When Georgia Football takes on Notre Dame this weekend, there is one player they really need to look out for.
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The Dawgs are 1-0 after taking care of business against Appalachian State this past Saturday night in Athens. They had to deal with a quarterback in Taylor Lamb, a kid from Georgia (Calhoun) who was looking to come into Sanford Stadium in front of family and friends and pull off an upset that would be comparable to their monumental upset of Michigan from 2007. And while that didn’t quite pan out for him, he still had a pretty good game. In fact, he scored App. State’s only touchdown and led the team in rushing with 10 carries for 66 yards. Georgia won the game 31-10.
So what about this week? As #15 ranked Georgia gets ready to make its first trip in school history to South Bend, Indiana to face the #24 ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, who do they need to focus on the most to give them a chance to come out of there with a win? Who is the player to watch out for that if controlled can be a big part of the Dawgs winning a game that they’re underdogs in?
This week, its QB Brandon Wimbush.
Wimbush may not be the best overall player that Notre Dame has considering they have two offensive linemen in Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey who are both 2 of the best in the nation and seem NFL ready. But he gets to have them protecting him. With his mobility and athleticism, it makes him a dangerous player that the Georgia defense will have to contain. He’ll only be making his second start on Saturday, but he looks ready.
Notre Dame obliterated Temple this past Saturday by a score of 49-16, and Wimbush’s monster game was a big reason why. The junior quarterback joined a very short list of only 6 Irish QB’s to rush and pass for over 100 yards in the same game with his 106 rushing yards and 184 passing yards. In fact, he was the first ND QB to accomplish that feat in his starting debut. That’s pretty impressive considering he plays for a school that has seen the likes of Paul Hornung and Joe Montana, and more recently Deshone Kizer, who will make his NFL starting debut for the Cleveland Browns this Sunday.
So how do you prepare for a small, quick, mobile, athletic quarterback like Wimbush? One thing the Dawgs defense has going for it is they’ve just dealt with Taylor Lamb, the App. State QB I discussed earlier. While Lamb is not as fast or athletic as Wimbush, he was mobile enough to give our defense some live action experience against a quarterback that spends a lot of time outside the pocket. They didn’t let Lamb take over the game. They must do the same with Wimbush. He (Wimbush) is one of those guys who is going to make some plays. You can’t completely shut him down. What you can do, however, is have linebackers like Lorenzo Carter and Davin Bellamy who are fast enough to RUN him down.
What UGA could do to stop Wimbush.
One other interesting note coming out of practice involves UGA walk on quarterback Stenson Bennett. He has been spotted at practice this week wearing a #7 jersey, which is Wimbush’s number. Looks like he’s playing the part of Wimbush for the week at UGA practice. It’s a live action jersey, too……..so props go to Bennett. With beasts like Trenton Thompson and Roquan Smith laying licks on him this week, I’m sure young Stenson may be using a little more ice in the ice baths than usual.
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If our defense can get to Wimbush and cause him to turn the ball over a couple of times, it should be enough to give the offense a chance to win the game. Get the kid rattled. Georgia is a different animal than Temple, especially on defense. The quarterback play, especially big mistakes made by the inexperienced signal callers, could be the determining factor in this game with Wimbush on one side and freshman phenom Jake Fromm on the other. Georgia and Notre Dame face off at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.