Georgia football: Who will challenge UGA for the SEC East crown first

Missouri Tigers

For the biggest reason why I think Florida will falter when it comes to competing with Georgia in the near future, I can see Missouri thriving. Their 2013 and 2014 SEC East Championships are a huge recruiting boost over other teams. And they are proving themselves to be a pretty decent quarterback factory.

The Tigers returned to a bowl game last year after a great second half to the season. And who else besides Oklahoma in 2017 frustrated our defense as much as Missouri did. If they can maintain their great offense and fix their defense, they’ll likely threaten Georgia again this year.

Forget about them not being a traditional power. They have a healthy football program that recruits well enough with a good coach in Barry Odom. And, unlike Florida, they don’t make their coaches sick to the point of having bad health or needing to exaggerate death threats.

Missouri is still probably a year or two away from really contending though. That defense was garbage last year against good offenses. It’s going to take a lot to turn that ship around. But when they do, you know they’ll have a pretty good offense to produce the points.

Tennessee Volunteers

Tennessee has new leadership. Former head coach Phillip Fulmer is the new Director of Athletics. And former Georgia and Alabama defensive coördinator Jeremy Pruitt is the new head coach. With people like that in charge, the Volunteers must be back.

Well, we’ve heard that a lot since 2011. And since then, they have yet to win 10 games in a season and have three losing seasons. With two coaches by the way. What is Tennessee’s problem anyways.

They are a great program historically. That should translate to recruiting success. Their stature alone should intimidate smaller programs. But they struggle to beat Vanderbilt and Kentucky these days. Even UMass isn’t scared of them.

The shift to Fulmer and Pruitt does appear like the change they need. Fulmer did win a National Championship at Tennessee. While Pruitt is a great recruiter and motivator. But that hasn’t proven anything yet. Fulmer doesn’t have much administrative experience. It’s one thing to motivate players and get the best out of 18-to-22-year-olds. Can he do the same with grown and professional adults?

As for Pruitt, has doesn’t have any head coaching experience. For every Kirby Smart and Mark Richt who succeed in their first job with a major program, there are dozens of Ray Goff’s and Mike DuBose’s. Pruitt hasn’t proven anything at this level. He hasn’t even been an assistant at this level that long. His first positions coaching job came in 2008. In comparison, Smart’s first positions coaching job in major college football was in 2004 at LSU.

You can attribute Smart’s and Richt’s early success to long assistant coaching careers and top notch programs. 12 years for Smart and 11 for Richt. A young coach can learn a lot in four extra years in the right environment. Pruitt could be missing out.