Here’s something to think about: if things had tilted the wind in a little different direction, who would our quarterback be right now?
As someone already has shown us here, Gunner is in the upper right for the Alabama game (and likely most all games he’s played thus far), while you see the Poet Laureate at the bottom left (that’s bad!), and Archduke is the middle (that’s merely average!) along with He Went to Jared.
With all the hub-ub about Kirby and five-star quarterbacks, maybe he knows what he’s doing and someone is actually developing quarterbacks in Athens. I can’t say Manning or Raiola have shown much growth in their time in the bright lights, as Manning seems like he’s still scared playing against normal sized humans and Raiola is still throwing off his back foot like Patrick Mahomes but with less than Mahomes level talent.
For today’s Roundtable – is the five start quarterback overblown…or, who is a recruit we missed out on that turned out to be a total bust, and we were fortunate not to get them?
One that comes to mind is one that originally chose LSU but eventually came to Georgia, only to do nothing…Arik Gilbert.
Another one that comes to mind was a guy who actually made the NFL but was a trainwreck in his days at TCU and Ole Miss, Zachary Evans.
How about you? What comes to mind?
It’s a basic difference Gunner has character the others are characters.
Amen!
Post of the day!
Brenton Cox Jr. and lately. Ju Ju Lewis
I forgot Bear Alexander
Noticed Bear playing for the Ducks and Lanning.
Can I nominate Lanning for this too? He was great at Georgia, but has become such a clown at Oregon. I thought that was going to be a great hire, but now I wouldn’t want him back at Georgia.
Bear needed Trey and Kirby on his ass daily. With the right mindset he could be in the nfl. I predict he will end up in jail.
He’s getting remembered for all the wrong reasons after the Nico punch. He could’ve been Georgia’s own Nick Fairley. I hope he ends up working at the chicken plant on the gizzard line.
Off topic, but according to the chart Alabama’s Keneon Russell is statistically less effective than Stanford’s QB and Iowa State’s QB. I guess the developers of that chart did not include ESPN hype as a factor.
Good one!
Even towards the end of the game in Tuscaloosa, those asshats couldn’t quit talking about Russell and almost completely ignored the magnificent game Stockton was playing.
The “experts” rate HS QBs on arm strength, height and 40 times. The “experts” have a difficult time assessing processing time and ability. Arch played in a low classification so he didn’t see DBs that could all run <4.5 40s or DL that were 6-4 with long arms. In the SEC the windows to throw the ball are exponentially smaller than high school. Fields still can’t process fast enough to be successful. AR15, DJ Lagway, Russell from LSU are a few of hundreds of examples. Bottom line – the physical traits get a QB to the game but processing is what gets the wins.
Demetris Robertson, Savannah 5 star that initially got away.. and did great at Cali. Transferred to us and became a non-factor.
Truthfully, I feel bad for him. Maybe if he stuck it out at Cali he’d have gotten a shot at the nfl. Even if he washed out in the nfl, he might’ve gotten high draft pick money.
Didn’t he finish up at Tech?
Yep, I think so.
I thought that was Blaylock?
You can’t measure intangibles. I’ll be honest … Keelon Russell appears to have them plus the elite physical traits. He needs seasoning … that’s all. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Texas try to make a big play to bring Russell home (Yeah, I said it). Gunner has the intangibles in spades. He has seen enough over the last 4 years of going against our defense plus the games he has played in to have the seasoning. He will never have the physical traits of a Russell, but he has two guys in Bobo and Streeter that have poured coaching into him to get the most from his physical talents (which are still damn good). He has similar physical tools to SBIV in a better frame. He has Fromm’s ability to read, process and react to the circumstances.
I was going to say coaching seems to be one of the differences between Gunner and the other QBs mentioned. It takes a couple of years in the program for them to learn all the colors in the crayon box, but when they do, they’re hell on wheels.
Also, Russell spoke with Stockton after the game. Class act. Looks like he also has his head on straight
Russell came over to Stockton after the game. Class Act. Kid appears to have his head on straight
He not only came over, he stood and waited while Gunner did a quick post game interview. I was impressed.
There are so many, but the two most recent are mentioned above: Bear Alexander and JuJu Lewis.
Personally, I blame Bobo. Obviously, he can’t develop qb talent. Then we have to suffer a mere 11.3 ypa at bama and only 9 of 10 passing on 3rd down. But Kirby will stick with him because they’re buddies. Smh…. Any rando couch coordinator would out perform this mess!
I haven’t seen the numbers lately, but I’m guessing that hit rates on 5 stars are still far superior than other classifications. I do think that NIL is creating a bit of a different atmosphere and pressure for 5 star qbs. They’re throwing millions at them and expecting immediate results. Its just not realistic. And it’s probably causing a lot of long term problems for these guys.
As far as our history with 5 stars, we’ve landed a few that blew, lost a few that blossomed, got lucky that we lost on a few.
Going forward I have to say that I am far less worried about recruiting rankings because intangibles are beginning to exceed pure measurables in a NIL world. You just need guys who love football and have high character. And you can’t afford to take chances on marginal cases who may not check both boxes. I doubt George Pickens gets signed in 2027 by CKS. I really do.
We can hate the new way, but you do have to love the fact that LOS football is back. A qb in shotgun and 4 speedsters and a race to 50 points is not how college football champions are made anymore. We’re back to rock fights and not basketball on grass. And that’s a good thing.
Smokey Robinson and miracles”l second that emotion”!! Just hope CKS can keep up the coaching without the constant changes in the rules! Go Dawgs!!!
The BDS crowd is mighty quiet. I bet it’s killing them.
I know he’s hurt right now but Justice Terry hasn’t exactly set the world on fire at Texas.
Brandon Miller (DE) was our biggest 5* bust —- EVER. Either over analyzed or under developed (2004 incoming). As to QBs, Fields, Vandergriff & Logan Gray?? (Gray may have only been 4*)
Praise God we let midget JuJu walk outta state.
Would love to see DAWGS sink their teeth more into Texas (state) for QB1 talent. Its here. So much young (9th/10th grade) talent here that understand the game, coachable, hard working & game management capable. We’ve had a couple of recent that teetered towards UGA (Bo Bentley, Celina TX & Ken Seals, Weatherford TX).
Brandon Miller lost the 2018 SECC after Walker got hurt. Glad he suited up for the gayterds.
You’re thinking of Brenton Cox.
I don’t worry too much about guys we recruit that go elsewhere. Often enough we dodge a bullet when they go elsewhere (looking at you, Dylan). I take a lot of joy from hidden gems like Jordan Davis who is probably my favorite all time Dawg. At best a 3* recruit but worked his ass off and seemed to enjoy every minute of it. Stayed all four years! Watched the Orange Bowl v. Michigan game last night and the defense that he was part of was so lights out which is why I mention him now. Jordan, Nakobe, Nolan and others set standards that have been hard to replicate.
Eason and JT Daniels come to mind. Not sure if he was a five star but Jacob Park came in to great fanfare and was recruited by Alabama, Notre Dame and others. Didn’t play for a couple of years and ended up at Iowa State.
We are fortunate to have a coach who “gets it.” And by “it,” I mean paying the bulk of his NIL budget to the players who stay and develop. In the NFL, the goal is to get to your second contract where you make the real $. Kirby wants guys with that hunger and are willing to sacrifice to get there. The kids straight out of HS looking for a fat NIL payday will, for the most part, settle for that big check and an 8&4 record.
The “Film Guy” Brooks Austin did a short video yesterday breaking down Manning film against OU and his analysis was BRUTAL. I think our top 3 QB’s are better than this guy.
Josh Harvey Clemmons
So I think there are few things that can both be true here. First, the 2022 QB class was not very good. Gunner was ranked 7th in that class behind … Drew Allar (3rd rd NFL pick, PIT backup), Cade Klubnik (4th rd NFL pick, NYJ backup), Conner Weigman (current Houston Cougar starting QB, transfer from A&M), Ty Simpson (1st rd pick, LAR backup), Devin Brown (QB Weber St – currently injured, transfer from OhSt & Cal), Walker Howard (Ole Miss backup, transfer from LSU, Ole Miss, Louisiana). It is true that Mendoza emerged from behind these guys (ranked 134 in class) to become the #1 pick but I would suspect that the professionals running collegiate and professional football teams knew all the way back in 2022 that there were limitations to the class. Even if Mendoza ends up becoming a top tier NFL QB for the Raiders, does anyone else from the class appear to be on track to spend late July weekends in Canton, OH?
Second, you could probably say the 2023 QB class is just as underwhelming as the 2022 class? Aside from Manning at #1, the next 9 are: Nico Iamaleava (UCLA – now injured, transfer from Tenn), Dante Moore (OR – injured, transfer from UCLA). Jackson Arnold (UNLV, transfer from OK & Auburn), Malachi Nelson (Syracuse, transfer from USC, Boise St, UTEP), Jaden Rashada (Miss St backup, transfer from ASU, UGA, and Sac St), Aiden Chiles (Northwester, transfer from ORSt & Mich St), Austin Mack (Alabama backup, transfer from Washington), Avery Johnson (KSU starter), and Christopher Vizzina (Clemson). Moore was expected to be QB 1 or 2 (along with Manning) in the 2027 NFL draft, but who knows after his injury and Oregon’s current season. While a couple of QB’s from the recruits 11-20 emerged, like Leavitt, Keinholz and Minchey – do any of those look like a decided NFL winner?
Third, it would be an interesting to see what would have had happened developmentally with Manning, Raiola, and Curtis if any of them had worked with UGA’s offensive staff. Manning, at least for me, would be the measuring stick since he is closest in age to Gunner and in theory they would have been at about the same spot on the depth chart (behind Beck.) If Manning is not drafted in the first 3-4 rounds in the draft, and Gunner does, could you make an argument that Manning would have been better served coming to Athens?
IYAM, everybody is better off coming to Athens. 😉
Interesting comment about Manning. Sark is supposed to be a brilliant QB developer so one of them sucks. With Kirby’s ass-chewing, Dawg D and Bobo’s development Arch might have been much better here but I still take Gunner by a mile.