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After 7 long weeks, the Georgia Bulldogs have finally made it to their bye week mostly in 1 piece.
Their undefeated record is intact, and the team is mostly healthy, though players like receiver AD Mitchell, running back Kendall Milton and defensive tackle Jalen Carter could use the time off to heal their ailments and get back on the field in time for Florida in 2 weeks.
There were few surprises coming out of Athens, Ga., through 2 months this season. As projected, the team won all of its games and did so in mostly dominant fashion. The Week 1 blowout of Oregon, currently ranked No. 10 in the country, was surprising simply for how commanding the Bulldogs were, and the near loss to Missouri in Week 5 was even more surprising for how ineffective the Bulldogs were.
Other than that, things have gone mostly to script.
Before things heat up in the next 4 weeks, though — vs. Florida, vs. No. 3 Tennessee, at No. 24 Mississippi State, at No. 19 Kentucky — let’s look back over the first 7 games at the team’s most consequential players so far this season.
Here are my 5 Georgia MVPs so far:
1. Quarterback Stetson Bennett
It was a close race for me between Bennett and the No. 2 player on this list (spoiler alert: Brock Bowers), but I had to give the nod to the quarterback.
The way Bennett began the year was sensational. Through the team’s first 3 games, he was among the nation’s leaders in passing and was a popular Heisman Trophy pick. It’s a testament to how good those first 3 games were that the 4 following weeks have been considered with a measure of disappointment in comparison.
And it’s true that Bennett struggled against teams like Kent State and Missouri. And the 1st half against Auburn wasn’t exactly a show of elite offensive efficiency. With that said, he has looked much more like himself in the past 6 quarters — 2 against Auburn and, well, 3 against Vanderbilt before giving way to backup Carson Beck.
Bennett ended a long passing touchdown drought with 2 against the Commodores and had his 2nd-highest completion percentage of the season. Overall, he has completed 70.7 percent of his passes for 2,033 yards and 7 touchdowns. The yards are on pace to set a single-season record for the Bulldogs.
The thought here is that Bennett and the offense are back on track, just in time for the team’s 4 toughest tests of the season.
2. Tight end Brock Bowers
No non-quarterback has a bigger impact on this team than Bowers. He leads the team in receiving with 26 catches for 393 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Those are fine numbers. But it’s the versatility and home run hitting that elevates Bowers from a reliable weapon in the passing game to an indispensable piece of this offense.
He’s averaging over 15 yards per reception and has a season-long catch of 78 yards. The Bulldogs try different ways to put the ball in his hands more, especially considering the amount of attention he gets from opposing defenses. They’ve given him 3 rushing attempts so far this season, and he’s scored on all 3 — 3 carries, 82 yards, 3 touchdowns.
In all honesty, Georgia needs to find a way to get him even more involved in the offense than he already has been. He was largely shut down on Saturday against Vanderbilt, recording his fewest yards in a game so far this season. The week before against Auburn he had just 2 receptions.
He is 1 of the most electrifying offensive weapons in college football, and the more Georgia can get him involved the better off its offense will be.
3. Defensive back Malaki Starks
Let’s switch over to defense for a few moments, where Starks has been a freshman revelation for the Bulldogs.
Georgia lost the vast majority of its defensive starters after last season, a unit that was considered to be among the very best in recent college football history. The expectation was that the defense would regress a bit this year, and it has, to be fair.
But not as much as you might have thought.
Georgia’s 9.1 points allowed rank 2nd in the nation, and that is elevated by 2 games in which it allowed 44 points combined to Kent State and Missouri. In its other 5 games, Georgia has allowed a combined 20 points.
You can owe a lot of that to the emergence of guys like Starks.
He is 2nd on the team with 25 tackles, tied for the team lead in interceptions with 2 and leads the team with 4 pass breakups. He’s a versatile defensive back who has shown his athleticism in acrobatic interceptions (and near interceptions), and he also has a nose for the ball and is a sure tackler.
He’s a total-package defender for the Bulldogs, and they’ll continue to lean on him moving forward.
4. Defensive back Kelee Ringo
It feels like he’s having a quiet season, doesn’t it? It’s almost easy to forget about him when you consider him next to someone like Starks.
But quiet is good for defensive backs, and Ringo is having a really good season.
He doesn’t have the numbers you might expect. He’s recorded 15 tackles, broken up just 2 passes and doesn’t have an interception all year. But defenses are avoiding the talented junior cornerback and for good reason.
Ringo is probably still Georgia’s best cover man, and NFL analysts love him. He’s consistently projected as a prospect likely to be drafted in the top half of the 1st round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
That doesn’t always indicate how well a player is currently playing, but it does speak to Ringo’s ability. As he continues to match up against some of the best offensive weapons other teams throw at Georgia, which will become consistently more threatening in the coming weeks, the less we call Ringo’s name the better.
5. Running back Kenny McIntosh
It was a tough decision to make for the No. 5 slot here. Other players like Milton, who is currently battling through an injury, or Daijun Edwards, the team’s leading rusher, came to mind.
It was McIntosh’s versatility, though, that won me over here.
McIntosh is 3rd on the team in rushing yards and has the fewest yards per carry of any of the 4 main backs (Edwards, Milton, McIntosh and Branson Robinson). What he’s lacked in traditional running, though, he’s made up for as a pass catcher out of the backfield.
Georgia and Bennett have loved using short passes to accentuate their rushing attack this season. McIntosh has caught 28 passes for 270 yards, a decent 9.6 yards-per-catch average. Coupled with his 242 rushing yards, McIntosh leads the team in all-purpose yardage with 512, and he is tied for the team lead in touchdowns with 5.
His usage has become somewhat stale in recent weeks, so Georgia will need to continue to mix it up to give him more opportunities.
