Georgia football is loaded with freshman talent and it was on display vs. Vandy.
Georgia freshman tight end Brock Bowers is leading the Bulldogs in receiving so far this season. The former four-star prospect had to step in when star tight end Darnell Washington underwent foot surgery in fall camp and has more than impressed through four games.
The Napa, Cal. was named SEC Freshman of the Week for a productive day versus Vanderbilt, racking up four catches for 69 yards and two touchdowns, with another 12 yards and a score on the ground.
Fellow Bulldog Adonai Mitchell won the same award just two weeks ago.
Bowers has 18 receptions for 272 yards and four touchdowns on the year. Georgia needed a playmaker to step up with the large number of injuries to receivers and Bowers has done just that.
JT Daniels is dealing against South Carolina right now…
No. 2 Georgia has taken an early 14-3 lead over South Carolina in Athens.
First it was a 23 yard touchdown by junior running back James Cook on the Bulldogs first possession and next, a 43 yard touchdown pass from quarterback J.T. Daniels to wideout Jermaine Burton.
That’s two scores on two possessions and I know it’s only mid-way through the first quarter, but Daniels is back and looks to be just fine coming off a core injury that caused him to miss last week against UAB.
Catch the game live right now on ESPN.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter at UGAFootballLivefor live game updates.
Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports has tabbed Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning as a possible replacement for Les Miles at Kansas.
Head coach Les Miles and the University of Kansas agreed to part ways last week due to reports surfacing of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment during his time at LSU (2005-2016).
Now, Kansas must find a new head football coach as spring football season approaches. Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports has included Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning as a possible candidate to take over the Jayhawks.
“7. Dan Lanning, Georgia defensive coordinator: A budding star who has worked for Kirby Smart, Nick Saban and Mike Norvell. Texas and Florida State both reportedly took cracks at Lanning to be their DC in the last two seasons. Lanning knows the territory as a Kansas City native. He recruited Kansas jucos while at Arizona State under Todd Graham.”
As Dodd mentions, Lanning has received calls for other coaching positions for the last two seasons, most recently Texas. New Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian reportedly offered the defensive coordinator position to Lanning, who elected to return to Athens and shortly after, received a pay raise of $450,000, which puts him in the upper echelon of assistant coach salaries at $1.7 million per year.
Lanning’s resume at Georgia is impressive. He led the 2019 Bulldogs to a No. 1 ranking in scoring defense, while ranking No. 3 in total defense. And in 2020, led Georgia to the No. 15 scoring defense and the No. 13 total defense in the country with several key starters going down with injuries.
Although Kansas will probably not pull Lanning away from Georgia, it’s only a matter of time before the right job opens up for him and Lanning decides to move on from Athens. Until then, the Bulldogs have one of the top teams in the country in 2021 and focus now has to be on a championship.
The SEC announced a huge 10-year TV deal with ESPN in a press conference on Thursday night. Details and analysis here.
The SEC announced a huge 10-year TV deal with ESPN in a press conference on Thursday night.
The deal starts in 2024 and gives ESPN exclusive media rights to SEC football and men’s basketball – specifically the top 15 football games and eight marquee basketball games – ending the previous deal with CBS that lasted 30 years.
The familiar 3:30 p.m. kickoff on CBS will be moved to ABC and there will also be a prime time game following the afternoon matchup, so we can say goodbye to the SEC’s best game being aired in the afternoon.
“This is a significant day for the Southeastern Conference and for the future of our member institutions,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said. “Our agreement with ESPN will greatly enhance our ability to support our student-athletes in the years ahead and to further enrich the game day experience for SEC fans around the world.”
Something to note is the size of the contract.
CBS paid the SEC $55 million per year and, while the SEC refused to release the financial side of the new deal, reports from the Sports Business Journal expect the new payout to be $300 million each year.
The SEC released even released a hype video following the announcement.
A Georgia football receiver has entered his name into the transfer portal, per reports. Details here
Georgia junior receiver Trey Blount has entered his name into the transfer portal, per a report from the AJC, which has since been confirmed by multiple sources.
A former 4-star recruit in the Bulldogs 2017 recruiting class, the Atlanta native hasn’t seen the field much the last two seasons.
Blount played in 14 games in 2017 without recording a catch and played in all 14 games in 2018, recording three catches for 39 yards.
Blount’s last catch came versus Arkansas State in 2019 and in 2020, he started at wideout versus Kentucky and saw limited action in Georgia’s last four games.
Blount will join redshirt freshman quarterback D’Wan Mathis as the first Bulldogs to enter the transfer portal this offseason.
USC transfer quarterback JT Daniels is set to make his first start as a Georgia Bulldog vs. Mississippi State. Here’s what to expect.
We are now in the JT Daniels chapter of the ever stressful Georgia quarterback drama.
The USC transfer quarterback is set to make his first career start as a Georgia Bulldog vs. Mississippi State in Athens on Saturday night.
After redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis’ start at signal caller vs. Arkansas in the season-opener, junior Stetson Bennett has received the majority of the snaps and has started each game until this week, which is due, in part, to a shoulder separation injury suffered in the loss to Florida.
We expected to see Daniels get on the field a bit earlier than the seventh game of the season and there were plenty of opportunities to get his feet wet, however Daniels’ mobility on his surgically repaired left knee has been an issue.
As the season has progressed, Georgia coach Kirby Smart has been more open about Daniels’ knee and mobility concerns.
“His mobility has been better,” Smart said in a press conference Wednesday.
Aug 31, 2019; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans quarterback JT Daniels (16) throws a pass against the Fresno State Bulldogs in the first quarter at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
As a freshman at USC in 2018, Daniels threw for 2,672 yards with 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He entered the transfer portal in mid-April after his sophomore season was derailed by an ACL tear.
Daniels was the third rated quarterback in the 2018 recruiting class behind Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields and while at USC, he showed flashes of an elite passer, like here on his first touchdown pass of his collegiate career.
Hoping to see a lot of this tonight from JT Daniels! @UGAfootballLive
But what kind of expectations should Georgia fans have for Daniels in his first start?
Put simply, the only expectations DawgNation should have is a Georgia win.
Coach Mike Leach and the Bulldogs from Starkville are limping into Athens. 17 players have either opted-out of this season or have transferred on top of more players being forced to miss tonight’s game because of COVID testing.
In turn, Georgia should make quick work of Mississippi State tonight and Daniels should preform well as a result, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here and make sure to remember who we are playing.
I’m looking for Daniels to show command of the offense by hitting the easy throws that we haven’t been able to hit all season.
Offensive coordinator Todd Monken and company have done a good job of getting guys open, but Bennett and Mathis’ inaccuracy has been the issue.
If Daniels can hit those easy throws, show leadership and protect the football, I think we can walk away from this one feeling good about 2021.
The UGA Wire staff presents our weekly expert score, stat and game predictions ahead of Georgia football at Kentucky.
The No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs (3-1, 3-1) travel to Lexington this Saturday to face off against the Kentucky Wildcats (2-3, 2-3).
Kentucky began the season ranked 23rd but have since dropped after losing three of five games. The Wildcats are definitely sneaky this year, beating a Mississippi State team by a score of 24 – 2 as well as Tennessee by 27 points. That margin of victory over the Vols is larger than Georgia’s.
Georgia enters this game coming off a loss at Alabama two weeks ago and a bye week last week. Kentucky comes into this matchup following a 20-10 loss last week to Missouri.
Saturday’s kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 P.M. ET on SEC Network.
With that said, the UGA Wire staff has put together a number of score, stat and game predictions ahead of Saturday’s matchup.
In this week’s episode, I’m joined by special guest, former Georgia tight end Arthur Lynch, plus I break down Kentucky and SEC football.
Your friends at “UGA Football Live” and UGA Wire present your one-stop shop for all things Georgia football!
We are releasing episodes and interviews each week during the 2020 college football season, with a little bit of everything sprinkled in between.
In this week’s episode, I’m joined by special guest, former Georgia tight end Arthur Lynch (2009-2013) to talk about his playing days at Georgia and how he transitioned from NFL player to U.S. Army 2nd lieutenant.
Plus collegefootballnews.com‘s Pete Fiutak stops in to help breakdown SEC football as we are now halfway through the 10 game conference-only schedule.
Also I talk:
Kentucky Preview
What do the Wildcats look like for Saturday’s matchup.
Dawgs in the NFL
My top former Bulldogs from NFL week-7 action.
J.C. vs. the Spread
Last weeks picks turned out horribly, but my five picks this week are immortal locks.
Listen here on Spotify:
Or here, on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uga-football-live-with-j-c-shelton/id1533295384#episodeGuid=Buzzsprout-6116629
—
Make sure to subscribe, rate and review! And check out our other episodes featuring former Georgia greats like Aaron Murray (Ep. 2) Tavarres King (Ep. 3) and Keith Marshall (Ep. 4).
No. 4 Georgia takes on No. 7 Auburn Saturday at 7:30 p.m., see what Auburn media is saying about the Bulldogs here.
The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry is here a bit early.
Because of the SEC-only schedule this season amid the Covid-19 pandemic, No. 4 Georgia and No. 7 Auburn matchup in just their second games of the season.
Once again we are in the dark about who will start at quarterback for the Bulldogs.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart and staff elected to start redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis against Arkansas, and then abruptly pulled him after only five drives for junior Stetson Bennett.
Bennett played well, using his championship run experience at Jones County Junior College in 2018 to lead the Bulldogs back from a 5-point deficit to beat Arkansas 37-10.
There was a chance we would see USC transfer J.T. Daniels if he was cleared from an ACL tear from 2019, but he wasn’t cleared before kickoff like Smart hoped.
Then, on Monday, Smart announced that Daniels had been cleared for gameplay and now the Bulldogs once again must make a decision on who will start at signal caller.
Here is what the Auburn media is saying about Georgia and its quarterback situation:
“A defense that led the nation in points allowed last year (12.6 per game) and rushing defense (75 yards per game), the Georgia Bulldogs bring back plenty of talent from that 2019 group led by a deep and talented front seven along with a secondary that has one of the best college football players in the country in senior safety Richard LeCounte.”
“We recruit the state; I think a third of our team is from the state of Georgia,” Malzahn said. “You can look at it since I’ve been at Auburn, it’s always been very, very important and the winner’s usually gone on to do really well. It’s a big one.”
“Smart has had to worry about his own quarterback situation this week after redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis started but struggled against the Razorbacks and junior Stetson Bennett entered the game in relief. The availability of Daniels, a former five-star recruit, has muddied the picture going into Saturday’s game, and Smart has been hesitant to tip his hand one way or the other.”
“No. 7 Auburn at No. 4 Georgia (-6.5): The wrong team is favored here. I don’t buy that JT Daniels is 100% following his knee injury last season or that he has the same ceiling as he did prior to it. Whether it’s Daniels or Stetson Bennett IV, Auburn’s defense won’t be threatened by an offense that struggled to find its sea legs. Auburn has its work cut out for it on offense, though. Quarterback Bo Nix looked better after some halftime adjustments last week, and there’s no doubt that coach Gus Malzahn and offensive coordinator Chad Morris held back much of the offense against Kentucky. Take those points, but you won’t need them. Auburn will win this game outright. Pick: Auburn (+6.5)”
