Georgia Offense Will Improve Over Time
Turning off the TV or leaving Bank of America Stadium on Saturday night may have left many fans feeling unsatisfied or worried about the offensive showing from Georgia in the season opener.
Granted, Georgia's season-opening contest was against a top-5 Clemson team coming off a loss in the College Football Playoff semifinal to Ohio State. Clemson's experienced defense challenging Georgia was the expectation and ultimately the reality, but not many would've thought both offenses would be shut out of the endzone.
Georgia was dealing with absences away from the football field due to injuries or other reasons to make matters more challenging. Georgia's bad luck with the injuries started back in the spring with the ACL tear to George Pickens, Georgia's top returning receiver from 2020.
Fast forward months later to fall camp, and the Dawgs are without newly acquired receiver Arik Gilbert due to personal reasons. Not long after, Darnell Washington would go down near the end of fall camp with a minor foot fracture.
Throughout all of those injuries, the good news for Georgia was the return of Dominick Blaylock to the practice field near the end of last week, right before Clemson. Blaylock would travel to Charlotte and warm up with the team but would not see any in-game action.
The redshirt sophomore receiver hasn't seen the field since his ACL tear in the 2019 SEC Championship game against LSU. Blaylock would be set back again in 2020, reinjuring his knee during pre-season practice.
The return of Blaylock seems imminent for the Dawgs as he is finally getting back on the practice field after two serious knee injuries. The same can be said for tight end Darnell Washington after a minor fracture in his foot; the original diagnosis was 3-4 weeks, meaning Washington is well into his recovery time.
The addition of Washington and Blaylock into the lineup will be welcomed by JT Daniels after his lowest performance, passing yardage-wise, as the quarterback in Athens. Daniels completed 22 of 30 passes for 135 yards and an interception in the 10-3 win over the Tigers.
Those issues in the passing game could essentially be put on the injuries to the receiving core and the conservative gameplan of the Dawgs, who only had one completion for over 20 yards on Saturday. But Smart was having none of the notions of blaming the injuries for the lack of production.
"All the talk about the weapons that he does and doesn't have is a moot point. That's what everyone wants to talk about and you can make excuses for me, for JT, for coach (Todd) Monken, but we've got good football players. We have to take the football players we have and be explosive. It doesn't matter who is out there. That's just pity or something. We have to be explosive. We have to get better at it.
Working with a young receiving core of Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, Adonai Mitchell, Justin Robinson, and Ladd McConkey while also getting back Jermaine Burton and Kearis Jackson, who each missed time throughout camp meant that there would be growing pains early on. Still, Smart knows those good coaches work with what is given, something Monken iterated in his few press conferences a year ago.
Except this time, the growing pains lasted for the entire duration of the game as Georgia's offensive coordinator Todd Monken worked more horizontal rather than his usual vertical passing game that grabbed the attention of fans at the end of the 2020 season.
With the challenging test of a top-level Clemson defense behind them, the expectation is for the offense to grow back to the heights it saw in the final four games of last season as they get weapons back from injury.
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