Freshman Snap Count Indicates Georgia is Poised to Continue to Compete for Championships
The notion that young teams are building for the future and are, generally, not in a position to compete for championships at the highest level is one of the most tried and true axioms of college football, however, in 2023, the Georgia Bulldogs turned that truism on its proverbial head. Despite steamrolling through the regular season undefeated for a remarkable third-consecutive season, Georgia bucked conventional wisdom by liberally infusing freshmen into its regular lineup and rotations. According to Pro Football Focus, in all, freshmen played 2,010 snaps for the Bulldogs this season, the eighth-highest total in the country.
Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Earnest Greene accounted for a large quantity of those snaps as he started every game for the Bulldogs after missing most of the 2022 season with a back injury that required surgery. While inside linebacker C.J. Allen did not open the 2023 season as a starter, he was a part of Georgia's inside linebacker rotation from the first week of the season. Then, after starter Jamon Dumas-Johnson suffered a broken forearm against Missouri on Nov. 4, Allen started the final three games of the regular season, the SEC Championship Game, and is poised to start in the Orange Bowl against Florida State on Dec. 30. While Georgia's other freshmen served as situational players and reserves, several of them saw their roles increase dramatically as the 2023 season wore on. Raylan Wilson, another highly-regarded freshman ILB, earned his way into Georgia's ILB rotation late in the season after suffering an injury in fall camp that set back his development, while former top-50 edge Damon Wilson's strong pass rush potential earned a role in Georgia's third-down package late in the season. Former 5-star OL Monroe Freeling also saw increased snaps at right tackle late in the season after Georgia dealt with injuries to both Amarius Mims and Xavier Truss.
While Georgia has already lost 15 players to the transfer portal and is certain to lose several more to both the portal and the NFL draft, those losses will be cushioned by the invaluable experience that many of its freshmen gained in meaningful situations during the 2023 season. That experience combined with the improvement that those freshman can reasonably be expected to make through a full offseason of training means that, rather than rebuilding, Georgia is poised to compete again for championships in 2024.
Other Georgia News:
- Brock Vandagriff Announces Transfer Portal Destination, Headed to Kentucky
- Sedrick Van Pran Named Finalist for Rimington Trophy - Winner Announced Friday, Dec. 8
- Dawgs Come out on Top in a Dominant Win over Georgia Tech
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