Georgia Football: 2018 Dawgs will be younger than some think

Georgia Football quite rightly is the favorite for the SEC East in 2018, but the Dawgs are actually quite a bit younger than people think which sets them up for the future.

A lot of analysts expect the Georgia Football team to be one of the dominant teams in the SEC in 2018. But what many seem to be overlooking is the fact that the Dawgs are actually pretty young this season. In fact, based on the ugasports.com scholarship distribution page, over 60% of the players on UGA’s roster are sophomores and freshmen.

I counted seven projected starters for game one are going to be seniors and six will be juniors. That means that the Dawgs will have eleven players starting this season who will be sophomores or freshmen (when you include the kicking game). That’s nearly half of their team and it goes to show just how young the Dawgs will be.

Those numbers could end up changing even more as the year goes on. Players like Kendall Baker and Tae Crowder will be seriously pushed by some of the younger players that are currently in Athens. The talented 2018 freshman class also has players like Tyson Campbell and Brenton Cox who could well end up forcing their way into the lineup before the season ends.

What should be frightening for rival fan bases isn’t just the starters in the new classes. It’s the depth. UGA has loaded up on talent in the last two recruiting cycles and it shows on their roster. Almost every position group is really deep in those two years, the one exception being the defensive line which will be addressed in the next 2 cycles. That only increases the likelihood that the Dawgs will continue to get better over the next few years.

In short, yes, the Dawgs are in good shape for the 2018 season. But this roster is only going to get better as the 2017 and 18 classes grow and reach their potential. Add in another incredibly talented group on signing day and it’s easy to see why many originally thought that 2019 would be the year that Georgia challenge Alabama for the SEC and have a shot at the national championship.

Kirby Smart has brought forward Georgia’s title window and deserves a lot of credit for raising the level of some of his older players. Unfortunately for UGA’s rivals, the Dawgs are actually a very young team and their most talented players still have several years left in Athens. It’s just a little observation but Georgia fans don’t need to worry too much about 2018 being ‘the year’. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t, but the fact is that the next 3-4 seasons, the Dawgs will be loaded. That title is coming, it’s just a matter of time.