The less QB Aaron Murray has to do, the better UGA will be
10:17 am August 3, 2010, by Mark Bradley
AJC
Mark Richt has started two freshman quarterbacks in nine seasons at Georgia. The first, David Greene, went on to win more collegiate games than any quarterback ever had. (The record has since been surpassed by Colt McCoy of Texas.) The second, Matthew Stafford, wound up the No. 1 pick in the 2009 NFL draft.
Comes now a third: Aaron Murray, redshirt freshman. And when someone with as much standing as Richt says, ?Long-term on this kid, he?s going to be very, very good? ? well, we take note.
Murray isn?t going to be the overall No. 1 pick in any NFL draft. In raw talent, he?s closer to Greene than to Stafford. In body type, he?s close to neither. He?s listed as 6-foot-1. (Greene and Stafford are 6-3.) He doesn?t throw the hardest or prettiest ball. And that?s OK. Playing quarterback isn?t a skills competition.
At Media Day on Monday, someone mentioned that everything was on Murray?s shoulders. Said Richt: ?Everything is not on his shoulders. All he?s got to do is do his job.?
Were there ever an ideal scenario to start a freshman at the most important position, Georgia comes close to having it. As Murray said: ?The other 10 [offensive starters] are unbelievable. We?ve got one of the best offensive lines not just in the SEC but in the nation, and we?ve got one of the best wide receivers [A.J. Green] in the nation.?
The only new man on offense will be Murray. Who said: ?All I have to do is respect the football. And when the play?s there, make the play.?
This isn?t just boilerplate. It?s a precise job description for every freshman quarterback, for the basic reason that freshman quarterbacks tend to throw interceptions. Stafford had 13 as a freshman, and even the more measured Greene had 11. (On consecutive series in a loss at Kentucky, Stafford threw an interception from his end zone and then into Kentucky?s end zone.)
When coaching the young Stafford, Richt said: ?Young quarterbacks have a hard time burning the ball [throwing it away].? Murray will throw interceptions he shouldn?t: That?s a given. But you get the feeling he won?t throw many. Unlike Stafford, he?s not as apt to trust his arm to make a throw that isn?t makeable. If anything, he?ll be tempted to scramble ? he ran a lot in high school ? which isn?t necessarily a capital notion, either.
?He?s going to make his living getting back in the huddle,? Richt said, and the cruel truth is that beyond Murray lies almost nothing. There?s a true freshman in Hutson Mason, a walk-on freshman whose name Richt couldn?t recall and Logan Gray, once a quarterback and now a receiver. Richt: ?It?s the youngest quarterback room in the history of college football.?
Murray: ?I?m the older guy, and I haven?t taken a snap.?
The guess is that Georgia at the beginning of 2010 will resemble the Georgia that trampled Georgia Tech on Nov. 28, 2009. The Bulldogs? Joe Cox threw 14 passes that night, completing eight. His team ran the ball 44 times for 339 yards. Richt at heart is a finesse coach who loves to see receivers flying and quarterbacks flinging, but on that night at Bobby Dodd Stadium he proved he?s a pragmatist as well.
Richt on Monday: ?We must run the ball well.?
This was be Richt?s 10th season, and it?s notable that his best teams ? the SEC champs of 2002, the second-in-the-final-poll Bulldogs of 2007 ? elevated themselves by pounding the ball. Musa Smith was the unsung Dog of 2002, and Knowshon Moreno was the breakout star of 2007. Even in a league as mighty as the SEC, you can still win big playing power football. (Ask Nick Saban.)
Indeed, having a freshman quarterback who has no real backup might prove, in a weird way, the best thing for these Bulldogs. Richt and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo will need to take fewer risks, and that could/should translate into more running. The less Georgia has to rely on the untested Aaron Murray, the better it will be.
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As most of you know I like to wager on Georgia games but I do not bleed red.
I am really glad that Joe Cox is gone. He was so inconsistant it was difficult to get a handle on how the Georgia team would play.
Now Georgia brings in Murray. A 5'11" redshirt freshman to save the program. There is no doubt that Murray is a good passer and a much better runner than Cox was.
Murray was a 4/5 star recruit who led his team to a 5-A state title in FLORIDA coming off of a broken femur. The kid ran for 1000+ yards in High School and was a very accurate passer.
Only problem here is if he runs too much, some SEC defense is going to knock him out of the game. Murray's quick feet could get him hurt. He is not Joshua Nesbitt for sure.
Murray will get killed if he trys to dance around and run out of trouble too much . This is the SEC by GOD, and the SEC plays defense ! The options at QB after this will not be good for Georgia if Murray goes down early.
So lets face it then , Georgia will be a run first and pass second type of team. If they get down by
+14 points in the second half of games, then they will have to throw the ball. This means that Georgia will need to lead in almost every game. A difficult thing to ask of Murray in my opinion.
Putting Murray in a situation where he has to make throws when the defense knows he has to throw will lead to bad decisions and interceptions.
Compare Murray to the Florida QB Brantley.
Murray played for Plant, a 5AAAAA school, one of the top ranked football programs in the nation.
Brantley played for 2B Trinity Catholic, and has never played tough competition.
Murray has a 7 to 1 td to int ratio at Plant. If he can make good decisions on holding off on bad pases , Georgia may have something good.
Looking at Alabama. McElroy threw about 23 times a game and Alabama ran about 45 times a game. McElroy completed about 60% of his passes, so about 14 completions a game. 17 TD?s, and 4 Int's is quite a achievement for a young QB.
McElroy?s 4.25 td to int ratio blows away anything Georgia?s QB?s have done over the last 4 years.
There is no doubt that Georgia is loaded on offense. King has not played above average yet and they will really dump alot on Ealey to be the next Hershal Walker. I am not sure if he is up to it.
With that offensive line though, Georgia should be able to control any game with the run. Then we turn to the wide receivers and they are stacked.
AJ Green the best in the nation. The question is will Murray be able to get him the ball ? Most everyone is saying yes yes and yes.
Then when Georgia puts Charles on the same side with Green and sneak another TE White or Figgins or Lynch there should be alot of safe throws that will be there for Murray.
Georgia defense should be improved after getting rid of the coaching staff that was holding the team back. I have concerns that Georgia will not be able to stop the high powered teams in the SEC they will play this season. That means a shootout. This is usually not good for winning wagers.
With Willie Martenez gone the defense actually got much better with him gone. Look at the Ga Tech game and the bowl game against Texas AM.
The Bulldogs actually stopped drives and looked more diciplined while keeping the offense on the field more.
The problem with UGA playing like they did against Tech last year is that teams are going to gear up for the run and most of them arent going to have a defense as awful as Techs was. UGA cant win 9-10 games with a really heavy run game. Murray will be forced to make alot of throws in crunch time.
Game winning throws. This can bring bad decisions and interceptions to a Freshman QB.
It is easy to say the freshman QB will step in and take charge early in the season. It is quite another thing to believe that. Murray will have his hands on the ball on every play. I cringe when I think of the dumb plays that Joe Cox made last year in crunch time. Murray is not used to this type of pressure, as no young QB is. It will take time to get his feet under him and to play well. In the meantime what will that mean to the possiblity of winning the first 4 games ?
It is being stated that Georgia has a very weak schedule this year. Yeh OK then. Righteo.
Georgia has the #1 ranked punter and this adds up to field positon. Hopefully Georgia can play field position against South Carolina & Arkansas and give them a decided advantage.
I am licking my chops to wager on these two games.
All we have to remember is that this is the SEC and anything can happen. And most times it does.
Stafford and Greene both lost 4 games in their Freshman seasons. ALot of people predicting Georgia to be 10-2 . Sounds kinda impossible to me. :SIB
Its going to be a tough year for Georgia win or lose. Very tough.
Cant wait for the college football season to start.
KOD
:0008 :00hour
10:17 am August 3, 2010, by Mark Bradley
AJC
Mark Richt has started two freshman quarterbacks in nine seasons at Georgia. The first, David Greene, went on to win more collegiate games than any quarterback ever had. (The record has since been surpassed by Colt McCoy of Texas.) The second, Matthew Stafford, wound up the No. 1 pick in the 2009 NFL draft.
Comes now a third: Aaron Murray, redshirt freshman. And when someone with as much standing as Richt says, ?Long-term on this kid, he?s going to be very, very good? ? well, we take note.
Murray isn?t going to be the overall No. 1 pick in any NFL draft. In raw talent, he?s closer to Greene than to Stafford. In body type, he?s close to neither. He?s listed as 6-foot-1. (Greene and Stafford are 6-3.) He doesn?t throw the hardest or prettiest ball. And that?s OK. Playing quarterback isn?t a skills competition.
At Media Day on Monday, someone mentioned that everything was on Murray?s shoulders. Said Richt: ?Everything is not on his shoulders. All he?s got to do is do his job.?
Were there ever an ideal scenario to start a freshman at the most important position, Georgia comes close to having it. As Murray said: ?The other 10 [offensive starters] are unbelievable. We?ve got one of the best offensive lines not just in the SEC but in the nation, and we?ve got one of the best wide receivers [A.J. Green] in the nation.?
The only new man on offense will be Murray. Who said: ?All I have to do is respect the football. And when the play?s there, make the play.?
This isn?t just boilerplate. It?s a precise job description for every freshman quarterback, for the basic reason that freshman quarterbacks tend to throw interceptions. Stafford had 13 as a freshman, and even the more measured Greene had 11. (On consecutive series in a loss at Kentucky, Stafford threw an interception from his end zone and then into Kentucky?s end zone.)
When coaching the young Stafford, Richt said: ?Young quarterbacks have a hard time burning the ball [throwing it away].? Murray will throw interceptions he shouldn?t: That?s a given. But you get the feeling he won?t throw many. Unlike Stafford, he?s not as apt to trust his arm to make a throw that isn?t makeable. If anything, he?ll be tempted to scramble ? he ran a lot in high school ? which isn?t necessarily a capital notion, either.
?He?s going to make his living getting back in the huddle,? Richt said, and the cruel truth is that beyond Murray lies almost nothing. There?s a true freshman in Hutson Mason, a walk-on freshman whose name Richt couldn?t recall and Logan Gray, once a quarterback and now a receiver. Richt: ?It?s the youngest quarterback room in the history of college football.?
Murray: ?I?m the older guy, and I haven?t taken a snap.?
The guess is that Georgia at the beginning of 2010 will resemble the Georgia that trampled Georgia Tech on Nov. 28, 2009. The Bulldogs? Joe Cox threw 14 passes that night, completing eight. His team ran the ball 44 times for 339 yards. Richt at heart is a finesse coach who loves to see receivers flying and quarterbacks flinging, but on that night at Bobby Dodd Stadium he proved he?s a pragmatist as well.
Richt on Monday: ?We must run the ball well.?
This was be Richt?s 10th season, and it?s notable that his best teams ? the SEC champs of 2002, the second-in-the-final-poll Bulldogs of 2007 ? elevated themselves by pounding the ball. Musa Smith was the unsung Dog of 2002, and Knowshon Moreno was the breakout star of 2007. Even in a league as mighty as the SEC, you can still win big playing power football. (Ask Nick Saban.)
Indeed, having a freshman quarterback who has no real backup might prove, in a weird way, the best thing for these Bulldogs. Richt and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo will need to take fewer risks, and that could/should translate into more running. The less Georgia has to rely on the untested Aaron Murray, the better it will be.
...............................................................
As most of you know I like to wager on Georgia games but I do not bleed red.
I am really glad that Joe Cox is gone. He was so inconsistant it was difficult to get a handle on how the Georgia team would play.
Now Georgia brings in Murray. A 5'11" redshirt freshman to save the program. There is no doubt that Murray is a good passer and a much better runner than Cox was.
Murray was a 4/5 star recruit who led his team to a 5-A state title in FLORIDA coming off of a broken femur. The kid ran for 1000+ yards in High School and was a very accurate passer.
Only problem here is if he runs too much, some SEC defense is going to knock him out of the game. Murray's quick feet could get him hurt. He is not Joshua Nesbitt for sure.
Murray will get killed if he trys to dance around and run out of trouble too much . This is the SEC by GOD, and the SEC plays defense ! The options at QB after this will not be good for Georgia if Murray goes down early.
So lets face it then , Georgia will be a run first and pass second type of team. If they get down by
+14 points in the second half of games, then they will have to throw the ball. This means that Georgia will need to lead in almost every game. A difficult thing to ask of Murray in my opinion.
Putting Murray in a situation where he has to make throws when the defense knows he has to throw will lead to bad decisions and interceptions.
Compare Murray to the Florida QB Brantley.
Murray played for Plant, a 5AAAAA school, one of the top ranked football programs in the nation.
Brantley played for 2B Trinity Catholic, and has never played tough competition.
Murray has a 7 to 1 td to int ratio at Plant. If he can make good decisions on holding off on bad pases , Georgia may have something good.
Looking at Alabama. McElroy threw about 23 times a game and Alabama ran about 45 times a game. McElroy completed about 60% of his passes, so about 14 completions a game. 17 TD?s, and 4 Int's is quite a achievement for a young QB.
McElroy?s 4.25 td to int ratio blows away anything Georgia?s QB?s have done over the last 4 years.
There is no doubt that Georgia is loaded on offense. King has not played above average yet and they will really dump alot on Ealey to be the next Hershal Walker. I am not sure if he is up to it.
With that offensive line though, Georgia should be able to control any game with the run. Then we turn to the wide receivers and they are stacked.
AJ Green the best in the nation. The question is will Murray be able to get him the ball ? Most everyone is saying yes yes and yes.
Then when Georgia puts Charles on the same side with Green and sneak another TE White or Figgins or Lynch there should be alot of safe throws that will be there for Murray.
Georgia defense should be improved after getting rid of the coaching staff that was holding the team back. I have concerns that Georgia will not be able to stop the high powered teams in the SEC they will play this season. That means a shootout. This is usually not good for winning wagers.
With Willie Martenez gone the defense actually got much better with him gone. Look at the Ga Tech game and the bowl game against Texas AM.
The Bulldogs actually stopped drives and looked more diciplined while keeping the offense on the field more.
The problem with UGA playing like they did against Tech last year is that teams are going to gear up for the run and most of them arent going to have a defense as awful as Techs was. UGA cant win 9-10 games with a really heavy run game. Murray will be forced to make alot of throws in crunch time.
Game winning throws. This can bring bad decisions and interceptions to a Freshman QB.
It is easy to say the freshman QB will step in and take charge early in the season. It is quite another thing to believe that. Murray will have his hands on the ball on every play. I cringe when I think of the dumb plays that Joe Cox made last year in crunch time. Murray is not used to this type of pressure, as no young QB is. It will take time to get his feet under him and to play well. In the meantime what will that mean to the possiblity of winning the first 4 games ?
It is being stated that Georgia has a very weak schedule this year. Yeh OK then. Righteo.
Georgia has the #1 ranked punter and this adds up to field positon. Hopefully Georgia can play field position against South Carolina & Arkansas and give them a decided advantage.
I am licking my chops to wager on these two games.
All we have to remember is that this is the SEC and anything can happen. And most times it does.
Stafford and Greene both lost 4 games in their Freshman seasons. ALot of people predicting Georgia to be 10-2 . Sounds kinda impossible to me. :SIB
Its going to be a tough year for Georgia win or lose. Very tough.
Cant wait for the college football season to start.
KOD
:0008 :00hour
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