Last week in Hoover I had the opportunity to catch up for an exclusive interview with longtime SEC on CBS analyst Gary Danielson to pick his brain about the 2015 Georgia Bulldogs football team. The media has picked the Bulldogs to win the SEC East and Danielson thinks they could be in for a good season.
Me: Last season UGA didn’t have the strongest passing game. If they are going to compete in a huge way this year will that have to improve?
Danielson: Well I just think they need to have a winning quarterback play. You don’t have to have a Peyton Manning play. What I mean about that is that you don’t have to build your program around a franchise quarterback. You still have to play good at quarterback. You still have to make those clutch third-down plays. But you can build it around a running game, kicking game, a passing game and use your talent on every aspect of the field. NFL football is more quarterback-centric in the way they do it. They really can’t be that way in college. They don’t have the time to set up the sophisticated pass protection schemes that’s necessary to be a drop-back passing team. Even with Matthew Stafford as good as he was, you have to only go as far as everyone else can go and you saw how he blossomed in the NFL. So, yes you can’t have bad quarterback play. But you don’t need great quarterback play to win, you just need to play sound football and especially at that position.
Me: Even with the way they ran the football in 2014, how dangerous could it be for them that the rest of the SEC/college football could catch on to them and keep them inside the tackles?
Danielson: I don’t think there’s any way to catch onto tough blocking, committed technique and running the ball will always work. Ohio State proved it to Alabama and they proved it to Oregon. The same line of scrimmage that was talked about so long here and what separates SEC football from the rest of the country is the dominance on the offensive and defensive lines. When you get enamored with too much of being the ‘spread’ (offense) and what I call ‘fantasy football’ style, you lose what advantage of what I think the SEC has in they have the best offensive and defensive linemen in football. (Also) the most NFL-ready linebackers in college football and when you make it a perimeter game I think you’re helping everybody else out in the country. Ohio State showed, they kicked Alabama’s butt. They kicked Oregon’s butt. If you don’t get back to line of scrimmage football, I think you level the playing field for everybody else.
Note: Georgia has four returning starters back from last year’s offensive line.
Me: What adjustments will Brian Schottenheimer have to make from the pro game to calling the college game?
Danielson: Well I don’t think there’s anybody that’s going to be under more intense pressure this year. If you look for two jobs this year in the SEC that you’re going to have to see how this works out. I mean, replacing John Chavis as defensive coordinator for LSU is not an easy job for Kevin Steele. He and Ed Orgeron their defensive line coach have to replace a legend and he’s done great things. Now “Dawg people,” I understand the Dawgs like to complain about Mike Bobo. We all make bad calls and we remember those calls. But Mike Bobo was brilliant in his play-calling. He dialed up play after play after play and produced yards at a great rate. Brian Schottenheimer, if he doesn’t produce those type of yards? What I’ve see of Georgia fans? They seem to notice that and they seem to talk about it pretty fast.
Me: Starting center or starting quarterback? Which role needs to be filled first towards the success of their offense?
Danielson: I just think to take your time and grow slowly. Not try to do too much. You can’t run away from your schedule, it is the way it is. But there is a lot of parts to Georgia football, it wouldn’t be so bad to so bad to build slowly at those two positions and not try to ask them to do too much. Don’t ignore them. You can’t win without a quarterback, LSU proved that last year. But you’ve got to kind of use your strengths, like with defense and the running game. Build it so you’re still in the hunt in game seven, eight, nine and ten at the end of the season. You bring your quarterback along so he’s ready to win at the end of the year.
Note: Georgia right now has junior Brandon Kublanow listed as the first-team center in their unofficial depth chart listed in the media guide. Redshirt sophomore Brice Ramsey and junior Faton Bauta are listed as the starting quarterback. Sophomore Isaiah Wynn is listed to play the left guard spot where Kublanow was playing in 2014.
Fall camp starts August 4.
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