Which Georgia Bulldogs Will Be the "Impact Freshmen" of the 2009 Football Season?

I’d love to see if Marlon Brown is as good as advertised. I’d love to see two big-time receivers out there making life easier for whatever new QB is going to be under center. I’m also pretty excited about redshirt-freshman Carlton Thomas based on the reports that have been coming out of spring practice with his jitterbug like moves. I don’t have a deep frame of reference, but I can’t think of another freshman that has made a bigger impact on the overall dynamic of a team and its season than Knowshon Moreno’s redshirt freshman year. Sure, Marcus Howard and the D stepped up, but putting Knowshon in the driver’s seat was the catalyst for one of the most exciting 6 game runs I can remember in my lifetime.

It’s tough to decide on our second-greatest freshman of all time. I think an argument could be made for David Greene. During his freshman year, he engineered the P44-Haynes (nee “Hobnail Boot”) victory in Tennessee, and that momentum served as a springboard to the following year, when the team under his leadership delivered Georgia’s first SEC championship in seemingly forever 20 years.

There’s an argument to be made also, though, for several others. Terry Hoage, arguably the best (and smartest) defensive back ever to don the red and black silver, was a freshman in 1980, and he blocked a key field goal in the Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame. Hoage went on to be named an Academic All-American twice and finished 5th in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1983, which is the highest a Bulldog defender has ever finished. (Unless you count Sinkwich and Trippi, who played both ways in the ’40’s.) Not only that, but he graduated from UGA (in 4 years) with a GPA of 3.71 and a major in… genetics. Not exactly like a “Recreational Studies” major. (Not even as easy as the finance degree that Mr. 4.0 Matt Stinchcomb was well-known for.)

Freddie Gilbert was also a freshman DE on that 1980 team, and made many great plays, including returning a blocked punt for a TD against Auburn that was a momentum-changing play at a crucial time.

(For the record, Clarence Kay and John Lastinger were also freshmen in 1980, but Key didn’t have a notable enough year to be called one of the greatest ever, and Lastinger was redshirted. It’s interesting to see all of these Bulldog legends who were freshmen on that team.)

And speaking of Frank Sinkwich and Charley Trippi, those two might have been remembered as two of the best Georgia freshmen ever… except that freshmen weren’t eligible for the varsity teams in 1939 or 1942. (The ’39 and ’42 freshmen teams at UGA were both undefeated, as I recall.)

With his hype and abilities he will be given a chance to show what he can do.

One of the few positions that is easier for a freshman to come in and make an impact is CB. With Asher gone, Smith is going to have to fill the talent gap lost there, He could also contribute to special teams as a punt returner, If Carlton Thomas hasn’t already taken KR and PR by the throat by now.

Biggest Impact TRUE freshman: I believe if Marlon is as good as advertised, and can progress in route running and overall knowledge of the offense, then he should press Kris Durham for significant playing time, and could be a huge weapon lined up across from AJ. I just hope he can translate all of those YAC abilities from highschool to the SEC.

Speaking of the second best all-time TRUE freshman, I will stick with recent history and say A.J. Green. Led the SEC in receiving and made plays that won us games. His catch against Kentucky won the game for us (You could probably say the same for Dobbs’s catch). If he mistimes the jump, or doesn’t catch the ball, can you imagine what that would have done to our season. Stafford also probably doesn’t throw that ball if he had a receiver in whom he was less confident (at least I’m going to believe that).