JD PicKell a big believer in Georgia ahead of 2024 season

College Football reporters around the country have tons of confidence in this year’s Georgia team. On3’s JD PicKell is among those.

“I think 2024, regardless of Nick Saban (retirement) and regardless of Alabama, College Football and where Georgia is right now is perfectly aligned for the Dawgs to go on a run. Everything about what Georgia has in front of them, I believe, favors them, outside of that schedule” PicKell said.

“Even with the new staff, because that’s going to be an acclimation process, no way around it, I still feel great about the most important facets around this football team when it comes to winning national championships,” he continued. “Depth and quarterback play, Georgia has elite depth as they’ve racked up five star classes and they’ve got one of the best, if not the best, quarterbacks in America in Carson Beck.”

Beck, who enters the season as a preseason favorite or co-favorite to take home the Heisman Trophy come December, returns for a second season as UGA’s starter under center. He broke a school record with his 72.4 completion rate while throwing for nearly 4,000 yards with 24 touchdowns and just six interceptions.

He has weapons around him. Georgia went out and added talent by way of the transfer portal to replenish a roster that loses Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey and its top two rushers (who combined for 27 of 40 touchdowns on the ground) to the NFL. Joining the likes of Dominic Lovett, Dillon Bell, Rara Thomas and Arian Smith in the receiver room are transfers Colbie Young (Miami), London Humphreys (Vanderbilt) and Michael Jackson III (USC). Ben Yurosek (Stanford) will be alongside Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie in Todd Hartley’s tight end group while Florida transfer Trevor Etienne brings with him two years of SEC experience, over 1,700 total yards and 15 touchdowns from Gainesville.

“You look up and down this roster, I don’t see a lot of areas of concern … I would say you have more quantity of weapons than last year. Colbie Young from Miami is a 50/50 ball machine. Dominic Lovett put on a clinic in that spring game. Dillon Bell is Georgia’s version of Debo Samuel. Trevor Etienne in the backfield. They’re in great shape offensively,” PicKell said.

That’s not all though. You can chalk PicKell up as a fan of the Bulldogs’ big men up front. Four players – Tate Ratledge, Xavier Truss, Earnest Greene, Dylan Fairchild – return with starting experience on the offensive line. Flip things over to defense and there’s veteran presences like Nazir Stackhouse and Warren Brinson alongside promising young talent of Christen Miller and Jordan Hall, among others. Georgia should be just fine at the point of attack – where Kirby Smart has always believed games are won.

“Everything it takes to win in College Football, Georgia majors in,” PicKell said. “You look at the rest of College Football and there’s a lot of other good rosters too. Urban Meyer told us he believes Ohio State has the best roster its had in history. They can match up with Georgia, no doubt … Texas, they’re stacked. Michigan, who knows what they’re going to be coming off of a National Championship.”

“So why is there confidence around Georgia? The big thing with me about Georgia, outside of the roster which is massively impressive, when I talk about Georgia, I have a pretty high level of confidence that I know what they’re going to be under the hood,” he continued. “I know what the focus level is, where the competitive temperature and culture are at. That’s not to say that I have questions about other schools, but you can have a supreme amount of confidence that with Kirby Smart’s operation, there is not going to be any place for complacency. They are going to be as close to the same team every Saturday as humanly possible.”

All of this, combined with the fact that the College Football Playoff is changing to provide even more room for error for the Bulldogs, leaves PicKell wondering whether there’s a better pick than Georgia to win it all in 2024.

“Are there some question marks with the schedule and with having to put together a new staff and make it mesh accordingly? Of course. That’s not a little thing, but I do think the roster talent, the most important spots on your roster with quarterback and line of scrimmage, those are all solid to me. You add in the weapons, the internal motivation factor, the Playoff structure and Georgia’s going to be a problem,” PicKell said. “We’re not making a prediction just yet because I’ve told y’all it’s not yet prediction season – it’s call your shot season. I am just warning y’all, I am going to have to really search my soul, the inner-most part of my heart to not pick Georgia to win a National Championship.”