Georgia football: Players who need to step up against Mississippi State

Georgia football played a great game against Samford this weekend. But some players need to be better for Georgia to beat Mississippi State.

What a game for Georgia football Saturday night. It’s been a long time since the Bulldogs had a chance to flex their muscles on offense in an early season non-conference game. Jake Fromm and Nick Chubb led Georgia to 42 points in three quarters of play.

Defensively, they looked like an elite unit again. Samford didn’t have a first down at all in the first quarter. Georgia’s starting defense only allowed one touchdown and only gave up 22 rushing yards.

It’s hard to find something to complain about. But there are things that need cleaned up and players who need to start playing better. Here’s a short lost of individuals in the Georgia football program who the Bulldogs need to perform better this week as no. 11 Georgia takes on no. 17 Mississippi State.

Tight ends

Where are the tight ends? I’ve been making excuses for them for years now. In 2015 Jeb Blazevich and Jackson Harris suffered from having Grayson Lambert in the backfield. Lambert struggled on anything that wasn’t a quick pass and couldn’t work through progressions. Last year, the offense was a complete mess.

What’s the excuse this year.

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Yeah they have another true freshman quarterback. But the offensive line has improved and the run game was doing very well. And honestly, Fromm has been nothing short of impressive. He’s proved me wrong so much this year. He hasn’t been perfect, but you can’t blame him for anything yet.

So why aren’t the tight ends doing more. None have more than one catch in any game, and all four have had at least one game with no receptions. With how good Terry Godwin and Javon Wims are doing outside, and how well Chubb and Sony Michel have played so far, the tight ends should be open.

Maybe Fromm doesn’t have the same chemistry with the tight ends that Jacob Eason had. But this is a group of talented guys, each of them left high school as some of the best players at their position. Georgia should be Tight End U with these guys. Instead, they’ve been largely absent.

This is especially alarming with Isaac Nauta. He was expected to be one of, if not the best tight ends in the SEC this season. His size and speed should be a mismatch for most linebackers and safety’s in the conference. Why doesn’t he have at least five receptions yet?

Maybe y’all have the answer. If so, I’d love to know because after three games, this boggles my mind.

Dominick Sanders

Here’s an odd entry to this list because Sanders hasn’t really played bad this year. He had two bad penalties last week against Notre Dame, but one prevented a touchdown and I think the other was a bad call.

Sanders is just frustrated and I get it. He’s one of the best safety’s in the SEC. Remember a few years ago when tight ends and other receivers ran free on intermediate routes in the middle of the field on Georgia? Sanders has prevented that for three years now. In 2015, he had six interceptions and he’s four pics from tying the school record for career interceptions.

But he’s so good at his job that no quarterback throws the ball his way. And it doesn’t help that safety’s are the position most affected by targeting and unnecessary roughness penalties. It’s hard to play safety these days, even harder when passers don’t throw to the area you’re patrolling.

Next: The top players from the win over Samford

So he’s frustrated. I get it, I don’t blame him. But he needs to work past it this week. Mississippi State has a great offense, probably the best offense we’ll see all year. Safety play will be crucial in stopping Nick Fitzgerald and that offense.

Sanders need to be in control. He has to continue to shut down his part of the field while still making plays near the line of scrimmage. We can’t afford any bad penalties against Mississippi State. No facemasks, targeting, late hit out-of-bounds, pass interference, anything like that.