We've all heard this. Stetson Bennett was just a lucky guy, surrounded by NFL talent.
He did have a very good offensive line in front of him. That's gets you the opportunities.
He had next-level tight ends. No argument there. Tight ends are good to have.
But to have an elite offense, who are your skill players? Who are your go-tos? UGA is RBU, right? This is the nest that hatched Gurley, Michel, and Chubb, and even recently, Cook and White. This year? McIntosh and Edwards, good four-star backs who won't be named in the upper echelon of legendary UGA running backs. Monken made them elite, but it wasn't page one recruiting news when we signed either. Milton is a five-star who was hampered by injuries.
KMac and Daijun were very, very good but in no sense did they carry our quarterback.
Receivers? I don't have to say much here. Our leading receivers were an unrecruited kid named Ladd, a tight end, and a running back. All of them had bigtime seasons and will play at the next level, but don't you need some Metchies and Williamses and Devontas if you're going to "carry a quarterback"? It's interesting that Bryce over at Alabama finally had a mortal WR room and it made a difference. Did we really have more talent than the Tide? Or was it coaching and exceptional QB play?
As a little time goes by and we get some distance, this team and the offensive year we had are going to be about Monken and Bennett, both of whom were the stuff of legends--in Stetson's case, particularly in the postseason. But then, that's particularly true for Monken as well. We were sluggish against a near-dead Georgia Tech team, then averaged over fifty against an SEC division champion and two elite playoff opponents. The QB and OC lifted their games to heights no one knew they had once December came.
He did have a very good offensive line in front of him. That's gets you the opportunities.
He had next-level tight ends. No argument there. Tight ends are good to have.
But to have an elite offense, who are your skill players? Who are your go-tos? UGA is RBU, right? This is the nest that hatched Gurley, Michel, and Chubb, and even recently, Cook and White. This year? McIntosh and Edwards, good four-star backs who won't be named in the upper echelon of legendary UGA running backs. Monken made them elite, but it wasn't page one recruiting news when we signed either. Milton is a five-star who was hampered by injuries.
KMac and Daijun were very, very good but in no sense did they carry our quarterback.
Receivers? I don't have to say much here. Our leading receivers were an unrecruited kid named Ladd, a tight end, and a running back. All of them had bigtime seasons and will play at the next level, but don't you need some Metchies and Williamses and Devontas if you're going to "carry a quarterback"? It's interesting that Bryce over at Alabama finally had a mortal WR room and it made a difference. Did we really have more talent than the Tide? Or was it coaching and exceptional QB play?
As a little time goes by and we get some distance, this team and the offensive year we had are going to be about Monken and Bennett, both of whom were the stuff of legends--in Stetson's case, particularly in the postseason. But then, that's particularly true for Monken as well. We were sluggish against a near-dead Georgia Tech team, then averaged over fifty against an SEC division champion and two elite playoff opponents. The QB and OC lifted their games to heights no one knew they had once December came.
