Is ESPN Right About Georgia Football's Biggest Area of Concern?
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ATHENS - During spring practice, UGA Football‘s biggest area of weakness seemed to be the front seven, more specifically the pass rushers. A couple of months and one transfer portal addition later, that is likely still the case.
It is according to ESPN, which just put out an article naming the biggest area of concern for each top 25 team in the country. For Georgia, the pass rush unit was tabbed just that.
The entire Dawg Post crew agreed with that notion in a conversation published a couple months ago on YouTube. Losing Jalon Walker, Mykel Williams and Chaz Chambliss to the NFL, along with several other contributors to the pass rush will not be an easy thing to deal with.
During spring practice, Georgia’s edge rusher situation was bleak. Damon Wilson left in the portal and projected starter Gabriel Harris Jr. was nursing an injury. That left inexperienced youngsters Quintavious Johnson and Kris Jones as the starting edge rusher duo.
Kirby Smart and the staff evaluated that situation and targeted former Army linebacker Elo Modozie in the transfer portal. Modozie will suit up for Georgia this fall, and will likely be a starting outside linebacker for the Dawgs immediately.
Modozie logged 6.5 sacks for Army and led the team in tackles for loss last season as well. He will shore up the pass rush unit as much as he can.
There are a couple of other possible weaknesses that have been highlighted in the media this offseason.
Many experts and analysts have shown doubt in quarterback Gunner Stockton’s capabilities. He doesn’t lead any lists. People are not considering him a threat to win awards. Doubt for him has been stated very publicly by several people with a big platform.
The run game is another area of concern that has been highlighted. It was notoriously bad for Georgia’s standard last season. With the addition of Josh McCray from Illinois and the projected rise from Nate Frazier, the run game does objectively look like it will improve this season.
ESPN framing the title of the article with the word concern instead of weakness is a good way to analyze it. Modozie looks like a strong addition. Harris Jr. has never gotten the opportunity to be a primary player. The young talent looks physically impressive. The truth is that it will be difficult to live up to the award-winners that came before them, but Georgia’s pass rushing unit may be better than expected.