Georgia football: After loss to Alabama, where does Georgia go from here?

Pessimism

Of course, not everything looks great going into 2018. Georgia will probably need to replace all four starters at linebacker. Plus Dominick Sanders, Malkom Parrish, Aaron Davis and maybe DeAndre Baker. Those are big losses.

Can Georgia reload at all of those positions? And will the defensive backfield still be the weakness? The backfield is definitely the biggest issue, especially if Baker leaves. J.R. Reed and Tyrique McGhee will be the only constants returning. Hopefully someone like Richard LeCounte and Jarvis Wilson step up.

As far as the linebackers go, there is some reason for optimism. Every returning backup saw good playing time. that group of D’Andre Walker, Juwan Taylor, Water Grant and Monty Rice should take over as the starters.

Next: Did any of these players step up against Alabama?

Then there’s the excellent recruiting classes from these past two years who’ll provide some stars. But even if the linebacker corps is solid, can they live up to Lorenzo Carer, Davin Bellamy, Roquan Smith and Natrez Patrick? Ideally, the linebacker corps will be deeper in 2018. But that’s not a given.