ATHENS -- New coordinator. New offense. New quarterback.
There were more than enough questions surrounding Georgia’s annual G-Day game Saturday at Sanford Stadium to make it more than intriguing for fans and coaches.
Whether there were some sufficient answers after the Black team took a 24-17 win over Red team, only Bulldogs coach Mark Richt may truly know. And he wasn't giving any hints afterwards.
“It’s hard to judge these things sometimes,” Richt said. “This was still really just a practice. Mistakes are made in practice and then you try and correct them.”
Redshirt sophomore Brice Ramsey, last year’s backup to Hutson Mason, junior Faton Bauta, and redshirt freshman Jacob Park came into the game all looking to distance themselves at quarterback under new offensive coordinator Brian Shottenheimer.
Ramsey connected on a long 72-yard strike with Isaiah McKenzie in the first quarter and Bauta and Jordan Davis hooked-up for a 25-yard TD pass in the second quarter. Other than that, it wasn’t anything that had fans conjuring up visions of Aaron Murray or Matthew Stafford by the end.
“It’s hard to be sharp when you don’t stay in the entire time,” Richt said. “Brice made some nice plays. He’s been really pretty accurate throughout the spring practices to this point. Faton has worked extremely hard to get to a comfort level with what Coach Shottenheimer is trying to teach him. He got better and better as the spring went on.
“Jacob ran more reps with the two and three units but you can see his arm talent and ability. This summer will be crucially important for him. But it’s still a race (at QB). I don’t think there’s any question that it will go through the summer and fall before we make the decision on who will start.”
Ramsey was 3-for-6 for 138 yards and one touchdown. Bauta, playing for both squads, was a combined 16-for-25 for 171 yards and one TD, and Park was 10-for-15 for 92 yards and one interception.
As for the receivers, an area hit hard by graduation and injuries, McKenzie looked fast and elusive on his long TD catch, in which he outran the Black team defense the final 40 yards. Unfortunately, he also re-injured his hamstring on the play and did not return the rest of the game.
“We were thin at receiver to begin with and maybe even more now,” Richt said. “But we have some new guys coming in the fall and we should be healthy so I think we’ll be fine once the season starts.”
Davis had five catches for 134 yards and one score for both squads combined. Oft-injured senior Malcolm Mitchell had 36 yards on four catches in his first spring game.
“It felt good to get out there in front of the fans,” Mitchell said. “The offense is coming together but it’s a process to adjust to a new quarterback, and the quarterbacks have to adjust to the receivers. It’s a two-sided process.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was redshirt sophomore running back A.J. Turman, who had more touches individually than just about the rest of the offensive units combined. He finished with 106 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns, including a 52-yard romp midway through the third quarter. Nick Chubb carried just three times for 34 yards and one score. Half of Chubb's yards came on a 17-yard TD run in the third quarter to cut a Black team lead to 21-17.
“It definitely helped my confidence,” Turman said. “I still have a few things to work on to get better. I wasn’t out there to prove anything; I just wanted to play as hard as I could. The only thing I expect from here on is to keep training hard and to keep trying to get better.”
The offenses combined totaled 437 yards passing and just 101 yards rushing on the afternoon. That prompted some to wonder whether priorities might be changing on the offensive side.
“We’ll run the ball,” Richt said. “As long as we have Nick, we’re going to run it. But we wanted to see what we had with our quarterbacks. It’s nothing to read into.”
Defensively both squads had moments where they controlled the action. During one stretch of the No. 1 offense going against the No. 1 defense, the No. 1 defense forced a three-and-out and later in the half the unit stopped a two-minute offense with a pair of batted passes and a sack to force a field goal, which was missed to end the half.
“Defensively I thought we played well most of the game,” Richt said. “They knocked some passes down and got some sacks. Since we don’t hit the quarterback it’s hard to say whether some of those would have been there but we did a nice job of putting pressure on the quarterback.”
NOTES: Former East Hall standout Sterling Bailey had four tackles, 1.5 TFL, and one pass break-up. ... Former Buford players Kolton Houston and Josh Cardiello were on the same offensive line unit for several series.
