Freshman report on UGA football: LSU 36, Georgia 16
DawgNation will offer this report every Sunday after games which focuses on the freshmen who played, what they did and who has lost one of those newly-reshaped (four games or less) redshirts. Check out this edition for UGA football after another disappointing 36-16 loss on the road in the SEC West at LSU.
This will be a planned Sunday feature where DawgNation can show the path for the nation’s top-rated recruiting class for 2018 and the playing field. The 20-point loss on Saturday offered some of the most critical evaluations this season about Georgia’s youngest players.
The guys just didn’t give the UGA faithful a lot to cheer about on Saturday.
Potential + Preparation = Performance
Legit not-so-obvious opening question: The Justin Fields talk is everywhere, but that line of thinking pervades several depth chart conversations in regard to the freshman class. Georgia’s ILBs didn’t turn in a game-winning performance. Check out all the tackle totals made by defensive backs on Saturday. Tyson Campbell (11 tackles), Richard LeCounte (9 tackles) and J.R. Reed (7 tackles) were among the team leaders against LSU. All told, the defensive backs tallied up 32 of UGA’s 95 tackles against the Tigers. The entire UGA linebacker corps had just 31 tackles on Saturday. How close are Channing Tindall and Quay Walker to earning more time at ILB?
Just how close continued: How close is James Cook to becoming a reliable threat as an all-purpose back on third down as a check down guy? What about Jordan Davis getting a heavier rotation of reps at noseguard as well? Will the open week allow the staff to give all of these guys a really long look?
The Tyson Campbell stuff from Saturday: Campbell was matched up against LSU’s talented receivers a lot on Saturday. The opinion here is that the LSU receiver group has more elite talents and is a deeper group than what the Bulldogs have at this time. Campbell did not win the majority of those matchups and he finished with eight solo tackles and a team-high 11 tackles. That is not what any defensive coordinator wants to see from one of his cornerbacks on the stat sheet as they leave Death Valley.
The Justin Fields stat line: Fields had one rushing attempt for three yards. He was in the game for a total of five plays.
A deeper Justin Fields stat line for the season: The Bulldog backup has a full passing stat line of 18 completions across his 25 attempts for 200 yards and two touchdowns. He has yet to throw an interception. Fields also has 18 carries for 143 yards and three touchdowns to rank as Georgia’s fifth-leading rusher.
However, here are the passing totals he has accumulated against SEC teams this year.
- South Carolina: 1-1-0 for 8 yards.
- Missouri: No passing attempts.
- Tennessee: 1-2-0 for 5 yards.
- Vanderbilt: 3-6-0 for 53 yards.
- LSU: No passing attempts.
- Bottom line: Fields has thrown the ball just nine times this year against conference foes.
Best game as a Bulldog: This space is going to have to be empty for this week. For obvious reasons.
An interesting game film nonetheless: We have to mention Robert Beal Jr. here. He did come up with an early sack and saw some extended time against a top-tier opponent. Beal came out of that game with four tackles and a rare non-D’Andre Walker sack for this year.
Freshmen who might be contributing more column: It is very very hard to play in the SEC. But when I look at the stat line for Brenton Cox this year, I see just two solo tackles, nine total tackles, zero stops for losses, zero sacks and three passes broken up. I felt he was capable of a little bit more than that by now. But he has also not been as widely used as other playing options. Adam Anderson also has just five tackles and one stop for a loss this year.
A 5-star dose of reality: To be clear, the previous topic was not an indicator of how Anderson and Cox were rated or as a critical assessment of how they are progressing so far at Georgia. It is more of a gauge of just how hard it is for even high school All-Americans to earn the trust of their coaches to play in the SEC. That’s tough enough. It is even harder to earn major game reps for a program that now contends for championships.
Freshmen Bulldog Tweet of the game: This one from Cade Mays has already grabbed a lot of attention. Mays is developing a very nasty playing style in the SEC. He plays to the echo of the whistle but I can see how some fan bases already view him as a true intimidator at UGA.
Cade Mays, all 318 pounds of him, just bellyflopped this pile. @cade_mays pic.twitter.com/4Ywo5M2dRL
— Dayne Young (@dayneyoung) October 13, 2018
How many freshmen played (true or redshirt): 16
Who started (all freshmen): P Jake Camarda; CB Tyson Campbell; OG/OT Cade Mays; OT Isaiah Wilson
The 13 true freshmen who played against Vandy: Camarda + Campbell + Mays and :
- OLB Adam Anderson
- RB James Cook
- OLB Brenton Cox
- NG Jordan Davis
- QB Justin Fields
- TE Luke Ford
- OL Trey Hill
- OG Jamaree Salyer
- ILB Channing Tindall
- ILB Quay Walker
Who played (redshirt freshman column):
- OLB Robert Beal Jr.
- CB Eric Stokes
- OT Isaiah Wilson (starter)
Position breakdown for the true freshmen who saw action against Vandy (with last weeks number):
- DB: 1 (2)
- ILB: 2 (2)
- OLB: 2 (2)
- OL: 3 (5)
- DL: 1 (1)
- P: 1 (1)
- QB: 1 (2)
- RB: 1 (1)
- TE: 0 (1)
- WR: 0 (1)
Interesting freshman travel roster note from Saturday: Freshman OT Owen Condon made the trip for the LSU game on Saturday. That came a week after his Georgia debut at home against Vanderbilt.
The 10 true freshmen who have played in every game
Simply put, they can no longer use 2018 as a redshirt year.
- OLB Adam Anderson
- P Jake Camarda (7 starts)
- CB Tyson Campbell (7 starts)
- RB James Cook
- OLB Brenton Cox
- QB Justin Fields
- OL Trey Hill
- OL Cade Mays (4 starts)
- ILB Channing Tindall
- ILB Quay Walker
Fields first came into the game when: He entered the game with 5:09 seconds left in the first half for one play. Georgia trailed 16-0 at the time. Brian Herrien ran the ball for one yard on the snap and Jake Fromm returned to the huddle for the next snap.
PICTURE THIS, PART I
True freshmen players who did not play: WR Tommy Bush; OT Owen Condon; OL Warren Ericson; TE John FitzPatrick; WR Kearis Jackson; OLB Azeez Ojulari; DB Otis Reese; DB Chris Smith; RB Zamir White (out for the season); DB Divaad Wilson (likely out for at least 3-4 more weeks.)
Participation report for the 2018 freshmen signees so far
This will be worth watching in terms of the new redshirt rules.
- OLB Adam Anderson: 7 games
- WR Tommy Bush: 1 game
- P Jake Camarda: 7 games
- CB Tyson Campbell: 7 games
- OT Owen Condon: 1 game
- RB James Cook: 7 games
- OLB Brenton Cox: 7 games
- OL Warren Ericson: 1 game
- QB Justin Fields: 7 games
- TE John FitzPatrick: 2 games
- TE Luke Ford: 6 games
- OL Trey Hill: 7 games
- WR Kearis Jackson: 4 games
- OL Cade Mays: 7 games
- OLB Azeez Ojulari: 1 game
- DB Otis Reese: 5 games
- OL Jamaree Salyer: 6 games
- DB Chris Smith: 3 games
- ILB Channing Tindall: 7 games
- ILB Quay Walker: 7 games
- RB Zamir White: 0 games (Redshirt-Summer ACL injury)
- DB Divaad Wilson: 0 games (Spring ACL injury
PICTURE THIS, PART II
2017 signees who did not show on the game participation report: R-Fr. DB Tray Bishop; R-Fr.DB Latavious Brini; Sophomore DB Deangelo Gibbs; Redshirt junior OT D’Marcus Hayes; ILB Jaden Hunter; OL Netori Johnson; WR Matt Landers; Sophomore DB William Poole; Sophomore CB Ameer Speed.
PICTURE THIS, PART III
5-star Top 5 ratings through seven games: Here’s a feature I’ve been thinking of using for a while now but wanted to get past the midterm mark to see where it all lands on the film.
I’ll update this over the balance of the season. What exactly is this? This is a nod of the head to the record number of 5-star recruits (there were 7 of those based off the 247Sports Composite) that the Bulldogs signed in 2018.
These 5-stars are rated on the basis of how much they have contributed to Georgia’s overall success this season.
- CB Tyson Campbell
- OG/OT Cade Mays
- QB Justin Fields
- P Jake Camarda
- OLB Brenton Cox
A lighter note to close things out
