Georgia football: What we learned from the 2018 G-Day Game

G-Day, the Georgia football spring scrimmage, has passed. The black team, led by Justin Fields, defeated the Jake Fromm’s red team 21-13.

G-Day is the first look at the upcoming Georgia football teams. The Bulldog Nation gets to learn about who has the potential for stardom, who’s been a beast in the weight room and who’s ready to become a leader.

But we learn many other things at G-Day as well. As I said in a recent story, G-Day is a celebration of Georgia football and the Bulldog Nation. We learn about ourselves as fans. And we also learn about the commitment of the university.

So here is a short list of the biggest things we learned at G-Day. Three of these items pertain to the team, the final two are about other factors.

The defensive backfield might be better

After the season ended in disappointment in Atlanta, the collective mind of the fan base shifted to 2018 almost immediately. With that came concern about a defensive backfield that was losing two safeties and a corner back who were constant starters for their entire careers.

A lot of that concern was remedied Saturday. Mostly because of one man; Richard LeCounte III. DeAndre Baker, Tyrique McGhee, and J.R. Reed played as they were expected to. McGhee should fill Malkom Parrish’s spot. But Dominick Sanders left bigger shoes to fill. LeCounte can fill those shoes.

He’s a former five-star who didn’t play much last year. But he’s had a year to learn the system and adjust to SEC speed. Coaches obviously trust him since he played with the first team defense. He made several big plays, including an interception and a deep pass break-up that would have tied the game. Both plays came against first-team targets from Jake Fromm’s arm.

Justin Fields can compete with Jake Fromm

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Last year, Jake Fromm versus Jacob Eason didn’t disappoint. Both quarterbacks put on a show and led their teams to go-ahead scores in the final minutes with Eason giving Fromm just a bit too much time.

This year’s story was Fromm versus Justin Fields and that duel lived up to expectations as well. The only thing that would have improved the batter was if Fromm didn’t deal with as many dropped passes.

Fields went toe-to-toe with Fromm and the second string defense, which contained a few probable first-term players actually, including Natrez Patrick and Monty Rice. Despite the one-hand touch rule, Fields got away from defenders and had several good runs. Although, not having to be tackled did mean he finished with negative rushing yards.

He also had good chemistry with his receivers, especially Ahkil Crumpton. Fromm better not get complacent, even for a day. Fields isn’t your average backup.

Monty Rice is a future superstar

Georgia fans will probably miss Roquan Smith more than any other player from the 2017 Bulldogs. Smith was one of the best defensive players in the nation. His leadership, instincts, skills and effort went unmatched. His spot is by far the most difficult to fill. And yet, a new star might emerge very soon in Monty Rice.

He led the entire G-Day Game with 14 total tackles with one sack. No one else had more than six. He prohibited Justin Fields from having a bigger day on the ground. His impact was very similar to Smith’s last season.

Rice single-handily solved many of my fears for this years team. I worried about replacing Smith, Lorenzo Carter and Davin Bellamy. I knew D’Andre Walker and Walter Grant would fill in for Carter and Bellamy with no problems. But knowing Rice has the potential, and an apparent want to take over for Smith, is very encouraging.

Nothing deters Georgia fans

82,000 fans packed Sanford Stadium for G-Day. That might be a far cry from the 93K-Day goals set in 2016 and 2017. But there’s a good reason for that. Construction on the west end zone project is well under way and the new team tunnel is nearly complete cosmetically.

Because of construction, that entire section of the stadium was off limits. The only spectators were a few of the workers who set up chairs on the deck where recruits are going to watch games from in the future.

To deal with a new limit on seating, tickets (if you can call them that) telling people what section to sit in, were handed out at each gate. This new complication, along with a smaller amount of seats could have deterred fans, but it didn’t.

The Bulldog Nation packed Sanford Stadium anyways. In many ways, the fan base impressed more on Saturday than it did when we packed 93,000-plus into the bleachers in 2016. Only one team had a higher spring game attendance. Considering our circumstances with the construction, I’ll take that.

Tom Crean bleeds red and black

Basketball coach Tom Crean has worn navy and yellow at Marquette, and crimson and white and Indiana. But upon arriving in Athens, Crean has pledged full allegiance to the Bulldog Nation. At halftime, Crean spoke to fans and delivered a fiery speech about how impressive the turnout was and that he knows that fans will bring that same passion to basketball season.

Next: How did Justin Fields perform at G-Day

He said all the right things in front of 82,000 fans. G-Day gets fans prepared for the first Georgia football game in September. Crean’s speech prepared us for the first basketball game in November.