So, my sources were correct, UGA did indeed pick a verbal pledge from John Atkins, the DL from Thomson, Ga. In case you were wondering as I was, Thomson is 60 miles from Athens, assuming south but have never heard of it myself. This kid has played a lot of spots in HS, is very athletic and also plays goalie on the soccer team. He is 6'3" and 294 in HS, many project he will be a NT in college. Great pickup as everyone always says, games are won or lost on the line of scrimmage.
I watched another kid a little bit last night, Blake Tibbs from MLK, as they took on my wife's alma mater South Gwinnett. I got to know South's head coach within the last year, SUPER guy, John Small and heard they were on TV last night, so I flipped over. The game was basically over but they showed highlights and Tibbs scored 4 TD's on the night. He took a reverse 71 yards, kid looks like he can fly as two SG defenders have the angle on him and blew past them. Of course Tibbs has said UGA is his dream school, he would likely commit if the school offered-that offer happened recently but he still has not committed yet. He looks like a good looking prospect. Course UGA is also after his teammate, Kenderius Whitehead, a DE from MLK who has recently said UGA is his leader at this time. I will have to check with my sources on these two kids but they have already said, another DL, Jordan Watkins from Woodward Academy will be heading to UGA. Seems this class is chugging right along. A solid/good year on the field for us in 2011, the class will add some studs at the end to make it another great class. 2013 class has a chance to be even better than the Dream team class of 2011.
Ok, so my final thoughts on the game Saturday. I personally believe UGA is going to win this game. Why, well, I just have a hunch more than anything. I have a LOT of respect for Boise, in fact, I think they are worthy at this moment of being a top 5 team. They are experienced, they have a great college QB who knows how to win, they have a very clever and good head coach. I continue to say, the first quarter is going to be big in this game. We can't afford to dig an early hole because then it could have a mental aspect for both teams. Boise is used to coming out strong, they expect it. UGA needs to come out strong and hit them hard, keep the crowd really into the game. If I am UGA, I defer until the second half and go out on D and try to force a 3 and out. The place is going to be jacked up, why not go on D first. I think if Boise wins the toss, they will take the ball so hopefully if we win the toss, we defer. Boise is an experienced team in most regards but they are not without some weaknesses at KEY positions. Their secondary on D is experienced in class but several guys will be starting for the first time. On offense, the WR's are likewise not used to starting.
Much has been made about the Boise run defense, and while I think they are good, we still have to remember, who they have played and how the game has played out. If your get down early by 21 points, you are not going to run the ball very much. Not to mention, if you are playing against offenses that don't have the OL or skill players to challenge you, it makes your job a lot easier. Someone on the UGA message boards posted something interesting the other day. Think back to the national title game. Going in, both teams really had VERY high powered offenses. Oregon actually probably had the higher thought of D, as AU gave up a lot of points and yardage to many teams they faced last year. In the bowl game, after a month to prepare, you saw BOTH defenses play well. But, thing is, the AU D was NOT very good last year and yet they were able to really shut down the high flying Oregon offense. Now, this is not to suggest I think our D will shut down Boise, but to me it suggest that when teams play against upper level SEC talent, they are not used to seeing the size, speed and strength our conference has across the board on the lines of scrimmage. I think that is why you see SEC teams in national title games dominating on defense-teams in other conferences are just not used to the speed of the SEC and then our guys also have the size/strength to go along with it.
Another big edge for UGA is special teams. We all know about Boykin sending a tweet out to the Boise coach saying to kick to him. We have great return threats at kickoff and punt return. We have the best set of kickers in the nation. Now, Boise did block a VT punt last year early in that game, which considering the fact VT is typically considered a team that dominates special teams, that was a shock. But still, we SHOULD have a huge advantage in special teams-which of course is 1/3 of the game.
Both teams come in very motivated for this game, I can't give that advantage to one side or another. I guess I just believe that UGA has more talent and can do enough to win this game. Call me a homer but hey, this is a UGA blog afterall.
My final score prediction is UGA 31-Boise 24.
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