Andy & Ari On3 - Georgia Bulldogs Deep Dive: CFP Expectations for Kirby Smart, Gunner Stockton

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

Happy Monday! It's another team deep dive week ahead of us on Andy & Ari On3, and to kick things off, we go on down to Georgia, where Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs are gearing up for another big season in Athens. To discuss, we bring on Dawg HQ's Jake Rowe to dig deep into the Georgia Bulldogs and figure out what the expectations are. Jake explains why Georgia didn't go after a transfer quarterback in the offseason, who will step up at wide receiver, and how the Dawgs make a run for the CFP. All that and more on a jam packed episode of Andy & Ari On3. More news on the Georgia Bulldogs here: https://www.on3.com/teams/georgia-bulldogs/ (0:00-1:31) Intro: Georgia(1:32-8:40) Jake Rowe from Dawgs HQ joins(8:41-9:59) Can UGA be a dynasty moving forward?(10:00-12:58) Is Gunner Stockton ready to be QB1?(12:59-15:32) Explosive Weapons for the Bulldog offense(15:33-20:59) How good can Zach Branch be?(21:00-23:52) Into the trenches with Georgia(23:53-26:51) Defensive side of the ball with UGA(26:52-29:59) Difference Makers for the Dawgs(30:00-33:55) Reasonable Expectations for Georgia(33:56-35:55) CFP Run in sight?(35:56-39:36) Conclusion: Sanford Stadium's Press Box Watch us LIVE on YouTube, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://www.youtube.com/@On3sports Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] 

Welcome to Andy and Ari on three. Happy Fourth of July week. It is a deep dive week. We did this a couple weeks ago when when season and I think it's probably because This team has just been very successful over the last few years and we just assumed they're gonna continue to be good But I think there are a lot of questions to ask and I think how good is a legitimate question with Georgia Just funny go dogs. I just like saying that uh Yeah, it's so funny because we're in the interesting business and just being consistently the best all the time is not interesting. What's interesting is fighting to be the best. And I think part of the reason that we don't talk about as Georgia

as much as we probably should is because we just accept the reality of their greatness. But I do think that it is interesting to dissect what they're going to be this year and also in the scope of the way that they're built for the future of the sport because they aren't defending national champions and I'm not sure many people have them number one or even number two overall going into the year so is Georgia gonna come back down to earth or is he is Kirby Smart gonna continue his trajectory to try to be the next Nick Saban? I think is an interesting thing to dissect. And we've got a very, very smart person to help us do that.

Jake Rowe from Dogs HQ covers the Bulldogs. What's up Jake? How we doing? I don't know about that smart comment Andy. I cover Georgia. That's what I do. We'll debate intelligence another day. I'm excited about this because we had some requests because we had some, some listeners who were like, listen, guys, I'm a Georgia fan. You don't talk about Georgia at all. What are you doing here? And it's, it's exactly what Ari said. They're always good.

And I'm not sure always good is all that interesting. And there's always, you know, all these other programs that have weird things happening or they go up and down like George is just good. But I'm curious from your standpoint because like on your message board, good is not always good enough. Like they got that taste of those national titles and they're like, no, no, we want that over and over. Yeah. And, and it's funny. It's so hard to just kind of keep winning them like that. And, you know, I thought the 2023 season that Georgia kind of exceeded my expectations because, you know, Carson Beck comes in as the first year

quarterback and you're thinking, yeah, they don't have a whole lot of holes or anything, but, um, how good are they going to or anything, but how good are they going to be? Like how good are they going to be after going back to back? And they were awesome. And then, you know, they get some injuries at the wrong time and, you know, you end up having to go into, I guess you kind of ended up paying the piper for the, for the John Metchie and, and Jameson Williams injuries by Ladden Brock kind of being almost, you know, non, not themselves at all.

And, and Rara Thomas being completely out of that 2023 SEC Championship game, they lose to Alabama and then there it goes. You know, like they don't get a chance to play for anything after that. So, you know, then you roll into last season and it was just, man, it was a grind. Last season was such a grind for this team.

You know, they didn't play a whole game. They barely played whole halves of football. But then you look down, they're SEC champions, and they're talking about how healthy, how they're getting healthy and how they are as healthy as they've been all year. And then Notre Dame just kind of, you know, blows them up up front on offense

so they can't get anything going. So it's definitely, this is not as steady as you would think it is from the outside. Like you start looking at records you like man this team has been so consistent and so steady man. These last two teams have just been so different but at the same time it you know, I understand why from a from a 10,000 20,000 foot view that it that it might look a little bit boring. But the fans man they they expect you to fight for it and challenge for it every single year.

And I think this team still has a chance. The thing that Andy and I always talk about was Nick Saban's comment that the second Georgia gets the right person, it might be time to get out of here. And Georgia did get the right person. And I think that there was this dialogue or expectation that Georgia, having won two national championships with Nick Saban in the sport, was going to be the new dynasty, was going to have the new coach that was going to, you know, win a bunch of championships and put himself in the position to be as accomplished at the end of the road as Nick Saban was. I think we're finding out, and we probably should have always known this, that what Nick Saban did at Bama was pretty unbeatable. But I think that Kirby Smart would have had a better chance of actually doing that had the sport not changed, right?

If you just kept going status quo, accumulate top one, two classes, stack your roster, have two deeps that are better than most other team starters, then just run that way that that would have gone. But the sport has changed. What Jake, is your perspective of what Georgia can be, not just this year, but moving forward in terms of a dynasty? Is it harder for them? Are they as equipped as ever? What's your thought on that? You jump all the way back to pre-NIL, pre-transfer portal, all of that stuff. When guys like Quinn and Williams were playing one snap in the national championship game, starting the next season and then becoming a top five pick.

If you go back to that time, I think Georgia had a reasonable shot to kind of build a dynasty. But then you kind of, there's another era that comes after that. I think what Georgia did winning two back to back national championships in the transfer portal area in the NIL era, barely, barely, there was some, um, that was impressive in the playoff era, impressive, but now no shot. There's no shot. Georgia, Georgia, or any other team is going to pick up and pick up the mantle that Alabama laid down when Nick Saban retired and walk with it. Because now the playoff gauntlet is way too hard.

The transfer portal is what it is. And I mean, even if you get to the point where you're locking guys in for two or three years of contract stuff and you can actually get them to stick around. The ability to get them during rev share with money exchanging hands and all of that stuff and not only that but it's playoff that's getting bigger and that it's gotten bigger and it's just going to get bigger. Yeah, that's that's a pipe dream now if somebody does it I'll just have to you know hop on here and you guys can make fun of me but it's just not going to. That's what I put the list of George's defensive line too deep from 2021 in a column and said, this will never happen again. Never on one team.

Yeah. I mean, it's in Alabama, you know, folks say, well, Alabama did it. Yeah, man. Alabama did it when these guys had to get releases and then they were told where they could transfer. Right. And they had to sit out a year. Like there were, there was hurdle after hurdle after hurdle.

There were so many reasons not to transfer. All of the power was in the school's hand. If you take it back to that time, sure. Some of those things are going to happen. You're going to get some of those, you stack together some of those defensive and offensive lines. But that's not the way of the sport anymore. And I don't really have a problem with that.

I don't have a problem with it. Like it was cool to see that kind of talent emerge on one team that was, that was fun. I'm glad we got to see it. But now that is one area where I'm like, Hey, if a player is not playing and, and, and, you know, like Nick Saban loves to say, increasing value for himself and creating value for himself by getting on the field, then that that player needs to go. Now,

I do take issue with the fact that some teams have gotten really good at going and buying players off of other teams' rosters. That's unprecedented. We don't need to see that in the NFL. I mean, I can't imagine how nasty the NFL would be if you could do that. So, you know, I think that needs to be put aside.

You know, a halt needs to be put to that. But ultimately, yeah, you're never going to stack talent like that again. And it's just, oftentimes I think what's going to come down to these new playoff things, whether it's 12, whether it's 14, 16, however many they are, it's just going to come down to who gets hot at the right time. Cause that's playoff sports, football, baseball, basketball, doesn't matter. And two, who can stay healthy because you know, you can't in this era area if you're not going to be as deep as you used to be you better stay healthy because you're just not going to be as good as the team that is healthy

yeah that's that we did get a text from somebody that was at the rivals camp the other day and they said hey you guys are gonna be shocked to hear this but Ohio State and Georgia have the best players on the field out here and I do I do feel like that will still have, as Andy likes to say, travel. I think that that will still have an impact. But I wonder if the new Alabama, if the new Georgia dynasties will manifest in teams

that just make the playoff over and over again, not just win the national title. I agree with that, yeah. I think that these programs like Georgia, Ohio State, Texas even, teams like Florida and Miami, if they can get it back going, if they can just get off the Schneid a little bit, I think those programs, Alabama,

they're all gonna have gallons of gas. They're gonna have a couple of gallons of gas to get this thing going and to get where they wanna go. It's just a matter of whether or not they're gonna have that top gear when the time comes to get over the hump and actually make it happen come playoff time. And that's going to be really difficult. And I think it's going to be extremely difficult if some of these things get passed where they're going to play multiple conference championship games or do conference championship playoffs and stuff like that. I think that's the worst idea ever.

And if that happens, then we're really talking about it being super tough to win a national championship. All of a sudden it goes from, hey, you gotta be perfect during the regular season in the old days to now you've got to survive and just try to win by one point as many times as you can. So let's talk about this year's Georgia team because probably the most interesting thing is what didn't happen. Georgia has Carson Beck get hurt in the SEC Championship game.

Gunnar Stockton comes in for him, starts the Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame. And then Georgia does not go into the portal. And get a quarterback they they they roll with Gunnar Stockton. How clear was that when last season ended that he was going to be the guy and get a quarterback. They roll with Gunnar Stockton. How clear was that when last season ended that he was gonna be the guy? And what does that situation look like now? Well, I would like to point out they tried. Fernando Mendoza was very much on the Christmas list.

I think it was right around Christmas too. He was very much on the list. They wanted him. They liked him a lot. They were actually in pretty good shape there, but I think ultimately Indiana, and not just Indiana but all the other schools recruiting him, kind of got into his head and said, hey, you get this Gunnar Stotton kid, if he looks good in the Sugar Bowl, you got no chance.

And honestly, I've never been a Gunnar guy. Like I'll say that up front, and I think I even told Gunnar that when I was interviewing him at the Sugar Bowl. I was like, hey, I've kind of been critical. And I have, you hear all these, you guys have covered teams before, you hear great things about players in practice. And then they get a chance to play and you're just kind of like, man, I don't see it, I don't get it.

He comes in in the SEC Championship game, he didn't light the world on fire. He made one of the ugliest mistakes I think I've ever seen a quarterback make just by throwing the ball right directly to a Texas guy out of panic. But the one thing that I was impressed with was the way he came in, engineered a touchdown drive, got Georgia the lead. Georgia won that game and listen, Georgia was a second half team all year. There's odds are if Carson Beck was healthy, they were gonna make a run in the second half anyway.

But Gunnar picked it up and ran with it and he did a good job I thought he was a bright spot in that in the sugar ball. No run game Very poor pass protection with Monroe Freling beat to death and and Georgia beat to death up front just in general Seven of their top nine offensive linemen were dinged up at different points in the year I thought he actually played well delivered a good deep ball Pushed the ball downfield did the same thing in the year. I thought he actually played well, delivered a good deep ball, pushed the ball downfield, did the same thing in the G-Day game. So I feel a lot better about Gunner

than I did hearing things about him in practice and not seeing it whenever he got a chance to play. But when you kind of boil it all down, I do think Georgia wanted to bring in some experienced competition with him. If Georgia had two Gunner Stockmans, just the exact same guy, I would have no question about their quarterback room.

But now they're one snap away from playing somebody's never played before, and you never wanna be in that situation. Yeah, and also too, you thought that Georgia was much better than you anticipated two years ago, and Carson Beck's first year as a starter. And I think a lot of that has to do with what we're finding out about Lad McConkie and Brock Bowers, right? Like in the NFL, those guys are lighting the world on fire. And last year, I think part of the reason why,

at least from my perspective, Jake, that Georgia struggled was that they didn't have any explosive offensive weapons on the outside, that you could know for a fact are going to change the game. They went out and they got a few guys this year that might be able to do that. How do you feel about their explosiveness on offense outside of Gunner? And do you think they have a chance to return to being more explosive offensively? Yeah, I think they definitely got more depth and more guys that are natural

for playing their position. I mean, listen, it's not gonna go down in any sort of record books and you're not gonna find lit in the encyclopedias that they sell going door to door or anything. But man, Rara Thomas getting in trouble and getting kicked off the team prior to the start of the season. Combined with Colby Young also getting in trouble and getting basically suspended for the rest of the season was a dagger for Georgia's receiving core because Georgia lost two experienced X receivers. Dylan Bell was going to go into the year as

kind of the number three X receiver. He and Dylan Humphreys. Dylan Bell is an off the line of scrimmage. I don't want to call him a gadget guy, but he's a motion guy. You put him in motion, you fake jet sweeps to him, you throw him some screens, you push the ball downfield. He had to play X and X is kind of your pure wide receiver position. That's the one that's your route runner, third down guy, commands respect from the defense. If you don't have a good X receiver, a strong X receiver, then you're just not

gonna be a very balanced receiving core. And I think that hurt Georgia. Well, now they've got Colby Young back, they've got Noah Thomas. They've got a couple of freshmen that I think are way more capable of playing that specific spot than a guy like Dylan Bell, who is a catch and run guy. So now Dylan Bell can kind of slide to the slot. He can play flanker, he can play running back some, like he can move around. And I think that just makes Georgia's offense better and

you still have London Humphreys and you have the two freshmen, CJ Wiley and Talon Taylor. You got a healthy tight end group coming back, one that's very experienced and has fought some battles. So I do like what Georgia has from a pass catcher standpoint. I mean, they don't have anybody like Lad and Brock, who I will point out in that 2023 season. I don't know that Georgia played more than six or

seven quarters with both of those guys healthy all year long. That it was kind of staggered in and out with those guys being there. But they don't have that specific guy. But I love the depth of the group because Georgia has had some attrition at that spot in the past. And you look in there now their size, their speed, there's youth, their playmaking ability, they check off a lot of boxes. I'm gonna step in for Ari because I know where he's going with this because you

didn't mention Zach Branch and Ari. Thank you. Her let go of a five star. That's an omission on my part. I whiffed on the guy. Yeah. Well, but that's the question, because Zach Branch, as a return guy at USC,

was very dynamic. As a receiver at USC, he was not so dynamic. So is that a case of just the situation he was in, or will that change now that he's in a new situation? Well, I can tell you that they're really excited about him. And they're excited about the way he came in and worked and kind of set the tone. You know, listen, I'm not a big Lincoln Riley guy. Like I'm not a big, big beat up on Lincoln Riley guy.

And I'm not a big like, Hey, he's the best. I mean, there was a time when I thought that he was the best run game guy out there. Like I thought that, man, this guy can scheme it up better than anybody. And obviously his successful quarterbacks is kind of speaks for itself. But running a program, when I hear something like hey, Zack Branch comes into Georgia, he's working really hard. He's already put on eight pounds of muscle and he's certainly a different player than we really thought he was gonna be. He's actually a little bit of a physical presence out here,

despite his shorter size. I kind of wonder what's going on, how does that happen? But he had a good spring game for Georgia, even despite being banged up, wanted to play. I think he had a groin or a hamstring injury, one or the other, but wanted to compete in the G-Day game, wanted to get out there and kind of get his feet wet and had a big catch and did some good stuff.

One of the reasons, sometimes you think of slot receivers as a dime a dozen, like that's kind of where you put your good receiver that's not great. But he is a guy that does bring some dynamics to that spot. Even with Dom Lovett being there last year and being a pretty good player, I think Zach Branch is just a different deal. And I'm interested to see how Georgia uses him and really if he can catch the ball consistently, consistently because Dylan Bell did it last year, Dom Lovett did it last year, and Arian Smith did it last year.

And I know a lot of people will point, well, who was the receivers coach? It was James Coley. Brother, all of those guys, all three of them have had problems catching the ball in the past. That's just where Georgia's been. So I think they've done a good job of going out and getting more sure handed dudes and guys that can catch it more consistently because that was a big problem for them, especially in first halves of games.

I'm about to pass out Andy, like just to stop me from. Stop George, I'm the rankings already. Yeah, they're number one now Yeah, if somebody was a five-star Jake there are five star forever in my head. Okay Yeah, and and that's the expectation I think I mean I think that that Georgia fans are gonna have that expectation to they expect exact Branch to come in here and generate touchdowns for them. They expect Zach Branch to come in here and generate explosives, catch and runs. And that's one of the reasons we do a position week thing, where I do at Dogs HQ, where I take each week position by position and I write five stories,

just a smaller group, only four stories. But I write five stories on each position. And I got to the receivers and one of my bold predictions for the receivers was I think Zach Branch leads the team in touchdowns. And I think it's because he can get them running, he can get them catching it and running, he can get them by getting over the top. And Georgia loves to use those diminutive slot receivers, the quick and fast, but mainly quick down there to create separation types of guys,

to create touchdowns. And I think that's the kind of weapon he's going to be for Georgia. I guess one of the reasons I didn't bring him up when I was talking receivers a minute ago is because I just kind of see him as an opposite weapon. Because of his return skills and things like that, I think you're going to see Georgia work really hard just to give him the football in easy ways so that they can kind of create some some value. No, if he turns into being a jack-of-all-trades touchdown generator, which I think is a good way to put it, but he is an explosive person that you know is going to score or change every game they play.

I'm not being funny here. It changes my entire expectation of what George's ceiling as a program is next year or team is next year. And one thing I'll talk about here that doesn't get a lot of attention, it shouldn't, it's not that, that exciting. One thing Georgia does as well as anybody, and they've had a strip, had a little bit of trouble doing it, especially over the last year and a half is they create room for their punt returners. They create, I mean, like I saw Miko Hardman who wasn't the best in the world at catching it all right to beginko Hardman, who wasn't the best in the world at catching it,

all right, to begin with, but he also wasn't really a make the first guy miss type, but man, they created room for him consistently. Mackay Muse is another one, a former walk-on guy that ended up being a force for Georgia as a punt returner. You know, you look down the line, they've had some guys that have done a really good job at the spot. And it's really been because of how hard they worked to create it. Urban Meyer used to do it both at Florida and Ohio State kind of the way he treated special teams and Kirby Smart tries to treat them the same way. I would expect there to be kind of a little bit of a renaissance for

Zack Branch as a punt returner. Cuz I know last year he kind of focused on kick returning as the season went on and actually got better as a kick returner and was less of an issue less of a force at punt returner so again I know special teams aren't really excited but I think that's an underrated way that George is going to be able to create some hidden yardage. Jake how about the protection for Gunnar Stockton? Because you mentioned it earlier in the show, George's offensive line was banged up pretty much all

last season. It was not a case where they would trot out the same five guys who were awesome. They had good players, but it was a lot of mix and match. How about this year? Yeah, I saw where ESPN, someone posted on our board where they had a lineup consistency kind of rating and Every other team in the playoffs was 44th or better and Georgia was 99

So that that kind of nails home the the injuries and most of them again You know you talk about depth on the O line if you've got nine offensive linemen you trust I don't care who you are You're feeling really good going into the season like every team in the country is feeling great with nine offensive linemen you trust, I don't care who you are, you're feeling really good going into the season. Like every team in the country is feeling great with nine offensive linemen. If you tell that team they're gonna have seven of those nine get hurt, I mean, they're just gonna have to grit and grin. I mean, that's all they can do.

I mean, there's nothing else that they can get. I mean, you're not gonna have 15 office alignment or 12 that are ready to play. You just can't get that many guys going at one time. And listen, if they have that many again this year, it's gonna be worse. Cuz they don't have as much depth as they did last year. But I love the talent that they have at that spot. One of the things that's been kinda overlooked was Ernest Green, who was the left tackle in 2023 and did a phenomenal job,

especially the last three quarters of the season. I started a little bit slow, had a tough game I think at Auburn, but then got better as the year went along. Then, you know, last year was terrible at times and he had multiple injuries, had a big time shoulder injury on his left arm that kind of kept him from playing left tackle. Effectively, I think he had like a soft tissue injury, lower body hamstring groin, something like that that also kind of affected him. He moved to right tackle when he was coming back and moved to right tackle was actually a little bit of a fit for him. I was told that when he came back for the 2023 season,

he was coming off a 2022 year where he spent the entire time kind of on the shelf after having a back surgery. season, he was coming off a 2022 year where he spent the entire time kind of on the shelf after having a back surgery. So they were working hard to get him ready to play left tackle because they loved his talent. They never really got a chance to look at him at right tackle or for him to spend some time there and see how he fit. Well, he worked there all spring. He worked there for most of the season once he got healthy and they shelved him and allowed him to get healthy and he kind of fell in and he looked natural there. Monroe Freilling's more natural on the left side. So if those two guys, I mean,

we're talking about two elite recruits, we're talking about two top 50 overall prospects there trying to get those spots nailed down. If Georgia nails it down with those two, they've got a lot of experience and a lot of football IQ on the interior there. And as always, a lot of beef. They've got a lot of big bodies that can move guys off the ball,

but I think it starts with those bookends. Now, when you think about Georgia football, you think about like just bone-breaking defense, right? What is your thought process for, you know, how good their defensive side of the ball is going to be, and are they going to be a prototypical, you know, make other opposing offenses want to go home type of defense? The, the dog walk over at dogs HQ and it's infinite wisdom.

If you can collect infinite wisdom, somebody, somebody had a met great point the other day. They said that Georgia's defense could be worse, but if it tackles better, if it's simply just tackles, gets the guy on the ground better this year, it'll be statistically better. And if you go back and you watch, obviously, I don't think anybody should have done this, but if you watched the UMass game last year, I'm sorry, you know, that wasn't worth watching.

For anybody, I don't care what you say, like, I mean, it was just ugly football. Georgia had a play in that game, they had a guy tackled in the backfield, he slips loose and goes for 60 yards. play of the Georgia Tech game same thing happens That was kind of the norm for Georgia at times last year. They tackled extremely poorly especially up near the line of scrimmage and They didn't finish plays and I honestly think that was the difference between Georgia against everybody else and Georgia against Texas and really

Clemson to you know, Georgia played two playoff teams and dominated them between Texas and Clemson just tore them apart defensively because of how well they tackled and how well they got after the quarterback. And then they were up and down. And I think that was the focus this off season for that in the offense, but more so in my opinion, the defense was why Kirby Smart made such a big deal about getting players to play and reach for the standard because they just want it and try to get players motivated to, you know, play with passion, to play with energy and, you know, to do the

fundamental things correctly. And that's how I look at Georgia's defense. Like you lose Jalen Walker and Michael Williams and Malachi Starks, you know, three first round guys, that's not easy to replace. They're not gonna replace those guys. But they've got a lot of talent coming back and a lot of players, a lot of veteran players that are coming into what I would say contract year. CJ Allen, Raylon Wilson, they're gonna be juniors. KJ Bolden is gonna be a sophomore.

He was arguably Georgia's most consistent defensive back last year. Daylon Everts coming into his senior year and was the guy that got better as the year went on last year. So I think they're gonna be really good defensively. I do have some concerns over rushing the passer and I think L.O. Madose, the transfer from Army is gonna help them there. There's some good returns out of him already just in terms of motor and work ethic.

But they're gonna have to be young at some spots and they're going to be veterans at some key spots. And I wonder how that's going to pay off for them. They're going to need the same thing though, as the offense needs, they're going to stay healthy upfront because they're not super deep. And it seems like the last couple of years, they they've not had the aliens on the interior D line that they had. And, and look, Jaylen Carter, Jordan Davis,

these are not guys who come along all the time. And it's a luxury to have them both on the same team at the same time. But are there maybe some guys in the pipeline or guys like Jordan Hall has been hurt. We've not seen like a fully healthy season out of him. Are there guys who can become a difference maker on the interior?

Yeah, you know, Nazir Stackhouse and Warren Brinson were really good players, like really solid players. They played at Georgia forever. If I'm not mistaken, I think they came in in 2020. They never redshirted, but they had five years and they played a ton of snaps at Georgia and they did a really good job. Now I say that while also acknowledging that Christian Miller and Jordan Hall and Xavier McLeod are all more talented guys. The guy I'm really watching is Xavier McLeod because as the year wore on, he was hurt to start the season and then he kind of started to get into a little bit of a groove. I think he had another like little kind of setback.

But if you flip on the SEC Championship game, you just look at number 94. You see a guy that's kind of tossing some dudes around and then we're talking about a Texas offensive line that was pretty formidable. And he was tossing guys around in the run game, cross and face, very, very good football player. And I think that he's got some big time potential there. If not to be the star, to be the guy that opens it up more for guys like Joseph Jonah Johnnier, who's a redshirt freshman,

former five star prospect. We'll talk about aliens. We're talking about a guy like that. We're talking about a guy that actually talks to his teammates about how freakish his athleticism is. And apparently does it in such a way that he endears himself. There was a press conference from Jordan Hall this past year, if you haven't seen it, it's hilarious. But talked about his freakish genetics and how, and how, you know, talented he is.

It's really funny. But, you know, Elijah Griffin's a very young player that's there. But, you know, ultimately you're going gonna boil it down to the veterans, and that's gonna be Christian Miller. It's gonna be Jordan Hall, it's gonna be Xavier McLeod. And I have high expectations for those guys. For Georgia, for me, it kinda moves out towards the defensive end and the edge spots that I'm worried more about.

Cuz I think they're gonna have a good core on the interior and some young guys ready to do some big things. But can they sustain at defensive end and outside linebacker like they have in the past because that's where you lost Damon Wilson and Samuel M Pemba to the portal. That's where you lost Jalen Carter and Tyron Ingram Dawkins and Michael Williams to the NFL. That's a lot of bodies to lose when you're talking about and

Chas Chambliss as well time for the team leading sacks. I Just did a Google M and search on on Joseph Jonah. Johnny He looks like he was created a lab And you know the crazy thing you know, he's he's going into his second year at George. He turns 19 in November Wow, yeah, he was turned 19 in November. He turned 18 in his he was 17 He hasn't played a snap. He turned 18 in his, he was 17. He hasn't played a snap yet as an, as an 18 year old. Um, he had played all of his snaps at Georgia last year as a 17 year old before he got hurt.

Yeah. I mean it's the, uh, the alien lab, right? Like that's what you do. That's what the best programs do. Jake, let's just get to it now. What are reasonable expectations for what this Georgia team is going to do this year? Yeah, I don't see this team. I could see this team missing the playoffs. Like I certainly could. Like I don't know that I don't think I would bet on that, but I could see this team missing the playoffs just because the schedule is pretty hard.

I'm a big Austin Simmons fan and I think George is going to have their hands full with Ole Miss whenever they come into Athens and some of the talent that Ole Miss brings back. But again, so many of their tough games that, listen, they fought through that schedule last year with a marquee road game every single month of the season. They found a way to go 10 and two and get in the playoffs. So I would expect them to do that again this year.

They're gonna get, they gotta get through Tennessee early on the road. They gotta get through an early night game at Auburn. They're in October, in early October. It still doesn't feel right for Georgia Auburn to be in October. It needs to be in November, but whatever. And then, Alabama at home for the first time since 2015, you know, Texas and Athens I think maybe for the first time ever You know, there are some ways that Georgia could fall but if you look at the road schedule

it's nowhere near as difficult as was last year and Is this the year that Georgia falls at home? They haven't fallen at home since 2019 since Wilmush champ in South Carolina took it to him in one of the ugliest games I've ever covered. So I think that this team should make the playoffs. I think the SEC Championship game is kind of up for grabs based on how everything works now. There's no winning the East anymore.

So last year Georgia got in because Oklahoma beat Alabama. If Alabama takes care of business, Georgia doesn't get in, and Georgia still makes the playoff. But yeah, I certainly see Georgia being a team that can challenge for the playoff and ultimately challenge for the SEC Championship game if it can stay healthy. I think staying healthy is the important part. They're not quite as built to handle the injuries that they had last year right now. You know, it's crazy, that you go through an entire schedule

and only have three true road games in a year. I don't know if I've ever seen that. Well, yeah, the Georgia Tech game got moved down the street to Mercedes-Benz is why. Yeah, but I mean, is that a- Well, I mean, Georgia's got a way worse record. Georgia's got a way worse record in Mercedes-Benz Stadium than they do Bobby Dodd.

They haven't lost it. They haven't lost it Bobby Dodd since 99. Wow. That's crazy. the worst record in Mercedes Benz Stadium than they do. Bobby. They haven't lost it. Bobby. 99. Wow. Yeah. Why 2K? Why 2K came and went since the last time Georgia lost it? Bobby Dodd. I would say there's there's some ghosts in in

Mercedes Benz for the Bulldogs. Really just for Alabama that I think the only team true is lost to other than Alabama in Mercedes-Benz Stadium is LSU and they lost to the not 2019 LSU juggernaut. So that's right. Well, I am fascinated to see what this team can do because it is Like like we keep saying good Consistently good can be boring sometimes but it actually sounds like he not going to be a boring Georgia season. So I am, uh,

I am excited to see what these guys look like. And, uh, and Ari is, well Ari is revising his expectations with that Zach branch evaluation that these types of interviews, and I really want to appreciate or say thank you and appreciate Jake for being so honest about this. But if Georgia isn't peak Georgia, that's still a very good team that can contend for a playoff spot in a deep run. But if peak Georgia is not here, peak Alabama is not there, peak Ohio State is not there, this is the illustration of why this season is going to be so entertaining. Because the non-peak versions of those three teams certainly could still win the national title, but it opens the door for so many other teams

that are also very good for their standard, who might not get blown off the field when they play the Boogeyman at the end of the year, which is why there are, in my opinion, 12 to 14 different teams that could conceivably win it this year. I think it's the year we're gonna see a couple of three loss at largest,

like not necessarily winning the conference or anything because, you know, you talk about that Ari. Okay, you get Ohio State to October, November, maybe they lose a couple of games early. Some, you know, a one-loss team, a two-loss team is going to roll in, and Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, they're going to knock somebody off. They're going to ruin somebody, even if they're not quite what they want to be, they're going to ruin somebody's season.

They're going to hurt somebody there at the end of the year in such a way that there's going to be some choices to be made at that point. And I certainly, again, I definitely think Georgia has the talent to go through and win 11 out of 12 or 10 out of 12 and make the playoff in the same scenarios that we saw last year. But to your point, it's not just Georgia that's the one that's like, hey, they're going to

be really good or they're going to be good enough. There's a lot of teams you're saying that about. I'm saying it about Oregon, right? I think Oregon's kind of in the same boat. I mean, I think there's a lot of teams out there that are just like everybody. Who's not in that conversation. And that's, that's great. That as the viewer, that's great. On the dog walk. It was a lot of fun last year.

It was a lot of fun last year. And I tell you my one key to this season that I'm really looking for, because I thought home game, I thought the home atmosphere last year was a bigger advantage than we've ever seen in college football for an entire season across the board. I'm not saying all the home teams won, but across the board, it seemed like,

you know, go all the way to Ole Miss at Florida, right? Like, you know, for everybody, it seemed like the home team, home dogs just ruled and, you know, the home team had such a big advantage, it had a huge advantage in the playoffs. None of those games were even close. So is the home atmosphere gonna be that big of a deal again this year? And if it is, I really like Georgia's chances.

Well, especially the most interesting Georgia home schedule in a billion years coming up now. No question, can't wait for it. I mean, it sucks that they put us in that weird press box now. We gotta watch our second season, that weird press box now We got to watch our second season that weird press box You're so spoiled with the greatest press box on earth which we had it essentially the mezzanine open air Just cool. We had it now. We're like a ring on Saturn like we like we

I'm up there, you know looking at the moon It's a million miles. We're as high as you can get in the stadium like there's no good It's almost like watching a game in the Superdome in And Mercedes Benz in New Orleans except they move you to the corner of what one side Two things one the highest press box I've ever been in is the one in Vegas The oh, yeah new T. What's it? Really the name of yeah, the stadium is really, really high. I remember I was getting like, you know,

sick up there in the press box watching USC. You were getting sick because you knew we're gonna have to pay a bet off. Yes, he was losing to Utah. What do you think makes the best press box? Is it view? Is it space? Is it Internet or is it food? Oh my God, it's really all of them. But at the end of the day, it's

view. Where can I watch? Where can I effectively watch a good game? Now the best press box in America is in Atlanta is Georgia Tech. That's a perfect press box. It's open air. It's on the 50 yard line and it's right there. Like there's no better place. If you want to watch a game, it's a club level 50 yard line seat to watch a football game. And it's the best press box in America in terms of where to watch. I'll take a great view, a great 50 yard line view, club level over anything else. And we used to have that at Georgia. Now I think it cost you about a hundred thousand dollars a year to set where I was was gonna say, I don't blame any of these people for doing this, by the way.

We weren't paying for those tickets and somebody else is willing to pay a lot. So I understand and I'm so grateful they let us in somewhere. But yeah, the old Georgia, because it was Georgia, Alabama had it too, Auburn had it too, and Kentucky had it. And I think all of them have changed it since.

But had the double Decker stadiums and in that middle strip, the press box was just the area between the thirties and it was open air and it was glorious. And if you guys want to come to Athens and see our brand new press box there, I'll buy you a meal while we're out there. And what's funny is even high,

like high up at Sanford stadium is not actually that high up considering how deep it's dug into the ground. So yeah, I mean, you could yeah, you can almost walk out the back door. But in terms of where it's at from the from the field, oh my God, it's forever. And that Georgia Tech that Georgia Tech game last year, yeah, watching the photographers go one end to the other. I mean, we were all walk. We were all pacing around the press box because we were hurting from sitting down so long. So that was nice to actually have

a new closed press box. We got to get Ari to Athens for a game. He's never, he's never been to a game at Sanford stadium. So we got it. We got to fix that. And yes, Jake, lots of, lots of fine dining options in Athens, so I have a whole list. So Jake, thank you so much. Tomorrow, on the first day of the On3 Rivals Partnership, we're joined by one of our new friends. Well, he's one of our old friends, but now we get to work with him. Larry Williams of Tiger Illustrated talking Clemson,

another potential national title contender. We'll talk to you tomorrow.