Georgia football has traditionally relied on its depth. Georgia’s recent depth advantage is likely the most important reason the team rose to the top of the college football world and has remained there.
Depth is obviously critical because you never know what will happen with the guys on your team. Injuries happen all the time, and players get fatigued and need to rest during games, so having players on the second and third units who are just as talented (if not better) than the starters is critical for a team to genuinely compete for a national championship.
Georgia has had that level of depth for a long time, but Kirby Smart believes this year’s squad lacks it.
“We don’t have enough depth at any position,” Smart stated on 247sports.com. “I don’t know a single coach who will tell you, ‘I have the best depth in the world. We’re excellent there. I don’t feel good about our depth. I’m not happy with our depth at snapper. I’m not happy with our depth at holder. I’m not confident in our depth at field goal protection. I don’t feel good about our wide receiver depth or anything because I don’t think you have enough time to practice the way you should.”
What happened to Georgia’s depth?
There isn’t anything Georgia has done intentionally to undermine their depth; it’s more a function of college football’s times.
Sure, Georgia sends a lot of players to the NFL every season, which definitely reduces their depth. However, the transfer portal has the most impact on this. It is so easy for players nowadays to switch schools the moment everything does not go their way. This is common when a freshman arrives at college, does not play as much as they believe they should, and then decides to leave for a better chance elsewhere.
There’s no telling how often that’s happened at Georgia, but it’s happening all over the country, so it’s highly probable it’s happened in Athens too.
To offset this, Smart and his staff will have to work extra hard each season to increase the depth in the locker room. The sooner they bring players farther down the depth chart up to speed, the better Georgia will be in the long run.
That is not just true for future seasons, but also for this year if any of Georgia’s great players are sidelined due to injury.
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