Tag: Georgia Football

New England Patriots should target former Georgia football WR this offseason

Why the New England Patriots should target former Georgia football WR AJ Green this offseason.

The New England Patriots are in big need of an elite wide receiver, and a former Bulldog could be the answer to their problems.

The Patriots at one point had Julian Edelman, Antonio Brown and Josh Gordon on the roster. However, Gordon and Brown did not work out, leaving Edelman as the only elite receiver on the depth chart. Edelman was his usual reliable self until injuries slowed him down and forced him to undergo shoulder surgery at the end of the season.

With that in mind, former Georgia wide receiver AJ Green would be a great fit in New England’s offense if he is not franchise tagged by the Cincinnati Bengals. On the topic of being franchise tagged, that is not what Green wants. He will take the money and play if tagged, but he thinks it sends the wrong message.

“The franchise tag is not the best thing,” Green told Elise Jesse of WLWT in Cincinnati. “But like I said, I’m not turning down $18 million.”

Green wants to remain with the Bengals, but a one year tag does not excite him like a multi-year contract would.

Green has spent his entire career with the Bengals, and the 31 year old has earned a spot in the Pro Bowl seven times. There is risk involved with Green, though – he’s played in just 35 of a possible 64 games since 2015.

But when he’s healthy, there’s no denying he is one of the league’s top talents at the receiver position.

Green and the Patriots would be a match made in heaven. Bill Belichick runs a tight shift, likes his players to remain out of the spotlight and enjoys keeping a low profile. That describes Green – one of the most humble players in the league, someone who is rather inactive on social media and a guy who performs at a high level without added drama.

After what the Patriots went through with Gordon and Brown, they’d be thrilled to add a no-drama player like Green.

Tom Brady is a free agent for the first time in nearly two decades, and in order to keep him around owner Robert Kraft will be more inclined to make a move to get more playmakers around his aging quarterback.

New England currently has $42m in cap space, and a large chunk of that would go to Brady. But Kraft knows that if he wants to get Brady another Super Bowl, he will have to make some moves to add an elite wide receiver.

AJ Green, David Andrews and Sony Michel all on the same offense? Yes please.

What does this tweet from 5-star Georgia football signee mean?

5-star Georgia football signee Kelee Ringo made an interesting tweet this week.

Right now, Georgia is sitting with the No. 3 recruiting class in the country for 2020. With 21 commits, five of which being 5-stars, if this class wrapped up right now the Dawgs would have had a very successful season recruiting wise.

But many think Georgia is not done just yet. There’s talks of the Dawgs still being in the hunt for 5-star running back Zach Evans, who signed with Georgia and then reached an agreement with the school to be released from his National Letter of Intent.

If Evans would have remained signed with Georgia, then the Bulldogs likely would have finished with the No. 1 class.

At least that’s what 5-star Georgia cornerback signee Kelee Ringo said on Twitter this week in response to Mike Farrell, the National Recruiting Director at Rivals, tweeting about how Clemson currently holds that No. 1 spot.

“Watch this……and if Zach stayed we would have been #1 easily. It’s coming though,” Ringo tweeted. 

What exactly that means I am not sure. Does it prove that Georgia is still in the mix for Evans? Is there another player(s) that Kirby Smart could be going after come February’s signing day?

Is Georgia football still in it? Recruiting Director at Rivals makes Zach Evans prediction

Is Georgia football still in the mix for Zach Evans? Mike Farrell at Rivals thinks so.

Zach Evans, the 5-star running back out of North Shore High School in Houston, Texas, originally signed with Georgia but then later requested that the Bulldogs release him of his National Letter of Intent. Georgia did just that.

Evans, who may be the most talented player in the entire 2020 recruiting class, was supposed to announce his decision at the Under Armour game before backing out and delaying his recruitment.

Now, however, Georgia appears to be back in the fold for Evans.

Despite already signing with UGA and then being released from his NLI, some recruiting expert still think the superstar tailback will end up at Georgia when the dust settles.

Another name to keep an eye on is Broderick Jones, a 5-star offensive lineman who has been committed to Georgia for quite some time. He has not signed with the Dawgs, though, and Auburn has been making a strong push for the 6’6″ 300 pounder out of Lithonia, Georgia.

When asked to make a prediction on where these unsigned five-star players will go, Rivals.com’s National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell said he still thinks that both Evans and Jones will be heading to Georgia.

“Evans will end up at Georgia, Jones will also end up at Georgia.”

Evans is believed to be visiting Knoxville this weekend, according to Farrell. Ole Miss and Florida are in the mix as well.

At North Shore in Houston, Evans had another stellar season as a senior, rushing for 1,600 yards and 20 touchdowns on just 127 carries, with an average of 12.6 yards per carry. In 2018, when he was named MaxPreps’ National Junior of the Year, Evans tallied 1,785 rushing yards and 29 scores. His sophomore season,  Evans racked up 1,483 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns.

Report: Georgia football adds two new coaches to support staff

Georgia football has reportedly added two new coaches to its support staff.

According to Jake Rowe of Dawgs247, Georgia has added two new defensive coaches to its support staff.

Rod Ojong has been hired as a defensive quality control assistant after spending 2019 as the cornerbacks coach for Furman.

Additionally, Kirby Smart has brought in Laiu Moeakiola as a defensive graduate assistant.

Before coaching cornerbacks at Furman in 2019, Ojong had the same role at Austin Peay in 2018, the year the Governors came to Athens for the season opener.

Prior to Austin Peay, Ojong was graduate assistant at North Carolina for two years (2016, 2017), where he overlapped with current UGA defensive line coach Tray Scott, who held the same position in Chapel Hill before coming to Athens.

Ojong’s coaching career is as follows:

2019 – Furman (Cornerbacks)
2018 – Austin Peay (Cornerbacks)
2016-17 – North Carolina (Defensive Graduate Assistant)
2015 – Memphis (Defensive Graduate Assistant)
2014 – West Georgia (Strong Safeties)
2013 – Lindsey Wilson College (Outside Linebackers/Asst. Strength & Conditioning)
2012 – Monmouth (Student Assistant Linebackers Coach)

As for Moeakiola, he comes to Athens after working as a defensive graduate assistant at TCU for that past few seasons. The former linebacker played his college football at Arizona State from 2012-16, where he was coached by now Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning.

At Arizona State, Moeakiola compiled 203 total tackles, 20.5 tackles for loss, and seven sacks during his five-year Sun Devil career.

Salary released for new Georgia football OC Todd Monken

Salary info has been reported for new Georgia football OC Todd Monken,.

New Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken was recently hired by Kirby Smart to bring the Bulldogs’ passing game up to speed with the rest of college football.

Monken, who previously coached as the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Bucs, will take over for James Coley calling plays.

Per contract information obtained by DawgNation, we now know Monken’s salary at Georgia.

Monken will be earning $1.1 million as Georgia’s offensive coordinator in 2020.

According to the College Football Assistant Coach Salaries database at USA TODAY, that figure will make Monken a top-15 paid assistant in college football. There are only two offensive coordinators who earn more than Monken – Steve Sarkisian at Alabama ($1.55m) and Jim Chaney at Tennessee ($1.5m).

Coley, who remains on staff at the moment, earned $950,000 last season as offensive coordinator of the Bulldogs.

As reported by 247Sports, new UGA quality control analyst Buster Faulkner will earn a $150,000 salary.

Georgia football highest SEC team in PFF’s 2020 Top-25; Florida Gators low

Georgia football checked in very high in PFF’s preseason college football rankings while the Florida Gators were low.

Georgia football will once again be one of the highest ranked teams in college football heading into the 2020 season.

There were some big question marks surrounding the 2020 Bulldogs, however, a big one was cleared up when Georgia was able to reel in Wake Forest graduate transfer quarterback Jamie Newman to replace Jake Fromm in Athens.

And that’s a big reason why Georgia checked in at No. 3 in PFF’s “Way-too-early” Top-25 rankings, the highest of any SEC school.

The two teams ahead of the Dawgs, according to PFF, are Ohio State at No. 1 and Clemson at No. 2.

Other SEC schools inside the rankings include: Alabama (5), LSU (6), Florida (19), Auburn (20).

Florida fans reading this cannot be happy with that low ranking, seeing as how the Gators have cracked a lot of top-10s in the past few weeks.

For Georgia, PFF loves the addition of Newman, saying:

And they were fortunate enough to land the biggest graduate transfer of this offseason in Jamie Newman. During Newman’s 2019 season at Wake Forest, he displayed traits that Jake Fromm couldn’t touch — such as tight-window accuracy and effective deep passing — while displaying far superior athleticism. His tight-window passing grade and deep-passing grade (20-plus yards) both were second to only Joe Burrow this season. That’s pretty good company. Getting him out of Wake Forest’s up-tempo, RPO system will allow Newman to do what he does best — beat defenses with his arm instead of his legs.

Georgia also returns almost everyone from what was college football’s most ferocious defense last season. Additionally, George Pickens is due for a big sophomore season at wide receiver along with Zamir White at running back.

There’s still some concern at the offensive line position. The five starters that Georgia fields on day one will be elite, but it’s the depth that concerns me the most. Georgia lost four of its five starters to the NFL Draft or to transfer.

NFL releases list of early entrants for the 2020 draft

The NFL Draft is just a few months away and the league released a list of all the early entrants, including from Georgia football.

On Tuesday, the NFL released the official number of early entrants for the 2020 draft.

Of the 115 early entrants, 99 athletes were granted special eligibility (three years removed from high school) and 16 will have graduated but have collegiate eligibility remaining.

Last year, a record 135 collegians left early for the NFL draft. Of those, nearly one-third did not hear their name called on draft day. The siren song of the NFL sometimes isn’t so sweet.

The SEC, proving once again it is the most talented and competitive conference in the nation, saw 35 players forgo their senior year. The Big Ten lost 21 early entrants, the ACC and Pac-12 each lost 13 and the Big 12 lost 8 players to the draft. Other conference and NCAA division early losses include:

  • Mountain West, 6
  • AAC, 5
  • Conference USA, 4
  • Independents, 3
  • Sun Belt, 1
  • MAC, 0
  • FCS, DII, DIII, 5

National champion LSU lost the most early entrants with 9. SEC rivals Alabama, Georgia and Texas A&M were next, losing 6, 5 and 4, respectively.

Georgia  offensive tackle Andrew Thomas (junior) is widely expected to be one of the early entrants drafted in the top 10. Other Georgia early entrants include tackle Isaiah Wilson (RS soph, 2nd-3rd round), guard Solomon Kindley (RS junior, late 1st-2nd round), quarterback Jake Fromm (junior, 1st-2nd round) and running back D’Andre Swift (junior, 1st-2nd round).

The 2020 NFL Draft will be the 85th annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft is scheduled to be held from April 23–25, 2020, in Paradise, Nevada and will be televised live on ESPN.

Where does UGA football’s Jake Fromm go in latest mock draft?

Georgia Bulldogs starting quarterback Jake Fromm has elected to enter the 2020 NFL Draft. He’s projected as the seventh QB selected.

Georgia Bulldogs starting quarterback Jake Fromm has elected to enter the 2020 NFL Draft. With this decision, Fromm will be compared with the elite quarterbacks in the NFL Draft. Where will he go in comparison to the other talented quarterback prospects?

In DraftWire’s four round mock draft, Jake Fromm is selected with the 91st pick in the NFL Draft. Fromm would be joining the Las Vegas Raiders in this scenario for their inaugural season in Las Vegas.

Nov 2, 2019; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Jake Fromm (11) runs the ball against Florida Gators defensive lineman Jabari Zuniga (92) during the first quarter at TIAA Bank Field. Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

As the 91st selection, Fromm is the seventh quarterback drafted. The mock draft also projects four Georgia Bulldogs will go ahead of Fromm. Here’s every quarterback who goes before him:

1st overall) Joe Burrow (LSU Tigers), Cincinnati Bengals

5th) Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama Crimson), Miami Dolphins

6th) Justin Herbert (Oregon Ducks), Los Angeles Chargers

13th) Jordan Love (Utah State Aggies), Indianapolis Colts

38th) Jacob Eason (Washington Huskies), Carolina Panthers

88th) Jalen Hurts (Oklahoma Sooners), New Orleans Saints

91st) Jake Fromm (Georgia Bulldogs, Oakland Raiders

Does Fromm fall too far in this mock draft? It seems about right to me. Fromm will go anywhere from round two to round four. Anything higher or lower would come as a surprise. Fromm will impress teams with his knowledge of the game and extensive starting experience.

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Notre Dame Offers Three Tuesday – Next Up is ’21 Georgia Defensive Tackle

Jonathan Jefferson, a 6-4, 278 pound defensive tackle was among the three prospects to get offered in the 2021 class by Notre Dame on Tuesday.

As Notre Dame attempts to compile talent along their defensive front in the 2021 recruiting class, they made an offer to one of the nation’s most-desired defensive tackles in the class.

Jonathan Jefferson, a 6-4, 278 pound defensive tackle was among the three prospects to get offered in the 2021 class by Notre Dame on Tuesday.

Jefferson, a high school defensive line-mate of Joshua Robinson at Douglas County High School in Douglasville, Georiga who was also offered by Notre Dame on Tuesday.

Rivals ranks Jefferson as a top-200 player nationally and the 15th best defensive tackle in the 2021 class.

For a temperature guage on how sought-after Jefferson is look no further than his list of offers already, which come from over 40 programs including most of the elites like Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas A&M and plenty of others.