Georgia football: juniors leaving the program at the right time

Four juniors on offense announced their plans to leave Georgia football and enter the NFL draft last night. Did they make the right decision?

Georgia’s offense took a huge blow Friday night when four juniors chose to enter the 2019 NFL Draft. Wide receivers Riley Ridley and Mecole Hardman, tight end Isaac Nauta and running back Elijah Holyfield, all announced their plans on twitter within hours of each other.

The immediate reactions among most Georgia football fans and returning players were disappointment, confusion and worry. Disappointment about not being able to watch the four of them play as seniors. Confusion as to why they would turn pro after great, but not fantastic seasons. And worry about how the team can replace four important players in just nine months.

But the reality is, all four leave the program at the right time for themselves and Georgia’s offense. Next year’s offense was going to be loaded. New stars were going to emerge from previous and the incoming recruiting classes. Ridley, Hardman, Holyfield and Nauta are great Bulldogs, but the offense Jim Chaney and Kirby Smart run in Athens isn’t built on one playmaker, it’s built on multiple. If they can give meaningful touches to 20-plus quality players every game, they will.

How much could those four really improve their draft stock in that climate? D’Andre Swift is still in Athens, James Cook will take on a bigger role in the offense, and Zamir White will be healthy. Could Elijah Holyfield really expect more carries in 2019? If it was just him and Swift again to tear up the SEC as its best running back duo, I believe he would have stayed.

You might not realize now, but the wide receiver corps for next season is just as loaded. Next year’s group is more than just Jeremiah Holloman and some new faces. Tyler Simmons earned a ton of playing time this year by becoming a good blocker. He caught a pass in five-straight games late in the season, reaching the end zone three times total. He’s going into his senior year and he’ll be a factor.

Simmons earned his way to the field by blocking, that’s the route required by all receivers in Georgia’s system. Chaney and Smart want to keep the playbook wide open. To do that, receivers need to block so Georgia can run in pass formations with the same confidence as they have in run formations. Holloman earned playing time this year the same way. Many forgot about Holloman after a quiet freshman year, but he caught 24 passes for 418 yards with five touchdowns as a sophomore. He’s beginning to live up to the hype he had coming out of high school when 247Sports ranked him no. 125 overall and no. 18 out of all wide receivers.

There are other highly touted receivers on this team. They’re not busts. They are guys who might have been freshmen all-conference had they gone almost anywhere else. But at Georgia, they had to take time to learn how to block. Because as fans we tend to move on to the new recruiting classes so quickly, we forget about the blue-chips from past classes who didn’t immediately become stars in Athens.

Just look back at the receivers signed in the last two classes. Trey Blount, no. 324 overall, no. 48 WR; Kearis Jackson, no. 130 overall, no. 23 WR; Tommy Bush, no. 196 overall, no. 37 WR. And you can’t forget about incoming players Dominick Blaylock (no. 34 overall, no. 6 WR) and athlete Makiya Tongue (no. 209 overall, no. 9 athlete). Nor can you forget about Demetris Robertson. He was the no. 1 receiver coming out of high school in 2016. Him and Blaylock are the two biggest wide receiver prospects to play at Georgia under Kirby Smart, but even they aren’t going to play if they can’t block.

We saw that with Robertson this past year. Came to Georgia from California with a ton of hype and was cleared to play immediately. But he was a no-factor on Georgia’s offense and might have been better off taking a second redshirt. He came from a California program that just told him to run routes and catch passes. Blocking wasn’t on the docket. Blaylock, clearly knows what’s required of him at Georgia. And given how he closed down his recruitment after committing to Georgia, he’s probably worked on his blocking so he can be prepared to shine early.

Just taking the incoming receiver(s) out of the question. If Robertson, Blount, Jackson and Bush all take the Holloman and Simmons route to prominent roles on Georgia’s offense, what room is there for Ridley and Hardman to post spectacular numbers as seniors? Assuming Robertson and Holloman do live up to the hype, the other three or four playing crucial roles in three and four-wide formations, Ridley and Hardman would just make Georgia’s offense a crowd. They’d be in the way of other player’s development. It’s best for them and for Georgia that they leave and make us proud in the NFL.

As for Nauta, he made the right decision for himself. He’s the most talented tight end in the draft. His stats don’t reflect that, but if he gets on the right team, he’s a pro-bowler. There aren’t that many do-it all tight ends. There are even less who can do-it-all an any given down in any formation. Nauta can. He’s a solid blocker and has great hands. He’s big, but graceful and fast. Don’t get caught up over the stats. Nauta should have never questioned his decision to stay or leave.

But, with him leaving and Luke Ford transferring back home to Illinois, there’s a hole at tight end. Charlie Woerner can be a future draft pick if used properly. He doesn’t have Nauta’s size, but he has his skill set. Behind him is John Fitzpatrick, the former no. 316 player and no. 17 tight end by 247Sports. Ryland Goede, the no. 196 player and no. 6 TE, joins Georgia in the 2019 recruiting class. So the Dawgs shouldn’t be too shallow at tight end.

I know this looked bad Georgia fans. Those four players were a huge part of our offense. But there is still a ton of talent on this team. Not all of them are going to be stars immediately. Again, look at Holloman and Holyfield’s careers. They went from just part of the team, to stars of Georgia’s offense this year. There are loads of other guys on this team who will do the same in 2019.