Georgia Football: Mark Richt's 4 Biggest Concerns Post-Spring Practice
The G-Day Game was played on Saturday, and the Georgia Bulldogs were able to give the fans a show before the team gears up for fall camp and the 2015 season.
Head coach Mark Richt should be pleased with a lot of things he saw during the spring game. A.J. Turman ran the ball well, the linebackers were making plays and quarterback Faton Bauta made strides from the start of spring practice to G-Day.
With that said, there are still some concerns for Richt and his coaching staff, and those things will be addressed when the Bulldogs return to work in the summer.
So here are Richt’s biggest concerns as the team ends spring practice.
Finding the No. 1 Quarterback
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Despite Bauta having a pretty strong spring game, the quarterback competition is only starting, as Brice Ramsey and Jacob Park have also held their own this spring.
All three players are talented, but there has to be one player who becomes the No. 1 guy.
Richt told reporters that no one has stood out, but that was not expected to happen at the end of spring anyway.
But what if all three stay the same during fall camp? Would Richt stick with Ramsey or go with Bauta, who had the best spring game performance. What about Park, who might have the most talent of the three?
Finding a Center
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There is another position on offense where three players are fighting for the starting job.
Isaiah Wynn, Hunter Long and Brandon Kublanow have all seen time at center this spring and will continue to get a lot of looks in the fall.
Wynn has been the No. 1 center all of spring and was able to do some good things in the G-Day Game. However, Richt told reporters that he does not want to count out Hunter Long.
Because Kublanow is the team’s starting guard, the race will likely come down to Wynn and Long. But like with the quarterback position, one player will have to step up during the next few months so that the offense can be more stable.
Healthy Wide Receivers
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Despite the team not throwing the ball down the field a lot last season, receivers Chris Conley and Michael Bennett were able to have productive seasons for the Bulldogs.
Now that they’re gone, players like Malcolm Mitchell, Justin Scott-Wesley and Isaiah McKenzie will need to make an impact if the Bulldogs want to go anywhere in 2015.
However, McKenzie and Mitchell got injured in the spring game, and the Bulldogs are now very thin at the receiver position.
The injuries to McKenzie and Mitchell should not be serious, and Richt told reporters that they should be 100 percent in the fall. But with the history of injuries to Mitchell and the lack of experience with the rest of the receivers, Richt is probably hoping his receivers don’t get snakebitten this season when it comes to health.
Offense Taking a Step Back
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One of the things the Bulldogs were good at last year was putting up a lot of points, even in the games they lost. But with the team yet to find a starting quarterback as well as a center, one has to think will the offense take a step back this season.
Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer is facing pressure because he is taking over for Mike Bobo, who was able to put the players in position to make plays.
Schottenheimer should be able to do so because of his experience as an offensive coordinator in the NFL. However, the Bulldogs have to solidify the quarterback and center positions, and the receivers need to be healthy in order for the offense to be where it was in 2014.
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