Depth chart starting to shake out, only two weeks to go!!

I simply can't believe how quickly time is passing. Two weeks from today is August 31st which means one day until the 2012 season kicks off. Earlier this week the Dogs had their second scrimmage and although it is very difficult to really know what happened without watching the scrimmage, you can figure out a few things. For one, it appears the OL rotation is pretty much set in stone with us having 6 guys in the regular rotation-would be nice to have 8-9 or even 10 ready to go and hopefully that happens-certainly getting Kolton Houston back would add another to the list. But, as it stands now the starting five will be-

LT-Gates
LG-Lee
C-Andrews
RG-Burnette
RT-Theus

Top reserve for either G or T is Watts Dantzler. Houston would add another G or T as well, and Burnette and Lee both can play center. I had hoped JUCO OL Beard would be in this rotation but it appears he is not as far along as hoped-and the true FR Pyke might actually make the rotation which is amazing because he is coming off shoulder or some sort of surgery in the spring. What is disappointing is that Zach DeBell is NOT progressing, he came in pretty highly touted from Florida. It does appear Xzavier Ward is getting better and better coming off his injury/surgery. So, I will be pretty happy if Houston is cleared and then maybe Beard or Pyke come along to provide one more body, let us not forget the Long brothers as well. Hunter is out for 6-8 weeks after breaking his ankle in practice but Austin can provide some depth as well. Bottom line, we have made it through two of our 3 preseason scrimmages and only one reserve lineman has been lost due to injury. If we can survive the next scrimmage, I will feel really good about our top 6 and hopefully 8 rotation this season because the OL is certainly my position of most concern as we enter the season-games are won and lost on the LOS, I LOVE our DL but the OL is a bit of a concern.

Next up is special teams, where we had two great kickers last year but a horrible special teams in general. A big part of that could be placed on the SR kickers themselves. Walsh flat out stunk last year when compared to his previous 3 years. He had a chip shot miss against SCarolina, a game we lost by 3 points, he flat out killed us in the bowl game, but again as bad a season as he had, I personally blame Coach Richt for settling for the FG there instead of going for it all. With Butler, it is not that he did so bad, I just believe he didn't do as well as he had done previously, he did SAVE us in the Vandy game after his punt was blocked, recovering enough to make the tackle and prevent the go ahead score was huge. But, too often last year it appeared he out punted his coverage or he would shank a punt. I hope both these guys make the NFL but certainly last year was not their best. From all indications at least, our new punter Colin Barber is doing GREAT-averaged almost 50 yards a punt in the last scrimmage and Richt has commented several times about his incredible hang time-I would rather a punt travel 40 yards with NO RETURN than one to travel 50 and get returned for 20 because you have out kicked your coverage. As for place kicking, it appears Marshall Morgan is doing pretty well and has a pretty strong leg, made a 42 yarder in the last scrimmage is made all PAT's, it is good to have a solid kicker and hopefully he can kick the ball out of the endzone on kickoffs. BUT, I am really hopeful that Richt/Bobo have a little less confidence in him than they did in Walsh last year. Except in the UF game where they went for it twice on 4th down instead of kicking FG's, both were TD catches as well, with Walsh around it just seemed more often than not Richt/Bobo would get consevative when in FG range-not willing to roll the dice when they felt sure we had 3 points on the board. If you don't have the in the back of your mind, or at least have a little more doubt, I think it allows you more freedom on 2nd and 3rd down to not be so conservative and play for 3.

Next up the running backs, and wow, it does appear that a certain FR RB is drawing rave reviews from his teammates, and obviously looking at the stats, it is easy to pick him out. Todd Gurley has been been the leading rusher two scrimmages in a row, Keith Marshall also had a good scrimmage this week. Samuel and Malcome are doing fine as well but certainly the talk out of Athens clearly centers around Gurley. It is funny really when you think about UGA, in a state that produces a ton of quality running backs each and every year, reached up to North Carolina to grab a few special backs. Some might question this but hey, when the last three feature backs, all from the state of Ga, have left the program-all of which had problems with the law, not a bad move to try somewhere else. With these two guys, Marshall was the guy that got the most ink coming in, he was the more highly thought of back but as the recruiting season started to play out, you started hearing more and more about Gurley. It appears to me that Gurley has continued to improve day in and day out-not that Marshall has not-and he is just hitting his stride now. Not a late bloomer because everyone knew about him in HS, but just a lot more highly rated than maybe he got credit for being in HS. He is a bigger back than Marshall but has a great burst from what I have heard, he brakes tackles and makes things happen. I am excited to get a look at all our backs in the Buffalo game.


On defense, well, what can you say except we all expect greatness from this unit. When you have backups like Geathers, Garrison Smith, Ray Drew, Christian Robinson, Herrera, Corey Moore, etc etc, well, that speaks volumes for the starters you have. Of course I am always looking forward and thinking about how many of these great players we will lose after this season but let's take a closer look at this shall we-

Next year along the DL, assuming we don't lose Geathers early, you have Drew, Geathers, Smith on the DL-that is two SR's and a JR. At LB, you have Jordan Jenkins, Ramik Wilson, Herrera, and Vasser (or another LB), secondary you have Swann, Moore, Mitchell-maybe, Harvey-Clemons. We also have some good talent coming in this recruiting class-so yeah, we lose a lot of talented players and will miss them, but the job Grantham and company have done in recruiting top quality defenders should really keep this team rolling along.

Last thing today, tomorrow our Grayson 8's open our season against the Lanier Longhorns. We should win this game easily but you never count your chickens before they hatch. What I enjoy the most is spending quality time with my son and his friends, win or lose those are the memories you remember for a lifetime. So, everyone have a great weekend and Go Dogs and Go Rams!