The Power of 2

It has become more and more obvious this last decade how important quarterbacks are to winning football teams. It’s no coincidence that Georgia’s worst season of the decade came when they had their weakest QB. To be fair to Joe Cox he wasn’t awful, just ok. Ok means there are at least seven guys in the SEC better than him. Joe Cox will have some great memories of his time at the University of Georgia, it’s debatable if spooning with Matt Stafford at Tallageda will be one of them, but starting for the Dawgs will be. But now, as we enter a new decade, it’s time for someone new to create some new great memories. This is where things get a little confusing, there are two four star prospects and only one position. Zach Mettenberger and Aaron Murray are the two that have to be divided into one, but who will it be? If you go by the rankings on both rivals and scout, Murray is the obvious choice. However is it really that simple?

Mattenberger is very like Ryan Mallet in almost everyway. The two most impressive things about young Zach are his size and arm strength. He is clearly a giant of a young man, and this is a big upside in the tough world of the SEC. He would take some hits against the conference defences and his size would help him in these situations however, because of his size, he is not very mobile. How would this work against the mean and nasty SEC defensive sets? Not very well is the answer to that. His scrambling and running ability is also limited at best. It is very possible that this past year will have given him enough opportunity to improve this. It is also worth noting how Mike Bobo has structured his offence the last few years. Ever since Matthew Stafford joined the school it has been built around a big QB with a cannon arm, exactly like Mettenberger. In his senior year at Ocoonee County High School he threw for 2,016 yards, 19 touchdowns and 6 picks. Despite his huge arm and success in the passing game watching video of Zach is different to simply looking at the stats. His first look seems almost always to be to either his running back or tight end, positions were Georgia aren’t outstanding, at least at receiving. If Mettenberger gets the start he is going to have to learn to look AJ Green then the rest. Like Mallet has been, Mettenberger could be a strong armed quarterback who has success throwing the ball against SEC secondary’s. Rivals ranked him as the 11th best QB in the country and Scout has him at 14. Mettenberger is without doubt hugely talented, but is he talented enough?

Aaron Murray has been Georgia’s prize prospect ever since he committed last year. To put into perspective how heavily recruited this young man was he had 53 scholarship offers, that’s almost half the total FBS schools. Despite only playing eight games in his senior year he managed to throw for 2285 yards, 33 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. This is the same year Murray broke his ankle after 6 of those games, he came back and threw for 563 of his yards and 5 touchdowns. On the Scout report the only downside to Murray is his size, he is listed 6-1 and 207 pounds. However this is the same height as Joe Cox and 7 pounds heavier. In case you missed it Cox played every game this year and, despite getting beat up, he has not been hurt. It is also worth remembering how much Bobo and the Bulldogs will be running the ball next year. The last 2 or 3 games of the year Caleb King and Washaun Ealy were dominating. Remember the game against Georgia Tech and how the Jackets were shredded. This would protect Murray even more, let him learn defensive schemes, get more comfortable in the pocket and grow his confidence while giving Georgia the best chance to win. In a lot of Murray’s video some of his throws are incredible, really elite and his mobility is also of the highest standard. One scouting report says this about the young man;

“Makes great decisions and cuts zones to pieces. Has very good arm strength and unbelievable touch. Is most dangerous, though, when he gets on the edge. Peerless leader.”

He is rated the number 3 QB in the country and is perhaps an even more committed, intelligent and complete QB the Matthew Stafford or Joe Cox. I haven’t read it yet but the video I have seen I’m confident he could be as successful as David Greene.

Truth time now, I started this piece supporting Mettenberger. I really like what I’ve seen of him as a person and he is a very well developed player, plus he’s a Georgian. However as I’ve gone on, watched more film, read more scouting and stats Murray has really grown on me. Whoever gets the job will have really earned it and we could possibly be in for one of the most exciting G-day games ever.

The young and the hopeful

I was wrong. I may have slightly over hyped Joe Cox. Ok more than slightly. There was probably never any realistic chance that Georgia would ever get near an SEC championship with Cox under center. Unfortunately it took Mark Richt and Mike Bobo 12 weeks to figure out what might. Washaun Ealey and Caleb King broke out big time Saturday night in Atlanta. Just to clarify Georgia Tech is supposed to be the best rushing offence in the country, not Saturday. All year the Dawgs had disappeared in any kind of big games, national TV camera’s apparently give UGA players rashes these days. Having been picked apart by both Tennessee and Florida, then proceeding to crap all over the memory of Uga VII last week against Kentucky, would anyone have believed anything other than embarrassment would happen at Bobby Dodd. Well try these; surprise, elation, vindication, redemption. Joe Cox never became the player I was predicting but Ealey and King suddenly did. Of Georgia’s 44 carries Ealey and King combined for 38 of them. Those 38 attempts equalled 349 yards, that’s an average of 9.2 yards per carry. The amazing early success of the big play passing game, that was almost exclusively an A.J Green highlight reel, perhaps delayed the progress of this running game. The confusion over who was the guy to replace Knowshon Moreno also contributed., you only have to watch Alabama and the success of Trent Richardson working alongside Mark Ingram to see how it can work in the SEC. Despite coming 8 weeks to late to save the season the Bulldogs as a team, and I mean a complete team of offence, defence and special teams, rebounded from the troubles this year to pull out a win at the number 7 ranked team in the country. A lot of credit has to go also to the much maligned Willy Martinez and his defence. To hold the funky triple option to just 205 yards rushing and force the Yellow Jackets into passing 13 times shows how well the D played. Paul Johnson was sufficiently freaked that he threw out his playbook. If you’ve ever Josh Nesbitt on a football field you will know he is not a passing quarterback. So why make him throw? Was Tech so intimidated by the Bulldog that they felt incapable of using an offence that has been so successful for them both this and last year. It was a complete role reversal of the game in Athens last year, remember those desperation heaves by Matthew Stafford? Swap Stafford for Nesbitt this year. Remember Jonathan Dwyer tearing apart the Georgia run defence? Swap Dwyer for either King or Ealey.

There’s going to be plenty of chance to look ahead to both bowls and next year but I want to get an early jump. Cox had, unfortunately, proven inadequate. I said to a friend a couple of weeks ago “Cox is Big 12 or Pac 10 good, not SEC good” now I’m not even sure he’s that good. From now on, with the one exception in January, Joe Cox will no longer be the University of Georgia starting quarterback. It will either prove to be Aaron Murray or Zach Mettenberger. Most seem to think it will be Murray but, from what I’ve seen, do not count out Mettenberger. Next year both will have had a year as part of the team, they will have matured and they will have an incredible Sophmore and Redshirt Junior running back. There is suddenly potential, excitement and, dare I say it, expectation in Athens again. Whether it’s right or wrong I’m suddenly more excited about this Springs G-Day game than whichever bowl the Dawgs are in. It took 1 hour and over 300 yards hard labor but all of a sudden Georgia football has a pulse again.

The Stafford Theory

Would Georgia be a better team had Matthew Stafford chosen to complete his degree and take one more year of being the big fish in the Georgia locker room. Many, especially in Athens, felt that Stafford should have stayed, enjoyed one more year partying, earned a complete degree and given himself a shot at the SEC championship. The decision he did make is hardly unknown. There are however two questions that his choice has risen for me having seen him as an NFL starter and Georgia playing a Matthew Stafford-less offence; how much did the University of Georgia mean to Matthew Stafford? And how much did Matthew Stafford really mean to UGA?
After David Greene and then D.J Shockley there was already a Georgia QB dynasty blossoming and Matthew Stafford appeared to be the next one to lead the Dawgs to at least the SEC if not a national championship. Unfortunately for UGA and Matthew he arrived at the same time as Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators, but did this affect the way Stafford played for the Bulldogs? No simply. He lead his team to a win in Jacksonville but dropped conference games to South Carolina and Tennessee and your not going to win an SEC championship with 2 conference losses no matter how many times you beat Florida. Then perhaps in his best chance to win both the SEC and BCS in one attempt, starting the year ranked #1 in the country and with the nations best running back to balance his power arm the was supposedly no stopping the Bulldogs, wrong. Stafford, with a little help from his D and O-line, bombed in the two biggest games he would likely play for the university. However a capital one bowl win isn’t bad reward for the most multi-talented team in the country is it. Some Georgia fans, and I will include myself in this, felt Matt owed the university a bit, he owed his team mates and the fans one last shot, even without Moreno it became clear he had a ready made replacement for Mohammed Massaquai, perhaps even better, in A.J Green. Did the university, his friends and fans really mean as much as he said? Having seen Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford return to school for their senior years plus the emergance of Jimmy Clausen and Jevan Snead and a plethora of other great quarterbacks in Matthew Stafford could have challenged himself to lead the Bulldogs against a strong field of QB’s on strong teams, he left in a weak draft class for his position, he was chosen as the best of three and does anyone think Josh Freeman is going to do anything on Sundays? It seems to me that Matthew Stafford used the University of Georgia as a stepping stone to personal wealth, it also seems that UGA used Stafford as a stepping stone to collective success.

Has the Georgia offence actually missed Stafford this year yet? Maybe once, in the beating Oklahoma sun when #14 was suffocating under the kind of scrutiny that the former #7 never faced. Matthew Stafford tied the record for touchdown passes in a game (5)in his second to last start with team, Joe Cox matched the same feat in his 4th start. Joe Cox who has sat behind Stafford for 3 years and finally got his chance is leading a young team and actually winning the Dawgs games, he has them at 2-1(2-0 SEC). What those stats don’t actually tell you that he has had to beat South Carolina single handed, throwing for 576 yards combined and 7 TD’s helping the Bulldogs to 93 points across the two games. I’m not saying Cox is a better quarterback than Matthew Stafford, I think he has shown enough potential in his two NFL starts to have belief he can be widely successful, I am just suggesting that maybe for now he is the better one for Georgia. There is every possibility that this season if Joe Cox plays the way he has against SEC teams this year against everyone he may actually improve on Staffords 10-3 record last year, that is a huge claim that Georgia could go the rest of the year losing only 1 game, but if they learn to play defence smartish they could do it and Joe Cox could do something Matthew Stafford never gave himself a chance to do, win the SEC, big claims for a big goal.