What are Knowshon Moreno's and Matthew Stafford's Futures at Georgia?

So the year is almost up, and the Georgia Bulldogs have one final game to play: the Capital One Bowl against Michigan State on Jan. 1, 2009. It will be a tough game with Javon Ringer, but that is not what Dawg Nation has on its mind right now.

The real question is: Will the Bulldogs have their two best players, Knowshon Moreno and Matthew Stafford, next season?  Both Moreno and Stafford are eligible for the June 2009 draft. 

After a disappointing season this year, starting at No.1 and currently at 9-3, the players' decisions could be greatly influenced by wanting to have better performance levels in the NCAA. The real blow was the loss to GT in the last regular season game of the year.

I believe Stafford will leave and Moreno will stay. Stafford is picked by a lot of people to be a top 5 pick. Knowshon has been speculated to be a mid-to late-first-rounder.

Knowshon ran the ball 227 times for 1,338 and 16 touchdowns: a good year, but lower than numbers than expected.

Not only did Moreno live up to the high projections tagged to him during the pre-season, he did it much more under the radar and with much less media attention.

Knowshon could seriously increase his draft stock by staying another year or two and having great years, but it could just as easily go the other way he could do horribly or suffer a serious injury.

Stafford could do even better by working on his mechanics and decision-making before heading for the NFL. He needs to polish up a little bit, and Richt could certainly help him on that.

Another issue is the O-line, because both players depend heavily on their O-line's play. We had a very young offensive line, and we get another year older and another year wiser.

Let us not also forget the injury to our best lineman, LT Trinton Sturdivant, at the beginning of the season. Our o-line should be much better helping both of the players to do better if they do decide to stay.

This is a huge decision also for the Georgia Bulldogs football program. If these two stay, we can be a BCS contender. If not, it will more than likely be a rebuilding year.'

The next starting QB looks to be Aaron Murray, a top 50 prospect. He looks to be good but will only be a true freshman next year.

Our two backup running backs, Caleb King and Richard Samual, look good at times but I had a few concerns about their inexperience. Caleb King will more than likely be the No. 1 guy next year if Moreno is not there.

He did all right, rushing for 247 yards on 61 attempts and averaged 4 yards a carry, good but no Moreno.

Another way this could impact the Bulldogs is in recruiting. If they decide to stay and we make a BCS bowl and do really well, it could entice a few top prospects who probably wouldn't come if we were 8-4 and only made a decent bowl game.

So this is a confusing time for Bulldog fans. I for one don't know whether to have high hopes for next year and think about the Sugar Bowl or to keep my expectations low and look for a bid in the Outback Bowl.

One of the two players may stay and do well, but it's very unlikely the Bulldogs will keep the two star players of the 2007 Sugar Bowl team.