Projecting Georgia’s pre-spring depth chart for the offense

Posted 7 months ago

Welcome to your one-stop shop for all the relevant UGA football news and takes every Monday through Friday. What does Georgia’s offensive depth chart look like right now?

Questions surround OL and WR

The football-less slog of the offseason rolls on and we trudge on toward spring practice. To keep ourselves busy with Bulldogs football, I’ve spent the last few days ranking the top members of each class on Georgia’s roster. (Check that out here, here and here.) Thursday and Friday, I’m taking a crack at projecting Georgia’s pre-spring depth chart. First up is the offense.

As far as freshmen go, this is the pre-spring depth, so I’m only including early enrollees. And I’m limiting this to the two-deep for simplicity’s sake.

	1st team	2nd team
QB	Jacob Eason	Jake Fromm
RB	Nick Chubb/Sony Michel	Brian Herrien
FB	Christian Payne	Glenn Welch
FL	Javon Wims	Michael Chigbu
SR	Terry Godwin	Tyler Simmons
SE	Riley Ridley	Jeremiah Holloman
TE	Isaac Nauta	Jeb Blazevich
LT	Isaiah Wynn	Aulden Bynum
LG	Dyshon Sims	Pat Allen
C	Lamont Gaillard	Dyshon Sims
RG	Solomon Kindley	Ben Cleveland
RT	D’Marcus Hayes	Kendall Baker

The backfield and tight ends are sewn up. Jacob Eason is your QB. Jake Fromm probably earns the backup job, but he still may not play if Kirby Smart wants him to hold on to his redshirt. Nick Chubb and Sony Michel will split the load at tailback, and Christian Payne will play pretty much every snap at fullback. Isaac Nauta is first-team tight end, but Jeb Blazevich will not want for snaps.

The biggest questions remain at offensive line and wide receiver.

Offensive line — How exactly the offensive line is going to shape up is anyone’s guess at this point. There’s a lot of versatility and a lot of guys who haven’t asserted themselves in any particular role yet. Spring practice is going to be used for a lot of experimentation. How the depth chart looks before the spring and after the spring could be wildly different after the coaches have had a chance to work with all kinds of different pairings.

The key to this whole thing is Dyshon Sims. Sims played all positions along the line at some point or another over the last few seasons. The coaches could decide his best spot and stick him there or they could use his versatility to insert him where there is the biggest weakness. But where he ends up will be a factor in determining where other guys line up. I have him at guard, but he might play at right tackle or center if no one stakes their claim to either of those spots.

I’m also interested to see if recent JUCO transfer D’Marcus Hayes gets a starting nod to begin the spring. Coaches don’t typically bring in a JUCO player unless they believe he can play immediately, so I think he gets the nod over Kendall Baker and Sims.

Wide receiver — Like the line, there isn’t much set in stone at receiver, beyond the first team at least. Terry Godwin will move into the slot role vacated by Isaiah Mckenzie, which could provide a spark to his so far disappointing UGA career. He’s played split end mostly during his first two season, but he’s a more natural fit in the slot. He’ll be in a better position to take advantage of his speed and quickness there.

I’m more interested to see how the second-team guys progress. Michael Chigbu is a good blocker, something Georgia has lacked at WR since Chris Conley and Michael Bennett left the program, but he still needs to work on his hands. If he does that, he might push Javon Wims for more playing time on the flank. Tyler Simmons is an intriguing player with a lot of speed who shows promise at slot. But I’m most excited about Jeremiah Holloman. I don’t think he’ll earn a starting gig, but he could make himself into an integral part of the passing game as a true freshman.

UGA WR recruits among best in the nation

Rivals ranked the best wide receiver recruiting classes of the 2017, and Georgia came in fourth, behind Alabama, Michigan and Oklahoma. Here’s what Woody Wommack had to say about Georgia’s haul at wideout.

Georgia’s wide receiver haul isn’t cut and dry, as several of the school’s signees are classified as athletes. (Mark) Webb is one of the nation’s best wide receivers, but versatile prospects like (Matt) Landers, (Trey) Blount and Holloman could all play other positions down the road even though they are expected to start out at wide receiver. The same goes for Rivals250 athlete DeAngelo Gibbs, who is expected to play safety in college but was an accomplished wide receiver in high school. No matter which way you slice it, Georgia pulled in a ton of talent capable of making an impact.

360° of the IPF

Radi Nabulsi of UGA Sports posted this really cool 360° video of the Indoor Practice Facility. Click on the arrows in the top-left corner to look around the building.

Georgia also released a hype video of sorts following the dedication of the IPF.

"This is a special place."

Yesterday, UGA's new Indoor Athletic Facility officially opened its doors.#CommitToTheG / #ATD pic.twitter.com/Vqlt0BvDE3

— Georgia Football (@FootballUGA) February 16, 2017

Two more wins for UGA softball

No. 10 Georgia softball advanced to 7-0 on the season with a pair of victories (10-1, 8-0) against Presbyterian in Athens on Wednesday. Maeve McGuire led the way with 3 doubles and 5 RBI in the doubleheader. Alyssa DiCarlo also was on fire with a homer in each game.

Add two more W's. #GoDawgs

>> https://t.co/ZUEgl6WgAP pic.twitter.com/Ng2hlfp4VE

— Georgia Softball (@UGASoftball) February 16, 2017

Georgia will try to stay perfect on Friday when the Bulldogs play Northern Kentucky and Louisiana-Monroe in Athens.

Diamond Dogs are back

Georgia baseball returns on Friday. I’ll have a brief season preview in the column on Friday. Here’s a look at what you can expect from the rotation in the opening series with College of Charleston:

Starting rotation for Georgia against College of Charleston. Friday – Kevin Smith, Saturday – Tony Locey, Sunday – Chase Adkins

— Anthony Dasher (@AnthonyDasher1) February 15, 2017