Wes Johnson evaluates the state of Georgia's current roster

Wes Johnson recently agreed to a six-year deal to become the next head baseball coach for the Georgia Bulldogs. The former LSU Tigers pitching coach will have a ton of responsibilities to get right to work on, such as building his coaching staff and evaluating Georgia’s current roster.

Given the Bulldogs’ struggles last season, one might believe that the roster is in need of a complete overhaul. But according to Johnson, during his introductory press conference, he likes the current crop of players and loves the idea of coaching Charlie Condon.

“Yeah, I’ve had conversations with Charlie,” said Johnson. “The guy could be the best right-hitting hitter in college baseball next year, not that he’s not one of them this year. But Charlie is doing great. He’s in the camp right now. As everybody already knows, he’s up for Team USA. He’ll go out there and hopefully have a good showing and represent our country.”

Condon has racked up the accolades in his redshirt freshman season. The six-foot-six Marietta, GA, native had one of the best statistical seasons for a freshman in program history. Condon finished the season batting .386, had 25 home runs, and 67 RBIs. That earned him SEC Freshman of the Year honors, being named second-team All-SEC, and an invitation to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team training camp.

Although Condon was the bright spot of Georgia’s roster this season, Johnson it’s also a fan of the rest of the team. As he sees it, Georgia plays in the SEC, where every program has talent on its roster from top to bottom.

“The roster; everybody in the SEC’s got talent on rosters. It doesn’t matter where you finish or who you are. Everybody’s got talent. We’ve got talent here. We’re working through the roster right now. We have got some guys that the drafts gonna be a concern. We’ll see how that plays out. We’ll get through that. But yeah, the roster right now is in good shape. It’s fine.”

Johnson is currently pulling double duty right now as he is still pitching for LSU, who has advanced to the College World Series in Omaha. But his previous obligations to the Tigers will not stop him from building a solid powerhouse program in Georgia.

Georgia does have a considerable amount of talent on the roster, and Condon is the perfect piece for Johnson to build around. With all that will be at Johnson’s disposal, including the upgrades to the Bulldogs training facility, Georgia’s new head coach could very well see a quick turnaround and success in his first season running program.