SOTC Update: Georgia Bulldogs
Get up to speed on the state of the Georgia Bulldogs program heading into the "off-season" with our second State of the Chart™ update.
Georgia Bulldogs
State of the Chart™ Recap Edition
Live All-In Ranking: 9th
Offense: 18th
Defense: 9th
2024 Results: 11-3 (6-2 in SEC) *SEC Champions
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|||||| STATE OF THE CHART™ SUMMARY
Three losses!? Three!? The Dawgs don’t lose three games. Period. Sure, it was not what Dawg fans hoped for when drawing up the 2024 season, however, anything short of a National Championship is a disappointment these days in Athens. That’s a good bar to have set, no matter how unrealistic. As the clocked ticked down in the inevitable playoff loss to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals of the first 12-team CFP, the disappointment was setting in. Though, no heads are being called for and all-in-all, there was a lot to like about the season. They blew out the eventual ACC Champion Clemson in week one. They beat Texas twice, with one of those just so happening to be the SEC Championship game. Quarterback Carson Beck and the offense had their moments and like many teams, they battled through injuries and survived potential crushing losses - in particular, the 8-OT thriller against Georgia Tech. The defense was solid as usual, but certainly not dominant like the 2021 and 2022 versions that brought home National Titles. So, with the bar set so high and the changing landscape that the sport is going through, the Bulldogs must adapt to stay on top. Dominating for long periods of time will be more and more difficult to accomplish. With so much player movement, just earning the top recruiting classes won’t provide the talent advantage it once did. The Dawgs are going to have to find ways to win, placing added importance on in-game coaching/scheming.
|||||| HEAD COACH AND COACHING STAFF
After back-to-back National Titles in 2021 and 2022, the Dawgs took one year off of participation in the CFP but re-joined the fun for the first 12-team version after winning the SEC and earning a bye in 2024. Kirby Smart is the unquestioned leader of this program and despite coming up short against Notre Dame in the playoff, the Dawgs remain a national power year-in-and-year-out. Until that changes; Smart's job is safe.
Coaching Staff Notes/Changes:
Tight ends coach Todd Hartley was a leading candidate for the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic, before they were able to land Texas Tech’s Zach Kittley.
The staff stays in tact as of early off-season despite sure interest in other programs to add talent from Kirby’s staff. His ability to retain staff has been impressive in his career thus far.
Update (2/17): The Dawgs have promoted Andrew Thacker to nickel backs coach. He was an analyst in 2024 and came to Athens after a run at Georgia Tech. He was the Yellow Jackets defensive coordinator in 2021-22.
Note: This is a “dynamic” article; meaning we will update any information that comes in this “off-season” and post a note when impactful moves are made or news breaks.
|||||| 2024 SCHEDULE / RESULTS ANALYSIS
Georgia finished up as playing the tenth most difficult schedule according to our SOS+ metric, which records the “time of” ranking for each opponent and wraps it up into an advanced ranking. The biggest takeaway from this slate is that they beat the CFP semifinalist Texas Longhorns twice - and never having played them at home. Smart had Steve Sarkisian’s number in a week eight showdown in Austin and then again in the SEC Championship played in Atlanta. Losses to Alabama and Ole Miss in the regular season are both unacceptable and completely understandable. In the case of Alabama, they fell behind early and mounted a fearless comeback and almost won that one in Tuscaloosa. Lane Kiffin’s Rebels just simply had a better day in week 11. It’s easy to forget the opening week win on a neutral site against what ended up being a very good (not great) ACC Champion Clemson Tigers. And, that game was never close. On the flip side, who could forget the epic eight-OT eventual win over Georgia Tech in late November?
Our advanced metric “deserved Wins” (dWIN) says that they were more like a 9.6-win team and even though their turnover margin was just negative-one, they were fortunate to win that Georgia Tech game, with the post-game win expectancy at just 21%. All-in-all, anything short of a National Title is disappointing, but this was another impressive season, despite finishing with three losses.
||||||| POSITION GROUP CHECK-INS
||| OFFENSE
Mike Bobo's offense was a bit of a disappointment considering they were returning a lot of talent, including one of the best signal callers in the game, Carson Beck. They brought in an all-SEC running back from Florida in Trevor Etienne and the wide receivers were a year older and expected to take steps up. As it turned out, Brock Bowers had even more of an impact on this offense than we imagined. They finished at 31.5 points per game (38th in FBS) and ended up leaning on Beck's arm more than establishing that running game. Granted, there were quite a few injuries, including to Etienne that contributed to that.
||| QB
Carson Beck's injury in the SEC Championship opened the door officially to Gunner Stockton era beginning in Athens. Stockton started the playoff loss to Notre Dame and that same hand injury led Beck back to the college ranks and he'll play his final season for the Hurricanes in Miami. All involved believe Stockton is ready for this job. Jaden Rashada is in the portal and focused on finding his new home in the spring window. They bring in two recruits in the 2025 class, led by 4-star Ryan Montgomery from Findlay, OH.
||| RB
Trevor Etienne battled injuries in his lone season here while showing well in his 122 opportunities to handle the ball. He gave way to true freshman Nate Frazier when he was unable to go and Frazier responded by looking every bit the part as the new starter here. Etienne is off to the NFL and there is a host of talented backs behind Frazier to keep this group at the very high level with plenty of options that it has always been under Smart. It will be exciting to see a healthy Branson Robinson and Roderick Robinson II. Cash Jones chipped in as a receiver, catching 24 passes in ‘24 and Micah Bell is expected to join this group from the wide receiver room for ‘25.
||| WR
Dom Lovett graduates after earning top billing in this room for 2024. Arian Smith and Dillon Bell each had 70+ targets and were the clear 2/3. Smith declared ealry for the NFL Draft and it appears to be set up for Bell to take on the top spot. Other internal candidates will be asked to step into larger roles, including Colbie Young, who appears to be on the way to being cleared of his legal issues. They bring in dynamic returner Zach Branch from USC to be a complimentary piece. Texas A&M transfer Noah Thomas should also factor in. Plenty of options for the new quarterback, Stockton to choose from and we’ll see who latches on and becomes the “go to” guy in this room.
||| TE
Replacing Brock Bowers was going to be tough (read: impossible) and the Ben Yurosek move didn't quite work out as planned. Luckie-ly it didn't need to, as both Lawson Luckie and Oscar Delp progressed and split the assignment, gathering largely passing grades. Yurosek moves on and both Luckie and Delp are expected back in 2025 with even further development expected. 2024 true freshman Jaden Reddell is next in line to jump into the mix and we should see more of him in '25. The Dawgs have a long history of developing and pumping out top tight ends and the next great one could be Elyiss Williams, a 4-star recruit coming in this 2025 class.
||| OL
As expected, Stacy Searels' group played at a very high level. Their talent level is high in run blocking (14th) and elite in pass pro (5th) with their surface stats/rankings certainly lagging behind with an 84th ranking in yards per rush and 58th in sacks allowed. SOS played a part in that. Looking ahead, three starters on the interior are leaving for the NFL early and one starting tackle is graduating. They have the reserves of highly touted prospects to step up.
||| DEFENSE
Talent-wise, this defensive unit is right where it should be. In the top 10 of all FBS programs. They allowed 20.6 points per game (ranked 23rd) and if not for a stiffening in the red zone (48% TD rate; ranked 11th) and on third downs (32.8% conversion rate allowed; ranked 17th), it could have been worse. There were plenty of great players on the unit, but it lacked a true game-breaking star. They played the 7th toughest slate of opposing offenses according to our SOS+ metric, so their finish in the 20's in most FBS categories is understandable. But, this is Georgia. Glenn Schumann was forced to do some real coaching and couldn't lean on the pure talent advantage in 2024.
||| DL
The defensive line is the most important position group in this 3-3-5 scheme and, as usual, they had the horses to get the job done. Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins and Mykel Williams created the pressure on the edges, racking up eight sacks between them. The interior was led by Christen Miller and Nazir Stackhouse. With everybody mentioned (other than Miller) heading out, the Dawgs will need some new, young talent to step into roles.
||| LB
The top four here were fantastic for the Dawgs' front seven, including Jalon Walker, CJ Allen, Smael Mondon Jr. and Chaz Chambliss. Walker and Chambliss chipped in with seven sacks each. Allen was one of the highest rated run defenders in the nation, making this a well-rounded unit. Allen will return, but the others are either heading to the NFL early or graduating. Damon Wilson Jr. was set for a bigger role but left for Mizzou. Expect to see Raylen Wilson all over the field in 2025.
||| DB
This group ranked 35th in yards per attempt through the air for opponents. That's fine, but this is Georgia. S Malaki Starks and CB Daylen Everette rarely left the field as the leaders of this group. KJ Bolden is a future star as he played meaningful snaps as a true freshman and actually rates out as the best player in this group. He will take over for Starks, who is headed to the NFL. They bring in Zion Branch (USC) to replace the other starting safety, Dan Jackson.
||| SPECIAL TEAMS
Simply put, between place kicker Peyton Woodring and punter Brett Thorson, the Dawgs had the best kicker-punter combination in the land. Both are set to return for 2025, though Thorson’s return will be slowed after suffering an injury in the CFP game against Texas. Anthony Evans III was very good as the primary kick/punt returner but he is transferring out to Mississippi State. There are plenty of options/athletes to take over and not lose much ground in the return game.
Reader feedback is requested and encouraged! Who knows these teams better than their passionate fan bases? We don’t pretend to know it all and would love your feedback. We will update/edit based (and credit) for anything that is brought to our attention. Let’s do this together…
|||||| TRANSFER PORTAL TRACKER
Looking at the portal movement early in the cycle, we see the biggest impact departures in the wide receiver and defensive backs rooms. Of the six players they have commitments from (at the time of writing), three are wide receivers and three are defensive backs. Unfortunately, the players leaving are still more impactful on the talent churn rating that comes in at 102nd in FBS and 12th in the SEC. There is still time to change that and Smart’s portal strategy is and has been a balanced approach with targeted replacements and allowing the young players in the program to move into starting roles. It has worked and it is likely to continue to work. Sure, you never want to see two red down arrows, but the impact on the actual rotation talent will not be as pronounced at a blue blood program like Georgia.
Below is a screen shot of the full, live Transfer Portal Tracker over at CFBDepth.com. Click the image or the button below to view it in its entirety…
|||||| 2025 RECRUITING CLASS
Once again, this staff is putting together one of the top overall recruiting classes in the land. They have focused their efforts on landing a balanced group of players, including three in-state, five-star players in the defensive front seven. Isaiah Gibson, Elijah Griffin and Zayden Walker are the future stars living in opposing backfields. All three will put in for early playing time in 2025.
They have racked up 15 four-star recruits as well. The one position they did not focus much attention is on running back. That makes some sense as they are well positioned with true freshman Nate Frazier looking like the lead back for at least the next couple of seasons. They also have good depth with young players and those with multiple years of eligibility.
They have the #1 wide receiver class coming in with five players committed, four of which are of the four-star variety and the group is led by Talyn Taylor, out of Geneva, Illinois. He suffered an injury his Junior year, but bounced back for a big senior season and projects as a balanced presence who can move around and while he adds a little weight and muscle, he can learn from a solid group of veterans ahead of him.
Here is a snapshot of the 2025 Recruiting Class+ with a link to the live page with updates throughout the cycle:
|||||| 2025 SCHEDULE LOOK AHEAD
The ‘25 slate presents another challenge, though they start out a little easier with Marshall at home (instead of Clemson). The first true test will be week three at Neyland Stadium against Tennessee before a bye week to prepare for the revenge game with Alabama at home. They get Texas at home this year and replace UMass with Charlotte as the cake game before what is sure to be another dog fight with the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta.
…
There is a lot of movement and decisions to be made throughout the off-season, including more portal moves, winter workouts and spring ball. Get all caught up with the full-on State of the Chart Magazine coming in July. If you missed the ad before, get more information and give us your e-mail to stay in the loop on everything SOTC!
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State of the Chart™ Recap Edition Links & Schedule
2/1: Alabama Crimson Tide
2/3: Georgia Bulldogs