Thursday Morning ‘Dawg Bites

I’ll be honest, I kind of enjoy bye weeks. They’re pretty laid back, I can cherry pick the matchups and there’s almost no stress involved. For the most part I couldn’t care less about who wins and loses, so I’m just hoping for some good football.

That said, still have to keep up with the Dawgs, so let’s hop right into the top headlines.

There’s a potential suspension looming for Natrez Patrick and Roquan Smith. Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart didn’t offer any glimpse into what that would be, or if it would be, but he did say the coaching staff is gathering more information. Neither player was arrested after the smell of marijuana was reported as coming from Patrick’s dorm room. Patrick, for his part, said they were smoking Black ‘N Mild cigars.

Bye weeks bring with them plenty of opportunities to improve. That’s what Smart is looking for from freshman quarterback Jacob Eason. Take it away, Coach -

“The biggest thing is communication to the group, making sure that everybody is getting the call and understands what it’s supposed to be,” Smart said. “He can fix any mistakes and errors that are there, and then settle his feet in the pocket and read coverages. He’s really gotten better and he’s more proficient in telling you what the coverage was after the play. Teams just don’t line up and make it easy for you. They make it as complicated as they can. Most of them do a good job of confusing young quarterbacks.”

Quite a few Bulldogs are dinged up and could use the bye week. That includes Isaiah McKenzie, who is nursing a left arm injury. Cornerback Deandre Baker, receiver Tyler Simmons and inside linebacker Rashad Roundtree were also in black non-contact jerseys. Another note from Seth Emerson - “graduate assistant D.J. Looney was singing ‘White Christmas.’”

Credit to the leaders on this Georgia team, including junior tight end Jeb Blazevich for stepping up and leading by example during the bye. Obviously this isn’t where the Georgia Bulldogs had planned to be at this point in the year. However, what’s done is done and can’t be changed and now it’s all about moving forward and getting better - even during the off week.

Here at the halfway point in the season, five Bulldogs were named to the 247Sports Top 247. You could probably take a guess and get the majority, if not all, of the five. Only one of them was also a member of the preseason Top 247, and I doubt that answer will shock you.

‘Til next time... Go ‘Dawgs!