INSIDER: Georgia Bulldogs' Practice Observations

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ATHENS - Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs play Oregon in 10 days. 10 more days until Georgia football is back. 

Let’s be real here. The 2022 season started on Jan. 11. This is a championship program and Smart does not look back often. 

Practice and preparation for the Dawgs is being treated like a bye week in the regular season. According to Adonai Mitchell on Tuesday, the focus shifts towards the Ducks later this week. 

Here are my observations and takeaways from the brief viewing period:

Offense

• Quarterbacks
  • Stetson Bennett , who has +10000 odds to win this year’s Heisman Trophy according to FanDuel.
    • Was noticeably more accurate than what I saw from him last week
    • His deep ball accuracy was impressive in practice
  • Carson Beck is the backup
    • This may not be set in stone, but it is obvious he is QB2
    • I don’t know what the gap is between Beck and Brock Vandagriff
    • Beck is more accurate in practice from what I saw today and what I've seen the last two seasons
• Offensive Line
  • First team left to right: Broderick Jones, Xavier Truss, Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, Tate Ratledge, Warren McClendon
    • Ratledge is back in the starting spot there at left guard after dealing with turf toe
    • He claimed to be feeling really well in the press conference last night
  • Second team left to right: Austin Blaske, Devin Willock, Warren Ericson, Jared Wilson, Amarius Mims
  • Dylan Fairchild was running with the threes 
• Running Backs
  • Kenny McIntosh looks to be the no. 1
    • I know Kendall Milton has gotten a lot of buzz but…
    • To me, based off of everything I see, know and have heard about practice and the scrimmages, McIntosh is the “starter”
  • Daijun Edwards and Branson Robinson followed them
• Pass Catchers
  • Brock Bowers, AD Mitchell, Ladd McConkey and Kearis Jackson continue to serve as the first-teamers
  • Oscar Delp was working with the second-team in drills
    • He was joined by Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, Jackson Meeks and Dominick Blaylock
  • Darnell Washington, De’Nylon Morrissette, and Dillon Bell were running third-team
  • Arik Gilbert was working with the fours
    • I am not thinking too much about this tight end order. They are all going to see the field A LOT
    • Gilbert did not have his head in the game on one play. He ran out of bounds with nobody around him instead of turning up field
    • Todd Hartley was not happy with him about that
  • Number changes:
    • Gilbert was wearing 7
    • Meeks was wearing 9
    • Rosemy-Jacksaint was wearing 1

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Defense

• Defensive Line
  • Jalen Carter and Zion Logue have a firm grasp on the starting spots on the interior
    • Those two have been the first-two guys at that spot the entire offseason 
  • Freshman Mykel Williams, Tyrion-Ingram Dawkins and Tramel Walthour are the defensive ends
    • I expect Williams to play a lot
    • When watching them up close, he is the fastest of the three
  • Will Muschamp was working closely with the defensive ends. They were doing a pass rush drill where they needed to slap the ball out of the quarterback’s hands
• Outside Linebackers
  • Nolan Smith and Robert Beal continue to lead that spot
  • During a dummy drill, I heard Smith say this to Ingram-Dawkins while the ends and outside guys were working together:
    • “You striking that bi*ch!”
• Inside Linebackers
  • I did not have enough time to get a good look at them, but Smael Mondon is freaky. Long arms and fast.
• Secondary
  • The STARs were working with the outside linebackers again
    • Javon Bullard stuck out to me the most at that spot
    • He consistently found a way to get a hand on the ball 
  • Kelee Ringo and Kamari Lassiter are the starting corners
  • If someone was threatening to take someone’s job, I would guess Malaki Starks over Dan Jackson. I’m not saying that has happened quite yet. 
    • I saw Starks working with the first-team defense in passing the other day and he has gotten so much buzz over the last few weeks