So...2015 is officially a rebuilding year

Nov 16, 2014, 3:18 PM

Like it or not, next year is truly a rebuilding year.

We've got to sort out our QB situation and start building depth. Watson will probably be returning from an ACL injury and I would hate to just rush him back, as injury-prone as he's been. IMHO Watson also probably needs to gain a minimum of 20+ pounds to better withstand the kind of hits he's going to take in this style of offense; he's not a tank like Tajh Boyd was, and it's shown. The staff is without question going to need to bring in a JUCO QB or a senior transfer because if Watson gets dinged again in any way we're down to true freshmen.

We're going to have to sort out our RB situation. We have a lot of talented guys who are either injured or developing. Gallman was a Wing T RB in high school, and it shows, sometimes, especially when he keeps turning his shoulders east-west instead of pressing the zone, and whilte CJ Davidson is talented he also has ball-security issues because he just plain hasn't played much football. We also need to get Choice, Brooks, and Dye healthy again. I think we actually have a pretty good RB stable, if we can get all this talent actually on the field and playing.

We have a YOUNG bunch of wideouts and tight ends. Guys like Leggett and Seckinger are sophomores, and we have Milan Richards redshirting. Right now Williams and Hopper are true sophomores and Artavis Scott is a true freshman. We need Charon Peake to get a full spring and full camp to get back into his better form; he hasn't been close to 100% healthy in almost two years. This unit looks very talented but nobody will yet mistake it for the receiver corps we had in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

We're going to have to completely rebuild our OL. Kalon Davis, Reid Webster, and (probably) Anthony Battle are all gone. That might be a good thing. We do have a bunch of incredibly talented true freshmen who will plug in right away, IMHO. There will be a learning curve here, but once the likes of Hyatt and Fruhmogen get their feet wet we could finally see some genuine improvement on the OL.

We're replacing eight - repeat (8) - senior starters on defense. In fact, it'd be easier to say who we have coming back who's starting: CB Mackenzie Alexander, S Jayron Kearse, and WLB Korrin Wiggins. That's it. We have a very good defense this year. We will have a rebuilding defense next year...one with plenty of high-end talent on hand to replace the outgoing seniors, mind, but there's going to be a drop-off. You don't lose 8 guys of the caliber of the ones we're about to lose and be better on defense.

So...2015 is not going to be a banner year, and the end of 2014 is shaping up to be an ordeal as well.

Like it or not, that's where we are. We can grump and grouse and vent about firing coaches, or we can take a look at the roster we've got and root for the team we actually have, as opposed to the one we wish we had. Teams go through dips and downs, and we're in one right now. The end of that is probably about midway through 2015.

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> I agree with most of your post but the larger issue
> is where, longer term, this program is heading. IMO
> opinion, under the current configuration of coaches,
> our dreams of getting to the playoff etc are simply
> that a wild a... dream. I am so disappointed in Dabo
> it is unreal. He's the CEO of this program and he
> needs to act like one.His platitudes are getting old
> and either get CM channeled properly to be able to
> change his game plan mid game or get rid of him. The
> man is paid $1.5million and he needs to start his
> learning process. Remember he had limited big time
> football experience prior to coming here.

I'm not wild about some of the things I've seen from Morris this year, but like it or not, we had everything short of a plague of locusts land on the field this year. A couple years ago it was Maryland; poor Randy Edsall was down to playing a linebacker at QB because he'd lost so many guys. Last year it was Georgia's guys dropping like flies.

This year it was us.

Count 'em - we've lost 2 QB's who were 4 or 5 stars. (Kelly, Watson) Stoudt's playing with an obvious major shoulder injury and has just as obviously lost every ounce of confidence.

We've lost three 4-star RB's for most or all of the year. (Brooks, Choice, Dye)

We lost two elite junior WR's to draft (Watson, Bryant) another to ACL injury (Peake). We've lost two TE's for long stretches of the season. (Cooper, Leggett.)

We lost two OL's to attrition or injury (Oliver Jones, Shaq Anthony.) C Jay Guillermo's been out for a long stretch with a broken foot so was OT Joe Gore. David Beasley missed the UGA game to suspension and might now be done with an ACL injury as well. Norton is obviously not 100%. Battle was suspended for a game as well.

That's a huge amount of starts lost and disruption. Especially when you're replacing outgoing senior starters like Tajh Boyd, an elite left tackle in Brandon Thomas, a real good guard in Tyler Shatley, and a 1,000-yard rusher in Hot Rod McDowell.

Blame the coaches if you wanna. They definitely could have, and should have, recruited the OL better. Aside from that, though, it was just a nightmare of a season from an injury/attrition standpoint. We got through most of it 7-2, and were an inch away from 8-1...which to my mind is a pretty durn coaching job considering the personnel losses we suffered. At GT, Watson went down again...and it was just one thing too many to overcome.

We paid Morris $1.3 million - not $1.5 million - because he was, and still is, considered one of the elite offensive coordinators in football, right behind Gus Malzahn. Malzahn's vaunted Auburn offense just put up all of seven points in a shellacking at Georgia. Did Malzahn suddenly forget how to coach football?

Sometimes we as fans can be too reactive. We lost close to 20 guys since the end of last year due to graduation, early NFL entry, boneheaded off-the-field conduct, or injury, and that's just near-impossible for any team to absorb and keep on kickin' like nothing happened. Mind, we're also 7-3...which was a great year by Tommy Bowden's standards.