Georgia Football countdown to kickoff: 82 days to go

The 2018 Georgia football season begins in 82 days.

We are now less than 12 weeks away from kickoff of the 2018 Georgia football season. Just 82 days to go. The season will be here before you know it. In the meantime, keep coming back to Dawn of the Dawg for our countdown to kickoff. You can read stories and reviews about a topic pertaining to the amount of days left in the countdown.

Since there are 82 days remaining, why not look back on one of the greatest single seasons in UGA history. Herschel Walker’s 1982 Heisman Trophy campaign. But first, since the countdown has taken a few days off, lets catch back up with days 86-through-83.

86 – Justin Scott-Wesley: The would-be legend

Injuries have robbed many a player of a great career in all sports. Georgia football players are no exception. And no Bulldog, in recent memory, do I think had more robbed by injury than Justin Scott-Wesley. We didn’t get to see much out of him. But what we did see led me to believe we were watching a legend form.

Scott-Wesley didn’t arrive in Athens with much fanfare. He was a four-star prospect coming out of Mitchell County High School. But 247 ranked him as the no. 18 player in the state of Georgia in 2011. The state was loaded that year. That’s the same class that included Isaiah Crowell, Ray Drew, Nick Marshall and Amarlo Herrera.

Georgia also produced Malcolm Mitchell and Chris Conely (Who had a better composite rating from 247 than Scott-Wesley). He had talent, but he was overshadowed in a recruiting class known as the “Dream Team”. He didn’t play at all his freshman year, instead he took a redshirt.

Somehow, Scott-Wesley’s skills went unnoticed by the scouts. In high school, he was simply known as a fast guy with some toughness. 247 Sports said “Scott is an athlete that plays with no fear. He is best when going vertical.” In his almost two years spent at the bottom of the receiving depth chart, he developed more skills. He became a good route runner and catcher.

In 2012, he appeared in two regular season games making three catches for 68 yards with one touchdown. He caught his first pass against Florida International and he set out to impress the Georgia crowd. And give them some excitement in the later stages of a blowout.

Late in the game, with an insurmountable lead, Georgia brought in Christian LeMay and other backups. LeMay ran a bootleg and hit Scott-Wesley for a short pass. The play wasn’t that special at first. But then he turned his body downfield and accelerated faster than almost anyone I had ever seen at Sanford Stadium.

He then made huge strides in preparation for the Capitol One Bowl. In Orlando, he had his breakout performance. He caught three passes for 67 yards to help the Bulldogs defeat Nebraska. After that, fans expected a lot from Scott-Wesley going into the 2013 season.

And he delivered. After Mitchell fell to an injury in the season opener against Clemson, Scott-Wesley took his place by catching four passed for 55 yards. A week later, he had 116 yards on three catches against South Carolina, including an 85-yard touchdown pass to put the game out of reach.

On that play, Wesley showed off his amazing acceleration again. Running a go route on the sideline, he had to slow down to get under the ball around the 47-yard line. That gave one USC defender the perfect angle to make the tackle. But Scott-Wesley wasn’t at full speed yet. He hit another burst and outran the defender to the end zone.

Scott-Wesley caught seven passed for 118 through the following two weeks. His last catch of that stretch was a game-winner against LSU. In those four games he showed that he was much more than just a tough speedster. He knew how to get himself open, he was difficult to tackle and, best of all, he could catch. Scott-Wesley had 289 yards in four games. He was on track for a 1,000-yard season.

But in week five, everything changed. In a game where almost every star player got injured, Scott-Wesley wasn’t immune. He tore his ACL late in the game. At the time, it just looked like his season was over. If only we knew then that his career was pretty much over as well.

Scott-Wesley did make some appearances late in the 2014 season. He even caught a touchdown against Louisville. But more issues kept him off the field in 2015 and he eventually left the team. His career stats were 25 catches, 498 yards and four touchdowns. He only started four games, and made catches in just 10.

I truly believe that Scott-Wesley could have been an all-time great at Georgia. He had the skills; fantastic speed, good hands, agility. He was tough to catch and even more tough to tackle. And he played his best when Georgia needed him too. Scott-Wesley missed out on a legendary career. We the fans missed on watching such a player. The NFL missed out on a solid receiver. Our opponents were lucky.