Smart - 'You can't prepare four, five or even three quarterbacks'

Kirby Smart stated Saturday that it's hard to prepare multiple quarterbacks to play at once. Expect Georgia to pick a starting quarterback sooner than they lead on.

Kirby Smart isn't one to give the media anything more than he needs to, and rightfully so. Some of this game's greatest coaches are standoffish in their comments to reporters. Nick Saban is notoriously peppery with the media. Bill Belichick has become known for the way he handles questions, staunchly responding at every turn. 

They aren't just being waspish for no reason. They are also doing everything they can to ensure that their opponents don't learn anything from their comments. 

So, if you're wondering who will be Georgia's starting quarterback and when the decision will be made, Kirby Smart has you exactly where he wants you, and Sam Pittman for that matter.

But just because he says that they haven't decided who will be the starting quarterback just yet, doesn't mean he doesn't think it should sometime soon and you can tell by what he did say yesterday when speaking to the media. 

"I don't think we're ready to say where the quarterbacks are in terms of the development and which guys step it up. The biggest issue with the quarterbacks is the number of reps, you can't prepare four, five or even three quarterbacks, so that makes it tough."

There are only so many reps available during practice, and if you are splitting them between several different potential starters, you are hindering the development of the player, and therefore hindering the development of the offense. So, though I could see Kirby Smart announcing a starting quarterback September 26th during the pregame sideline interview, that doesn't mean they won't make a decision much earlier during practice. 

And they need to make a decision relatively soon. It's not a "hot take" to say that JT Daniels, Jamie Newman, and D'Wan Mathis are three completely different football players. Warren Ericson said so himself when speaking to the media. 

And with different skillsets and abilities comes a totally different offensive gameplan for each respective player. 

Jamie Newman

Newman is no slouch when it comes to throwing the football. He's deadly accurate on deep throws, something that Todd Monken's offense is predicated upon. Monken's offense is designed to be as explosive as they can be, when 1 out of every 8 plays being a run of 12+ yards, or a pass of 16+ yards. Now, what Newman provides to an offense is the ability to design quarterback runs. 

And I'm not talking about the ability to keep the ball on read options, all of these quarterbacks have that general ability. I am talkign about the ability to run QB counter, QB power, and various option looks out on the edge. These are actual design quarterback runs that have the QB being the primary and sole focus of the run. That's something that you can't do with Daniels, and you wouldn't likely want to do with D'Wan Mathis more than 3 or 4 times per game. Newman could easily handle 10 to 15 carries per contest in the SEC. 

JT Daniels

Yes, I know that Todd Monken has stated that JT Daniels is a much better athlete than he expected, and as is advertised, but we are talking about a football player that hasn't even been cleared for full-contact according to Kirby Smart. I don't see an offense being designed for him that has QB runs implemented into the system for him just yet. 

It's hard to evaluate what we saw from Daniels in 2018 at USC. He was an 18-year old freshman that should have still been playing high school football. He was a turnover machine, both fumbles and interceptions, and the deep ball accuracy was troublesome for the majority of the season. He's doesn't have off the charts arm strength, he won't be unleashing 70-yard bombs, but what he does have is great touch and timing and is best when he gets the ball out of his hands quickly. 

D'Wan Mathis

Mathis is a hybrid of everything you want at the quarterback position. He's athletic enough to make plays with his feet, though he's not a run-first quarterback by any means. He's got the ability to get the ball to any portion of the field, and he knows it. He can throw on the run, and stand in the pocket and deliver strikes. But, he's an inexperienced young quarterback and you will have to design an offense with that in mind. 

You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top righthand corner of the page. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook @BulldogMaven & follow us on Twitter at @DawgsDailySI.