Wide receivers: No A.J. Green, but plenty of options
We’re about one month away from the start of preseason football practices in Athens, so it’s time to start taking a closer look at Georgia’s 2011 football team. This is the second in a series of articles in which I’ll be breaking down each of the Bulldogs’ position groups to give you an idea who are the projected starters and what the expectations might be for this season. Then, as always, we’ll throw it open for your commentary and analysis. There are only 63 days until Georgia’s season opener against Boise State. Let’s get busy. . . .
Tavarres King hauls in one of his three TD catches last year in a game against Mississippi State. Georgia hopes to see more of this in 2011(AP photo)
WIDE RECEIVERS
- Projected starters: SE Marlon Brown (Jr., 6-5, 222), FL Tavarres King (Jr., 6-1, 192), FL Rantavious Wooten (Jr., 5-10, 185)
- Others to watch: Israel Troupe, Michael Bennett, Chris Conley and Malcolm Mitchell will likely get a chance to show their wares early as Georgia operates in a six-receiver rotation.
- Key losses: They don’t get any more significant than A.J. Green, who was snapped up by the Cincinnati Bengals with the fourth pick of the NFL draft after his junior season and left as arguably the Bulldogs’ best receiver of all time. Green and fellow NFL draftee Kris Durham were the Bulldogs’ top two pass catchers last season with 89 between them.
- Key fact: A fairly experienced group returns. King, Brown, Wooten and Troupe have played in 103 games between them, so knowing what to do and how to do it should not be a issue. King proved to be a solid secondary option opposite Green, hauling in 47 catches the last two seasons at a hefty 20 yards per catch. Brown, a former five-star prospect and No. 1 player in Tennessee, is poised for a breakout season. He had 11 catches and his first TD in 2010 and the Bulldogs named him Most Improved Receiver.
- Key question: Are multiple good options better than one great option? With Green on the field, quarterback Aaron Murray understandably had a tendency to throw the ball his way despite what coverages might have dictated. With no clear dominant force at wideout, Murray will likely need to be more reliant on his ability to read the defense and find the open man.
- Recent developments: Expect young players to have an impact as the Bulldogs search for a big-play threat during preseason camp. Conley, an AJC Super 11 selection out of North Paulding High School, enrolled early and impressed in spring practice. And the late recruiting victory for Mitchell, who had more than 1,400 yards receiving as a senior at Valdosta, could be a real X factor. He’ll be given every opportunity to prove himself and earn playing time.
- Outlook: Fair to good. Losing a mega-talent such as Green would seem to indicate an overall downgrade. But the Bulldogs have several players who have been toiling in his shadow and are eager to prove their worth. With a first-rate group of tight ends already in the fold, Georgia needs only two or three reliable targets out of this group to be effective and it says here it will have that and then some.
- Your turn: What do you think about Georgia’s wide receiver corps?
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346 comments Add your comment
Wonderful Ohio on the Gulf 'Dog
July 2nd, 2011
12:59 pm
The empty-stadium in the opening shots evoked Lewis Grizzard’s story about the event-planner for the world-wide pharmacists convention then going on in Atlanta.
It seems the events guy needed 300 last-minute tickets to the NATS game against The Citadel.
As Grizzard told it, the events-manager called the Tech ticket office Saturday morning to be told that, in fact, 300, 50-yard-line tickets were available.
Then the event-planned asked “What time is the game?”
To which the Teckkie replied “What time can y’all be here?”
Awesome.
Dawg Tired
July 2nd, 2011
1:05 pm
ANd you think Brown will be good because…? So far he has shown absolutely nothing. King is good. Troupe has actually shown more than Brown.
Joey
July 2nd, 2011
1:09 pm
That is great – I can only imagine what Lewis would have thought of Bisher calling PJ one of the greatest coaches ever.
Probably an entire column?
It Ain't Rocket Science
July 2nd, 2011
1:14 pm
Jacket man,
Can you gives us this source of your knowledge’ about our running back, already being in trouble. Not something you heard, but some type of official source.
Joey
July 2nd, 2011
1:18 pm
Marlon Brown is huge (6-5, 225), fast, and actually a bigger target than Orsen Charles. If Bobo (dangit, if we only had a real OC) can utilize those two, the other WRs should see a lot of single coverage, and we’ve seen what T King can do in those situations.
But it’s all on the OC to get the most out of the OL.
Joey
July 2nd, 2011
1:23 pm
Jacket Man’s mom made him get off the ‘puter for lunch. He’s eating his sandwich, and singing that Oscar Mayer song, “b-o-l-o-g-n-a !
He’s a cute little nerd . . .
bigcalidawg
July 2nd, 2011
1:25 pm
I think Marlon has shown us about all he’s gonna show us. I think we just get excited cuz he’s such a big reciever, but he’s just big for nothin’. I’m sure he’s a good kid, just a middlin Div 1 AA reciever.
It was scary that noone stepped-up last year when A.J. went down and Aaron was a permanent boner for Orson, so the “D” kinda sits on that, cuz they know it’s comin’
I expect Bennett, Mitchell, Wooten, and King to play well this year. King and Bennett will be the stars, but again, just a guess.
I hope Branden can run some back, too……but that’s for the special teams portion of our program.
Thanks for givin’ us somethin to chew on Chip.
old time dog
July 2nd, 2011
1:27 pm
Hope King proves me wrong but I think he is overrated. The Mitchell kid has more skill and is a tougher competitor from what I have seen. It would tickle me for this team to run the ball effectively and not have to rely on the passing attack alone.
bigcalidawg
July 2nd, 2011
1:27 pm
Ummm Aaron “has”, not was …..I don’t think anyone has ever referred to him as a boner, he just sports wood for throwin’ to Orson
AltamahaDawg
July 2nd, 2011
1:29 pm
Based on Brown’s ability to rise in depth chart and thus gain for PT, above those ahead of him including AJ, no, we can;t be sure what he really can do, when on the field more. But when thrown to in the games he has been in, I haven’t seen any reason to believe he is not any good. What have you seen that puts his ability in doubt for you Dawg Tired?
Dawg Tired
July 2nd, 2011
1:33 pm
AD _ You may well be right. I just haven’t seen any production for two years. I certainly want him to step up and produce.
It Ain't Rocket Science
July 2nd, 2011
1:34 pm
I think our WR’s and TE’s will be the key to the offense until the OL and Rb’s get some seasoning. We do have a good first unit on OL, but the backups will have to be able to give them a break and they need to get up to speed, pretty quick. If Murray has good receivers to go to, he can get rid of the ball quicker and take some of the pressure off of the OL. Our Rb’s can get the job done but Caleb King is going to have to step it up until Crowell gets up to speed.
The offense is going to have to control the ball somewhat, so I don’t see UGA going for the home run every chance they get. If they can control the ball somewhat, the defense can control the offense of the other team as well, and then we will start to become a complete unit. There are some deep learning curves to complete but if these young men play with a little mean streak and as a team, UGA can surprise some people. I feel confident that this team will be in shape, but need to get seasoned a little faster than you would normally ask them to be. That might be a good thing though, as 2012 looks like a pretty good year to come, if the lessons are learned this year. I think UGA can pull 9 solid wins out this year.
Joey
July 2nd, 2011
1:37 pm
I don’t think you should rule out a good showing for Brown, bigcalidawg. Other than AJ, what WR has shown big stuff in the first couple of years for us?
Mo Mass and Durham didn’t excell until they were seniors. One has made it big in the NFL, and the other (Durham) is gonna do the same.
Jim
July 2nd, 2011
1:41 pm
The trouble with these 4 & 5 star recruits is in high school they were the man, but at the next level they become another of the boys. This has proven to be one of UGA’s downfalls as the glory boys can’t handle having to compete for playing time. Give me the Chris Durman’s anyday.
bigcalidawg
July 2nd, 2011
1:46 pm
I worry about his “burst” and athleticism. If he can’t get open………..I want to say Bennett is good sized, but more athletic.
I’ll eat my words all season if he makes me.
Didn’t Muhammed have a good freshman season, then regress for a coupla years?
AltamahaDawg
July 2nd, 2011
1:50 pm
I think we all agree on wanting him to have a good year. He seems to have been a pretty good sport about the whole thing, and you never know when a kid come in with all that expectations and things don’t work out right away.
Clearly he has not proven in mid -week that he would get any more PT (although again, he would have taken some pretty good player off the field to have done so). But I can’t see them giving the “most improved receiver” award to somebody who was no better than before. By definition, it seems like we had NOT seen all we were ever going to see from him already.
UGA Student
July 2nd, 2011
1:50 pm
I just hope they throw to the TEs when they need to. All of them, but particularly Orson. He and Murray went to high school together, they know each other well, use that on the field. With the tight ends we have it shouldn’t matter if none of the WR do well. If bobo can call a decent play.
AltamahaDawg
July 2nd, 2011
1:52 pm
He need to sit down and talk to Reggie Brown.
JDawg1785
July 2nd, 2011
1:55 pm
T. King has made some pretty impressive plays, like his TDs against Arkansas and Florida last year. I’m looking forward to seeing what else he can bring to the table as the go-to guy.
Joey
July 2nd, 2011
1:57 pm
“If he can’t get open…..”
So true.
Wishful thinking on my part probably, but I’m hoping this will be his breakout year. The fact that he hasn’t played much to date doesn’t mean a lot to me, giving how this staff likes experience over talent on the field most times.
7576DAWG
July 2nd, 2011
2:04 pm
What killed Georgia last year more than any, wasn’t the erratic play of the offensive line , it was our turnovers at critical times. We would be marching down the field, so easily that a field goal or touchdown would have happened for sure and then we would end up with nothing because of a turnover. And how many times did we recover our own fumble? Not many of the critical ones. Everybody , including the offensive line would be doing their job and we would fumble and momentum would change completely because we didn’t have the depth that we needed on the offensive line. Then in the two Florida opponents games, UF and UCF, Murray had a melt down because he wasn’t patient like he was the other 10 games , because he wanted to beat his home state teams so bad.
Murray did a great job turning around Cox’s turnover record but hopefully realized how important it is for the leader , Quarterback, to keep it together. He needs to be quicker in deciding what to do with the ball. And Bobo has got to have someone available for Murray to dump the ball to in case he can’t run. Murray should not hesitate to run if the defense is giving you 5 yards. Run on every play until the defense bring the linebacker’s up to prevent it. With LeMay as a backup we should not even hesitate for Murray to run. CMR needs to play LeMay as often as possible in case Murray does get hurt and not make the same mistake that he and Bobo did when they didn’t get Murray any playing time the year before. Murray was only hurt the first 5 or 6 games. If Murray plays a lot the last 6 games in 2009 he would have been able to check off more and not rely on an inept offensive coordinator to call the plays. His confidence level would have showed up in in the 7 loses and we could have won 4 or 5 of those games.
Joey
July 2nd, 2011
2:16 pm
“he would have been able to check off more and not rely on an inept offensive coordinator to call the plays”
******************************************
Yep. Makes you wonder how many times Stafford bailed out Bobo by changing his plays at the line.
AltamahaDawg
July 2nd, 2011
2:24 pm
WOW!
jay
July 2nd, 2011
2:25 pm
Probably already been posted. Dawgs will miss Durham almost as much as AJ. TKing should
be solid if not spectacular but time for Brown, Wooten and Troupe to reach that potential.
AltamahaDawg
July 2nd, 2011
2:26 pm
So the OC send in an absolute play, and the QB gets to the line, realizes how stupid it was, and goes against the OC to make it something that might work instead?
RxDawg
July 2nd, 2011
2:28 pm
I think Wooten is going to make some plays… if he stays healthy. Look for lots of WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTHEN’s from the crowd this season.
Joey
July 2nd, 2011
2:36 pm
Don’t believe it’s been posted, jay, but it’s true. Durham was a bigger deep threat than AJ, even though it probably had a lot to do with AJ drawing the double coverage.
Still remains, Seattle got a late-1st-round-talent for the price of a 4th round pick. He is a 6′5″ possession receiver with, get this, 4.46 speed in the 40, and a 36″ vertical jump.
I honestly believe he will make a bigger impact than AJ, or ANY, rookie WR. Reasons – athletic ability, better coach and better QB.
AltamahaDawg
July 2nd, 2011
2:42 pm
75, my take on that playing Myrray is that we really have no idea what sort of shape Muray was in the last part of the year to play. You are speculating that he should have been in a game with no regard to health and injury. But putting that aside, you assume he could have won a couple more game in 2010 had he played more. I’m trying to remember when we had big leads in 2009 that he could have come in. Its just as likely that would would have lost more game sin 2009 had he played more too. I suppose we could have played him more when we were losing big , but that’s basically the UF game. So not sure when you wanted him to play that year. More than a few snaps anyway. Certainly nothing that equates to substantial real game experience in critical situation, more so than he was getting everyday on the practice field against out first team defense every day his RS year.
Was it the Auburn back and forth game, or the tech game on the road, that you wanted to pull Cox to get the freshman some experience? Damn the risks. Where you the guy were screaming “Put in the freshman, I don”t care if we lose” ?
Personally I wouldn’t trade this kids 5th yr senior season, which would seem to be his best year of his college career, for a few snaps of a wasted Freshman year, on the speculation of what he might have learn in mop up duty, which never really existed. I also assume his ability to “recognize check offs comes in the repetitive practices and film room anyway.
Destin Dawg
July 2nd, 2011
2:48 pm
Bo Bo is the problem !!! Richt needs to take over play calling…
ThisGuy
July 2nd, 2011
2:52 pm
With the concern we have on the Oline It will be critical for Murry and the WRs to be able to read the D a connect on the quick slants to burn the blitzing LBs. Being able to unload fast will help this Oline out early.
AltamahaDawg
July 2nd, 2011
2:56 pm
Richt need to make sure the defense is settled, then evalute the overall direction of the offense. after this season is over. His choices are: try to recoup the investment he has put into Bobo, or take it some new direction and hope that the program can stand another learning curve setback. He’s not going back to calling the plays on game day.
Joey
July 2nd, 2011
2:56 pm
WOW! Didn’t say “stupid” play. Maybe, drive-killing, inappropriate, badly timed, potential-3-and-out, play?
Not gonna argue with you on Bobo. We are both die-hard UGA fans, but we disagree on our OC (who should be QB Coach).
G
July 2nd, 2011
3:09 pm
I want to see Justin Scott W as well. Over 200lb with track speed and he likes to run people over. I think he could play some rb.
dawgerbrown
July 2nd, 2011
3:11 pm
I think the recieving corp will out-perform expectations. Had lunch recently with a former Valdosta coach who is now AD in another system. He said Mitchell is scary good, he is the real deal. Having a solid running game is really going to determine how successful the passing game is going to be.
Joey
July 2nd, 2011
3:16 pm
…and vice-versa, dawgerbrown.
Jacket Man
July 2nd, 2011
3:23 pm
I’m always respectful of all teams, including the UGA Bulldogs, so the personal attacks against me aren’t warranted. As far as my source, it came from someone who was recently affiliated with the AA there (coaching) that just left the program.
chili dog
July 2nd, 2011
3:27 pm
Tavaras King is too frail and scared to catch the ball much. Let him get hit a little and he suddenly doesn’t catch them anymore. I played against him in high school and he was scared of contact. Heard he has a bunch of illegitimate mixed babies since arriving in Athens and is not man enough to support them.
Ca dawg
July 2nd, 2011
3:50 pm
I feel ok about WR. Reports (radi nabulsi from Rivals) indicate that Malcolm Mitchell has been the most impressive first year player so far. We know that tavarres can get down the field, that orson is a mismatch for anyone, and that Wooten has shown flashes. Chip didn’t even mention branden smith, who looked great in the spring game and has shown that he can house it at any time.
I love the idea of putting in a package for nick Marshall as well; his throwing ability would give defenses something to think about.
Hairy Dawg
July 2nd, 2011
4:11 pm
Enter your comments here.
bigroot
July 2nd, 2011
4:12 pm
i watched UGA g-day game and not once did i see uga throw deep to test their WR’S or their DB’S, the pro-style offense is great but if u don’t have the rite man calling the plays it won’t work. Coach Richt did u no mike bobo ask his dad to take him out of the state championship game because he couldn’t handle the pressure so why would you let him run your offense
Hairy Dawg
July 2nd, 2011
4:13 pm
Losing AJ hurts but Dawgs gots the palyers to just reloading. Once the young WRs get exposing talents then we willbe fine. We loaded with enough depths in skills at WR and RB with Crowell to goning be displaying dominants of SEC again. That whys Dawgs always win from having bests talent in state stockpiled for SEC speeds.
rogeriter
July 2nd, 2011
4:50 pm
ugab–everyone is sick of it. Speak for yourself only. I am not sick of it. Yes we’ve had a weak couple of years. So did Auburn, Alabama; Tennessee, etc. But we still have the 2nd best record in the SEC since the BCS started. So please don’t speak for everyone…just yourself.
Bob
July 2nd, 2011
4:56 pm
What is Richt’s love affair with Rantavious? He’s too short, too predictable, too inconsistent, and too slow to separate to be an SEC receiver. Guess Richt just doesn’t like to admit recruiting mistakes. We have incoming freshmen better then Wooten. Look at how he was missused last year. Doesn’t anyone on our coaching staff know how to evaluate talent? They sure know how to cash those huge checks.
chili dog
July 2nd, 2011
5:05 pm
You got that right Bob. That is one thing Richt and them are good at, cashing them big checks for doing nothing.
Paddy
July 2nd, 2011
5:05 pm
Don’t forget our fullback is a former tight end. Thats another option.
Bob
July 2nd, 2011
5:11 pm
Figgins is a great option and I hope our “brain trust” uses him. I also think Branden Smith, Boykin, and Justin S-W can be Percy Harvin type players to give us a lot of versatility on offense. I’m thinking they can keep defenses off balance and guessing, and make Bobo’s automated playcalling a little better.
rogeriter
July 2nd, 2011
5:12 pm
Bob and Chili dog–has anyone contacted you two about taking the Job? I mean, you know so much more than the coaches!
mustard dog
July 2nd, 2011
5:12 pm
Richt thinks he is cool looking with that hair all spoofed up on that head and wearing them catch me, get me sunglasses. We need a real coach and one that will come in there and clean house.
shankit
July 2nd, 2011
5:13 pm
Have watched Malcom Mitchell for two years at Dosta High,
He is the real deal. He will be drawing double coverage by
the second game. Don’t think Spurrier don’t know his capabilities
He also would be good at lining up like Hines Ward in the Wildcat.
He can skate.
mustard dog
July 2nd, 2011
5:18 pm
shankit… We need players that can play football not skate. rogeriter…Bob and Chili dog make more sense than you do. You must have your head all poofed up and wearing those get me glasses too.