Georgia Football: Players UGA needs to step up in week 2

Georgia Football has a real test this week taking on South Carolina and the Dawgs are going to need several players to step up if they are going to win.

Tyson Campbell, CB:

Perhaps no player is going to be more important for the Dawgs this week than Tyson Campbell. That’s because with Deandre Baker holding down the right side of the defense, we can fully expect South Carolina to throw the ball to the other side and that means Campbell is going to get picked on a lot.

Deebo Samuel is considered by many to be one of the best receivers in the country. Bryan Edwards accounted for more yards last season than any other UGA wideout. The Gamecocks have two legit WRs that can attack the secondary. It would be surprising to see many balls being thrown in Bakers direction so whoever is lined up on Campbell will likely be the go-to receiver on each play.

That’s a lot of pressure on a true freshman who has only played one game. The Gamecocks will be hoping to pick on a player that is unproven and simply not ready to defend against SEC-level players. If Campbell can hold his own, the Dawgs have a good shot at stopping the SC offense in its tracks.

D’Andre Swift, RB:

We saw flashes from Swift last week but after scoring in the first quarter, the RB sat for much of the first game. I don’t expect that to be the case this week. In fact, I think that Swift is likely to get his heaviest ever workload at UGA.

With James Cook missing the first half, Swift and Elijah Holyfield will be the primary backs this week. Swift will likely be heavily involved in the passing game as well. We’ve seen how good he is at making himself available for quick gains over the past few years.

The Dawgs were very vanilla last week and they didn’t really show much on offense. I expect that to change against SC and Swift will be key. If he’s able to step up in the running game and help UGA control the clock, this game will be very hard for the Gamecocks to win.

D’Andre Walker, OLB:

It’s not just going to be the back end of the defense that matters this week. Jake Bentley has proven that he’s a solid QB over the past couple of years. That being said, there is one thing that has previously bothered him during his career. Pressure.

Given time, Bentley has shown that he can find his receivers and pick defenses apart. Walker is the Dawgs most proficient pass rusher this season and so he’ll be responsible for making Bentley uncomfortable. He showed towards the end of last season that he was more than capable of doing just that.

If Walker and the other OLB’s are able to dominate the Gamecocks’ offensive tackles, they can shut down their offense. Not only will Bentley struggle to throw the ball, but their running game will also find it difficult to break outside runs which their backs so often depend upon.

Jake Fromm, QB:

Last but not least is Jake Fromm. Now he’s not in this article because I think the Dawgs need him to step up if they are going to win. Rather, if one or two of the other players mentioned above don’t, Georgia still has a QB who can step up and win this game regardless.

The Dawgs have firepower galore on their offense this season. The key is going to be getting the ball into their playmaker’s hands and doing so in space. That’s where Fromm comes in. If South Carolina is able to score points, then the Dawgs will have to respond. To do that, they will need Fromm at his best and based upon last week, that’s what I expect.

If Fromm can put up points early, and the defense can hold Carolina’s offense, then this game could get away from the Gamecocks in a hurry. Yes, this has become a trendy ‘upset pick’ game. But a lot of writers have forgotten just how good this Georgia team was last season and it was Fromm at the head of it, leading the offense. The Dawgs don’t need Fromm to play lights out to win this game. However, if he does, that likely means UGA walks out of Columbia with a win.