What They're Saying About Georgia: Phil Steele

After taking a look last week at Athlon Sports and their preview magazine, this week’s focus is on Phil Steele’s College Football Preview. Instead of Brock Bowers, it’s Sedrick Van Pran that’s on the cover alongside the likes of Caleb Williams (USC), Kool-Aid McKinstry (Alabama), Marvin Harrison Jr. (Ohio State) and Blake Corum (Michigan), but like Athlon, Steele is high on Georgia’s team in 2023.

Steele ranks Georgia No. 1 in his power poll of the 133 FBS teams for 2023. He’s also got the Bulldogs ranked No. 1 in his preseason top 40 that takes his own feel for each team.

“Last year Georgia lost an amazing nine draft picks off the defense but Kirby Smart not only guided them back to the SEC title game, he went 15-0 and won a second straight national title. The Bulldogs have 13 returning started and while they must replace their QB, they lose a lot less to the draft and showed last year they can reload,” Steele wrote. “The schedule sets up well and they could be a double-digit in almost every game and I will call for the first three peat since Minnesota back in 1934-36.”

“The Bulldogs finally broke through in 2021 then became just the first repeat champ since Bama in ’11/’12,” he continued as he projected Georgia to finish first in the SEC East. “All the talk last year was replacing 9 NFL DC’s on defense. This year they have 13 starters back but do lose QB Bennett. They have just 3 true SEC Road games and figure to be a DD favorite in most games (maybe not at Tenn). Kirby Smart has done a remarkable job and 7 of my 9 sets of power ratings call for another 12-0 year.”

Clemson comes in at No. 2 followed by Michigan, Alabama and Ohio State. Penn State, USC, Florida State, LSU and Note Dame round out the top 10 while Georgia opponents in the top 40 include Tennessee (No. 19), Ole Miss (No. 26), South Carolina (No. 31) and Kentucky (No. 35).

Projecting the Stats

Steele’s feelings about Georgia are backed up by his statistical projections too. He’s projecting the Bulldogs to have both the No. 1 scoring offense and No. 1 scoring defense.

Diving deeper into the numbers though, Steele has Georgia with the No. 9 rushing offense, No. 13 passing offense, No. 1 rushing defense and No. 10 passing defense – a group he projects to be the ninth most improved in this area in the country.

His projections show the following stats for each of those respective rankings:

Rushing Offense – 215.6 yards per game

Passing Offense – 293.7 yards per game

Scoring Offense – 42.0 points per game

Rushing Defense – 64.4 yards per game

Passing Defense – 181.0 yards per game

Scoring Defense – 11.9 points per game

His projections on both yards per game differential and points per game differential yield Georgia as the top team in the country for both categories.

RELATED: Check out Phil Steele’s All-American and All-SEC selections littered with Georgia Bulldogs

NFL Draft Expectations

Brock Bowers, who Steele included in his “contenders” category for the Heisman Trophy, is widely projected to be a top 10 pick in next year’s NFL Draft. In fact, they were already talking about him during the coverage of this year’s draft. That’s why Steele has him as the No. 5 eligible player.

Going position by position, several of the Bulldogs also rank highly. Here’s where he had each of the following:

Carson Beck (51 QB), Kendall Milton (9 RB), Daijun Edwards (14 RB), Dominic Lovett (18 WR), Ladd McConkey (26 WR), Brock Bowers (1 TE), Sedrick Van Pran (2 C), Tate Ratledge (11 OG), Xavier Truss (28 OG), Amarius Mims (18 OT), Tramel Walthour (78 DE), Nazir Stackhouse (1 DT), Zion Logue (22 DT), Warren Brinson (47 DT), Smael Mondon (2 OLB), Chaz Chambliss (49 OLB), Xavian Sorey (55 OLB), Jamon Dumas-Johnson (4 ILB), Kamari Lassiter (3 CB), Javon Bullard (2 FS), David Daniel-Sisavanh (26 FS), William Mote (6 LS), Ladd McConkey (8 PR)

Position Breakdowns

Aside from the individual draft rankings at each position, Steele also ranks the team’s units at each position. Georgia’s quarterback (and special teams) units were the only ones outside of the top 10 for their respective positions. He had the quarterback position – replacing Stetson Bennett- ranked No. 42, just behind Alabama but ahead of Ohio State, while special teams – replacing Jack Podlesny – at No. 18 nationally.

Here’s what Steele had to say about each of the other units:

Running Back (6) – Last year the Bulldogs top four RB combined for 2,520 (5.7) yards rush and this year three of the top four are back and running behind my #1 rated O-line. Three returnees are Kendall Milton (PS#3), Daijun Edwards (PS#34) and Branson Robinson (PS#3) and they add a PS#15 true frosh.

Wide Receiver/Tight End(4) – Brock Bowers won the coveted John Mackey Award as the nation’s top TE and is back for year three. They add in a pair of WR’s who were #1 receivers on their SEC teams last year and return Ladd McConkey (762, 13.1). WR’s are upgraded and go 3-deep.

Offensive Line (1) – The Bulldogs mold a solid OLine every year. Last year they opened holes for 205 (5.5) ypg rush allowing just nine sacks (1.8%). They do lose both OT’s but RT Amarius Mims (PS#3) is 6’7″ 330 and physically gifted. C Sedrick Van Pran would have been drafted high but opted to return. This unit was a finalist for the Joe Moore Award the last two years.

Defensive Line (2) – While the Bulldogs no longer have the big name players, this unit is loaded with talent, depth, size and experience. NG Nazir Stackhouse leads a now veteran group. Last year they had to replace THREE #1 DC’s and this year only lose one.

Linebacker (1) – Last year the Bulldogs lost a #1 and #3DC from the unit. This year they lose a #5DC (#1DC missed half the ssn) but return three starters including their top two tacklers (17 VHT’s in the group). Last year they had one of the best LB corps in the country and this year are more experienced.

Defensive Back (2) – The Bulldogs were #1 in PDR in ’21. Last year they lost a #1 and #6 DC’s and had a solid year. Even after giving up a 502 pass yards to LSU and 348 to Ohio St they finished #10 in my PDR. This year they lose #4 and #5 DC’s but have 12 VHT’s in the unit led by Frosh AA Malaki Starks and Javon Bullard who was Defensive MVP vs both Ohio St and TCU.

Georgia kicks off its season on September 2nd in Athens against UT-Martin. The Bulldogs open SEC play just two weeks later, also at home versus South Carolina.