players who suit up on Saturdays. Good gameplans and great play calls are key to the success of any college football program, but they are usually only as good as the personnel executing them. With that in mind, I decided to broaden the scope of the rankings beyond members of the coaching staff. 
It sparked a series of longform articles called 23 For 2023. The premise was simple- Profile the 23 people who were most important to Georgia’s success on the gridiron in 2023. To create such a list, one must make value judgments on what on and off-field assets are most important to a modern college football program. 
It focused on players and coaches within the UGA program. Collectively, the series served as a giant preview for the season ahead. It became a favorite of subscribers, and it forced me to ask questions that I hadn’t before. 
This year, I am bringing the list back once again. Naturally, it will be called 24 for 2024. 
With his former mentor now manning a microphone on ESPN, Kirby Smart is college football’s most accomplished coach. In 2024, Smart will have to navigate significant staff turnover and seismic changes within the sport itself. Georgia came up short of a third straight national championship in 2023, but winning it all this season would give the Bulldogs three titles in four years. That achievement would cement the program as a modern dynasty. 
Whether or not Georgia can reach that lofty pedestal, and how they go about trying to do it, will be largely influenced by the roles these 24 individuals play. 
Today we continue the rankings with #22. The first few entries in this series will not be paywalled, but as we get further down the list it will become a subscriber’s only feature. Let’s get after it…
24 For 2024 - #22 Benjamn Yurosek
There are two types of transfer portal additions in modern college football. 
The first are those borne out of necessity. Numbers are often thinned by early draft entries or players exiting through the portal, and the program has to find enough depth to endure a college football season.
Sometimes a position has the proper numbers, but the staff knows it has a position that is in need of a talent upgrade. At Georgia, almost any player who is transferring out is doing so because they don’t see a path to the field. 
Anyone with good info on the UGA program could have told you that the Bulldogs were likely to add some experienced receivers this past offseason. Kirby Smart signed three portal wideouts. Yes, the Bulldogs needed to fill numbers that had dwindled due to graduations and underclassmen transfers, but they also lacked big bodies with the size and length of a prototypical outside receiver. 
Almost everything that happens in college football’s transfer portal happens because of the first reason, but occasionally there is another- The player is too good to pass up. 
That was the case at the tight-end position for Georgia this offseason.
We all knew that Brock Bowers was going to be heading to the NFL after the 2023 season, but TE coach Todd Hartley has spent the last few years stacking blue-chip recruits behind Bowers. It seemed like Brock’s exit from the program would be an opportunity for talented players who had waited their turn to step into the spotlight. 
•    4* Oscar Delp, 6’4” 245 lbs - #2 TE Class of 2022
•    4* Pearce Spurlin, 6’7” 230 lbs - #2 TE Class of 2023
•    4* Lawson Luckie, 6’3” 230 lbs - #8 TE Class of 2023
•    4* Jaden Reddell, 6’4” 235 lbs - #5 TE Class of 2024
•    3* Colton Heinrich, 6’3” 230 lbs - #40 TE Class of 2024
Nobody would look at that list of names and see an obvious need that UGA would want to fill from the portal, but that changed when Stanford TE Benjamin Yurosek came available. A grad transfer with three years of starting experience, Yurosek was widely regarded as one of the nation’s top returning TE’s. Yurosek took some recruiting visits this winter before announcing he would play his final year of college football at UGA. Suddenly, the West Coast kid out of Bakersfield, CA was bound for the Classic City. 
With the exception of Heinrich, all of the players listed above were national recruits who could have gone to almost any program in the country. This spring, the program announced that Spurlin would be forced to retire from football due to a congenital heart condition. Spurlin was a promising player who flashed a lot of potential when he saw the field in 2023. His absence in the room meant UGA would have one less body. Even with the loss of Spurlin, the Bulldogs had the experienced Delp and the ascendant Luckie to pair with blue-chip 2024 recruit Jaden Reddell. 
Delp was originally viewed as a receiving TE, but he has put on muscle every year and turned himself into an excellent inline blocker. Luckie was one of the breakout players of Georgia’s 2023 spring practices, and his explosiveness after the catch made an immediate impression. An injury in last year’s fall camp slowed his rise, but he improved as a blocker last fall and appears ready to contribute on a regular basis in 2024. 
With Bowers now gone, many are predicting a breakout year for the WR position at Georgia. While I don’t think a TE is going to be Georgia’s #1 receiving option in 2024, I do think it’d be a mistake to assume that the Dawgs will abandon their roots. 
Most UGA fans understand that the Bulldogs have a TE on the field on almost every play. What some might be overlooking is the fact that 12 Personnel sets (2 TE’s) have become a staple of Georgia’s offense. 

Most people envision smash mouth football when they hear two tight-end sets brought up, but the Bulldogs have been extremely effective passing the ball out of them. The 2022 team created headaches for opposing secondaries by working Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington into man-to-man situations versus linebackers and safeties. 
Most people envision smash mouth football when they hear two tight-end sets brought up, but the Bulldogs have been extremely effective passing the ball out of them. The 2022 team created headaches for opposing secondaries by working Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington into man-to-man situations versus linebackers and safeties. 
So, what is Yurosek doing in Athens?
Yurosek’s commitment to UGA raised my eyebrows for a moment, but I must admit that I gave the former Stanford TE very little thought as the Bulldogs moved through the offseason. When spring practice was over, I began talking to more sources about the specifics of the 2024 team. One thing became very clear during those conversations… Georgia brought Benjamin Yurosek to Athens to be a major piece of its offense. 
Delp is a very different player now than he was back in 2022 when he joined Georgia. He has added 25-30 pounds since he enrolled in Athens, and it has turned him into a strong inline blocker. Oscar filled in admirably in the passing game when Bowers was out of the lineup in 2023, but he is a bit stiffer through the hips and is probably going to be most effective running routes up the seams and into the flat. With Bowers, the Bulldogs had a TE who could run a full route tree to every level of the field. 
It goes without saying that there is no replacing Brock Bowers. He was an extremely unique player who could hold up as a blocker in the SEC while also racking up an average of 8.5 yards after the catch per reception during his career. The ability that Brock had once the ball was in his hands created incredible value for Georgia. If the Bulldogs flipped Bowers the ball in the flat on 1st & 10 then the average result was going to put them into 2nd & 1. Delp is not likely to do that. 
Yurosek stood out when healthy at Stanford despite having inconsistent QB play and few other high-end skill players around him. A big reason why is his ability to create his own yardage. At 6’4” and 243 pounds, Yurosek is actually a bit taller than Bowers and about a dozen pounds heavier. He and Delp are almost identically sized on paper, but Yurosek is a more dynamic runner. 
Yurosek battled injuries in 2023, and they ended his season just halfway through the year. Back in 2021, he led Stanford pass catchers with 653 YDS and was second on the team with 42 catches. Yurosek’s average of 15.5 YDS per catch was also the highest on the 2021 Stanford roster.  
In 2022, his per reception average slid down to 9.1 yards, but he actually pulled down more passes. His 49 receptions were second on the team, but Yurosek had just 445 yards to show for it. He battled through a knee injury between the 2021 and 2022 seasons, and the rehab stretched into fall camp. He was held out of spring practice and wasn’t seen in full pads until only a couple weeks prior to the season. It seemed to rob him of some of his explosiveness after the catch, but his decreased yards per catch could also be contributed to Stanford using him underneath more in 2022. The Average Depth of Target (ADOT) was 9.3 yards downfield when Yurosek was thrown to in 2021, but that ADOT fell to just 6.5 YDS past the line of scrimmage the next year. 
The decreased ADOT was in some ways a compliment to Yurosek’s skillset. Back in 2022, Bowers and Yurosek had a unique thing in common. They were both seeing significant amounts of targets on screens or behind the line of scrimmage. Bowers averaged 8.7 yards after the catch on 18 catches off screens. Yurosek was right behind him with 8.5 YAC/rec on 13 screen passes. 
There were only two other TE’s in the country who had 13+ targets on screens that season. One was South Carolina’s dynamic Swiss Army knife of a player, Jaheim Bell. The other was Mackey Award finalist Michael Mayer. We are talking about unique, highly skilled TE’s here. Like Bowers, Yurosek was also used as a rusher at Stanford. He had 11 carries last year before the season ending injury. He averaged 4.8 YPA on those rushes, but he did force a few missed tackles and 64.1% of his yardage came after contact. The implication would be that he didn’t get great blocking help. In 2022, Yurosek had just one carry, an end-around for 50 yards off the right side. 
What’s interesting for UGA’s purposes is that Yurosek is probably a better blocker than most realize. He was targeted 65 times in that 2022 season, but only 30 of those targets (46.2%) came out of the slot. Bowers saw 50 of his 82 targets (61.2%) come as a stand-up receiver. Working out of the slot should be an advantage for a TE with fluid hips and the ability to run in and out-breaking routes. It allows them to get upfield faster and with less resistance, and it opens up a more varied route tree. 
For all his skills, Yurosek played 64.3% of his snaps as an inline TE in 2022, and that number bumped up to 67.8% in 2023. Stanford’s porous offensive line is likely a big reason why he played with his hand in the dirt so often. In many ways, he became an H-Back at times. He just happened to be an H-Back with some of the best receiving skills of any TE in college football. 
Georgia has had the luxury of running a lot of deeper passing routes with its TE’s in recent years. Sometimes those were delayed releases, and at other moments they came off play-action fakes that helped freeze opposing linebackers. The Cardinal’s weaknesses up front often forced Yurosek to stay in the box to help chip pass rushers and provide extra blocking numbers in the run game. 
When he did go out for a pass, Yurosek was dealing with extremely limited play from the QB position. Stanford passers had just 11 passing TD’s last year while throwing 10 INT’s. Looking at where his targets came in 2023, it seems like Yurosek was asked to run mostly underneath routes over the middle as his career wore on at Stanford. I went back and pulled tape from each year of Yurosek’s college career, and it was wild to see the amount of throws where he would be wide open downfield and the QB would just miss him. I am guessing that Stanford’s coaches grew tired of trying to run things their players couldn’t execute, and stopped sending him downfield as much.
Back in 2021, Yurosek was on a team with slightly better pieces around him. It freed him up to do more things downfield. He worked depths of 10-19 yards with consistency, and he caught 14 passes in that range while averaging over 23 YDS per catch on those receptions. What’s really intriguing is that 2021 Yurosek had 9 yards of YAC per reception on those intermediate routes in the same season where he averaged 10.9 yards of YAC/rec on throws behind the line of scrimmage. In plain terms, he created separation from defenders downfield but also read blocking and forced missed tackles in space on the perimeter.  
Yurosek has been stuck in a system that needed him to play around the line of scrimmage. Because of that, he’s had a limited number of downfield opportunities. In his career, he has been targeted only 14 times on throws of 20+ yards.
Despite the limited sample, he has an impressive track record of pulling in contested catches. In his career, he has caught 5 of 7 contested catch opportunities on throws of 20+ yards downfield. He almost never lined up out wide at Stanford, but there were 3 times in his career where he was thrown a deep ball outside the numbers. All of those came on the left boundary, and he caught all three of them. Two of those were contested. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Georgia try to use Yurosek on the boundaries some in 2024. 
There are two things that make QB’s comfortable. The first is YAC. We have already established that Yurosek has shown he can chew up extra yardage after the catch when he gets the ball. The second thing QB’s love is feeling like a receiver is never covered.
2024 Georgia struggled against Alabama because it was without Rara Thomas and it didn’t have other big targets to pull down 50/50 balls. Yurosek’s size makes him part of that solution. He comes to UGA with a career Contested Catch Rate of 56.3%. He’s pulled down 18 contested receptions on 32 targets. That’s a good number, and it’s informative on a certain level, but that doesn’t even begin to tell the real story of his catch radius. He makes spinning catches over his head, pulls in one-handed catches with a defender on his other shoulder, and snags the ball in a hole in the zone between three defenders. There are a lot of plays in his career that should have gone for long yardage. Oftentimes, a bad throw turned 3-5 yards of separation into a catch where he had to jump for the ball or come to a stop and wait for it. 
**Bowers finished his UGA career with a Contested Catch Rate of 59% (23 catches on 39 contested targets)**
How Yurosek could be used in Georgia’s offense
Brock Bowers was the most dynamic receiving TE in college football throughout his career in Athens. Despite that, we saw him do plenty of dirty work in the run game. Tight-ends often get classified as a “Y-TE” or an “F-TE.” The Y is a stand-up receiving TE, and the F is a blocking TE who is asked to function like an extra blocker. A true F is basically modern football’s version of a fullback. 
Analyzing Georgia in recent years has taught us that the boxes aren’t drawn quite so neatly in the Bulldogs’ offense. Bowers was a phenomenal receiving TE who was asked to block the backside of many a run play. Darnell Washington had the blocking skills of an extra offensive tackle, but we saw him line up out wide at times as the solo receiver on his side of the play.
Looking at the tape of both players, I think Delp is a bit better run blocker than Yurosek, but I believe the Stanford transfer will be better in the trenches than most people expect. As for pass blocking, neither player has been asked to block snap to whistle a ton in their careers, but Yurosek ran a good number of delayed routes where he helped chip a pass rusher before going out for a pass. His feet are a bit more natural than Delp’s when dealing with an edge rusher, but I don’t think that is what he came to Athens to do.
Yurosek is a luxury for Georgia, and that is precisely what makes him so interesting to consider. Is he a fantastic receiving tight-end? Yes, but lining him up next to the offensive tackle, and motioning him as an H-Back should not be abandoned. UGA loves to run Levels Concepts (multiple players running out routes towards the sideline at different depths on the same side of the field) while rolling their QB right. The Bulldogs made a lot of easy first downs in 2022 when they flipped the ball out to an uncovered Darnell Washington in the flat. Yurosek’s usage in presnap motion at Stanford was intriguing. He often got outside leverage on a defender off orbit motions. That can be deployed in the flat at Georgia. 
The advantage of the 2 TE sets that UGA runs out of 12 Personnel is that they are incredibly versatile. With athletic receivers liked Yurosek and Delp, defenses are stuck with poor choices. If they stay with lighter/faster defensive backs then the two TE’s could road grade them and bust big runs. If the defense decides to go heavy, then UGA can ask Yurosek and Delp to simply slip past them on a play-action pass as the LB is breaking down to take on what they expect to be a block. 
Stanford also used Yurosek off motion as a run blocker. He would slide from one side of the formation to the other to try and seal off one side of the formation from a crashing edge defender. The Cardinal ran some beautiful fakes off of that action, and Yurosek would blow past a linebacker on a Wheel Route towards the sideline. Georgia should be able to run these same types of fakes if they deploy him properly. The diagram I made below is an example of the type of motions I’m referring to. 
As you can see, the same motions can be used in pass and run situations. For a player working out of the backfield, the motion options are extremely varied. He can be isolated on almost any back seven defender that the offense wants to test. The possibilities get even greater when you remember that Yurosek has shown he can be an effective ball carrier too. Yurosek can run a pre-snap orbit motion into an end-around. The next drive, he can fake that end-around and continue out for a pass. It can become dizzying for LB’s to deal with. Especially when he has the speed to make defenders pay dearly for any hesitation. 
The blocking work Yurosek did over the last few years was part of what made him dangerous. It helped put defenses into conflict, and heavy/tight personnel sets were deeply ingrained in Stanford’s offensive identity under David Shaw. What’s tantalizing is the snaps Yurosek put on tape where he gets downfield quickly. There was a snap against Notre Dame a couple years ago where he lined up next to the offensive tackle and took off upfield before cutting on a deep slant. He left the Notre Dame safety in the dust and then outran two other Fighting Irish defenders to the far pylon of the end zone for a 49-yard touchdown.
That type of skillset could bring UGA’s 12 Personnel sets back to the level of effectiveness we saw in 2022. UGA can play out of tight formations with these TE’s and pound the ball on the ground. What’s intriguing to think about is the hurry-up potential. Georgia can hit a pass play out of a spread 12 Personnel formation, and then immediately go into a condensed set like the diagram below. 

Back in 2021, Stanford had a 3rd ranked Oregon team in a close game in Palo Alto. The Cardinal got the ball back down 24-17 with a little over a minute to go. At that point, it was imperative that Stanford do anything it could to hit chunk pass plays and get in the end zone. Yurosek was moved out to the slot in four-wide and five-wide formations. He made two key catches on a TD drive that forced overtime. Looking at Yurosek’s body of work, it was clear that there were times that Stanford considered him their most reliable pass catcher. 
The problem for Yurosek was that he was never on a team that won more than 3 games in a season. He was often a focal point of the opposing defense’s gameplan. He managed to be productive anyways, but the versatility he possesses probably hasn’t been put on full display. There are routes on tape where he beats an opponent’s #1 CB off the line of scrimmage and gets behind them on a deep ball. He has the size and skills to do the dirty work in the run game. I also believe he can work out wide in the red zone and high point the football on a Fade Route like an X-Receiver. Nobody will replace Bowers in a one for one scenario, but Yurosek’s comfort playing as an inline TE makes him schematically versatile in ways similar to Bowers. 
Those skills make him a possible every down player for Georgia. I wouldn’t be surprised if he sees a lot of snaps in 2024 as the only UGA TE on the field. That’s not intended to write off Delp. Either could be the best choice depending on the opposition and the play call. There is no bad way to use Yurosek’s talent, but he is now surrounded by dynamic skill players that also demand attention. He is a chess piece that Bobo and the rest of Georgia’s offensive staff can get creative with. I expect him to be particularly effective in the Red Zone and on 3rd & 3 to 3rd & 7 type situations. We know Beck is comfortable throwing up the hash marks. He also excels at quick game throws inbetween holes in a zone defense. At the absolute least, Yurosek will be a security blanket in those areas. He has the talent to be used in many other ways though. 
As the season wears on, Yurosek could represent a breaking point of sorts for opposing defenses. Can an opponent control Etienne and the other RB’s without putting extra numbers in the box? Maybe. Can an opponent’s defensive backs handle Lovett, Bell, Thomas, Young, Evans, Smith and all the other receivers? Maybe. Can they hold all of that force back and still get away with an extra defender playing Yurosek in man coverage? I don’t know. Can that extra defender hold up against him in both run and pass scenarios if UGA goes hurry-up? It feels unlikely.
UGA’s 2024 offense already felt like a pick your poison proposition for opposing coordinators. After doing a deep dive into Yurosek, it feels like there’s another prong to the Georgia attack. Football is about matchups, and Yurosek is a walking matchup problem. I don’t know if Yurosek will make big plays every week. I am not sure if he will rack up eye popping numbers either. What I do know is that games will come where he represents the piece that causes the dam to break. He’s another thing that defenses will have to take away, and taking him away is going to lead to water working its way through the cracks somewhere else. 

I really like doing this series and I'm glad it led to a good discussion. I love that DC/TPL is a place where we don't even have to ask for folks to keep things civil when disagreeing, it's just that way naturally.
Some of you disagreed with Arch Manning pushing Texas to the #1 spot over UGA due to me having him as the top backup over Jaden Rashada and Gunner Stockton. Some agreed, but that's the fun in this. We don't all have to agree on everything, except the FACT that The University of Georgia is the greatest school in the universe!
Let's move on to the running backs and see where they stand in the SEC as fall practice nears:
1. GEORGIA BULLDOGS
This is again a battle at the top for me between Georgia and Texas. With the Dawgs pulling in Trevor Etienne, I just don’t see a RB room better than this one. Especially with the way Roderick Robinson has been looking in workouts. With Branson Robinson coming off of a big injury, the Dawgs look towards three scholarship freshmen to round out the group.That could be the critique here, but there aren’t any freshmen running backs like Nate Frazier.
2. TEXAS LONGHORNS
Texas has seen a lot of success lately from the running back position, especially with the Falcons drafting Bijan Robinson so high. This room may not be quite as talented as the past couple of years, but it’s strong enough to help them in the SEC. CJ Baxter and Jaydon Blue were pretty highly ranked coming out of high school and will now be counted on more. They’ll also look to freshmen Jerrick Gibson and Christian Clark to round out the group..
3. AUBURN TIGERS
This is one I may have higher than others and pretty much everyone knows by now how much I hate Auburn, but I’m very high on Jarquez Hunter. He’s their workhorse back and I have them over Alabama mostly because of him and his experience. Damari Alston is no slouch behind him and I was also high on Jeremiah Cobb. I also looked at production and I see Auburn running the ball A LOT with Payton Thorne still in as QB1.
4. ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE
Two things are in play here. You can’t deny the talent in the room. Jam Miller leads the room with former five stars Justice Haynes and Richard Young in the mix. You also have to consider Jalen Milroe as a factor. But you also have to consider the fact that this is a new offense that is known to air it out a lot. Will they do the same in Tuscaloosa? How long will it take for the players to hit their stride in the new offense? How much will they run the ball? As talented as the room is, they’re also unproven. The Crimson Tide don’t have a running back with more than 200 yards rushing. This factor added to the questions above puts them a little down the line for me.
5. FLORIDA GATORS
I think some underestimate the talent of Montrell Johsnon. He’s been a pretty productive running back for the Gators, running for over 800 yards the past two seasons. I also have them this high because of the offense they run needing production from the running back room. They can try to spin it all they want, but losing Etienne to UGA hurt BAD. Treyaun Webb is one of their top backups and Georgia fans should be familiar with the former Bulldog commit.
6. OLE MISS REBELS
Quinshod Judkins transfer to Ohio State should hurt way worse than what I think it actually will. The good thing for the Rebels is that they look to Ulysses Bentley and LSU transfer Logan Diggs to take over. Bentley split time with Judkins last season and ran for over 500 yards. Diggs ran for just over 650 yards for the Tigers. They also have Henry Parrish back.
7. TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS
Dylan Sampson has rushed for over 1000 yards for the Vols in his two years as a backup to Jaylen Wright and Jabari Smith. Cameron Seldon is also a talented back who should get a lot of carries this season. Many people don;t realize how much Tennessee actually runs the ball in their fast paced offense.I have them over Texas A&M because of this factor and the experience of Sampson.
8. SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS
It’s hard to put a team this low when they have a running back coming in who rushed for almost 1500 yards two years ago, but Rocket Sanders had an injured knee before tearing his labrum last season. If he comes back and looks like the old Rocket Sanders then I’d probably move South Carolina at least to #5 and maybe over Alabama also. Behind Sanders are Oscar Adaway and Djay Braswell, who are decent backup options.
9. OKLAHOMA SOONERS
Gavin Sawchuk is the returning starter for the Sooners, rushing for over 700 yards and 9 touchdowns last season as an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention. There are two questions you have to ask here. 1. Can he put up that same production week in and week out against SEC defenses? 2. Can he do the same thing with a new starter at quarterback? Former five star Jackson Arnold is talented, but they’re playing GROWN MAN FOOTBALL now.
10. TEXAS A&M AGGIES
This one was a hard one because the Aggies’ RB room is composed of some very talented players. They just don’t have the experience of being the lead back that everyone has to count on. Coupled with the coaching changes, I have more questions about this group than answers. With all of the teams above you can point to someone being THE GUY, even if they’re going to rotate some. You just can’t here yet.
11. MISSOURI TIGERS
Cody Schrader and his 1600 yards rushing kind of shocked everyone last season, but he is in the NFL now. Can the Tigers pull a rabbit out of a hat again and get anywhere near that kind of production from transfers Marcus Carroll (Georgia State) and Nate Noel (Appalachian State)? If so, they’ll be a tough out again.
12. LSU TIGERS
Before researching for this write up, I did not realize the LSU running back room was this inexperienced. Josh Williams ran for over 500 yards in 2022, but regressed to 284 yards last season. He did average over five yards a carry both years though. Kaleb Williams is probably his top backup in his second year, while John Emery is also an option. It’s just a coin toss every week whether the former five star will be in the doghouse or not.
13. ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS
Make no mistake about it…………even though his season ended early last year due to injury, losing Rahem Sanders to South Carolina is a massive loss for a team that needed some good news.That came in the form of Ja’Quinden Jackson transferring in from Utah. He ran for 797 yards and 4 touchdowns for the Utes last season. They also have Rashod Dubinion returning. More good news came in the hiring of Bobby Petrino as offensive coordinator (I can’t believe I just typed that). The bad news is that although their schedule is not terrible, Arkansas is still Arkansas. Can Sam Pittman survive the season with a new OC, new QB, and new RB? Things will have to come together FAST.
14. KENTUCKY WILDCATS
I’d have the Wildcats lower if Vanderbilt and Mississippi State weren’t in the SEC. Ray Davis had 199 carries last year for 1129 yards and 14 touchdowns. They’re replacing him with a running back who’s never had over four carries in a college football game and four year backup for Arizona State and Ohio State whose best game was 20 rushes for 61 yards and a touchdown for the Buckeyes in their game against Maryland last season. I have A LOT of questions if these are going to be the two main guys former Georgia quarterback Brock Vandagriff is going to be handing the ball to.
15. VANDERBILT COMMODORES
Celler dweller Vanderbilt has Sedrick Alexander returning from his 371 yard performance last season and he is the only reason I have them ranked above Mississippi State. That and this might be the only chance I have to not have the Commodores ranked dead last.I do like Chase Gillespie and think he could step up and have a bigger role this season.
16. MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS
The cowbell people have a new coach who is known for his offensive prowess in Jeff Lebby. The problem is he has one of the least talented rosters in the SEC. I do think Lebby can and will call an offensive according to what he has on his roster, so he’s not just going to air it out no matter what. The Bulldogs have Jeffery Pittman returning, after rushing for 268 yards last season. The big question here for me is Keyvone Lee. He rushed for 438 and 530 yards in his first two seasons at Penn State, then took a back seat in his third year with the Nittany Lions after only appearing in five games due to an injury. After rushing only 25 times for 94 yards in 2022, he transferred to Mississippi State. His stats got worse, as he only registered 12 carries for 75 yards. If he can get back to the old Keyvone Lee, I’d move State above at least Vanderbilt and Kentucky.

This is something I've been wanting to do, but it's not as much fun if you guys don't participate and give us your rankings/lists also.
I want to go every couple of days and rank the position groups in the SEC. Who do you think has the best QB room? RB? Will Vandy not be 16th in some category?
Let's start with the quarterback rooms in the SEC and I'll put a quick snippet as to why I'm ranking them that way. You can do the same if you choose:
RANKING THE QUARTERBACK ROOMS IN THE SEC
1. Texas - Ewers is very good and Manning is the best QB2 in the SEC.
2. Georgia - Beck might be the best QB in the country. I have Texas ahead due to QB2 isn't proven enough for me to put Rashada and Stockton over Arch.
3. Ole Miss - I like Jaxson Dart in the Ole Miss system........unless they're playing UGA!
4. Alabama - Jalen Milroe proved last season that he can play the position. Interested to see him under a new system.
5. Missouri - I went back and forth between Missouri, LSU, and Tennessee here. Stuck with Cook because of experience and the receivers he has at his disposal.
6. LSU - This one was VERY CLOSE for me. I honestly went with Nussmeier because of what he did in the SEC Championship game against us.
7. Tennessee - The SEC is pretty loaded this year at the position if Nico Iamaleava is at number seven. He's talented and can throw the ball. Would probably have him higher if he had more experience under his belt.
8. Texas A&M - Another I kept lower just due to experience. Connor Weigman was having a really good season last year before getting injured. Now he'll be in a new offense under Mike Elko.
9. Florida - Graham Mertz is an above average quarterback on a not so good Florida team. He had the fifth best passer rating last season behind Daniels, Beck, Milroe, and Dart.
10. Mississippi State - Blake Shapen had good stats last season with Baylor. I like him here simply because of the air raid offense he'll be playing in.
11. Oklahoma - This was another CLOSE one for me. I went back and forth between Jackson Arnold of Oklahoma and former UGA QB Brock Vandagriff at Kentucky. Both are former five stars, but Arnold has a little more meaningful minutes.
11. Kentucky - But Vandagriff has more time in college football in general. Plus the UGA defenses he practiced against every day are going to be better than most teams he plays against this season. For these reasons, I had to make it a tie!
13. Arkansas - They have Taylen Green from Boise State as the projected starter. He's 6'6 225ish pounds and should be decent under Bobby Petrino. They also have Jacolby Criswell from UNC, but I actually really like Georgia native Malachi Singleton as the backup. He's talented.
14. Auburn - Payton Thorne is still there at Auburn and he's honestly just not that great of a quarterback. Average QB play in the SEC isn't going to get you anywhere, especially when your main rivals are Alabama and Georgia. The overall talent on the roster has hurt him a good bit also. They need to pay Juju Lewis whatever NIL it takes to get him on campus.
15, South Carolina – This is another one I couldn't quite decide on. I do believe LaNorris Sellers has a higher upside than Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia. But the redshirt-freshman Sellers only threw four passes last season. He did put up ridiculous numbers in high school though. They also had Robby Ashford transfer in from Auburn and signed 4* QB Dante Reno.Again, I'll put them over Vanderbilt because of the depth chart.
16. Vanderbilt – Diego Pavia did lead New Mexico State to 10 wins last season, including an upset win over Auburn at Jordan Hare Stadium. No trees were rolled that night! But this isn't Conference USA and Vandy has to play six SEC teams this year that will be significantly better than Auburn (Alabama, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas). They also had pretty much every one of their best players transfer out, including star receiver London Humphreys to UGA.

“Who would you rank as the coaches most important to UGA’s success?” 
A DawgsCentral user posting under the name PiousMonken posed that question to me in the spring of 2023, and I quickly realized that a good answer would require quite a bit of consideration. 
When thinking about the question, I kept coming back to an old football cliche, "It's not the X's and the O's, but the Jimmys and the Joes that make the difference." I found myself considering the players who suit up on Saturdays. Good gameplans and great play calls are key to the success of any college football program, but they are usually only as good as the personnel executing them. With that in mind, I decided to broaden the scope of the rankings beyond members of the coaching staff. 
It sparked a series of longform articles called 23 For 2023. The premise was simple- Profile the 23 people who were most important to Georgia’s success on the gridiron in 2023. To create such a list, one must make value judgments on what on and off-field assets are most important to a modern college football program. 
It focused on players and coaches within the UGA program. Collectively, the series served as a giant preview for the season ahead. It became a favorite of subscribers, and it forced me to ask questions that I hadn’t before. 
This year, I am bringing the list back once again. Naturally, it will be called 24 for 2024. 
With his former mentor now manning a microphone on ESPN, Kirby Smart is college football’s most accomplished coach. In 2024, Smart will have to navigate significant staff turnover and seismic changes within the sport itself. Georgia came up short of a third straight national championship in 2023, but winning it all this season would give the Bulldogs three titles in four years. That achievement would cement the program as a modern dynasty. 
Whether or not Georgia can reach that lofty pedestal, and how they go about trying to do it, will be largely influenced by the roles these 24 individuals play. 
Today we continue the rankings with #21. The first few entries in this series will not be paywalled, but as we get further down the list it will become a subscriber’s only feature. Let’s get after it…
 
#21 - Will Muschamp
A countless number of articles have been written on Georgia’s defensive brain trust as the Bulldogs have risen to the top of the sport. Many of them have focused on Kirby Smart’s scheme. Other pieces have discussed Smart’s refusal to concede that a defense has to give up handfuls of points in college football’s modern era. 
Many of those articles have centered around UGA co-DC Glenn Schumann, who has become one of the coaching industry’s brightest young stars. The praise for Schumann is certainly warranted, but it’s also worthwhile to remember that Will Muschamp deserves loads of credit for helping guide and design the defenses that helped UGA win back-to-back national titles and navigate three consecutive regular seasons without a loss…
The national attention given to the UGA defense over the last two years has been rightfully earned.
The 2021 unit might be the best college defense we’ve seen since modern Spread, RPO and Zone-Read concepts found their way into almost every program’s offensive playbook. UGA suffocated some of the best offenses in college football back in 2021, and capped off a national championship season by holding Alabama to 18 points in Indianapolis.
Muschamp joined UGA as a defensive analyst in the offseason prior to the 2021 season. When Scott Cochran stepped away from the program, Muschamp became UGA’s Special Teams Coordinator. As a former head coach, Muschamp was uniquely qualified to run Special Teams. That role works with every position group on the roster, and it is imperative that they understand how the skill sets of different players will translate to Special Teams.
After that season, Muschamp took over the Co-DC position that was left open by Dan Lanning’s departure. He also became UGA’s safeties coach when DB coach Jahmile Addae left for Miami.
The 2022 Georgia defense came into the season with question marks across the board after 8 starters departed for the NFL. It wasn’t just the talent of those players that was gone. What was maybe more concerning was the leadership vacuum that could be created by losing so many veteran defenders. Guys like Nakobe Dean and Lewis Cine had known UGA’s scheme so well that they functioned like coaches on the field.
Many wondered how the Bulldogs would replace all that experience and talent. The answer? Just fine. Georgia’s 2022 unit was the best scoring defense in the FBS during the regular season, allowing just 12.4 points per game. 

The 2023 Georgia defense is looked at as a unit that took a step back in the eyes of many. In reality, the Bulldogs had better numbers against the pass than they did in 2021 or 2022. The 179.1 pass yards that UGA allowed per a game was 20 less than they allowed in 2021, and 48.5 YDS less than they gave up in 2022. Muschamp’s safeties were a huge part of that success. Malaki Starks and Javon Bullard were the nation’s best pair of safeties, and Bullard was picked 58th overall in the NFL Draft. UGA also considers its STAR position as part of the safety group. Tykee Smith’s ability as a slot defender was one of the strengths of Georgia’s defense. He was picked 89th overall after being the MVP of the Senior Bowl.
The flip side of the coin was UGA’s run defense. The Bulldogs gave up 112.2 YPG, which was the most since UGA allowed 137.3 YPG on the ground in 2018. While that was a regression, UGA’s biggest problem was its red zone defense. Georgia gave up a TD or FG on 91.18% of opponent’s trips inside the 20. That was a big step back from the two years before.
Even with those issues, UGA still fielded one of the nation’s best defenses. UGA allowed just 16.3 points per game, which was 7th best in the FBS. They did it despite injuries to key players and the lack of a dominant defensive lineman. In the end, the coordinator duo of Muschamp and Schumann went 28-1 over the 2022 and 2023 seasons. It’s hard to poke many holes in that record.
Back-to-back seasons like that is the type of thing that turns young coordinators into head coaches. That is why there was a certain irony to the fact that Will Muschamp and Glenn Schumann were Georgia’s Co-DC’s during that run. Schumann is still on the front end of a career that seems to be heading towards a head coaching job at a major program. Muschamp has already climbed that mountain, but his trip to the top and back gave him an eye for the big picture that has brought tremendous value to his alma mater…
Thin Margins & Inaccurate Narratives
20 years ago, Muschamp was a 32 year-old national championship winning coordinator at LSU. His boss was a man named Nick Saban, a guy who many considered the best defensive coach in college football at the time.
Muschamp followed Saban to the NFL and spent a year as the assistant head coach of the Dolphins before coming back to college football as the Auburn DC in 2006. There he coordinated two straight defenses that ranked in the top ten nationally in scoring defense.
In January of 2008, Muschamp became the highest paid assistant in the Big 12 when he was hired at Texas. Just 10 months later, the Longhorns announced that Texas would be Mack Brown’s successor as head coach whenever he retired. Prior to that announcement, Muschamp had been connected to job openings at Tennessee, Auburn and Clemson. He had planned to interview with the Tigers during an upcoming bye week, but Texas didn’t want to see him leave town. Muschamp was one of the coaching industry’s fastest risers, and Texas doubled his salary and named him the head coach in waiting to keep him in Austin.
If you look back on the articles that were published about Muschamp in the 2000’s you will read effusive praise for the man who had built dominant units at LSU, Auburn and Texas over the prior years. You will see him labeled as a “defensive guru” quite often.
Muschamp became a head coach for the first time at Florida (2011-2014) and then for a second time at South Carolina (2016-2020). Neither tenure ended with the type of sustained success that many thought they would. He did lead a Gators team that went 11-2 in 2012. That is the best record that a UF team has had since Tim Tebow was there. He also went 9-4 in 2017 at South Carolina. Historically speaking, it is really damn hard to go 9-4 in Columbia.
The media found new young coaches to laud during the decade between Muschamp being hired at Florida and the end of his tenure at South Carolina. During that time, Muschamp became a punching bag for some. There is a box that defensive coaches sometimes get put in. While offensive coaches get portrayed as savvy tacticians, defensive coaches are often made out to be somehow less sophisticated. Perhaps his fiery persona on the sidelines contributed to it, but somewhere along the way many began to paint Muschamp as a clumsy man who lacked intelligence.
Talk to anyone who has worked with or for Will Muschamp and they will tell you that portrayal of Muschamp is way off-base. When he was fired at South Carolina there were people in the football offices who cried as if they had lost a family member. Secretaries and equipment staff spoke about the kind and thoughtful man who they would miss seeing at work everyday. In reality, Muschamp the person was the farthest thing from the labels that some people put on him.
The coaching profession isn’t as simple as many make it out to be. Margins are thin. A play or two costs a team a game. That loss demoralizes the team and causes a season to spiral away. A penalty at one crucial juncture or a missed block at another can sometimes be the thing that a whole season turns on.
That isn’t to say that there aren’t things Muschamp could have done differently or better. It is an acknowledgement of the fact that a career is filled with a great deal of minutiae, and the difference between 4-8 and 8-4 at a place like South Carolina isn’t nearly as big as it seems. A coach’s tenure almost always ends poorly. Suddenly, that tenure must be eulogized in 280 characters on Twitter and 600 words on a dozen different websites. Somewhere in that process things get distilled to a type of black-and-white thinking where coaches become either smart/successful or dumb/unsuccessful.
Despite all that has been said or written about him, Will Muschamp still has a brilliant football mind. It is the same one that he had when he was the 37 year-old defensive coordinator of the Texas Longhorns. It is the same mind that had him labeled a “defensive guru” by media members who sometimes serves as kingmakers.
“Alike Thinkers”
Flashback to where Georgia was when Smart hired Muschamp after the 2020 season. The program was seen as one that couldn’t quite get over the hump. The media painted Kirby Smart as a guy who could recruit talent but not win with it. Many felt his commitment to defense was holding his offenses back.
To make matters worse, UGA had just suffered a bad loss to Dan Mullen’s best Florida team in Jacksonville. UGA recruited blue-chip players all over its defense, b had been carved up by Mullen’s offense. There was a large segment of the media who believed Smart wasn’t the best coach in his own division.
Smart had taken UGA to within a play of the national title in 2017. He had also been minutes from beating Alabama in the 2018 SEC Championship, but his defense faltered down the stretch when Jalen Hurts was inserted for an injured Tua Tagovailoa. Smart called a fake punt that ended in disaster, and moments later Alabama took the lead. Smart’s 2019 team possessed the nation’s best defense and an anemic offense. That campaign was sunk by a loss at home to Muschamp’s South Carolina team when the Bulldogs were 21.5-point favorites.
On the heels of that, Smart hired Muschamp as a defensive analyst in January of 2021. Remember what I said earlier? The margins are thin in this sport. Will Muschamp arrived in Athens armed with the experience of coaching against Smart’s football teams and the rest of the SEC for nearly a decade.
The two first met as teammates at Georgia. Muschamp, an upperclassmen and a starter, encouraged the freshman from Valdosta to keep working and believe that he could see the field at UGA. Smart then coached the secondary at Valdosta State when Muschamp was the defensive coordinator in 2000. The two had the same job titles again at LSU in 2004. That past experience has given Smart and Muschamp a tight bond. They shared information for years while both were at different coaching stops, and Muschamp described the two as “alike thinkers where football is concerned,” back in 2016 during Smart’s first SEC Media Days as the UGA head coach.
Sparking UGA’s Defensive Evolution
When Muschamp came aboard he immediately had Smart’s trust. Analysts are often charged with self-scouting the team they work for. Muschamp told Smart that Georgia needed to simplify its scheme. Will looked across the roster and saw blue-chip talent everywhere. He recognized that Smart’s machine had recruited superior talent across the board, but felt like those athletes weren’t always being put into positions where they could use their physical gifts without hesitation. That moment represented a philosophical shift in how Kirby Smart’s program played defense.
Prior to that, Georgia’s defense was heavy on pre-snap checks, and matchups could be exploited depending on where a receiver, tight-end or running back might line up. Those checks confused UGA’s defenders at times, and it could leave players scrambling to get into position as the offense snapped the ball. The Bulldogs were also caught between wanting to bring extra pass rushers at times, but struggling to deal with the loss of a back end defender. Exploiting those pre-snap issues and running routes into the spaces UGA blitzers rushed from helped Florida put up 38 first-half points during their 2020 win in Jacksonville.
Georgia implemented the concept of “creepers” into its defense. Those creepers are usually second level defenders who would wait until the snap to rush towards the line of scrimmage instead of coming up to the line before the play. By bringing creepers from their regular pre-snap positions, it let UGA bring extra rushers without giving away the blitzer pre-snap. It also allowed players to react to run vs pass plays in real time. The pre-snap blitz looks where UGA brought five, six or even seven players up to the line of scrimmage didn’t totally disappear, but the philosophy allowed UGA to keep two safeties over the top at the same time. This created a system where an opponent’s QB could be staring at two safety shell at the same time UGA was showing an all-out blitz to the offensive line. That’s a lot to process, and the post-snap rotations allowed UGA to run virtually anything.  
Modern offense is all about putting the ball into space. Georgia evolved its defense by taking away the offense’s ability to dictate where space was pre-snap. Then they let superior athletes in the back end play the man across from them. Those scheme changes were coupled with a greater emphasis on getting opponents into obvious passing situations on third downs. Georgia simplified and shrunk its call sheet on early downs, stripping things down and letting players react with less hesitation.
Since that moment, UGA is 43-2 and has won two national titles. It might not have happened without Muschamp coming into the fold. Smart and the entire defensive staff worked together to perfect those solutions, but many believe Muschamp’s voice was the first to start talking about the problem.
The impact of those changes were immediate. In the 2021 Florida game, UGA shellacked the Gators and ended Dan Mullen’s tenure in Gainesville. It was a full circle moment that showed just how much had changed in one season.
The legacy of the 2021 Florida game might have been Smart’s comments after the game, where he chose to be mum about any schematic changes. "There’s no coach out there that you can out-coach recruiting. No coaching is going to out-coach players. Anybody will tell you our defense is good because we have good players."
Georgia always had good players, but the brain trust of Smart, Schumann and Muschamp found new ways to maximize their talent.  
Fiery as Ever
Many thought 2023 could be Schumann’s last as a UGA assistant. Instead it was Muschamp who chose to make a change. Multiple sources have said that Muschamp approached Smart after the regular season and told him he was considering retiring from coaching. Kirby encouraged him to take time to think about it, and offered the idea of an analyst role where Will could continue being part of the program while stepping away from the day-to-day grind.
While figuring out his future, Muschamp helped Smart complete a flip of 5-star safety KJ Bolden. At 52 years old, Muschamp is still relatively young, but coaches age in dog years. He has developed the type of big picture wisdom that only comes with decades of experience in college football’s toughest conference. That wisdom is also the product of a lot of long hours and plenty of scar tissue. His years as a head coach made him plenty of money, and he could retire comfortable at anytime. For now, he has chosen to stay with UGA as a defensive analyst.
Georgia hiring Travaris Robinson to replace Muschamp as Co-DC/Safeties Coach speaks to Smart’s respect for Will. Robinson’s first coaching gig came as a graduate assistant under Muschamp at Auburn from 2006-2007. Robinson then coached DB’s at Florida for Muschamp’s entire tenure in Gainesville before serving as his defensive coordinator at South Carolina from 2016-2020. Nobody has a better understanding of Muschamp’s defensive philosophies and techniques than Robinson.
An NCAA rule change that was passed this week put an end to restrictions on the amount of time that analysts can spend coaching student-athletes. Muschamp, and other analysts like him, can now provide, “technical and tactical instruction to student-athletes during practice and competition," said the NCAA. That means that Muschamp will be able to do plenty of hands-on work with the Georgia defense. Before the rule change, the lines on what analysts could and could not do were a bit blurry. They weren’t supposed to be involved in giving detailed technical instruction during drills, but they could only point out big picture things and comment on effort during practices. In the past, analysts were given a lot of freedom to interact with players in the facility and watch tape, but any yellow tape is no longer a concern.
Sources close to the program described Muschamp as being “fiery as ever” this spring. During one of Georgia’s spring sessions, the loud voice that earned him the nickname “Boom” filled UGA’s indoor practice facility. He started in on Bolden after the talented early enrollee failed to properly play his half-field responsibilities at the safety position. When the prized recruit didn’t make it over to the boundary in time to defend a pass in a team drill, Muschamp lit into him for the effort he showed on the play. It was vintage Muschamp, and being around that type of burning intensity was one of the things that convinced Bolden that Georgia was the right place for him to play his college football.  
There is something poetic about the fact that Smart hired his former boss to assist him in taking their alma mater to the pinnacle of the sport. The defensive changes Muschamp inspired helped spark Georgia’s historic three-year run. 
As the Bulldogs prepare for 2024, it is likely that Smart, Schumann, Muschamp and the rest of UGA’s defensive staff are hard at work on solving the Bulldogs’ issues with red zone defense. Most great defenses are great at controlling the run, and you can bet that UGA will have a renewed emphasis on shutting down opponents on the ground. As the staff analyzes the best way to use 2024’s personnel, another wave of defensive evolution could occur. In his analyst role, Muschamp is likely to have more time to spend on these types of projects. That could pay major dividends for the Dawgs when it comes time to take the field. 
For UGA to win a third title in four years in 2024, its roster full of talented defenders must play at a high level. Still one of the sport’s sharpest defensive minds, Will Muschamp will be a big part of helping the Bulldogs get there.