Emptying The Notebook: Intel on Georgia RBs, offseason thoughts

Final exams are coming up at Georgia and the offseason is in full swing. That will not, however, prevent us from turning the notebook upside down and shaking it so everything falls out. DawgsHQ does that for you below.

I’ll start with running back rather than quarterback today because it seems that some have concerns about the health of that group when preseason camp rolls around. As of right now, I expect Georgia to be at full strength. Rusty Mansell reported on Monday that Andrew Paul is looking great and ahead of schedule. That’s promising.

I’ve checked with other sources who say Kendall Milton is basically good to go now and Branson Robinson is expected to be getting himself in shape before the start of camp. I hesitate to just go ahead and proclaim he’ll be ready because foot injuries are weird but that’s the expectation right now. I also want to say that when Robinson was healthy this spring, the buzz was consistent. Heading into the final week, after the second scrimmage, I had trusted sources tell me that he absolutely looked the part of a No. 1 back.

Add in Daijun Edwards and Roderick Robinson, and the depth there is fine. It’s hard to carry more guys than that. The fact that Georgia didn’t go after anyone in the portal says something about how it feels about the situation. It would have made room if it needed to.

Before I get into the quarterbacks, I want to talk about Dylan Raiola. Listen I know you guys want him to be on the commitment list yesterday. Who wouldn’t? Whether he’s on there or not, teams are going to be reaching out and trying to catch his eye. Apparently there’s a quote floating around out there that he likes USC’s addition of Kliff Kingsbury as an analyst and says it has an effect on him.

Well Kingsbury was hired almost a month ago and the Raiola really picked up after that. I’m not saying that USC isn’t a factor at all. We’ve never called him a lock. But from everything I’ve heard over the past few weeks, Georgia is in a great spot. I’m just as confident that the Bulldogs land him now as I was when I made the RPM pick, if not more.

As for Georgia’s current quarterbacks, I’ve been doing some checking on Gunner Stockton. I’m not sure if folks picked up on this in our reporting but man, you hear A LOT of buzz about him from the practice field. It happened during last season and some this spring. One source tells me that he’s still very much learning the offense and getting comfortable, which is understandable due to the fact that he ran the scout team last season. But that same source says that when it comes to running the parts of the offense that he does know well, he’s a really impressive player. He’s well behind Carson Beck at this point and clearly behind Brock Vandagriff, but he’s coming along.

Remember how I told you yesterday that I hadn’t put in a Georgia RPM pick for Vestavia Hills (Birmingham, Ala.) EDGE Jordan Ross because it felt like a recruitment could turn on a dime? Well, I still think Georgia is in a great spot but I’m hearing some buzz about Florida making a move with him as well. I think that right now Georgia and Florida are the main contenders based on what I’m hearing with Tennessee maybe fading just a tiny bit and Alabama trying to gain some more ground. The month of June will tell the tale.

One more team note: Do not count out Julian Humphrey in the battle for that starting cornerback job. I’ve spoken with multiple sources who say that while he’s definitely raw, his upside is through the roof. He showed some flashes this spring that had folks buzzing. He’s battling Daylen Everette and Nyland Green really hard, but a great summer might allow him to move right past those two. We’ll see.

Lastly, I want to shout out Rusty and say how thankful I am that he joined us this week. I didn’t know him all that well when I jumped at the chance to work with him for the first time around nine years ago. I knew him a lot better when this all came together at DawgsHQ. I was excited nine years ago. I was more excited when we locked all of this in. I’m even more excited after a few days.

Jake Reuse and Palmer Thombs held this thing down like champs for months and Wes Blankenship came in here before i did and hit the ground running. We’re super stoked about our staff here and we want to extend a special thanks to those of you who trickled over starting on day one. You gave us a shot and stuck with us (or came back) and we appreciate that. We can only talk to and amongst ourselves for so long.

You haven’t seen it just yet but this will be a different experience than previous team sites. We’re going to be ourselves, work as hard as we can for you all, and have a lot of fun with you in the process.

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