Advertisement
football Edit

The Daily Recap: Pickens' team-first approach, teammates happy for Mathis

D'Wan Mathis throws a pass in practice. (UGA Sports Communications)
D'Wan Mathis throws a pass in practice. (UGA Sports Communications)

Here is the Sept. 19 edition of The Daily Recap presented by JFQ Lending.

Pickens touts maturity

Everyone remembers what happened against Georgia Tech.

George Pickens lost his cool and got into a one-sided scuffle with Georgia Tech defensive back Tre Swilling. The result of the altercation was a first-half suspension for the first half of the SEC Championship against LSU.

In the Sugar Bowl, however, Pickens was focused and put forth a valiant performance, catching 12 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown. Beginning then, Pickens said he started to take more of a team-first approach.

“Specifically, from the Sugar Bowl game, from then on, I've just been focusing on the team,” Pickens said. “That's kind of how I got good in the Sugar Bowl game, and how I got the numbers I had— because I was just focused on the team. Now that’s what I’m really working on. I felt like I was (team-focused) before, but it wasn’t as important to me as it was to other people. So now it’s way more important to me.”

Teammates excited for Mathis

With everything quarterback D’Wan Mathis has been through, his teammates couldn’t have been happier with the opportunity he has been given.

With a week away from the season opener against Arkansas, Mathis has placed himself in contention to be the starting quarterback. And he was able to do so a year after having surgery to remove a brain cyst.

“It is great to see D'Wan and his progression,” defensive tackle Jordan Davis said. “He is practicing really hard. He is making me practice really hard, trying to keep him in the pocket, very elusive player. It is great to see D'Wan practicing. I'm sure he thinks of that that way, too.”

Linebacker Nolan Smith spent the past year concerned with the health of the young quarterback, which makes Mathis’ emergence that much more enjoyable.

“I was just trying to make sure that everything was okay with his head. My least concern was him being out there on the field,” Smith said. “I was making sure that he was a hundred percent healthy because that was after he had surgery. D’Wan, he is basically like a brother. Basically, anybody that came in the class with me, we are all close-knit. I was more worried about that than him being on scout team helping us get ready for our opponents.”

Sting factor: Jeudy’s decommitment

Mike Farrell, Adam Gorney and Jake Reuse collaborated on a story to examine the aftermath of defensive end Elijah Jeudy’s decommitment. A Philadelphia native, Jeudy decommitted with Texas A&M making a strong push in his recruitment.

With Jeudy decommitting, Marlin Dean is the lone defensive end commitment in the class of 2021 at the moment. However, there are a lot of talented defensive ends considering the Bulldogs, including Korey Foreman.

Reuse offered the local take, stating that this decommitment had more to do about what other schools were doing than Georgia.

“In the end, this appears to be more about what other schools did while Georgia may have been focused on wooing others,” Reuse wrote. “Texas A&M looks to have the steam for now, but with a decision not planned to come until Signing Day, even that feels a little presumptive for the time being. Will the Bulldogs loop back around? I won’t write it off just yet, and it’ll be worth watching until the commit list changes, assuming they add a replacement, or signing day nears.”

Reuse rated this a sting factor of 6.

The national reaction from Farrell and Gorney was that, “This isn’t an in-state loss but it’s a loss in an area of the country UGA has recruited well and at a position of need. Edge rushers with athleticism are always needed and this year recruiting isn’t going like it has for UGA recently, so any loss like this hurts.”

They gave Jeudy’s decommitment a sting factor of 7.

Birthday for former, and late, football coach

As Dave McMahon noted, Friday would have been former UGA football coach Harry Mehre’s 119th birthday.

Mehre lived to be 77 years old before passing away in 1978. He led Georgia to a 59-34-6 record from 1928-37. He also happened to be the first to coach a game at Sanford Stadium.

FOIA request returned

Anthony Dasher filed a Freedom Of Information Act request to see how many student-athletes had tested positive for Covid-19 on June 9. As of June 9, seven out of 100 student-athletes tested were positive for the novel coronavirus. Of course, that was over three months ago, with Dasher noting in the thread that there have likely been more cases to occur.

Dawgs at the U.S. Open

Harris English is the top-performing former Georgia golfer through two rounds of the U.S. Open. English is tied for third place with a score of 2-under par after shooting even Friday.

Brendon Todd is tied for seventh place at even after shooting 2-over.

Here's where the other former UGA golfers are after the first two days.

T12: Bubba Watson (1-under on Friday): 1-over

T49: Brian Harman (2-over on Friday): 6-over

Cut: Davis Thompson (8-over on Friday): 7-over

Cut: Kevin Kisner (6-over on Friday): 12-over

Cut: Greyson Sigg (15-over on Friday): 20-over

Celebrating the Bulldogs on the preseason All-SEC team

Advertisement

Old school for the opener

Remembering Ronnie Hogue

Outside the Vent

Bill Trocchi gives his Week 3 college football picks.

With the Big Ten back, other conferences are beginning to scramble to potentially return.

Baylor’s recent outbreak with Covid-19 has forced a cancellation for Saturday’s previously scheduled game against Houston.

Rashod Bateman wants to opt back into the 2019 season, per Nick Bromberg.

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

Advertisement