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Georgia football: 5 areas where the Bulldogs will be better … and worse in 2023
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It’s not easy trying to find 5 ways a program that has won back-to-back national championships could be better this season. Then again, it’s not too easy to find 5 ways the odds-on favorite to win the national championship again this season could be worse.
The Georgia Bulldogs are in unique territory right now, where they’ve reached such impressive heights that it’s difficult to imagine them climbing any further.
And yet, they just might.
Mark these 10 areas down as potential reasons the Bulldogs continue their dominance … or fall just a little short in 2023:
5 areas the Bulldogs will be better
1. Reaching the quarterback
Look, I agree with those who say the subpar sack totals last season were much ado about nothing. Obviously, they were because it didn’t prevent the Bulldogs from going 15-0 and winning a national title.
With that said, there’s plenty of room to improve in 2023, and I expect that they will.
Mykel Williams led the team with 4.5 sacks as a freshman last year, and I imagine him improving on that total this season. I’m also on record saying that Jamon Dumas-Johnson will put together a very respectable number in his junior season.
The Georgia defense has never placed a ton of emphasis on getting sacks. It has always been about affecting the quarterback. It still is this year, but I think the overall depth of this unit will find a way to get home more often.
2. Turnover differential
It’s hard to believe, but Georgia was only middling in this category nationally last season.
With a plus-2 turnover margin, the Bulldogs were just 52nd in the country. It’s rare for a team that close to average to be the nation’s best team, but they were a special case.
They’ll be better in 2023.
The last time Georgia had a margin better than plus-4 was all the way back in 2016, when the Bulldogs had 27 takeaways and 19 turnovers. They have a stacked secondary this season, however, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a flurry of interceptions. If the ballcarriers and new quarterbacks can protect the football, I don’t think it’s a stretch to expect the margin to improve this year.
3. More receiving options
Arguably the biggest reason for optimism about Georgia’s offense is the receiving corps.
With respect to Carson Beck, who I expect to have a great season, it’s still a stretch to expect him to improve on Stetson Bennett’s final season in Athens. But he will have a more complete cast of receivers to help him out.
The Bulldogs lost A.D. Mitchell to transfer, which is a blow, but they brought in Dominic Lovett, 1 of the top transfers in the country, to take his place. With Lovett, Ladd McConkey, Rara Thomas, Arian Smith, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and, oh yeah, by the way, Brock Bowers catching passes, Georgia should have plenty of options.
4. Punting, I guess
They’ve got to be, right?
Georgia punter Brett Thorson has become popular on social media for his response to who his best friends on the team are (“Everybody but Stetson”). The man punted just 36 times in 15 games last season, 1 of the fewest totals in the country.
The 45-yard average for Thorson was 20th overall. I bet both totals — punts and punting average — tick up slightly this season.
5. Red zone conversions for touchdowns
This is an interesting category for the Bulldogs.
In red zone conversions overall, they were the nation’s best last season. They scored 81 times in 83 trips to the red zone. That is a positively immaculate percentage. On the flip side, only 57 of those 81 scores were touchdowns. That percentage, 68.67, put them at just 30th nationally.
Maybe Beck can make some of those tougher tight-window throws inside the 10-yard line. Maybe a running back like Branson Robinson becomes a force near the goal line. So, while you may see the overall red zone conversion number tick down slightly, I’m going to say that the red zone touchdown conversion percentage goes up.
5 areas the Bulldogs will be worse
1. Offensive play-calling
As I’ve said before, Mike Bobo will be fine as offensive coordinator for the Bulldogs. But he won’t be Todd Monken.
Monken was a rare commodity for Georgia over the past couple of seasons, and fans should keep that in mind when they inevitably make comparisons over the coming months.
Is it possible the Bulldogs slide back into a little more vanilla offense? Perhaps.
Does Beck have less versatility than his predecessor and, as a result, are we likely to see a more traditional Georgia offense? Likely.
Even if it might be a little bit of a regression here, the offense will be fine.
Bobo isn’t Monken, but he’s still a very good coordinator.
2. Mobility under center
As mentioned above, there’s less versatility under center, assuming Beck is the starter throughout the season. Beck’s talent hinges on his right arm and how he can deliver the ball to his talented wide receivers. Don’t expect to see him running out of the backfield and juking any defenders out of their shoes like Bennett did a season ago.
Bennett rushed for 10 touchdowns. Beck won’t sniff that total.
Of course, this prediction goes awry if anything crazy happens at quarterback and Brock Vandagriff becomes Georgia’s starter. If that were to happen, you could likely expect a return to some of the style Bennett played.
3. Nose tackle
Georgia fans have gotten a bit spoiled over the past few seasons.
Jordan Davis. Jalen Carter. It was an embarrassment of riches.
And look, Nazir Stackhouse is no slouch. The guy is likely to be a high draft pick after the season. He certainly has the size — 6-3, 320 pounds — and experience to continue Georgia’s impressive tradition at the position.
But I’m just playing the odds here. Davis and Carter were both 1st-round draft picks. If not for a handful of off-field question marks heading into the draft, Carter may have gone No. 1 overall.
When you’re talking about that kind of talent lost to the draft, then I think it’s fair to say there might be a bit of a drop in performance.
4. Versatility at running back
I like Georgia’s backfield, but I wonder how much it will feel the loss of Kenny McIntosh.
McIntosh added a dimension to the Georgia offense that I think it will sorely miss this season. He was a reliable escape valve for Bennett last season when he left the pocket. And though Georgia should be a more pocket-focused offense this season, you would love to have someone with McIntosh’s unique pass-catching abilities there for a new starter.
McIntosh led the team with 829 rushing yards and was 3rd on the team with 504 receiving. Daijun Edwards was next in both categories (769 rushing and 101 receiving). Edwards, Kendall Milton, Branson Robinson — their game is more that of a traditional running back.
That’s fine, but the versatility is an element lost from last season’s successful team.
5. Place-kicking
Georgia hasn’t struggled to find a reliable kicker in a very long time. It’s easy to get spoiled and assume consistency at the position when guys like Jack Podlesny and Rodrigo Blankenship cover 7 years and make over 80% of their field goal kicks.
Jared Zirkel certainly seems like he’s just the next in line. There’s no reason to think he will struggle.
Kicking is a finicky thing, though, and you just never know what you’re going to get. Given the success the Bulldogs have had at the position, I’m going to play the odds and say Zirkel performs just a hair below Podlesny.
Are we nitpicking? Yeah, we’re nitpicking.
