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Monday, August 30, 2010

The first depth chart of the season

Has too much been made of DeAngelo Tyson’s switch to end? Is Hutson Mason in line to get snaps in Georgia’s opener?

These questions and more are raised – and in the end probably overstated – as Georgia released a new depth chart on Monday.

The highlights, and my take on each:

- Tyson is listed as the starting nose tackle, ahead of Justin “Bean” Anderson, while Brandon Wood gets the nod at end.

MY TAKE: This runs contrary to what the coaches have been saying lately. But they’ve also been saying there would be a regular rotation, and it has sounded like Tyson could get an equal number of snaps at nose and end.

- Mason is officially listed as the backup quarterback.

MY TAKE: There’s a better chance now that Mason will get snaps and burn his redshirt, especially with Logan Gray’s injury. My guess, and at this point it’s only a guess, is that Mason will only play Saturday in the event of injury to Aaron Murray, and the team will try to go as far as it can this year without having to burn his redshirt.

- Christian Robinson gets the nod at the weakside linebacker spot, ahead of Marcus Dowtin. A healthy Akeem Dent is the other starter, ahead of Akeem Hebron.

MY TAKE: The coaches like Robinson’s leadership, and how he took charge as the front seven signal-caller in Dent’s absence. His versatility, the ability to play both inside spots, really helped him here.

- Nick Williams gets the nod at strong safety, with Jakar Hamilton the backup free safety to Bacarri Rambo.

MY TAKE: It had been trending in that direction, but I’d still expect Williams and Hamilton to rotate. Shawn Williams and Alec Ogletree are the next two strong safeties. Ogletree all but looks set to play as a true freshman.

- Kris Durham is the starter at split end, ahead of Marlon Brown and Michael Bennett. Behind A.J. Green at flanker are Rantavious Wooten, Gray and and Israel Troupe.

MY TAKE: No surprises here. Durham and Brown are probably even, as they’ll both start in the event of a three-receiver set. Bennett could still redshirt.

- Trinton Sturdivant is the backup left tackle behind Clint Boling. The rest of the starting line is as expected, and the backups left to right are Sturdivant, Tanner Strickland, Chris Burnette, Dallas Lee and A.J. Harmon.

MY TAKE: All the backups have already had a redshirt year, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of them given some game action on Saturday.

- Tight end goes Orson Charles, Aron White and Bruce Figgins.

MY TAKE: They’ll all play, especially the first two.

- Caleb King is the starting tailback, Carlton Thomas the lone backup.

MY TAKE: Obviously Washaun Ealey is unavailable for at least one game. Fred Munzenmaier, listed as the backup fullback, could get a few carries.

- And lastly … Kiante Tripp is a backup end to Demarcus Dobbs.

MY TAKE: For the poster who kept asking about him … there ya go.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

BURN HIS REDSHIRT. We need our backup to have some game experience. Get Murray through the 3rd quarter and then sit him so Mason gets some work.

Seth, please pass this along to the coaches and let me know when they agree. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it possible to play a negligible amount of time and still reshirt?

VAdawg said...

Definitely need to forget about redshirting Mason. If (God forbid) something was to happen to Aaron, we need Mason to at least have a couple snaps under his belt. I would go as far as saying he needs to play in the 4th quarter of the opener if possible.

Anonymous said...

I'd have to agree with the other comments... Mason should not redshirt. If Murray got hurt late in the 4th with us up big... I'd just be furious. Not worth the risk.

Dawgfan17 said...

Chances are that Mason will never be the starter with Lemay coming in next year. No reason to redshirt Mason as any experience he gains this year will help him if something were to happen in the next year or two to Murray before Lemay is ready. Is it possible that Mason could beat Lemay out as a 5th year senior the year after Murray graduates but is that far in the future worth not having Mason ready should something happen to Murray this year? Plus who goes in for mop up duty if Mason doesn't play? Gray would be a good choice if he weren't coming on strong at WR. I think he will need a lot of mop up duty as a WR when we can get it for him so he can develop even quicker at that position than he already seems to be. He could play a vital role over the next two years in that position so we don't need him splitting time.

Anonymous said...

I agree. In the early years, Richt was giving his backup QB Shockley significant playing time. Even Joe Cox had thrown 60+ passes prior to starting. We were lucky to make it through last year by not having QB with significant snaps so I would like to us give someone other than Murray playing time.

Of course, Lou-Lafayette could play us closer than any of us are considering right now.