The Georgia Bulldogs are a storied College Football program, currently ranking 10th in FBS in wins at 767 overall. Mark Richt is tied for the longest tenured coach in the Southeastern Conference, with the new SEC member in Gary Pinkel from Missouri, both taking head coaching jobs entering the 2001 football season. Last year, the Bulldogs were a team that could have taken the easy way out. Their game day roster from week to week looked like a MASH unit. Aaron Murray, Todd Gurley, Keith Marshall, and many other players were hurt at different times throughout the season. It definitely was not a success, but any season dominated by losses through injury is more of a missed opportunity than a disappointment. Below are the actual scores and results from the 2013 season.
2013 Georgia Bulldogs Season
The Bulldogs suffered two non-conference losses, one of which was in the bowl game. In conference, a blowout loss only to Missouri and close losses to Auburn and Vanderbilt were the only blemishes. Despite all the injuries, the Bulldogs were quite competitive, and almost held the Auburn Tigers to a second loss, which would have completely changed the National Championship picture for last year. Here is a look at the returning players for next season, starting with the side returning the best known players on the team.
Offense
Aaron Murray had been the quarterback of the Bulldogs for several years, but waiting in the wings is a redshirt senior quarterback by the name of Hutson Mason. Mason threw in more games in 2013 than in any of his previous seasons on the team. He completed about 61% of his passes in his 5 games, for 5 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Surely, he will benefit from starting more games and getting the first team reps during the spring and fall practices before the new season. Mason is the new man to take control of the reins in Georgia, but he will not have it for long before someone will take it in 2015. It is up to Mason to make the most of his opportunity to see if another Georgia quarterback can advance to the NFL.
One of the biggest topics heading into last season was "Gurshall," a poorly chosen nickname for the big running back tandem of Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall. They had burst onto the scene in 2012 as freshmen who were great at running the ball. They both were hurt in the 2013 season, which effected their production. Gurley had an ankle injury during the LSU game, which forced him to miss the games against the Tennessee Volunteers, Missouri Tigers, and the Vanderbilt Commodores. Gurley racked up 1,430 yards combined rushing and receiving, totalling 16 touchdowns. Marshall is trying to bounce back from an ACL injury that occurred in the Tennessee game. During his 5 games played he had 357 total yards and 2 touchdowns. Since the two players wear 3 and 4 respectively for the Georgia Bulldogs, it should be evident that a better nickname for them would be "Thing 3" and "Thing 4." They are going to be some of the top running backs in the Southeastern Conference this season.
The top two returning receivers on the team are seniors Chris Conley and Michael Bennett. They were pretty similar statistically with both getting over 40 catches for over 500 yards and 4 touchdowns. However, there were a lot of injuries at the wide receiver position last year and they both played in 11 games. One player that could easily come back and show his strength is junior Justin Scott-Wesley. Scott-Wesley is another player who suffered a major injury last year, coming up with a torn ACL in the Tennessee game as well. In the 5 games that he played, he caught 16 passes for 311 yards and 2 touchdowns. Clearly, he is a deep threat that needs to be accounted for and opposing defenses will be definitely keeping their eyes on him to see how well he performs early in the season.
Defense
Senior defensive lineman Ray Drew finally got his first career start last season, and finished the year with 7 starts. He was one of the leaders last year getting 6 sacks and 8 tackles for loss, while recording a total of 43 tackles for the whole year. He is one of the top returning defensive lineman and with the 3-4 technique that was used last season, they do not exactly feature space stuffers that are called to take up two offensive lineman so that the linebackers can make bigger plays. Drew was one of the best at getting to the quarterback though, and he's hoping for more sacks in the 2014 season as he loves to get after the passer.
The linebackers were called upon to make big plays and they will be making many more big plays as the top linebackers are returning for the 2014 season. It starts on the inside with senior Ramik Wilson. Wilson had the most tackles of any SEC player last year with 133. He also had 11 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, 3 pass breakups, and 7 quarterback hurries. Wilson looks to be the one of the top members of a defense that is looking to win more games because they kept the team in games they should not have been last season. Wilson is joined by the other inside backer, senior Amarlo Herrera, who is excellent in his own right. Herrera stayed back instead of being the aggressor that Wilson was in the scheme, getting 112 tackles, 5 for loss, 9 quarterback hurries, and 6 passes broken up. He also recorded an interception and a forced fumble. They make a great team on the inside of the defense, which forces everything to the outside. The outside linebackers were great and they both return as well. They are sophomore Leonard Floyd and junior Jordan Jenkins. Floyd started in 8 games last year as a true freshman and recorded 9.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks, but there were 22 quarterback hurries, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 blocked kick. He also had 55 total tackles, but considering that he only came in part way through the season, in addition to being a true freshman last year, he should continue to develop into the coming seasons to be even more spectacular. Jenkins, on the other hand, was a beast. He had 45 total tackles, 12 for loss, 5 sacks, 23 quarterback hurries, 2 fumble recoveries, and blocked a kick as well. With all 4 linebackers returning, this is a group to be feared for the offenses of the SEC in the coming season.
The secondary is not up to the snuff that the linebacker corps brings, but then again most secondaries are not able to meet up with that either. They are led by senior cornerback Damian Swann, who had 57 tackles this past season. At 5' 11" and 180 pounds, he is bigger than many college cornerbacks, and Swann will need to continue to improve this coming season. They also have sophomore costless safety Quincy Mauger returning and he had 57 tackles in 2013. Mauger is not the player that tipped the ball to Ricardo Louis last year, that would be Josh Harvey-Clemons who is no longer on the team. Mauger is looking to continue to improve as a safety after getting only a few starts last year.
Special Teams
The team was led in scoring last year by returning junior kicker Marshall Morgan, with 113 points, 22-24 for field goals with a long of 56 and 47-47 on extra points. Morgan was strong last year and should continue to be a strength of the team in the 2014 season. He is also their primary kickoff man.
Right now, the Georgia Bulldogs carry two punters on their roster, junior Collin Barber and senior Adam Erickson. Both of them were used for punting duties last year, with Barber getting the majority of the work. Erickson was the punter in the bowl game against the Huskers and had 3 punts downed inside the 20 yards line. It would appear that he has less of a leg and that Barber has the stronger leg, but is less accurate than Erickson. Both punters are likely to be used throughout the 2014 season as well, depending on when their strengths are needed most.
2014 Season Outlook
When the top running backs return, the quarterback has some in game experience, and so many of the key defensive players are returning, everyone has to be considered optimistic for good things to come in the 2014 season. Here is a closer look at their schedule.
The Southeastern Conference's East division could easily come down to the first road game of the season. Georgia beat South Carolina last year and those two are considered favorites of the division. They also have a very difficult stretch of 4 in a row away from home, from Missouri through Kentucky, since Florida is played in Jacksonville at a neutral site. But other than that, all the games they play are at home. Depending on just how well Hutson Mason can play quarterback, the Georgia Bulldogs have to be considered a serious threat to win both the Southeastern Conference and be a contender for the College Football Playoff in 2014. But if they are not in that position, Mark Richt could easily be on the hot seat again in Athens. Georgia has some strong talent though, and it will be a team that needs to be closely watched in the 2014 season.