The game film told Missouri what may be coming from Georgia’s offense Saturday.
That it’s just getting into a groove in this finishing stretch of the season with JT Daniels as the starting quarterback. The Southern California transfer givesthe Bulldogs something very different at the position.
“It seems like the receiving corps is reinvigorated and re-energized,” Tigers defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said during the week. “They have young guys that are really talented outside and he does a great job of getting them the ball. A lot different.”
Daniels’ Bulldog debut of 401 passing yards and 4 touchdowns against Mississippi State has now been followed by a 45-16 smackdown at South Carolina and the 49-14 rout at Missouri Saturday. Yes, that surgically repaired knee that contributed to a delay in his Georgia debut seems to be coming along fine.
The Bulldogs hadn’t scored 40 points in back-to-back SEC games since September of 2018when they hit the 40 point-mark against South Carolina and Missouri. He hasninetouchdowns and oneinterception in threegames.
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Georgia’s two biggest passing outputs this season came with Daniels as quarterback including the 299 yards on 16 of 27 passing with 3 touchdowns against Missouri.
The other game Georgia rushed for 332 yards so didn’t ask him to do much in the air. The Bulldogs nearly hit that mark on the ground Saturday — firing up for 316 yards — in the most balanced outing under first-year offensive coordinator Todd Monken.
“It was coupled together and it’s what we’ve been looking for the last weeks,” Daniels said. “I’d say that was our first real complete game. Mississippi State great throwing, didn’t run it like we wanted to. South Carolina, more of a statement game, we came out trying to run it. Today we threw when the looks said to throw and we ran when the looks said to run.”
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Sophom*ore wideout George Pickens set his season-high for receiving yards in Daniels’ first game and topped it Saturday with 5 catches for 126 yards and a career-high tying two touchdowns.
“Probably the most important thing he does — and him and I talk about it at least once a week — I tell him I’ll throw it to you every single time as long as you make sure it will never get picked,” Daniels said. “That’s George. One-on-one, throw it up.”
Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said stacking the box to try to stop the run left Pickens opportunities outside.
“If you load the box then you leave the wideouts 1-on-1, so you’ve got a pick-your-poison deal,” he said. “We felt like we needed to stop the run and we weren’t able to do that unless we put extra people in there and then it opens up the passing game.”
Darnell Washington, the five-star tight end from Las Vegas, entered the day with just two catches on the season, but he was targeted four times on the day and had two catches in the third quarter for 61 yards.
The 6-foot-7, 260-pound Washington was open in the Florida game but D’Wan Mathis overthrew him.
Daniels connected with him on the right side in a mismatch with Missouri 6-foot-1, 200-pound safety Martez Manuel.
“Darnell’s been a weapon all year,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “It’s us trying to find ways to use him. He has a unique combination of size. He’s a tough matchup. Coach Monken really likes using multiple tight end sets. He’s done a lot in the NFL. If you can mismatch people and have ability to run the ball but also flex him out and throw the ball, it’s really frustrating. If you go back to that play. The corner went over, the safety had to play Darnell and he’s saying wait a second now, I’ve got Darnell on a safety and those guys don’t cover for a living. He made a nice throw.”
Washington is just getting going at Georgia.
So is freshman wideout Jeremaine Burton, third on the team with 26 catches for 398 yards and threetouchdowns. Pickens is just a sophom*ore. The team’s leader in catches, Kearis Jackson, is a junior who seems likely to return.
The Bulldogs could lose underclassmen to the NFL draft, but the top five rushers consist of juniors Zamir White and James Cook, sophom*ore Kenny McIntosh and freshmen Daijun Edwards and Kendall Milton.
“Everyone is playing in Coach Monken’s system, for what, the ninth game,” Smart said. “The freshmen are growing up. I have said repeatedly, JT is doing a tremendous job, I’m not going to take anything away from him, but I’m also going to recognize George Pickens being healthy, Warren McClendon being an older tackle, Jermaine Burton growing up, Darnell Washington, growing up. There are so many factors. They are hearing plays and concepts for the 50thtime instead of the 5thtime.”
Smart may or may not have been sending a message to Georgia native Arik Gilbert, the LSU freshman who opted out of the season and may be transferring when talking about Washington.
“You can never have enough good tight ends in the SEC because they’re big, they’re athletic, they can catch the ball,” Smart said. “There are so many things they can do. It’s one of those things, we want as many as we can get and we want to get them the ball.”
Daniels talked about Pickens during his postgame media zoom session after the game and less than 40 minutes after the game ended he took to his Twitter account with this message: “That George Pickens guy is pretty good.”
Smart thinks he can be much better still.
“George still hasn’t reached his full potential,” Smart said. “I think people just see him and think, man, he’s a phenomenal wideout. He can work on his releases and win 1-on-1 even more often. He’s so good at adjusting the ball to his body and catching it. A lot of times he ends up covered just because he doesn’t necessarily release the right way but he wins the 1-on-1. JT’s got a lot of confidence in him, but JT has a lot of confidence in Jermaine, Tre’ McKitty, Kearis. We’ve got to get the other guys to come along with that, too, and be able to help out.”
Georgia’s seven touchdowns came from five players who all could be back next season.
Even on a day Missouri sacked Daniels twice and got in its share of licks on him, the Bulldogs still had their most average yards per play. That number has been bested in each of Daniels’ starts from 6.7 to 7.6 to 8.4.
Daniels was 5 of 7 on third down for 120 yards and two touchdowns against a Missouri team that led the SEC in third down defense. Daniels is now 16 of 19 on the season for 270 yards and six touchdowns on third downs.
“We’re playing better,” Smart said, “and we still haven’t reached our peak.”
