Georgia football: nine freshmen and sophomores eligible for redshirts
Thanks to the NCAA’s new transfer rules introduced last year, Georgia football can redshirt nine players from the 2018 team.
Dawgs247 recently released the participation list for the 2018 Georgia football team. The list includes every player, how many games they appeared in and how many games they started.
Because of the new redshirt rules the NCAA debuted before the 2018 season, you can look at the list and see nine players eligible for a redshirt. The new rules say any player who hasn’t previously redshirted (unless it’s a medical redshirt) can appear in up to four games and still redshirt. The eligible players are:
Freshmen
Sophomores
You also can’t forget about Zamir White, the freshman former five-star running back who tore his ACL in August. He of course will enter 2019 as a redshirt freshman. But he is not on the list because he wasn’t a participant in 2018.
Offensively, the biggest names on that list are Bush and Jackson. Terry Godwin’s, Riley Ridley’s and Mecole Hardman’s departures open up opportunities for them. Bush and Jackson were both top-200 receivers in the 2018 class. Both are drastically different players as well. Bush is a moving tower on the field at 6’5. Jackson is shorter, but heavier. Their differences will help both get on the field because they aren’t really competing against each other as their sizes mean they’ll be used in different roles.
Fitzpatrick could be a difference maker in 2019 as well since Isaac Nauta entered the draft and Luke Ford transferred back to Illinois. The Dawgs do have Ryland Goede, the no. 6 tight end of 2019, on campus. But Fitzpatrick has a year of experience behind him. They’ll compete for the second tight end spot behind Charlie Woerner.
On defense, how can you not be excited about Ojulari and Wilson? Kirby Smart and the defensive coaches feel so highly about the two, that they both received significant playing time in the Sugar Bowl after neither appeared much in 2018. Wilson tore his ACL last spring and had to miss the season. He recovered for bowl practice and immediately climbed the depth chart. That’s impressive.
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This list is a good reminder of all the talent we’ve yet to see on the field at Georgia. We tend to forget about the gems of previous signing classes if they don’t make an impact right away. But not everyone breaks out as a true-freshmen, some break out as redshirt freshmen, sophomores or juniors. Some of those nine players set to redshirt will likely have such seasons in 2019.