Week 1 of College Football is in the books and all is right with the world once again. Incredible slate of games to start the season, many involving fellow SEC competitors, which we’ll get into later this week with our first SEC power poll. But for now, let’s get to some position unit grades for the season opener.
Quarterback: B+
- For a guy who had a limited body of work coming into the season, media pundits (looking at you Paul Finebaum) were sure quick to draw some final conclusions about Gunner Stockton. He’s not big enough, he can’t run like Stetson, he can’t throw like Carson, etc. You’d think UGA offered him a scholarship simply because he has a cool first name. I don’t know how the rest of the season will play out, but I thought Gunner acquitted himself quite nicely on Saturday. The good…how nice is it to have a QB who is a threat to keep it on the read option? Defenses are going to have to respect that skillset moving forward, and that should make the running game that much more effective. Gunner made at least 4-5 plays with his feet that either extended drives, avoided sacks or produced a touchdown. The value of a mobile quarterback who can turn certain losses into solid gains, or turn third down stops into first downs to extend drives…it just makes me know I’m capable of love again. On the passing game, let’s go with solid. Not too many downfield shots, pretty conservative approach with most throws. Couple of batted balls I wouldn’t put on Gunner, but threw a couple balls into some tight coverage that looked iffy…missed Bell on a potential big gainer in favor of a check down. Thought the best throw of the day was the 3rd down ball to Branch (2nd drive I think) knowing he was about to take a big hit. When Gunner’s day was done, Puglisi did a nice job as well in his first opportunity to lead the offense. He made sure to keep up the tradition of a backup QB getting game action and throwing every ball 114 mph. No question he can put some velocity on the ball, but also showed some good athleticism with the legs. Nice ball to Williams for his first career TD pass. No picks or fumbles from either QB, very efficient play…I’ll take it.
Running Back: B
- I think we ended up playing about 67 RB’s on Saturday. My 2024 man crush, Nate Frazier, did what he could with the room he was given and I’m continue to buy more shares of Nate Frazier stock. Chauncey Bowens was able to bust a pretty long one, which was encouraging. Cash Jones didn’t have a lot of touches, but turned his one catch into a first down with some jukes. Bo Walker’s didn’t have a lot of space to work with, so not an impressive stat line. What am I forgetting? Oh yeah…Dwight Phillips looks like a certified badass! We all know he inherited the “fastest guy on the team” status with Arian moving on to the NFL (assuming he is faster than Branch, but not positive), but with only a handful of rushing attempts last year, it was hard to determine how he was going to be used this year. First touch of the game, 17 yard touchdown (very well blocked play) and ran through an arm tackle. They continued to use him on a few more outside runs and he continued to deliver, making yards after initial contact. I know he had the fumble, but that was the result of a perfect hit on the ball from behind…he looked to have the ball high and tight. Nate Frazier may be my man crush, but I’m going to have the occasional wandering eye for Dwight Phillips. Solid day for the running back room.
Offensive Line – B-
- If you wanted to give this group a C+ I wouldn’t argue with you. I’m trying to manifest some good vibes after the disaster that was our OL in 2024. I thought Monroe Freeling played very well, which was great to see. Micah Morris had some nice moments. Juan Gaston looked like an absolute monster and nearly ended a Marshall player’s life on our second offensive play of the game, but also missed a couple of blocks in his first game. Did not enjoy seeing him limp off the field after our second drive, but Calhoun did a nice job when called upon. Earnest Greene was forced out of the game…again, due to some lower body stiffness (insert juvenile joke here). Some guys just can’t seem to stay 100% and he seems to be one of them right now. That said, Hughley was pretty solid filling that spot when Greene left the game. Drew Bobo didn’t have his best day and missed a block or two. Alright, the bad…Stockton was under fire too much due to missed assignments on passing downs. I don’t think we took any sacks because Stockton was on his game with escaping pressure, but this was Marshall damnit. I think they lost 74 players from last year’s team…they should not have been getting to Stockton as much as they did. And to evoke some painful memories from last year, when we were in 3rd and short and needed the OL to get a push for a tough yard, they came up empty and we were forced into 4th down situations. That’s becoming quite the frustrating trend with our OL. I really want to believe this group can win their matchups and create holes for the running game, but until we do it against better competition, I’m not sold.
Receivers (WR’s + TE’s) – B
- Zachariah Branch…welcome to the program dude! Please stay as long as you’d like and we’ll cover the bill. We have found Mecole Hardman 2.0. I’m still not a huge fan of the WR screen as a general rule, but if we’re going to keep throwing it 3-4 times a game, might as well throw it to this dude. Fast as hell, can make people miss and showed some tackle breaking ability. Other than Branch, not a whole lot of yardage production from any one individual, but the voodoo curse on the 2024 team dropping 3-4 drive killing balls every game has appeared to subside for at least one game. Not sure if we’re calling that pass to Bell in the second quarter a drop…if it was a drop, at least it was not egregious (update…Bell and Luckie were both credited with a drop on the day). Would have been nice to connect on a deep ball or two, and maybe a few more intermediate shots, but the game plan seemed ultra conservative. This wouldn’t be a fair assessment without mentioning the blocking from this unit, in particular the TE’s and Humphries. Saw some awesome efforts from those guys that were very instrumental on a few of our bigger plays. The B grade isn’t so much about the statistical production, but the group did a pretty solid job with the opportunities provided.
Defensive Line – A-
- This unit will be better in 2025…I’m on board. Loved seeing Jordan Hall make an early impact. Miller was getting a good push. Gabe Harris spent the offseason eating Wheaties and whey powder. Elijah Griffin made an early impact in his first game. Xzavier McLeod continued his solid play from the end of last year Marshall’s ground game was essentially non-existent to the tune of 78 yards on 31 carries. The energy level on our first defensive possession was phenomenal. Last year this was one of the most inconsistent position groups on the team, and I’m starting to believe it will be one of our team’s strengths in 2025. Stay healthy guys…stay healthy.
Linebackers – B+
- If it were just the ILB’s, this group gets an A grade. I’ve been vocal in my Georgia Football group text that Raylen Wilson is significantly undervalued as a player, and he made me look like a smart guy on Saturday…dude was everywhere and making plays when on the field. CJ Allen, Chris Cole and Justin Williams all had some moments as well, so outstanding performance from the inside guys. It’s an embarrassment of riches at one position. As far as OLB’s are concerned, didn’t really hear too much from these guys all game. We didn’t dial up a lot of pressure and kept things pretty basic. I think we recruited the position very well in the 2025 class, but I don’t know that we have a guy right now that can scare the hell out of an opponent in an obvious passing situation. Last year we had Jalon Walker scaring the bejesus out of opposing QB’s (and Mykel when healthy) and in year’s past we’ve had guys like Nolan Smith and Adam Anderson coming off the edge. I don’t know who will fill that role this year…maybe use Chris Cole as a speed rusher? Guess we’ll find out soon enough when competition level picks up.
Defensive Backs – A
- Before Marshall’s lone scoring drive, Marshall’s first and second string QB’s had combined for 29 passing yards. Daylen Everette wins the award for “Where the hell was that starter?” but Robinson and Harris seemed to have everything on lockdown. KJ Bolden was close to grabbing a pick early in the game. The only passing game Marshall was able to muster was against our 2nd and 3rd team DB’s and a big chunk of that was a horrible non-call on a blatant push off when Demello Jones had good coverage. Didn’t see a whole lot of tackles having to be made by the DB’s until garbage time…which I’ll welcome. Competition will certainly increase, but like Kirby said, you can only play who’s in front of you.
Special Teams – A-
- Peyton Woodring continued to look as close to automatic as a kicker can look and produced great depth on kickoffs. Drew Miller admirably filled in for Thorpedo and averaged 48 yards on his 6 punts (can’t believe we had to punt 6 times). No penalties, muffed returns or huge busts in kicking situations, so that’s a good thing. KJ Bolden showed even more of his value blocking a punt in the 2nd quarter, which resulted in a touchdown on the ensuing drive. I’ll take this every week.
Coaching – B+
- It’s hard to give a much higher grade than this. This feels like one of those games you can’t really win. I think the game plan on offense and defense was always going to be vanilla, with vanilla sprinkles. Even our explosive plays on offense weren’t a result of crazy scheme, just solid execution or Branch making a couple of super athletic plays. My biggest nitpick with the coaching isn’t the in game coaching, but whatever work we put into Spring and Fall camp to improve the OL…didn’t feel like it was as dominant as it should have been against this level of opponent. Can you tell I’m having some 2024 OL PTSD? On the good side, we started fast against an inferior opponent and had the game well in hand by the middle of the 2nd quarter…that was not the case in many games last year. We had all of our starters out for the final quarter and the backups got some live reps, unlike last year. Most important, the team played with the FPE Kirby has been preaching for the entire offseason…gotta give the coaches a win on that front. So, some steps in the right direction. I would suspect next week’s game against Austin Peay will look very similar, so I don’t think we’ll know a whole lot more about the 2025 version of the Dawgs until we make the trip to Knoxville.
Lee Corso – A+
- Gotta give some love to Lee Corso. Broadcasting was his SECOND career and it lasted 38 years…that’s awesome. College Gameday is a great format (and one of the very few things ESPN still does well) and maybe it would have been successful without him, but I doubt it. It wasn’t his analysis or insights that compelled me to watch every week, it was his passion for the game and passion for fans of college football. Since the mid-90’s, Corso made College Gameday must see TV for every college football fan. Incredible career and more incredible legacy…thank you Lee Corso!
Final Summation…a lot more good than bad. Beating an inferior team 45-7 while showing virtually nothing is about as much as you can ask for in an opener. Kirby’s not into style points like Lane Kiffin and who really gives a damn if you win by 38 or 58 (other than the betting community)? FPE was evident, which is more than Alabama can say (had to do it). Gunner passed his first test of the season without issue. We’ve shown opponents that their defense can no longer sell out on the running back on the read option…that’s a big deal. As a whole, our defense played very well and dominated a weaker opponent. One more tune up before the real season starts.
Good summary. Can’t really argue with your scores.
Did Bolden block the punt? The highlight video in the previous post looks like Cash Jones blocked it. Maybe both guys, or it was just a strange angle for the video?
Definitely Cash with the block.
Yeah it’s been weird how many outlets continue to credit KJ when replays I’ve seen online clearly show Cash touched it (although KJ took credit for it postgame).
Hard to argue with most of that and I want to add that I don’t know why Dwight doesn’t get more reps. It seems like every time he gets a rep he breaks off an important run. Maybe he doesn’t block well? Pass protect deficiency? I’m sure the coaches have their reasons, but I like when I see him in the lineup. I will also just add that I think it’s too early to judge the coaching – I think it would be coaching malpractice to show any more than they did.
Okay, it’s the first game of the season. The coaches want to get game looks at every available scholarshiped running backs. With that goal in mind tell me which other backs should get fewer carries in order for you to see Phillips to tote the ball more in a 38 point win?
OK, I’ll bite. What’s FPE?
Fire. Passion. Energy.
Good assessment, proper grades. Which means your concerns and observations about the OL seem justified and that’s not where we need to be. We’ll see.
Maybe an A- for Gunner. I mean he did score 4 TDs. I know the passing alone doesnt scream A+, but I think that goes with the territory.
For context sake I do suffer from fire Bobo syndrome. So whatever that is worth.
Given that the OL had to be a major focus in the offseason, I agree with the OL PSTD. But also to be fair, when you lose 2 of the starting 5 within a half, that automatically throws off the whole “let the OL gel”. But yes, given the level of opposition, our 2nd teamers should still be able to light them up. We’ll see how the season progresses.
I guess im what people here refer as a Disney Dawg. I usually think we will be world beaters every season regardless of what the first few warmup games show. And I’m not a downer on Bobo. I think he can coordinate an offense with the best of them. And I never bought into people’s fears shared on here and elsewhere that we may have issues on our OL.
Well after what I saw this first game, I’m afraid the OL is going to be a terrible liability this year. I’d give them a C-. I was at the game, and OL was the main thing I watched. By and large Not much push, no manhandling defenders, struggled to get short yards. I know they stacked the box a lot, but Of the 7 first half drives, there were 6 of those 7 drives where we failed to convert a 3rd down. 3 ended in punts, 1 ended in a field goal, and two (FIRST TWO DRIVES OF THE GAME) ended in TDs after we couldn’t convert on 3rd and short and had to convert 4th down. Yeah the scoreboard said we got out to a quick start, but did we really? Not converting 3rd and short on our first two drives? Quick start seems like a mirage. And it’s great gunner’s legs can get the O out of trouble when the OL allows defenders free rein in our backfield, but it was Marshall. Yeah it was vanilla and QB/wr/te/rb won’t really show what they are made of until better competition. But not the OL. You can judge OL against a cupcake, and I’m afraid against any Decent D, this OL is going to be a disaster.
I hope I’m wrong, and I’d love to hear more knowledgeable people give some evidence and reasoning why I am wrong, I would genuinely love to hear reasons not to think this OL will be our downfall. I’m not being snarky, there are probably things I’m not looking at or thinking about and I’d love to hear what those things are.
Oh well, if OL is crummy this season, maybe gunner can come up with some Georgia farmer boy magic to win it all in spite of the OL!
Testing
I think I should only post anonymously everybody knows who I am in the heavenly realms Senator had his simple simplicity comments dang I’ve messed with WordPress too ugh
I, too, am concerned with the OL. Especially with 2 starters out. Kirby will play it close to the vest on their status, but gosh Gaston needs game snaps if he’s the guy. Greene looks like he’s gonna be injury ridden. When we go to Obknoxiousville we will need an OL that is competent. Otherwise I was quite happy. The D is real.
Are you suggesting our OL is not competent? We averaged 5.4 yards a carry on 44 carries. That is a good result.
Let me ask you are you including wide receivers in your competency of the Oline analysis? If not, are you saying you saw the wide receivers make all thir blocks on plays running to the edge while the guys whose sole job is to block didn’t do that at a sufficiently competent level?
What I was referring to was after 2 starters left with injuries we did not protect well on passes and did not run well until late in the game. By OL I mean C, G, T. Before we go North we will need to be better. This was our kryptonite last year. Doesn’t mean we aren’t very good, but if 2 starters are hampered we need better performance, especially against lesser teams.
Aladawg(I posted from my phone and it didn’t give my handle)
Yes, the suggestion is the OL is not competent. We failed to convert 3rd and short on our first two drives against a cupcake. On 6 of our 7 first half drives, we failed to convert on a 3rd down. Gunner bailed the OL out several times when the OL allowed the D free rein in the backfield. All is not well along the OL.
hbk, you would have be more unhappy if we had thrown down field more often. Marshall was playing 3 deep safeties and dropping 8 into coverage all day. Throwing underneath was the best response.
Just a quick observation regarding the OLBs. It did appear they played Raylen Wilson on the outside some in passing situations which was new and interesting. That cat can play and appears they may use the get the best guys on the field theory some since there is such an abundance of riches in the ILB room.
You need to know what you are actually looking at on the OL.
1) We knew NOTHING of how they stunted and blitzed as we had NO FILM of their coach and tendencies. IF you recall it got better as the game wore on BECAUSE we knew what they were going to do later.
2) They brought MORE than we had protection for. They NEVER blitzed less than 6.
3) NEW OL. After the 2nd series the entire right side was out. REMEMBER this is the group that had been together most of camp.
4) On 3rd and short they brought the house and plugged the gaps.
5) I expected mistakes in pass pro due to (see #1, and Gaston being a freshmen.
All in all plenty to improve upon which I expect. But as far as 2024? Nope. They played hard. I saw Freeling go down after knocking a DLman down…stop himself, pop back up and block someone else. That wasn’t there last year. Couple that with some new blocking schemes. I think the OL as Cublic put it…has dudes…they need to clean up things, but 2024 OL that didn’t seem to be motivated to block anyone at times…NOPE.
The OLBs also were destroying Marshall. 72 total yards of offense 9 minutes left in the game for Marshall…vs. our 1-3s? I’ll take it. How bout’ learning a little bit about football?
Couple of thoughts on your response…I did not criticize the effort level and I’m not stating this is definitely going to be 2024 all over again with the OL…very small sample we’re working with right now. At the end of our 2024 season, I was adamant that we had top level talent to work with on the OL, but we underachieved. I still believe we have top level talent to work with in 2025 and I hope it translates into production.
I gave guys like Freeling a lot of credit and I know the play you are referencing. I gave the entire team high marks for FPE, something that has been a big emphasis in the offseason.
My biggest OL criticisms were around 2 areas…success on third and short when the defense knows the run is coming (Kirby has preached for years about being able to get a yard when the defense knows the run is coming) and Stockton being under fire more than anyone would have preferred (something Kirby stated in his press conference yesterday). Given those two things and the level of opponent, I thought B- was a pretty realistic grade. You agreed yourself there is plenty to improve upon, so what grade does that suggest?
On the OLB’s, certainly not hating on them…just said they didn’t have an opportunity to make many plays based on the defensive scheme employed against Marshall. I think they did their job against Marshall, kudos to them for setting the edge allowing others to make tackles. I don’t think the OLB position group was the biggest reason we held Marshall to 72 yards with 9 minutes to play. If I had to single out one position group, I’d give the most credit to our DL, but open to debate if you disagree.