Behind Enemy Lines: Georgia Bulldogs

The 2024 Kentucky football season is right around the corner. You’ve kept close tabs on what’s happened around Mark Stoops’ program. Now KSR is speaking with folks who closely cover the opponents Kentucky will face this fall.

Today we’re taking a closer look at the Georgia Bulldogs with Palmer Thombs of DawgsHQ. Even though they could not successfully Three-peat, Kirby Smart has transformed Georgia into the most dominant program in all of college football. Following Nick Saban’s retirement, there’s a power vacuum in the sport. Will Georgia seamlessly step into that role with another dominant season in 2024? It may be a given for some, but Georgia fans do have questions about this year’s campaign.

Behind Enemy Lines: Tennessee, Auburn

What sort of questions must Georgia answer to achieve their goals in 2024?

Thombs: First, it starts in the secondary where you’ve got to replace three guys — Javon Bullard, Tykee Smith, Kamari Lassiter — three guys last year that were top three round picks. With the receivers that are around the country, the type of teams that you’re gonna have to beat to win a title, which is where Georgia wants to get back to, is you’ve got to be able to hang offensively.

Georgia is going to be able to hang offensively. Can they hold teams in check defensively? I like their linebackers. I’m a little bit more concerned about the defensive line than I think most might be. But you got to be able to hold up in the secondary as well. Combine the front end and the back end of your defense and that’s where a group can get special. I’ve got no concerns about Georgia offensively. The offensive line returns four guys with starting experience. The quarterback is a Heisman Trophy candidate. The wide receivers are experienced and they added talent through the portal.

It’s kind of crazy to say, ‘I’m not worried about the Georgia offense.’

It is. The fact that you feel more certain about George’s offense going into a season than the defense is pretty crazy because I think that there’s a lot of reasons to be confident. The return of Carson Beck was so, so big. To be saying this after you lose Brock Bowers, who has been just such a key piece of Georgia’s offensive identity over the last three years, to say that you feel really confident about Georgia’s offense, says a lot about Carson Beck.

Will you be at the Heisman Trophy ceremony?

Finalist? Yeah. I don’t know if I’d be willing to say that he is the Heisman Trophy winner, Georgia’s first since Herschel Walker. But I do think that he’s going to be a finalist, just with the schedule that Georgia’s got.

Look, if Georgia goes undefeated through this regular season, which I think they’ve got a chance to — obviously some tough tests at Alabama, at Texas, at Ole Miss, at Kentucky, of course. You know, I think if they manage to go through that gauntlet and are still sitting there with one loss or zero losses, Carson Beck is going to have been a huge part of that. I feel pretty good that he will be a finalist. I won’t feel as good that he will win it. But I think that he’s got as good of a shot as anyone.

There are plenty of big games on the schedule, but which one do Georgia fans have circled?

There’s two and I think they’re circled for different reasons. I think the average Georgia fan is probably circling the Alabama game. Because you look at what that Crimson Tide nightmare has been for Georgia over the last few years. And that’s been something that has held Georgia back from reaching those points that it wanted to, whether it was the national title in Kirby’s second season, the College Football Playoffs in 2018, College Football Playoffs in 2023. It didn’t hold them back in ’21 where they were still able to get there, and then they didn’t have to play them in ’22. To me, that game is going to be so different than years past that.

For me, the game that I would circle is Texas because you’re entering a new era of the SEC where the Longhorns are going to be a part of the picture very much and I think going on the road and being able to establish yourself still as King of the SEC. To me, I think that’s more important than getting that Alabama monkey off your back because I think the Alabama monkey got off Georgia’s back when Nick Saban retired.

A Kentucky question, Pop Dumas-Johnson, Brock Vandagriff, what’s UK getting out of them?

Two really good players. I’m very interested to see what Brock (Vandagriff) does. He obviously doesn’t have a ton of experience. In his limited action, he’s shown good things. He was part of that quarterback competition. I think that Carson Beck always had the inside track there, having been the backup, having been around the program a little bit more, maybe being a little bit more of a Mike Bobo-style quarterback.

I think Brock brings an athleticism to the table that Georgia fans really wanted to see more of (from their quarterback), and so I’m excited to see what he’s capable of doing. Because I think that he’s capable of doing some big things and obviously Kentucky’s had a lot of success with some transfer quarterbacks over the last few years.

Jamon (Dumas-Johnson), ultimately, they are getting one of the best linebackers in the SEC. For Georgia to be losing a guy like that and still feel really, really good about their linebacker room says — It isn’t a knock on Jamon. It’s a testament to what Glenn Schumann has done with that room. I think Jamon is the polar opposite of Brock, where Brock didn’t have a ton of experience. Jamon has two years of starting experience. He stepped in that first season and Georgia felt very comfortable that he was going to step in and be their next Nokobe Dean. He certainly was a really good contributor and had he not gotten injured, I don’t know that he’s at Kentucky. I think he might be on an NFL roster instead. They’re getting a really talented linebacker, physical, somebody that’s capable of being a presence in that front seven.