One day until Drew

All signs lead me to predict Ray Drew is a Dog. From what I have read/heard, he dropped Clemson from his list when he returned from that visit last weekend, so we are down to four. It was rumored AU was his second choice behind UGA but now it appears AU is full at his position. Anyway, regardless, at least tomorrow we will find out and I really believe Drew is a man of his word and so if he says UGA, he signs with UGA. I am hoping then, we can have people stop stalking his facebook account!

Since my title yesterday was about bubble bursting, here is the Joe Lunardi Bracketology from ESPN. Good news, he has us a #9 seed playing Cincy in round one, bad news is twofold, round 2 is against #1 seed Kansas AND this was released on the 24th, the day before we lost to UF. I will be keeping a watchful eye on this as we move forward.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

I will get into this more in the coming weeks but just doing a very preliminary look at our returning players, combined with those we have signed, I think you can find some spots the young guys can come in and play right away. Today I will focus on the offense, tomorrow will be the defense.

 First, at QB, no offense to Hutson Mason, but he is going to have a very hard time holding off Christian LeMay as backup QB. That being said, I wouldn't mind LeMay taking a redshirt year, or at least that being the plan unless Murray goes down with an injury. It would be awfully nice to have two years of class seperation for our QB's, so that when Murray leaves after his senior year (I see Murray as a 4 year starter), we have a junior waiting to take over. That truly is the ideal situation at QB, it is much better that way than to have to rely on true or redshirt FR to come in and lead your team.

At RB, I think it is fairly obvious that we need an upgrade in talent. Nothing against Ealey or King, and we still don't know what to expect out of Malcome (he has received some positive press), but we have not had a stud RB since Moreno left campus. I was a HUGE fan of Caleb King as I got to watch him a few times while he played at Parkview, I really did think he was going to be special. He has had some moments, especially down the stretch in 2009, but overall between injuries and suspensions-let us not forget he basically was suspended his redshirt FR year when he missed a block against UF and Stafford got sacked, he just has not panned out. Right now I am not even sure if he will return in the fall-all I have read is that he is on track to return in the fall. I hope he does come back and have a great senior season. Ealey, again with his suspension and then fumble problems, I am just not sure what to think. He does have some talent but he doesn't appear to have the breakaway speed like our top recruit Isiah Crowell does. This is why if we secure Crowell, he instantly challenges for the starting job day one on campus. This is not to say he earns it but I can almost 100% gurantee we will see him toting the ball against Boise at the Ga Dome game 1. Fullback, there is a mess of a situation potentially. We have had a great line of FB's under Richt, Verron Haynes,  JT Wall, Southerland, Chappas, and now we are left with Zander Ogletree as the possible starter. I think the bowl switch where Figgins was lining up at FB is something to keep an eye on. Bruce is known for his blocking ability and of course he can catch the ball well. We have never seen him actually take a handoff but I would imagine with practice he can do that as well. A guy at 6'4" and 270lbs would make for a tough guy to bring down in short yardage. I believe the lack of a true FB here, I think Zander is a very good football player but is a bit undersized for a true FB at 5'9" 205, leads many to believe Malcome could be a candidate to be our next FB as well, with him being listed last year at 6'0" and 218. Certainly if Crowell comes in and assuming Caleb is back with us, I can see Malcome getting a look at FB.

At TE, depth and more depth. As good as Jay Rome is as a TE prospect, I truly believe he is likely headed for a RS year. Looking at our depth there, Figgins is a SR this year, Charles a JR (and likely will be gone after this season assuming he has a good season) Lynch is a redshirt soph, Aron White will be a SR this year. Seems to me, it would make logical sense to redshirt Rome and get him bigger and not rush him when he is not at a position of need right now. I think a RS year would also allow him to play hoops if he wanted to do so-and our hoops team will need big bodies next year-not sure if Jay will want to do that or not but next year might be his best chance to play basketball if he ever is going to play with him likely to redshirt and as I mentioned the basketball team loses Price, Barnes and Thompkins.

At WR, certainly we have suffered some HUGE losses here with AJ and Kris leaving. I look for Tavarres King and Marlon Brown to step up big time, also Rantavious Wooten needs to pick it up as well. I have heard rumor that Israel Troupe might end up giving up football and play baseball, a sport he was drafted out of high school. While I have always thought Troupe has not really been given a fair chance in football, for his professional future, the move to baseball might very well be his best move at this point. Don't forget about Logan Gray as well, I think he could have an impact this upcoming season at the WR position.  We have the redshirted Michael Bennett who I have read is going to be a solid player, then have some good looking WR's coming in this class. Chris Conley is already enrolled and will go through spring practice, that really does give him a leg up on the other recruits coming in and from what I have read about him, he does have the potential to get some snaps this fall. I feel pretty safe saying Sanford Seay will redshirt, also Justin Scott-Wesley could potentially redshirt although with his incredible speed, he might get some PT on special teams. Another couple to watch for that come from the defensive side of the ball, Branden Smith and Malcolm Mitchell. In fact, I think it is quite possible that one of those two convert over to WR full time because of our depth at corner and the talent we are bringing in with this class at defensive back. Branden Smith to me has shown more potential with the ball in his hands than he has with his coverage skills. The only thing that concerns me with him at WR is how skinny/small he truly is. I can't see him being a great blocker at WR and would he be able to get off the line, get past the jam of the db. I don't worry about him getting hit, let's face it, as a PR he gets hit by guys much bigger than those likely to hit him catching passes, that being corners and safeties.

On the OL, getting Sturdivant and Glenn back was VERY good news, considering we already were losing Boling and Josh/Chris Davis. I am not so worried about losing either Davis but obviously Boling is a big loss-I just looked at the 2011 mock draft  and he was listed as a 3rd round pick-not too bad for a kid we all questioned coming out of Chattahochee HS as a TE. Obviously you plug Sturdivant at LT, and Ben Jones at center. After that, you have Glenn who could play LG, RG or RT. You also have Kenarious Gates who likely will play a G position but has the size and ability to also line up at RT. This means we have one position wide open for a young lineman. Will it be AJ Harmon, Brent Benedict, Chris Burnette-he will be our next center likely after Jones but he could play some G this year, maybe Kolton Houston. If we somehow land Antonio Richardson, I could see him getting in the mix for a spot but otherwise, the OL kids we have coming in, I honestly can't see any of them playing this year. They all could certainly use a year in the weightroom, I am excited about the size of the guys coming in, especially guys like Dantzler and Ward-great height for OT's, Watts just needs to get much stronger and Ward needs to fill out some and get stronger-he has the frame to get up over 300lbs but right is listed at 270. Zach Debell is another one I think has a bright future but again, he has height going for him but not the bulk as of yet. Of course with us getting a new OL coach, all the current and new players will all be starting fresh which could give some guys that maybe Searels didn't like so much, a better shot at getting playing time this upcoming fall. But, as I have said before and will say again, in MOST cases I think it is best for OL to redshirt their first year both for physical and mental reasons. In high school, these OL typically just dominate their opposition becuase they are just so much bigger but when they get to college, the guy across from them is almost as big and probably stronger or at least as strong.

Ok, so there you have my offensive preview. I will probably do another one of these before spring practice of after it but that is my initial thought on how the depth chart will shake out come August/September. Tomorrow I will take a look at the D, that side of the ball I can see a few more of our recruits having a shot to play immediately.

If anyone has any comments about my blog or about my opinions here, feel free to share. I THINK I have it set up now where posting comments should be quick and easy. I am always interested to hear from those that stumble across this blog, and if you have any topic you want me to share my opinions on or do some research, let me know. Thanks for reading.