Missouri is JT Daniels' biggest challenge yet
Saturday will provide a larger bite of how good Georgia’s offense is with JT Daniels running the show.
So far, Daniels has started two games for Georgia, and the offense looks drastically better with him under center. However, Mississippi State and South Carolina are not good this year. They are two of the worst teams in the Southeastern Conference.
Heading into Saturday’s matchup with Georgia, the Missouri is ranked No. 25 in the College Football Playoff Rankings. The Tigers have won three games in a row and now welcome Georgia to Columbia.
Missouri’s defense is a unit that only allows 376 yards per-game. That is good for fourth in the SEC.
Kirby Smart also acknowledges that Missouri’s defense is not the same as others in the conference.
“They don’t play the same front that most of the conference plays. A lot of the defenses in the league come from the same tree, they’re not that way. They play a bare front; they play a lot of man to man and they’re really good at doing it,” Smart said.
Georgia has the weapons on offense to make playing man to man defense a difficult task. Freshman Jermaine Burton, George Pickens and Kearis Jackson have begun to form quite the wide receiver trio, and of course, Daniels has made their life a lot easier.
Whether Georgia is built to score on Missouri or not, they still have a solid defense that will pose a new challenge for the Bulldogs, and Daniels’ greatest test as the starter.
Missouri boasts one of the best defensive players in the conference and the nation in linebacker Nick Bolton. Bolton is a 2021 NFL Draft prospect and has a good chance to be selected in the first few rounds.
“You talk about linebacker play; this guy is as good as it is in our conference when it comes to sideline to sideline. He loves the game; I love the way the guy plays. He gets after it. He’s been very impressive,” Smart said.
Bolton leads Missouri and ranks sixth in the SEC with 80 total tackles. He is also known for getting into the backfield. Bolton will be all over the field, and he will be a big reason why this is the toughest test for Georgia since Daniels took over.