Here is the Sept. 16 edition of The Daily Recap presented by JFQ Lending.
Weighing the QB options
Anthony Dasher offered his analysis on where things stand when it comes to the quarterback competition, especially with everything we know following Saturday’s third scrimmage.
D'Wan Mathis’ stock has been rising, particularly with the number of reps he received with the first-team offense last Saturday. At the same time, head coach Kirby Smart has stated numerous times that JT Daniels hasn’t been cleared for contact yet. While Daniels is practicing, he isn’t absorbing any hits. Smart expects for Daniels to be cleared by the Sept. 26 opener, however.
As it stands, this is a two-quarterback race between Mathis and Daniels.
Dasher did offer this thought near the end of his column.
“Georgia’s new offensive coordinator (Todd Monken) has made it clear that in a perfect world, having a quarterback with at least some mobility is important for his offense,” Dasher wrote. “If Daniels is cleared but still on the gimpy side, does Monken go with the healthier choice in Mathis?”
The QB timetable
Smart said a decision on a starting quarterback could go all the way up to end of the preseason.
“As far as we can tell, it will probably be a game-time decision,” Smart said.
Smart was also asked about the reports about how well Mathis looked out of the third scrimmage. Smart said it was a proper evaluation for those folks in an attendance.
“It does not concern me. It was part of the rotation as far as each day, and it just so happens that they were there that day," Smart said. “Each day we have rotated guys that have gone with the ones, and that’s the day that (Mathis’) fell on. For the most part, we’ve done a really good job for I think 16 practices, today being the 17th, that we’ve rolled—that doesn’t mean we’ve had a different guy every day, but we have a rotation that we do. That was just part of the rotation.”
The QB timeline
So how did we get here?
During Tuesday’s press conference, Smart said the uncertainty about the quarterback position doesn’t bother him because of the competitions that have played out over his tenure with the team.
While Georgia was fortunate to have Jake Fromm at the helm for three years, plenty of quarterback turnover still took place. Both Jacob Eason and Justin Fields transferred, which was followed by Jamie Newman opting out prior to the 2020 season. I wrote about the various quarterback battles and depth situations that led to a competition no one would have expected back before Covid-19 disrupted daily life back in March.
UGASports Live
Radi Nabulsi, Jake Reuse, Dayne Young and Jim Donnan spoke about the ongoing quarterback competition and what to expect on offense with the opener against Arkansas just a week and a half away.
Donnan offered some sobering thoughts on the state of the offense.
Kirby Smart’s presser
Kirby Smart spoke to reporters and took questions about the recent scrimmage. He was also peppered with questions about -- you guessed it -- the quarterbacks.
Surprising Southeastern hotbeds of talent
Rob Cassidy wrote about some cities that are surprising Southeastern hotbeds for football talent, with Athens and Cedartown making the list.
While Brock Vandagriff isn’t officially from Athens, he is from nearby Bogart and has been able to serve as an unofficial recruiting host for UGA prospects during the Covid-19 pandemic. Athens Academy has two FBS prospects in receiver Deion Colzie (undecided) and linebacker Hugh Laughlin (Virginia). North Oconee’s Bubba Chandler is committed to Clemson and Oconee County’s West Weeks will be a future teammate of Laughlin’s as he is also committed to Virginia.
Oconee County tight end Jake Johnson is a four-star uncommitted prospect in the class of 2022.
In Cedartown, the hometown of Nick Chubb, the class of 2021 features athlete Jayden Johnson (South Carolina). The class of 2022 has athlete and UGA commit Cedric Washington.
Hoops: Mutombo trims list to four
Four-star center prospect Ryan Mutombo has narrowed his list to four schools with Georgia making the cut. In addition to Georgia, Georgetown, Stanford and Tennessee are the other finalists.
Mutombo is the son of former NBA center Dikembe Mutombo.
Mutombo’s relationship with Georgia head coach Tom Crean seems to be paying off for the Bulldogs.
“I just love Coach Crean,” Mutombo said. “I love his mentality and I think he is sort of the living vision of discipline and hard work. He’s coached guys like Dwyane Wade and Nicolas Claxton that even though they weren’t super highly ranked guys they became great players. I love what he did with Nicolas Claxton his sophomore year.”
Time to compete
Jeudy decommits
Hoops offer
No tailgating but…
Outside the Vent
Ed Orgeron said most of LSU’s players have had Covid-19 and he hopes they don’t get it again.
Since June, 75 Texas Tech players have tested positive for Covid-19.
Nick Saban is “very proud” of how his players have advocated for social justice issues.
USC football players wrote California Gov. Gavin Newsom a letter asking for clearance to practice and play.
About JFQ Lending
JFQ Lending, INC is a residential mortgage company licensed in nearly 40 states across the United States. They already have nearly 3,000 five-star reviews in less than three years, including nearly 1800 on the Better Business Bureau (where they carry an A+ rating, see here: BBB LINK).
Right now, interest rates on a 30 year fixed are under 3%, with 15 year fixed rates in the 1’s. As an exclusive offer, JFQ will cover any appraisal costs AND add an additional $500 credit for all Rivals members.
Here’s how you can reach them:
Website: JFQlending.com
Contact Info: Mcaldwell@jfqlending.com
Phone number: 480-447-6852
