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Let's get the obvious bad part of this post out of the way: Who will Aaron Murray throw to? Georgia doesn't have a go to player to replace AJ Green. Brown, King, Toupe and Bennett were all highly recruited, were all full of promise and all have talent. None have stepped up to show themselves to be the rightful successor to AJ as The Man in the receiving corps. Conley has already jumped to third on the depth chart, so you can throw him in the mix, too. It might be weak sauce, but if we are to believe the 'recruit enough 4-5 stars at a position, you will have a someone work out' theory, one will work out.
We also have two possible All-Conference candidates at TE and at least one more that is a potential starter. The tight ends could be a whole separate profiles in hope article. Then there is
The good news: Murray was sacked 24 times last season, yet only threw 8 interceptions. He completed 61+% of his throws and had 24 TDs. And 3000+ yards. Georgia was in the top 20 at long passing plays from scrimmage (30+ yards) last season. We probably won't go slinging it down field, especially until (or unless) one of the WRs step up, so I expect that yardage to go down. But given the opportunity to make good decisions, I trust Murray to do so. I think he'll complete 65%+ of his pass attempts in 2011.
One last thing, Aaron has another year of maturity and study under his belt. He'll be given more leeway in checking off at the line and we'll see the wrinkles in plays that naturally develop between guys that play ball together for a long time come to the forefront, which gets me back to the tight ends. Murray and Charles have been playing pitch and catch for seven years now. I look for them to have a Dan Fouts/Kellen Winslow type thing going this season.
Our problem last season wasn't offense. I'll grant we had some...lulls...on offense. I attribute those lulls to a single minded devotion to game plan, without the ability to adapt that plan. Having a QB that is in a better position to make on the field adjustments, and the confidence of his coaches in doing so, will provide a natural deviation to the game plan. Hopefully, that will be enough to prevent those lulls.
TD
7 comments:
Good article. We're fortunate to have Murray.
My only addition would be observe that the "lulls" on offense seem to have been a consistent problem over the past several years. If you look at our offensive stats under Bobo, they're actually quite good for the most part. But stats don't tell the whole story, and consistency has been a big problem. I think we've probably all bemoaned the long stretches of games (or even entire games) where it just seems like our offense disappears.
"Lack of execution"...
I'm not one who would love to see Bobo somewhere else, but I would really like for this issue improve.
I'd take 65% in a heartbeat, but I don't see how he improves that much without Green on the field.
At first glance I agree with Hobnail_Boot. However, this offense will resemble the West Coast offense with zero WR's to throw to. Tons of short passes to the backs, truck loads of WR screens, and an few dunks to the FB's. Hopefully the Dawgs can move down the field in 5-7 yard chunks.
Bobo & Murray averaged 15 points a game vs. ranked teams. That was with AJ Green & Durham, Ealey & King. All are gone now. Bad to worse. Hope your optimism works out, but I doubt it.
Orson and Murray only played together for a few games in HS I believe.
AwesomeDawg-
If that happens - and I hope it does - then it will be solely out of necessity. I remain skeptical though, given that Bobo and Richt have not thus shown a consistent proclivity for the West Coast style you described.
Anon 12:12,
Murray and Charles played 22 games together at Plant (junior and senior years minus the games Murray missed senior year with his injury). That should be five years instead of seven, but they have played 35 (mostly) organized football games during that time. They have done countless passing drills, workouts, scrimmages, catching drills, and route drills during that time.
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