Georgia players arrived on campus this month after the SEC voted to allow student-athletes back on campus for voluntary workouts starting June 8.
There are still concerns for the 2020 college football season revolving around the impact of COVID-19, but as far as we know, all signs point to football being played this fall.
The Bulldogs are coming off a 12-2 season in 2019, where they secured their third-straight SEC East title and dominated Baylor in the Sugar Bowl. Not a bad resume whatsoever, but in most Georgia fans’ minds, without a playoff bid and a blowout loss to LSU in Atlanta, the season was a disappointment.
To reach the college football playoff this season and play for another championship, Georgia will have to make improvements on the offensive side of the ball – and they have. Credit Kirby Smart and the Georgia coaching staff for bringing in former NFL offensive coordinator Todd Monken, and signing Wake Forest transfer quarterback Jamie Newman.
Defensively, Georgia is once again in great hands. The Bulldogs return most players from the record-breaking 2019 unit that was ranked No. 1 in rush defense and No. 1 in scoring defense. That said, the SEC East was not exactly a hot bed for quarterback talent in 2019, and Georgia will be facing more experienced signal callers in 2020. Here are the top-3 SEC quarterbacks the Bulldogs will play this season.
1. Kyle Trask – Florida
2019 Stats: 66.9% passing for 2,941 yards, 25 touchdowns and seven interceptions (63 carries for eight yards and four touchdowns).
Kyle Trask doesn’t take up much space in Georgia fans’ minds, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t. We all know how well Dan Mullen works with quarterbacks – Tebow, Prescott – so we should expect Trask to make better decisions in 2020 and Florida has plenty of talent to give the Bulldogs a game in Jacksonville.
2. Bo Nix – Auburn
2019 Stats: 57% passing for 2,542 yards, 16 touchdowns and six interceptions (97 carries for 313 yards and seven touchdowns).
Bo Nix will have to execute better in big games this season. In 2019, he threw only two touchdowns total versus Georgia and Alabama, but overall, Nix played well for the Tigers in 2019 as a first-year starter and, like Florida’s Trask, should be much more comfortable in 2020, especially with another year to learn Gus Malzhan’s system.
3. Mac Jones / Bryce Young – Alabama
Jones’s 2019 Stats: 68.8% passing for 1,503 yards, 14 touchdowns and three interceptions (16 carries for 36 yards and a touchdown).
In 2019, Jones replaced Tua Tagovailoa after he went down with a hip-injury and played well. However, unfortunately for Jones, Bama signed 5-star quarterback and the No.1 player in the country, Bryce Young, in their 2020 recruiting class. We don’t know whether we will see Young or Jones start for the Crimson Tide in 2020 – knowing Nick Saban no one will know until game one.
