A lot of discussion after Thursday's practice revolved around true freshman quarterback Hutson Mason, currently the backup to Aaron Murray. How has Mason looked so far? Will he play if something happens to Murray?
For starters, Georgia coach Mark Richt said Mason has picked up things pretty well so far.
“Not many true freshmen can jump in a huddle and call the plays and make the checks at the line of scrimmage, and do it with an amount of confidence and execution,” Richt said. “If you measure it as a true freshman, it’s (pretty good), if you measured it as a veteran, you’d say, ‘Why’d he do that?’”
I asked Richt whether they’d still try to avoid burning Hutson Mason’s redshirt.
“I don’t know what we’re gonna do yet,” Richt said. It’s just so early. I don’t know what we’re going to do yet.”
This obviously will be a developing situation. It comes down to whether – if necessary – the team wants to play Mason, who’s been getting the backup reps, and burn his redshirt, or go to Logan Gray, who isn’t getting any reps at the moment, but has the experience.
“We just wanna get him as ready as possible, and if God forbid something happened to Aaron and we had to go to a second guy, we’d have to gauge what (would be the better option),” Richt said. “I just don’t know what would be the best at this point. It would just depend on how far (Mason) progresses as we go. I hope we don’t have to worry about that.”
Meanwhile Gray is having a good camp so far by all accounts, with Richt being the latest to add to the praise.
“I’m just impressed that he’s this far along, this quickly. He seemed to catch the ball pretty well. He hasn’t been afraid to block,” Richt said. “I think there’s a definite advantage of really understanding the offensive system from the quarterback’s perspective.”
How long could Gray go not getting reps at quarterback and then go back in there?
“If it happened just midseason and there was an emergency situation, and we had to throw him in there, and he hadn’t thrown a ball, it’d probably be tough,” Richt said.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
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6 comments:
Richt better burn his red shirt from day one. If we go one more year in which the back up quarterback does not get some meaningful experience, then everyone will know Richt is a complete idiot. What happened when DJ was injured, we had a guy who should not have been a quarterback and who had no experience start against the gators. How did that turn out? You have 85 scholarships, play them. $3 million does not get you much any more.
So let's say, theoretically of course, that we somehow have the ULALA game well in hand by midway through the third quarter. Do we leave Murray in to get more in-game looks in preparation for SC, thus risking the health of our only viable QB? Do we put Mason in and burn his red-shirt in the first game? Or do we put Gray in at QB during the point in a game that is most conducive to getting him quality reps at WR? From my vantage point, there's no clear answer to this likely scenario.
I think the option is very clear, Mason needs to play as often as possible this year when the game is in hand. A: He's the only scholarship QB on the team besides Murray (I count Gray as a WR now). B: If a game is in hand, Murray needs to be on the bench to prevent an injury. C: Mason needs to be given an opportunity to develop. An additional study period as a redshirt has not benefited any of our QB's in the last 5-7 years. D: We will bring in a top QB in this year's class and this may be Mason's only chance to shine, unless he turns in to the next David Greene. There is no reason not to play him.
Is Logan Gray going to be the real life Matt Saracen?
If so, he's gonna have a really hot girlfriend.
It seems pretty self evident to me at this point that Mason will play this season.
He is the #2 guy at the moment (as scary as that is) and barring him not picking things up/getting hurt, if Logan Gray isnt getting reps then he isnt an option.
And if a game is well in hand, as ULL should be, then Mason will play simply because he will be the only option, with Gray taking the "emergency hand off to #3/4 every play option."
Incidentally, unless a team is putting 9 in the box im not convinced that the handoff every play option isnt the best option this year.
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