UGA Board Participation

kentdaddy, appears the folks from your High School are trying to fill every position on the defensive side of the ball. averagedawg's area also.


www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/02/28/19509...its-to-bulldogs.html

Buc wrote: Saturday afternoon, thought maybe this might be interesting. Many of us discuss the offensive line and all of us hoping that we can build something substantial with depth. Below is a list I put together of the young men on campus and those heading our way. Might have made some mistakes, not sure sometimes when a young man was held back a year or whatever. List should be pretty close.

Real hard for me to believe that we can't come up with a better than average SEC offensive line looking over the list below. Lots of big bodies, some that their high school coaches say are better than good. There had to be a reason for many of these young men being recruited by UGA, other than just filling slots.

Maybe we are in for a surprise, maybe we have more than one player step up and play a huge part in offensive line development . . . . quickly. Will Friend, my fingers are crossed. I really believe within the group listed below, you can stop some of this talk about our weakest link. Me being one of the culprits.

I do believe that there is talent at all positions on the offensive side of the ball, what some call the "skill positions". Get the offensive line together Will Friend, I will certainly rail for that being a "coaching skill".

David Andrews OL Sophomore — 6-2/280
John Bodin OG Senior — 6-6/321
Chris Burnette C Junior — 6-2/313
Watts Dantzler OT Sophomore — 6-7/310
Zach DeBell OT Sophomore — 6-7/265
Caleb Drake C Sophomore — 6-1/275
Kenarious Gates OG Junior — 6-5/328
Kolton Houston OT Sophomore — 6-5/291
Dallas Lee OG Junior — 6-4/300
Austin Long OT Junior — 6-5/304
Hunter Long OL Sophomore — 6-4/305
Eddie McQuillen OT Sophomore — 6-8/264
Ben Reynolds C Junior — 6-2/255
Nathan Theus OL Sophomore — 6-3/254
Xzavier Ward OT Sophomore — 6-7/264
Hugh Williams OT Sophomore — 6-5/254

2012 Additions
Mark Beard OL Sophomore — 6-4/290
Greg Pyke OT Freshman — 6-6/300
John Theus OT Freshman — 6-6/292

Go Dawgs . . . coach'em up!!

Buc, emailed my UGA friend/contact the list you prepared to see if he had any info or thoughts from the info he gathers. Here's his take.....and why I have been worried about our OL this year.


Lot of walk-on’s on this list. I expect the definite contributors to be Andrews, Burnette, Dantzler, Gates, Lee, and Beard. I HOPE that we can also get contributions from DeBell, Houston (NCAA issue still unresolved), the Long brothers, Ward and John Theus. However, most of these guys have practically no experience whatsoever. Of the first 6, Andrews has potential, but will be getting serious playing time for the first time, Burnette was ok last year, Dantzler will be getting serious playing time for the first time, Gates struggled early and improved to have an ok year last year, Lee was a pleasant surprise, and Beard was in junior college. All of the guys on the second list are complete unknowns. Theus is probably the one I feel most confident in. However he will be a true freshman, and many think that he needs to put on muscle before he can play tackle..... "they" also think he’ll probably start out at guard. That’s tough because Dantzler, Gates, and Beard are the only tackle possibilities from the first group.

I think the line is going to be so inexperienced it will be scary. I really have no clue who will be playing the tackle positions. My guess would be Dantzler and Beard, but we really have no idea whether or not they are up to the task. We will need for Will Friend to do his best coaching job to get these guys ready to go. My overall conclusion and expectation??? I would say that it’s completely unknown. We’ve never seen most of these guys, particularly at the tackle spots. They might be good players, but we just don’t know. Let’s hope they can play because we are going to be in big trouble if they are overmatched…. Which I could completely see happening against SEC competition.

How the hell do we let kids like Chance Warmack leave the state of Georgia?
Until Richt can prove he can recruit eye to eye with Saban in the state of Georgia, we will continue to go down the same old road.

wlayton wrote:

WoodstockDawg wrote: Totally agree. Give me a good fullback, and I will show you the beginnings of a strong running game.

WD !!........where have you been?...great to see you back posting!!

wlayton... I have been here. Been doing a lot of reading these days.

I have been very busy here at the beginning of the year. Things are beginning to slow down here, so hopefully I can get a little more involved with posting.

I like what I am seeing with recruiting. I hope we have some great surprises on the OL this season, and I hope we can get the big OLineman from Walton, Brandon Kublanow, known as "The Finisher". We saw him last year, and he just keeps going, and was always looking for some one else to hit.

wlayton, thanks for the kind words.

GO DAWGS!!!!

wlayton, just trying to be logical, there is no room not to be concerned. I went back and read some posts that all of us put up before the ball was snapped last season. Your post made me think, and that is hard for me at times. At that time the consensus was the defensive backfield and the offensive line scared us or maybe I should say caused us concern.

Amazing that those of us on the “outside” were that far ahead of the “inside”. Meaning of course the coaches and the material that they had recruited. In some of the posts the question was asked what we would of course do last season, but there were also questions about this year, and lo and behold, even though we are on the “outside” all one has to do is read every headline on any mullet wrapper or blog of concern and the same questions pop up. There are a lot of folks on this board that are up to speed in my opinion. Can name most or many of them, but won’t. Their posts speak for themselves.

The little bit of information that I get goes something like this.

Watts Dantzler. Mountain of a man, but he is getting shoved around, does not show a mean streak. Have also read where he is working hard to improve. We all remember how happy we were that Dantzler signed on with UGA, not Auburn. We thought we had won the jackpot. I can’t grade or judge Dantzler at this point, but if I am 6’7” and carry a huge amount of weight, the only thing that keeps me from being all that is, heart, or lack of ability. Like I said, can’t answer for Watts Dantzler. I will say this, I hope that Theus is further along than Watts is at this point, allowing for the time on campus for both.

David Andrews. What I have read is that he has that “mean streak”, while that means he is opposed to backing down, do not know just how good his talent is. We will find that out quickly. David has no choice but to step up and quarterback the line play. We lost the “heart” of our offensive line this past season. Offensive line needs leadership, is David Andrews ready to step into the huge hole that is the center position? Can’t answer that question either. Do know that he will have a big bad butt looking him in the face all Spring, whether it be Jenkins or Kwame. Not sure he will see anything better along the SEC trail. There are also others that will test him this Spring.

Dallas Lee. When I think of heart, comes back to Dallas Lee. On top of that, he is physical, Dantzler could learn a lot from Dallas. One of the positive things about growing up with a brother that on occasion you have to have a calling to face off with and I am not talking about “Ice Time”. Dallas Lee will be 100% (excuse my language) don’t use it much . . . . Bad A$$. Really glad that we have this young man back. Reminds me of a center that departed after this past season. Dallas learned a lot from Ben, he will be a leader, no doubt in my mind. Stay healthy Dallas and make believe that the person you are lining up against is your “Brother” from another time. Don’t take that as being ugly folks, I grew up with two brothers, one older, one younger. Sometimes spit hits the fan.

Kenarious Gates. I am going to double down, and put all of my chips on the table with KG. Can only speak for myself of course. KG is going to be awesome on the offensive line for UGA this year. With a running attack, and I fully expect that, KG is going to eat a lot of defensive players lunch. KG does not back away from anyone. Saw a couple of times last year when KG went looking for someone to hit. Watts Dantzler, if you ever come to this board, I hope you read that last statement. Was going to save this, but will not. . . .

John Theus.
Anyone that thinks that he has not been working on his body, better think again. Not only is John Theus a Bad A$$ all anyone has to do is watch the tape with him and Jordan facing off. Theus is coming to the University of Georgia to play SEC football. Nope, won’t start at guard as he did in the UA game. He was hired on to be a Left Tackle and I will bet the house that is where he plays from the get-go. He will see more competition from Spring practice up until the coin toss in Sanford Stadium than he will from 90% of the teams we play this year. If anyone on this board doubts that, I would pose this question. Why is our defense rated so highly prior to the beginning of the 2012 season? Does that not make sense to anyone reading this? After Spring and Fall, John Theus will be ready to defend the left side. Theus is that “Crown Jewel” that all are looking for.

Going to stop here, much more can and will be said. The atmosphere in Athens has changed and I will bet that the defensive side of the ball is a major factor when talking football reasoning, and the changes we are seeing with our team. Sometimes all of us need a lift and I believe that Athens got that lift when Richt and Grantham shook hands.

Go Dawgs . . . Schedule is suitable, coaching ability is there, many players came back for one reason . . . They Believe. I am on board, hoping all buy into hard work and a talented football team.

Will not predict a year when our team will be better than most, or as good as some. I do believe that for the first time in many years some have removed their heads from their butts. Talent wasted will no longer be allowed in Athens. With a schedule such as we have this season, why not start right now. Or, will we get the same excuses as before.

We are going to graduate and probably lose many good football players after this season. Most of the losses will come from the defensive side of the ball. What does that tell me . . . . Coach Grantham did a nice job in a short time. When you folks come to Athens this coming weekend, talk to the young men that are leaving, they will give you the true picture as to what has happened in Athens in the last couple of years.

Maybe next year or the year after we will hear the same things being said about the offensive side of the ball. We do however have to figure out how to build depth, and that depth is not always running back or quarterback or the flanker positions. Much more to it than that.

Tried to stop earlier, will now. Go Dawgs.

Enjoyed your post Buc, guess we'll just have to see what happens. Hoping for the best.