There's only so much you can glean from the Orange & White Game but I always enjoy watching it. That said, here were my thoughts on the game and the future.
The QBs
JG. Started out a bit rough, but once he got in a groove, his passes were on the money. Continues to show great poise and leadership. He also very rarely makes big mistakes. This is what differentiates him IMO. No brainer as the #1 QB.
Shrout. Shrout has a rocket of an arm as we saw from the throw on his 1st play from scrimmage. Felt like he struggled a bit with managing the offense at times, but the O-line was also a mess. Overall, felt like I didn't get a great sense of Shrout from this game; but fun to see him throw deep.
Maurer. Maurer looked like the best QB on the field at times. He also looked like the worst QB at other times. You could see both his great potential and his inexperience. He made some poor decisions, 2 INTs, and a bobbled snap. Yet, he looked poised and totally in control of the offense. That's rare for a true Freshman. Most of his passes were right on the money, even though at least one of the INTs was very bad. He also clearly has the best "wheels" out of our QBs. He's got some work to do and he needs to adjust to the SEC level of play, but in another year or two, he could be competing for the starting job.
Less worried about depth. If JG were to get injured this season, I'd be worried, but less worried than I was before the O&W game. Shrout and Maurer both look further along than expected; albeit, I do think their lack of experience would show if either were to need to start against a major SEC power.
Our QB corp could be very good next season. With JG back for his final season, Shrout and Maurer with another year of experience under their belt, and a potential stud QB in Harrison Bailey coming in, our QBs could be very good next year. If we can hold onto all 4 guys, we arguably will have one of the deepest pools of QBs in the SEC in 2020.
The RBs
Not much learned. Didn't really gain much knowledge that I didn't already have watching our RBs.
Ty Chandler most underrated RB in the SEC. I firmly believe that Chandler is a top 5 RB in the SEC right now. Statistically, we had the worst run-blocking O-line in the SEC (indeed, the worst out of all P5 teams) last year and Chandler still averaged 5.5 ypc. If Chandler had Bama's O-line, he is putting up numbers similar at least close to Najee Harris. He's also a threat receiving. He's a step below Keshawn Vaughn (Vanderbilt) and D'Andre Swift (Georgia), but he's very good.
Jeremy Banks. Banks was good last season aside from the fumbles. If he fixes that, he'll be good. Thought he was impressive in O&W, but the O&W game also doesn't really test his biggest weakness, so we'll see when the season begins.
The O-line
Still a work in progress. I was not impressed by the O-line. Perhaps our Front 7 on D has gotten a lot better, but my impression is that the O-line still has a long way to go. This is easily our biggest problem on offense and something that needs to get figured out if we want to go to a bowl game.
Other Offense
DWA. He's very good.
Tyler Byrd. Something about him feels different this year. I'm hoping he finally shows that promise he did his Freshman season, as we haven't seen it the past two years. But he has a very different energy about him right now.
Jennings. He came on strong at the end of last season and he played well in this game. He's looking like the guy that beat Georgia in 2016 again.
Jim Chaney. Thought Chaney did a good job calling plays that got rid of the ball quickly. With the O-line troubles, that's important.
Defense
Improved. I'll repeat it again, "it's difficult to tell", but the D looked very good out there.
Depth still an issue. While I thought the D looked great, our biggest issue last year was depth more than quality. We could play like world-beaters for awhile, but eventually, the good teams just wore down our Front 7. The D-line, in particular, is an issue area after losing our top 4 D-linemen from last season. So we might look good for the 1st and 2nd Quarter, but the real question is how will our D-line look in the 2nd Half.
Shannon Reid and Will Ignont. An interesting battle for the 1st string at ILB as both of these guys look very good.
DBs looked good. A few mistakes and I didn't see who got burned by Callaway, but I thought the DBs performed reasonably well overall.
Darrell Taylor underrated. Another underrated player. As one of the announcers said, he was one of the leaders in sacks last season in the SEC. He's become more of a leader this year. If he can improve his consistency, he can be one of the best defensive players in the SEC.
Overall
Summation. I learned the most about our backup QBs and some of the backup WRs. Maurer could very good in another year or two. Tyler Byrd should be a bigger contributor this season at WR than last season. And I'm still very worried about the O-line (if not more worried!). However, the D felt stronger and could be better than we think. Overall, it feels like the program is moving in the right direction. We need more depth and experience on the lines, but we're getting competitors who show great promise.
Your Thoughts
What were your all's impressions?
GBO!
