Does Aaron Murray have the makings of a championship QB?
Can Aaron Murray become an elite quarterback for Georgia? (Associated Press)
It’s tough finding a consensus lately among Georgia fans on quarterback Aaron Murray.
In his second season behind center for the Dogs, Murray completed 218 of 371 passes for 2,861 yards (a 58.8 percent completion rate) and broke the single-season school record for touchdown throws with 33. He also ran for two scores, giving him the UGA record for single-season touchdown responsibility.
And in the SEC, he ranked second in passing (220.1 yards per game), second in total offense (229.6) and fourth in passing efficiency (146.4).
Stats like that are why Murray made some All-SEC teams and is routinely cited by national sports media as one of the best QBs in the conference. It’s a major reason the Dogs will enter next season highly rated.
But closer to home the excitement over Murray’s passing numbers is tempered by frustration over his penchant this season for devastating turnovers against South Carolina, LSU and, most recently, Michigan State.
Of course, the argument can be made that Murray’s tendency to fumble or throw a pick 6 at the worst possible time might be at least in part attributable to the sketchy protection he was getting from Georgia’s erratic offensive line and, in the last couple of games, the lack of a consistent running attack.
Looking ahead to next season, the OL remains a big question mark amid a rebuilding process, but the arrival of Keith Marshall and Todd Gurley ought to help boost the ground game and loosen up defenses a bit. Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has said an improvement in the running game will make Murray a better quarterback, and I think he’s right.
(Of course, it also would help if, in third-down situations, playcaller Bobo didn’t tend to obsess on downfield plays, keeping Murray standing in a crumbling pocket too long.)
On top of having a better rushing attack, if the progress of past Georgia QBs is any indication, Murray’s decision making ought to improve considerably in his third season as well, which should help him get his ball security issues in check. He’s a good on-field leader and showed in the Florida game this year he can make big-time throws in tough situations, especially those two fourth-down touchdowns.
Overall, I believe the national media types are correct in thinking Murray has the makings of a championship quarterback. What do you think?
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610 comments Add your comment
BILLY JACK
January 18th, 2012
6:19 pm
Aaron Murray is not the problem its the offense that he is in.Its way too complcated too many checkdowns bad 2nd half playcalling-15 yd pass patterns on 3rd and 3 so many times the last 2 years I cant even count.Get a good fullback and a durable tailback and OL that is not finesse but knocks people off the ball and with Georgias def we will win multiple national titles.Running the football takes dedication and hours and hours of practice time and you must believe in it.Stop the finesse and manblock with play action pass and with that def you will win all the championships you want.Also somebody has to coach special teams and that must be worked on every day.
old time dog
January 18th, 2012
6:20 pm
Murray stares down receivers, holds the ball too long, does not secure the ball or make sure of his passes when pressured. He has had adequate time and game experience to be further along in his role than he has shown. His stats were inflated against weaker opponents and he faltered badly against top defenses. Murray took away any drive and spirit the team had in the bigger games with his bonehead plays and lack of respect for the ball. Other QB”s should have the same chances he has had. Murray is not a top college QB by any stretch of the imagination.
kral
January 18th, 2012
6:21 pm
cheap shot mentioning…Joe t..flattrr tired
Spanked
January 18th, 2012
6:22 pm
Losing to top 25 teams at a 2-11 clip is more than the qb’s fault!
The status quo of the dawg nation befuddles many around the league. Satisfied fans who think playing easy schedules to 10 wins and losing to good teams is okay will only take that program further and further behind the top echelon programs and each year hat happens it means a longer turn around time.
If you guys think that top 10 ranking will last please think again. The CMR MOdel is broken.
Bob
January 18th, 2012
6:24 pm
Good point Billy Jack…then why do we run an offense like this with our personnel? A coaching problem, maybe?
Still@theKool-aidBAR
January 18th, 2012
6:24 pm
Richt would really be on the HOT Seat if the Schedule had not changed. Think if the Dwags Didn’t play and lose to Boise St but instead kept the Home & Home with Oregon? Still had Bama instead of Mizzou? I think McGarity would have been even harsher on Richt about Bobo and his extension. Richt, Bobo, and 35:55minute Murray really have dodged some Big Bullets.
ole dawg
January 18th, 2012
6:24 pm
problem is not QB, problem has been restated many times, solution is BOBO out at OC, trust this really ole dawg and replace OC with NEW BLOOD now please think out of the box before spring.
Let's Face It
January 18th, 2012
6:25 pm
Let’s face it, the only reason we got hot last year is we had an easy schedule by the luck of the draw. If we would have had USC or UF’s schedule, we would not have gone to the SECCG. When we played good teams we lost, when we played mediocre and bad teams we won.
Murray is too small and inconsistent – can’t play a whole game.
Fortunately, the gods have smiled upon us and we get Missouri instead of Alabama next year… so we have another chance.
Yea, we have Marshall, but Crowell was THE MAN before last year and we see how that worked out. 5*’s in HS doesn’t mean squat when it comes to how someboday will perform in college as we know better than anyone else. How is Marshall going to do when we loose half our O-line?
The Good news is – we don’t have to play Boise!
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
January 18th, 2012
6:26 pm
The famous UGA Coaching Staff Excuse……
“The players didnt execute”
Funny you dont here coaches like Saban say such stupidity
Orange11
January 18th, 2012
6:28 pm
Sure, if he was playing FCS.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
January 18th, 2012
6:29 pm
Kral
How was me mentioning Joe T a cheap shot.
My point was Richt went conservative when he put Joe T in for the injured shockly
How is that a cheap shot
Bob
January 18th, 2012
6:32 pm
Joe T III was a good Dawg, legacy, and loyal, but a third team SEC QB. Another Richt blunder like Joe Cox.
Bob
January 18th, 2012
6:33 pm
Flat, I’m putting you in charge of all the loonies and kool-aide drinkers. I’m out of here…peace!
Dawg Bounty Hunter
January 18th, 2012
6:34 pm
Murray can’t do it as coached.. maybe roll out run/pass ? he should not be entitled as starting QB.. !! play’em all !!
Dan Gigi Stead
January 18th, 2012
6:36 pm
I follow Murray on Twitter and his Tweets are very immature. Compared to Andrew Luck and others, he is not mature leader.
CHDawg
January 18th, 2012
6:39 pm
Murray is a great QB. Georgia’s problem was on the O line, and perhaps play calling that didn’t help the line and Murray out any. Except for Kentucky, we were the worst in the SEC on sacks allowed. That was WORST in the SEC save KY! Murray is one of the most mobile QBs in the SEC, and we would probably have been the worst in the SEC without him. Protect Murray and he will pick anybody apart. Let’s hope our less bright brethren can wake up and face reality–we have protection problems, and they caused most of Murray’s issues this year. We were terrible in TFLs allowed, too. Murray isn’t perfect, but he is one of the best we have ever had at QB imo. Maybe it is execution; maybe it is play calling…don’t know.
Return to Glory
January 18th, 2012
6:43 pm
Time will tell, bottom line is he has to step up in big games and make plays to win games not plays to lose games. Hope he has a break out year in 2012 GO Dawgs.
wayne
January 18th, 2012
6:50 pm
Give him a decent OL to work with/behind, and I GUARANTEE you we will be in the thick of it for the NC–even with the handicap of Bobo’s vanilla play calling!
BurytheBone
January 18th, 2012
7:02 pm
Is AM a championship QB? Is a bird in the hand worth two in the bush?
Spanked
January 18th, 2012
7:02 pm
One can look around and use Alabama’s McCarron as an example. Do you want to force your QB to win games or use him with the other players as a control point to give your team a chance to win?
In Richts system the QB will always be the hero or the goat.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
January 18th, 2012
7:04 pm
Spanked
My point exactly
UGA FRIEND
January 18th, 2012
7:08 pm
It is unbelievable the number of people who blame Bobo for the failures of the UGA footbll team. He is the OC until his Boss (CMR) says he is not the OC. It does not
matter what the fans think and say. They do not have a vote. The fans can have opinions which mean nothing.
They can rant and rave from now on, but it will have no bearing on Coach Bobo`s status.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
January 18th, 2012
7:10 pm
UGA Friend
I can assure you at places like AL and FL what the fans think matters
BurytheBone
January 18th, 2012
7:12 pm
He made some terrible throws this year. Granted our O-Line played very soft at times. And CMB really makes you wonder what in the H3LL he is thinking. But he is gutsy, and had the runnig backs stepped up and played with as much heart as he did then we might have won a couple of those that got away. Woulda, coulda , shoulda. I still think Mason or Lemay, should see playing time if he doesn’t respect the rock and fails to win the next REAL challenge. He has a good supporting cast, nothing like the present to claim the crystal
Chris
January 18th, 2012
7:23 pm
we should be happy we are the only teams in the sec that didn’t have qb questions other than arkansas and i guess alabama (with the way he played in national championship). Murray is a championship level qb. I think his biggest problem is accuracy not decision making. USually his interceptions were caused by bad throws not a bad decision. Murray grew a lot from his freshman year. His young skill position players will be a year older and he will make another big jump and be considered an elite qb.
Tim
January 18th, 2012
7:39 pm
When faces a good team he chokes.
kral
January 18th, 2012
7:48 pm
probably because that is the ultimate in 2nd guessing…flatter tired….by the way he did not put him in ..he had to start him…and i’m sure you would have coached him up better..and you would have led us to victory
Orlando_Dawg
January 18th, 2012
7:48 pm
Why is our OL always in flux. Haven’t read all of the threads above but it getting damn frustratiing going after all of the QBs & RBs when we got a line that can’t open holes or provide passing protection. Every year the OL is a big ? …. If we build a SOLID, consistant OL, a couple QBs and RBs would suffice.
Gurley's Gurdle
January 18th, 2012
7:51 pm
He’s so good at times and looks so terrible at others. If he can keep the crucial turnovers down at crucial times he could possibly be a championship QB. Not now though. He has a lot of work to do. Glad to hear Bill question Bobo’s playcalling. All too often he leaves Muray in the pocket to get destroyed. No need for a 75 yard touchdown pass when you only need 5 yards for a first down.
Orlando_Dawg
January 18th, 2012
7:52 pm
Sorry, CHDawg, wayne and perhaps others, read more blogs and several covered my point earlier.
GO AFTER MORE OFFENSIVE LINE 5 STAR ATHELETES.
kral
January 18th, 2012
8:02 pm
that is also easy to say spanky when the defense has to focus on trent R first…greatcoaching..smacked lsuer with short passes…looked like they were surprised…but it doesn’t matter much when lsuer off. cannot score…I wonder after 1st half against uga and against bammer if their oc got ripped
Columbia Dawg
January 18th, 2012
8:04 pm
Murray wets the bed in clutch time. Yet to win a tight game or lead a big comeback. Green did against UT and changed the course of UGA for the next 7 years. Stafford won big games against AU and VT as a freshman. Murray fumbled the snap against GT freshman year when trying to close out the game. He has had some stinker games against good defenses.
Untill he takes the team down the field to win with no time left, we can only wonder. He is closer to Eric Zeir. Zier was like 0 for 8 against UT and UF, but got you 8, 9, 10 wins.
So the question is can we accept 8,9,10 wins from Murray???
Fats OKelly
January 18th, 2012
8:05 pm
Report out of Macon is that RB Isaih Crowell has quit school due to poor grades. I am trying to confirm this. Anyone know this to be true??
big black kracker dawg
January 18th, 2012
8:05 pm
Yea but Bobo didn’t fumble the ball or throw all those pic 6’s like Murray!!!! take away all the bone head plays he made and we could have been undefeated n the SEC east… Murray is about as good a the Murray lawnmower they sell at walmart… does fine on a lesser yard but chokes easy when the grass is higher… I’d say that about wraps him up…
bigcalidawg
January 18th, 2012
8:07 pm
Ok, ok………..I’ll admit it.
Aaron Murray is a better qb than I am. Whew! Now that’s off my chest………
I think I can smoke him in the 40, though.
I’m thinkin he runs about a 4.7.
kral
January 18th, 2012
8:09 pm
I agree spanky win 10 do not be glad…maybe bammer should apologize to okie st…I mean…
bigcalidawg
January 18th, 2012
8:10 pm
Now that the season is over….now is the time to jack around academically, cuz you still have the Summer to make up credits and salvage your gpa.
Players typically flunk out later than this………not this early.
short memories
January 18th, 2012
8:11 pm
I think Murray is a good man. I also think Jimmy Carter is a good man. Enough said
Philip
January 18th, 2012
8:12 pm
I agree with Dawgdad(Original). Murray is too short to play behind football’s largest line. He is not comparable to Stafford (a big time player). If we wanted a scrambling QB we wouldn’t recruit RBs. Because of his height, he can’t throw over the middle 5-10 yds (can’t see) without scrambling. Give Hudson or LeMay a shot to prove themselves and fire Bobo.
ROBERT MEANS
January 18th, 2012
8:13 pm
Murray is a mediocre QB who puts up huge numbers against weak defenses but falters against good defenses such as LSU, Michigan State, Boise and South Carolina. I would rate the SEC QB’s as 1. McCarron 2. Wilson 3. Conners 4. Murray.
sports
January 18th, 2012
8:14 pm
Regarding the worthiness of Aaron Murray, that’s like asking whether Georgia Tech is worthy to play college football.
big black kracker dawg
January 18th, 2012
8:17 pm
By no means am I making any excuses for Bobo.. He’s terrible!!! really terrible… And I dont know if our new offensive line coach is any better… I really think we r going get all of the RB’s injured like last year if we cont all this high schoolish play callin.. but if you think about it.. We have ran the same offense for the last 10 years… hell weve seen it.. were not fooled.. why should anyone else be… I really think we need a new offensive cordinator… who would even hire Bobo if he left UGA… No one!!! Who cares if Crowell flunks out… That means we have a extra scholarship… Besides he was scared to get on the field… what a waste…
HM
January 18th, 2012
8:17 pm
Murray has yet to hold up in the clutch. He chokes when he is needed most. His accuracy downfield is marginal, and he has no finesse at all delivering screens and short slants. He is hyper and shows little poise in big play situations. His poor play has contributed to most of Ga’s big game losses. In fact, I don’t think he has never won a big game for Ga. His receivers won the florida game. Those td passes were not well thrown. Hutson Mason deserves a chance. How many more big game losses are we going to endure before accepting reality.
RMikel58
January 18th, 2012
8:18 pm
Bottom line is this…………………. if Murray has protection then he can make plays. If Georgia can run then its because the line opens up holes. No QB can pass if the defense gains penetration. This whole thing begins with the OFFENSIVE LINE and not just Murray you clowns.
Any great QB was great because he had a terrific OL and nothing less. This is at any level college or pro.
For all you doubters thats casting dispersions on Murray……….shame on you for being anal. Give him a Line and i’ll give you a QB. Nothing more nothing less.
angry mangy mutt
January 18th, 2012
8:20 pm
Plenty of blame to go around here. CMR is a finesse guy, Bobo thinks he has a physical SEC team, and Murray is ehh – inconsistent. CMR’s teams from FSU would have had more competition running through the 1-AA playoffs than that conference schedule they had. A fully loaded Miami team usually got the victory, Florida was beaten up by the time game 11 came around, and well, FSU had athletes. Not student athletes, but certainly great athletes. Bobo,just seems to think he has five monsters upfront and that is not so. Murray – well there are only so many truly great ones to come along, and many more McNabbs (good qb until the money game) and those guys who look super but prove to be duds (Leaf).
Like it or not, that is what we have.
wins-by-a-link
January 18th, 2012
8:20 pm
Murray has put up good numbers against poor teams mostly, But has had success against some of the top teams he has played against, The first half against LSU was great but when pressure is applied he is subject to fold and turn the ball over which happened againt SC and MS, Great QB’s don’t make mistakes when under pressure, Murray needs to settle down keep his cool in pressure situations.
Snoop Dawg
January 18th, 2012
8:24 pm
Murray is not championship caliber. He does not have the field of vision necessary to do the progressions quickly without looking directly toward his intended receivers. He is quick to panic under pressure and either fumble the ball or throw interceptions. These mistakes absolutlely change momentum in tight competitive football games. You witnessed this both with LSU and with Michigan State. Richt’s refusal to let his players compete on a level playing field is counterproductive to both the team and his own success. His blind loyalty to the status quo and to those with seniority is poisonous to team morale. All the players know who should really be on the field. Richt and Bobo’s cronyism and favoritism have resulted in several talented players leaving the team and a poisonous morale problem just under the surface as the fans see the team.
The QB position should be wide open ever year. When the QB is not on his game, the head coach should not hesitate to change the QBs. Richt was a bench warmer at Miami. Steve Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy. Spurrier doesn’t hesitate to pul a QB who is cold. Which coach do you think is a better “head ball coach?” If you think Richt is better, then you need to go back to school…
St Simons - we're on Island time
January 18th, 2012
8:27 pm
No.
Another installment of “simple answers to simple questions”
kral
January 18th, 2012
8:29 pm
bet the horses wins by a lack of…ever heard of brett farve…did you see aaron rogers this past week-end ..or drew brees..not comparing am to them…just wondering…cause great qb’s do not make mistakes when under pressure…to quote you
CHDawg
January 18th, 2012
8:30 pm
Orlando I agree, but I do think they are on it big time. The stars don’t always tell the whole story–look at Ben Jones. I think they are very happy with our incoming linemen, and Young would be the icing on perhaps our best line class in years. I just hate to see the quantity of all of this talk about TBs and QBs when the biggest issue for both is blocking. Fans don’t notice the line much, but they are the key to success on offense imo. We have a great staff and some great young talent, but we have two problems: our line will be about the same average age as most JUCO lines in ‘12! And, we have a great defense and great position players coming back, but many will leave next year. We have a great chance next year if CWF can work miracles with our young line, but that is a tall order. We have to get much better at special teams, too.