Tag: 247Sports

Georgia football: Expectations for QB Jamie Newman keep growing

Georgia football is expecting big things for new QB Jamie Newman.

The graduate transfer from Wake Forest was a hot commodity when he made his decision to depart the Demon Deacons and take his talents to Athens. As if replacing three-year starter Jake Fromm isn’t difficult enough, Newman will be challenged to implement a new, more RPO- oriented attack and add some swagger to the UGA offense.

The Las Vegas oddsmakers, who are more right than wrong, believe he made the right decision in choosing the Bulldogs.

Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook now has Newman at 12/1 odds to win the Heisman Trophy. Just after his transfer announcement, Newman was listed as 16/1 odds, tied for sixth-best. He is now tied for third with Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger and Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler. Westgate still has former Georgia and current Ohio State QB Justin Fields and Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence (Cartersville, GA) as the favorites at 4/1.

Newman was one of the top graduate transfers on the market. Miami, Oregon, Maryland and Washington, among others were seeking the services of the North Carolina native.

According to Pro Football Focus, Newman is the nation’s third-highest graded returning quarterback, behind only Fields and Lawrence.  He started all 13 games last season and led Wake to an 8-5 record. He completed 220 of 361 passes (60.9 percent) for 2,868 yards, 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He rushed for 574 yards and six touchdowns on 180 carries.

Being the starting quarterback at the University of Georgia always comes with high expectations and takes an extremely talented, confident and bright athlete to handle the pressure. Jamie Newman checks off all the boxes.

Where Georgia football ranks in terms of returning production in 2020

Here’s where Georgia football ranks in terms of returning production in all of CFB.

Georgia football returns 10 starters from a team that came oh so close from making a trip to the College Football Playoff last year.

Unfortunately, the Dawgs ran into eventual national champ LSU in the SEC Championship and there was never really a question as to how that game was going to go.

But with 10 returning starters, the Dawgs are primed to make another run at the SEC Championship and hopefully the CFP.

With the returning talent that Georgia has, it puts the Bulldogs at 59th in the country according to Bill Connely of ESPN, who ranked the college football teams with the most returning production in 2020.

The offense returns 50% of its production (different than starters), which is 98th overall. The defense returns 80% production, good for 21st in America.

Connely explained how he differentiates returning production from returning starters.

I have for a few years been deriving what I call a team’s returning production percentage as an alternative to returning starters. It looks at the most predictive key personnel stats — percentage of your QB’s passing yards returning, percentage of your secondary’s passes defensed returning, and everything in between — and is weighted based on what correlates most strongly with year-to-year improvement and regression. It is a major factor in my annual SP+ projections, which will be released next week. (The other primary factors: recent recruiting and weighted five-year history.)

With 80% of production returning to a defense that ranked No. 1 in America last year, the Dawgs will be making life difficult for opposing offense next season. The losses of safety J.R. Reed, defensive tackle Michael Barnett, defensive linemen David Marshall and Tyler Clark and linebacker Tae Crowder hurt, but with the way Kirby Smart has been recruiting for the past three years, the defense will be just fine, likely even better, next season.

In terms of returning starters, Dawgs247 searched through players who started seven or more games in 2019 and came up with this list of returning defensive starters:

NG Jordan Davis

DE Malik Herring

OLB Azeez Ojulari

ILB Monty Rice

CB Eric Stokes

DB Mark Webb

DB DJ Daniel

S Richard LeCounte

The offensive guys include center Trey Hill and versatile offensive lineman Ben Cleveland.

There’s also George Pickens coming back, who was not on 247’s list as a result of their criteria, but he may make a bigger impact on offense than any returning player next season.

Back to ESPN’s list of returning production — regarding total production returning to the program, here are some notable rankings throughout college football:

(Out of 130 teams)

2. Georgia Tech

32. South Carolina

50. Tennessee

59. Georgia

61. Florida

78. Auburn

126. LSU

127. Alabama

Alabama signee Will Anderson makes top 10 appearance in 247Sports rankings

The news keeps getting better for Alabama on Tuesday, as Crimson Tide saw two of its 2020 signees make sizable leaps in the 247Sports recruiting rankings. First, it was Tim Smith, who jumped from No. 82 overa#Alabamall all the way to No. 28. As if …

The news keeps getting better for Alabama on Tuesday, as Crimson Tide saw two of its 2020 signees make sizable leaps in the 247Sports recruiting rankings.

First, it was Tim Smith, who jumped from No. 82 overa#Alabamall all the way to No. 28. As if that wasn’t enough, Will Anderson went from being rated as the No. 62 overall player to No. 5.

The news also meant that both players had earned a fifth star.

When looking at the 2020 signing class, the first thing that stands out is the amount of talent included in the defensive front seven.

With the news of Anderson and Smith, Alabama now has five different players in the front seven that are rated as a five-star prospect according to at least one major recruiting service.

  • WDE Chris Braswell (247Sports, Rivals)
  • WDE Will Anderson (247Sports, Rivals)
  • ATH Drew Sanders (247Sports)
  • DT Tim Smith (247Sports)
  • ILB Demouy Kennedy (Rivals)

Considering Alabama’s struggles on that side of the football in 2019, the addition of that caliber of talent is a welcomed sight for Tide fans.

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Alabama signee Tim Smith earns fifth star from 247Sports

Tim Smith, an Alabama signee in the 2020 recruiting class, has earned his fifth star according to the latest 247Sports rankings, which were revealed on Tuesday. It’s an impressive rise for the Sebastian (Fla.) defensive tackle. Coming into Tuesday, …

Tim Smith, an Alabama signee in the 2020 recruiting class, has earned his fifth star according to the latest 247Sports rankings, which were revealed on Tuesday.

It’s an impressive rise for the Sebastian (Fla.) defensive tackle. Coming into Tuesday, Smith had been rated as a four-star and the No. 82 overall player, so moving all the way up to No. 28 overall is quite the jump.

It’s not surprising, however.

Smith brings size (6-foot-4, 320 pounds), strength and burst that should help him see the field early in his college career.

He also has the versatility to play anywhere along Alabama’s defensive front, whether that’s as a zero-technique nose tackle or 5-technique defensive end.

The defensive front did lose Raekwon Davis, an interior defensive lineman, and two edge players in Terrell Lewis and Anfernee Jennings. And while Smith probably won’t see many — if any — reps in space, he’s an athletic guy who can help immediately.

The Crimson Tide’s defensive line should much improved in 2020. It not only returns LaBryan Ray from injury, but there were also a lot of freshman, such as DJ Dale, Byron Young and Justin Eboigbe, to earn valuable experience in 2019.

Smith will be a much-needed presence, however. Whether that’s as a rotational depth player or maybe even more.

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Notre Dame Football: Five-Star Receiver Jordan Johnson Signs with Irish

With the playmakers in this class you can easily see why this recruiting class is expected to be much more impactful for Notre Dame than some of the ranking spots it has received.

Notre Dame swing for the fences and hit an absolutely mammoth home run in this recruiting cycle when Jordan Johnson’s National Letter of Intent arrived Wednesday.

Johnson, a St. Louis product is a five-star recruit and the most highly-regarded receiver Notre Dame has landed during Brian Kelly’s ten years at the helm.

Johnson had 26 different offers and some thought he may explore elsewhere after Chip Long’s departure but that proved to not be the case Wednesday.

Alabama, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Texas A&M, USC and Wisconsin were just a few of the traditional powers to offer Johnson.

His junior highlights are a bit old by now but these are the best compilation of Johnson’s work I could find.

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I can’t put into words how big of a get this is for Brian Kelly and his staff.  247Sports ranks Johnson as the highest recruit that Notre Dame has landed since Michael Floyd in 2008 and the third best since 2000, with only Duval Kamara also being ranked ahead of him.

Couple him with Tyree and Notre Dame has their second and third offensive skill position players to sign on with Notre Dame and come with a five-star ranking since Brian Kelly took over in 2010.

With the playmakers in this class you can easily see why this recruiting class is expected to be much more impactful for Notre Dame than some of the ranking spots it has received.

Notre Dame Football: Star Tight End Recruit Confirms Commitment

Theoretically that is still the case with Notre Dame and Michael Mayer, a four-star tight end recruit out of Alexandria, Kentucky, but there sure don’t appear to be any issues holding him up from officially becoming part of Notre Dame’s 2020 class.

I understand it because until the ink is dry and every “t” is crossed and “i” is dotted there is always a chance something could change.

Theoretically that is still the case with Notre Dame and Michael Mayer, a four-star tight end recruit out of Alexandria, Kentucky, but there sure don’t appear to be any issues holding him up from officially becoming part of Notre Dame’s 2020 class.

With the early signing period coming Wednesday, Mayer took to Twitter to confirm his intentions later this week.

You can see the top-rated player in Kentucky participate in the 2020 Army All-American Bowl on January 4. The game will air on NBC at 2:00 pm ET.

Mayer is one of five Notre Dame commitments scheduled to appear in the game.

Notre Dame Football: Never Fear, Tyree Will Be Here

Tyree is ranked by 247Sports to be the No. 1 overall all-purpose back nationally and 25th best player nationally in the 2020 class.

Whenever you shuffle a coaching staff you wonder if it’ll effect recruiting efforts, especially if you’re replacing your offensive coordinator who was helping recruit one of the most sought after running backs in the nation.

Never fear Notre Dame fans: Chris Tyree is 100% on board with his commitment and plans to sign on day one of the Early Signing Period which comes next Wednesday.

Tom Loy of 247Sports had the full report and recap which can be found here. You can find out when Tyree will be enrolling if you click there and be able to read a few quotes from the future Notre Dame back.

Brian Kelly, Lance Taylor (RB), DelVaughn Alexander (WR) and Brian Polian (ST) all joined in on the trip to Chester, Virginia.

Tyree is ranked by 247Sports to be the No. 1 overall all-purpose back nationally and 25th best player nationally in the 2020 class.