If you look at certain details, it's not hard to see why we're struggling. While some of you are terrified about recruiting, the truth is these kids are seeing improvement from week to week despite problems we're having now that even Phil Steele himself didn't know we would have.
On defense, we are without:
Kyle Phillips
Darrin Kirkland
Alexis Johnson
Micah Abernathy
Shy Tuttle
Quart'e Sapp
Todd Kelly
Jonathan Kongbo
That's a lot of missing tackles, QB hurries, and sacks between those guys. To make matters worse, our top returning player on defense numbers-wise, Daniel Bituli, hasn't even played this year because of injury. To make matters even worse, the run-stuffing Emmit Gooden, hasn't played and is out for the year because of injury.
This obviously means we're thin and not as skilled in the defensive line as we were last year. Not being able to get good pressure on the quarterback in turn puts pressure on our defensive backs where you guessed it, we've been without one of our best in Bryce Thompson. Young guys like Alontae Taylor have made plenty of big plays for us, but as with many young guys, he's made mistakes too. This is nothing coaching and more experience can't fix with time.
Let's move to the offensive line where Trey Smith is still shaking off the cobwebs. It's going to take him a while to get to full speed. There are lots of sophomores on the line who have an upside. Our two blockbusters, Wanya Morris and Darnell Wright, were playing high school ball last year.
This young group, including Trey Smith, is going to get better and better the more they play at the college level and the more they play with each other. It's all about experience and finding the right live game chemistry.
In the mean time, defenses are going to be able to exploit our youth and inexperience on the line and pressure Jarrett Guarantano. This has kept our offense off the field more and has forced our limited defense to play more.
***I would not worry about recruiting. Coach Pruitt and his staff of assistants didn't start recruiting last night. They have a long, long successful track record in recruiting. High school football players are smart and understand the game. Many of them have been on bad teams themselves and understand how struggling units within the teams can make it tough on the entire team. Losing to Georgia State stinks, but these boys saw the improvement made from that game to the BYU game. They're going to see improvement all season long and see that we're still short on bodies and talent in certain areas. Our defensive line could be special with more talent brought in. That's our head coach's baby. He coordinated not 1 but 3 great defenses. Before you talk about the talent he had to work with, UGA's defense was struggling before he was brought in, and he completely turned it around his two years there. How has Florida State's defense looked since he left?
Relax and give the coaches and players a chance, fellas.
On defense, we are without:
Kyle Phillips
Darrin Kirkland
Alexis Johnson
Micah Abernathy
Shy Tuttle
Quart'e Sapp
Todd Kelly
Jonathan Kongbo
That's a lot of missing tackles, QB hurries, and sacks between those guys. To make matters worse, our top returning player on defense numbers-wise, Daniel Bituli, hasn't even played this year because of injury. To make matters even worse, the run-stuffing Emmit Gooden, hasn't played and is out for the year because of injury.
This obviously means we're thin and not as skilled in the defensive line as we were last year. Not being able to get good pressure on the quarterback in turn puts pressure on our defensive backs where you guessed it, we've been without one of our best in Bryce Thompson. Young guys like Alontae Taylor have made plenty of big plays for us, but as with many young guys, he's made mistakes too. This is nothing coaching and more experience can't fix with time.
Let's move to the offensive line where Trey Smith is still shaking off the cobwebs. It's going to take him a while to get to full speed. There are lots of sophomores on the line who have an upside. Our two blockbusters, Wanya Morris and Darnell Wright, were playing high school ball last year.
This young group, including Trey Smith, is going to get better and better the more they play at the college level and the more they play with each other. It's all about experience and finding the right live game chemistry.
In the mean time, defenses are going to be able to exploit our youth and inexperience on the line and pressure Jarrett Guarantano. This has kept our offense off the field more and has forced our limited defense to play more.
***I would not worry about recruiting. Coach Pruitt and his staff of assistants didn't start recruiting last night. They have a long, long successful track record in recruiting. High school football players are smart and understand the game. Many of them have been on bad teams themselves and understand how struggling units within the teams can make it tough on the entire team. Losing to Georgia State stinks, but these boys saw the improvement made from that game to the BYU game. They're going to see improvement all season long and see that we're still short on bodies and talent in certain areas. Our defensive line could be special with more talent brought in. That's our head coach's baby. He coordinated not 1 but 3 great defenses. Before you talk about the talent he had to work with, UGA's defense was struggling before he was brought in, and he completely turned it around his two years there. How has Florida State's defense looked since he left?
Relax and give the coaches and players a chance, fellas.
