Maestro, cue the music:
Welcome to the first Free Form Friday installment of April. I'm told that it will eventually get over 55 degrees here in Macon, though I have no recent empirical evidence to support that conclusion. I take some comfort in the fact that I'm not alone. Your Georgia Bulldogs have been putting in the hours in the cold over the past few weeks as part of spring practice. Tomorrow they'll be kicking it off at 1 p.m. in Sanford Stadium in the closest thing to real, honest to goodness football that we'll see for several months still: the annual G Day Game.
Oddly, as of the writing of this post the respective rosters for the red and black squads have not been announced, so I can't really tell you which one-on-one matchups to watch. I can tell you the game will be televised on CSS and available streaming on ESPN3. Here at Dawg Sports we'll even be doing an open comment thread because, you know, college football.
While there are a probably dozens of storylines to keep an eye on, these are some of the things I'm looking forward to seeing:
- Josh Harvey-Clemons in the secondary. He's worked at safety a good bit this spring and I'm curious to see if he has the quickness to play centerfield in the SEC.
- Ray Drew in extended action at defensive end. It seems like we've been waiting for five years for Drew to break out, despite the fact that he's only a junior. Now he has a chance to move into the starting rotation, where he showed significant progress late in 2012.
- Whether "the Reggies" will demonstrate that the rave reviews they've received this spring were justified.
- Whether Johnathon Rumph will present a real match up problem for smaller defensive backs.
- How Jonathan Taylor looks at defensive end. I was certain the former Jenkins County standout was ticketed to play nose, but he's been working at end too. I'll be curious to see if he has the quickness to set the edge.
Finally, a brief public service announcement. For those of you heading to Athens for the day, the Undergraduate Neuroscience Organization will be hosting their third annual all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast to benefit Parkinson's Disease research. They'll have a variety of delectable cakes (heck, even gluten free), coffee from Jittery Joe's, and live entertainment from UGA a capella groups the Ecotones and Noteworthy. Admission is $5, and the event will be held in the Memorial Hall Ballroom (opposite Tate Plaza).
So what are your G Day plans? What are you looking for besides the standard goals of no injuries, no arrests, and no asteroids? Until later . . .
Go 'Dawgs!!!