Why Georgia Bulldogs Should Be 2015 SEC East Favorites
The Georgia Bulldogs let the SEC East title slip away this season, but they’ll be right back in the thick of it in 2015.
The 2014 regular season just ended for Georgia, and they still have a Belk Bowl date with the Louisville Cardinals coming up on Dec. 30, but it’s never too early to start looking at next season.
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Prior to the 2014 season, Georgia was considered a co-favorite along with South Carolina to take the SEC East title and head to Atlanta. The eventual winners, the Missouri Tigers, were picked…fifth. As it happens, the Tigers were picked to finish dead last in 2012 and won the East running away.
So in 2015, will Georgia again be considered one of the favorites?
I’m not sure there is any way they couldn’t be.
Georgia is returning a ton of young talent, particularly Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and Isaiah McKenzie on offense, and Dominick Sanders and Lorenzo Carter on defense. Those five true freshman all came up huge for the Bulldogs in 2014, and were all scary good.
The Bulldogs also have a hell of a recruiting class slated to join the team next year – the number three class in the nation and number two class in the SEC according to 247 Sports composite rankings. With areas of need on defense being met by several four and five-star players, the much-improved Dawgs-D could be something special in 2015.
Georgia also received word that several key underclassmen will be returning next season, including Malcolm Mitchell, John Theus, Leonard Floyd and Jordan Jenkins – not to mention Kolton Houston being granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA.
But, one of the big reasons I see the Bulldogs moving up and taking charge of the division early on next season lies at one position…
Quarterback.
With all due respect to Hutson Mason — who served the Bulldogs well this season — I never thought he was the guy to lead this team after watching him start a few games. He’s a player, but not a playmaker, and “efficient” passers don’t bring home the gold in the SEC.
Brice Ramsey — who I fully believe will win the starting job next season — should have begun his transition into the starting role early in the season, and been ready to put this team on his back and carry them by the time the team made their ill-fated trip to Jacksonville.
Ramsey is going to turn a lot of heads in 2015, and will bring some excitement back to the quarterback position for the Bulldogs. When this Georgia team has a QB that will do more than not lose games, but can go out and win them, something special will be seen between the hedges again.