ATHENS — The SEC Media Days next week signal the unofficial start of the preseason, but there will be plenty from this past offseason to reflect upon.
Georgia football championship quarterback Buck Belue joined the Ingles on The Beat Show on Monday night along with Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Chip Towers to reflect on how the Bulldogs handled things.
Belue, who helped lead Georgia to the 1980 national championship and has a talk show on 680 The Fan, suggested last spring Kirby Smart should ‘take the handcuffs off’ of the passing game.
“I think because of the trust he has in the quarterback JT Daniels, the trust he will make good decisions in the passing game, that he’s now comfortable to make this move,” Belue said. “The receiver group as a whole, counting the tight ends and the running backs, JT Daniels is loaded up with weapons especially with (Arik) Gilbert on the scene.
“I think the trust Kirby has with the quarterback will allow him to make this jump and get away from that ground and around and lead with the passing game. As a former quarterback, I’m pretty excited about this.”
Towers, who covered two SEC all-time leading passers at UGA — Eric Zeier once held the mark, and Aaron Murray still stands as the all-time league leader — is also confident UGA will open things up.
“I think there’s a good shot that this could be the best passing year that Georgia has based on the incarnation of college football in this span we are in,” Towers said. “The fact JT Daniels is back, and Buck alluded to all the targets that have JT Daniels and Todd Monken licking their chops.”
That’s probably why Belue said the offensive player he’s most excited to see this fall is Darnell Washington, while Towers selected Jermaine Burton as the offensive player he’s most interested to see on the field.
Belue explained why the offensive line is the biggest offseason issue, and shared his feelings on how Matt Luke is filling Sam Pittman’s shoes coaching that unit.
