DawgNation will offer this report after every game which focuses on the freshmen who played and what they did. No one will lose a redshirt amid the new rules of the 2020 pandemic-affected season. Check out the Georgia football edition from the dominating 44-21 home win against Tennessee.
Georgia played a season-high total of 13 true freshmen against Tennessee. That included two first-year players seeing action for their first snaps as Bulldogs.
Do you which 2020 signee has now also started every game so far this season?
Do those answers intrigue? If so, then the weekly DawgNation “Freshman Report” is filed every week to track that sort of information and reader interest in mind.
Those plays – and the young Georgia football team members who made them – are what the weekly DawgNation “Freshmen Report” is all about. It was created to move the needle forward on all the elite recruiting classes the program signs.
Do those young players that get hyped up make an impact on the team during their first season on campus? There were more of them than ever before in 2020 thanks to seeing former 5-star OT Broderick Jones and DT Nazir Stackhouse on the official participation report for the first time at UGA.
The Bulldogs played 63 players against Tennesee, including 17 redshirt or true freshmen. That’s based on DawgNation’s pregame and postgame observations, the TV copy, social media postings and finally the official postgame participation chart.
Those numbers varied from Week 1 at Arkansas and Auburn in Week 2. Georgia played 59 guys against the Razorbacks, including 18 redshirt or true freshmen. The Auburn game saw 60 Bulldogs on the field and 16 of those who classified as a redshirt or true freshmen.
Freshman WR Jermaine Burton also started the third consecutive games of his UGA career. He made some big plays against Tennessee to show he is really beginning to deserve those starting nods.
Let’s be sure to note here that Georgia played just 15 redshirt or true freshmen among its 63 participants the last time it faced Tennesee in Knoxville.
The quick takeaway from all that charting has not changed so far this year. Georgia is playing even more freshmen this fall against an ALL-SEC schedule than it did in 2019.
RELATED: Did you read what Jeremy Pruitt had to say about Georgia?
Rapid-fire participation info from Georgia-UT
- Georgia started one freshman (Burton) and one redshirt freshman (OT Warren McClendon) against the Vols. The Bulldogs had three freshmen (redshirt or true) start in the opener against Arkansas and against Auburn.
- True freshman TE Darnell Washington did not start this week. His customary spot in the 2020 lineup was claimed by FSU graduate transfer Tre’ McKitty.
- Georgia started 17 sophomores or redshirt sophomores against UT. That matched the totals from the freshman class (redshirts and true freshmen) for the team-high against the Vols.
- Here’s a bright spot for the future: Those last two stats mean that 54 percent of the players Georgia used to beat Tennessee on Saturday will have at least two more seasons of eligibility remaining.
Who played against the Vols (by classes):
- Freshmen: 13 (+2 from last week)
- Redshirt freshmen: 4 (-1 from last week)
- Sophomores: 8
- Redshirt sophomores: 9
- Juniors: 9 (-1 from last week)
- Redshirt juniors: 7 (+2 from last week)
- Seniors: 8
- Redshirt or graduate seniors: 5 (+1 from last week)
- Touchdowns by true or redshirt freshmen: 1 (+1 from last week)
- True or redshirt freshmen among the leading tacklers: 1 (+1 from last week)
Tennessee game freshman focus
Georgia played 17 redshirt or true freshmen. The big picture tallies up to 27 percent of all the Bulldogs who played on Saturday. That equates to:
- 1 of 2 QBs
- 2 of 4 RBs (2 of 5 last week; Junior James Cook did not play vs. UT.)
- 2 of 7 WRs
- 4 of 9 OLs
- 1 of 3 TEs (1 of 2 TEs last week; McKitty got the first snaps of his UGA career this week)
- 4 of 9 DLs (2 of 7 DLs last week)
- 0 of 6 ILBs (1 of 7 ILBs last week; Redshirt freshman Rian Davis did not play.)
- 1 of 5 OLBs (1 of 5 OLBs last week; Senior OLB Jermaine Johnson did not play.)
- 2 of 14 DBs (1 of 11 DBs last week; Major Burns (Fr.), Latavious Brini (R-Jr.) and William Poole III ((R. Jr.) all played against the Vols.)
- 0 of 1 PKs
- 0 of 1 Ps
- 1 of 2 LSs
FRESHMEN BULLDOGS IN 2020
What’s more important? Snaps or starts? Both are important, but there is a reason why certain players start the game and stay on the field for the biggest plays. That’s because the coaches trust them to play winning football by what they have seen on the practice field.
There are common instances where the scheme fit based on each opponent allows for a different starting rotation as well. Georgia started out games in “12” personnel this season.
Here is the weekly list of the true freshmen and redshirt freshmen that have started games in 2020.
- Freshman WR Jermaine Burton (3 games)
- Redshirt freshman QB D’Wan Mathis (1 game)
- Redshirt freshman OT Warren McClendon (2 games)
- Freshman TE Darnell Washington (2 games)
Who started against UT (all freshmen): Burton and McClendon
How many different Bulldogs have played in 2019: 71
How many of those have been freshmen or redshirt freshmen: 21 (30 percent of all participation)
Of note: Georgia has seen eight of its true freshmen play in every game this year. That’s out of the 15 freshmen who have played so far in 2020.
Freshman Game Ball
DT/FB Jalen Carter
(Apopka HS/Apopka, Fla.)
Hgt./Wgt: 6-3/305
Carter earns this weekly “Freshmen Report” honor for the first time this season. He does after his first career Georgia touchdown as a jumbo package fullback. It should come as no surprise for the highly-athletic former 5-star signee. He played a lot of tight end for his Apopka High School team.
This was actually the first time there were multiple redshirt or true freshman Bulldogs under consideration for this honor. True freshman tailback Kendall Milton led all Bulldogs in rushing with his 56 yards against the Vols. He’ll likely do that about 25 or 30 more times in his Georgia career.
Burton also made some big plays on a jet sweep and in the passing game.
Carter got the nod because he caught that touchdown and also contributed three tackles against Tennessee. He has seen good minutes in every game so far this season. That falls clearly in line with the considerable projections for Carter in his true freshman season. He was labeled as one of the most likely impact performers in the DawgNation preseason “Freshman Report” this season.
- The stat line: Carter tied for fourth on the Georgia team with his three tackles (2 solo, 1 assists) against the Vols. He also caught one pass for one yard and a touchdown.
- Of note: That touchdown came on a third-down call and gave the Bulldogs a 36-21 lead. It was a smart call after Georgia had been stopped on a lot of previous short-yardage plays up to that point in the game.
- Final 247Sports Composite recruiting rankings: Nation’s No. 4 DT/No. 18 overall prospect. Carter was the third highest-rated recruit in Georgia’s 2020 class.
- Bet you didn’t know: Carter played for the same high school program which sent future Hall of Famer Warren Sapp to play college football at Miami.
- Bet you didn’t know, Part II: Florida badly wanted Carter and kept coming at him but he never took a visit to another school after he committed to UGA.
- Why Carter chose Georgia: “It felt like home my first time I went there,” he said back at the Under Armour All-American game in December of 2019. “It felt like home. They treated me like home and then when I came back [again] it just got better and better.”
- Former All-American? Yes. He was an Under Armour All-American.
- THEN: Check out Carter’s commitment day story from May of 2019
- NOW: DawgNation’s Connor Riley wrote about Carter earlier this year.
RELATED: Jalen Carter foresees a Tyler Clark role in the Georgia defense
Georgia football: Freshmen Report “Game balls” for 2020
- Freshman DT/FB Jalen Carter: 1
- Redshirt freshman OT Warren McClendon Jr: 1
- Freshman TE Darnell Washington: 1
Notables for other redshirt or true freshmen vs. UT
- Freshman WR Jermaine Burton: He had two catches for 26 yards and also added a 43-yard run on an end-around call in the game.
- Freshman RB Kendall Milton: He had eight carries for 56 yards, including two very impressive never-say-die runs against the Vols.
- Freshman OLB MJ Sherman: Came up with his first career tackle.
- Redshirt freshmen who saw time against Arkansas: QB D’wan Mathis, OL Warren McClendon, LS William Mote and OL Xavier Truss.
FRESHMEN SUPERLATIVES FOR 2020
- Catches (game): 2 (Burton and Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint)
- Catches (season): 4 (Burton)
- Longest catch: 26 (Darnell Washington)
- Longest TD catch: 1 (Jalen Carter)
- Longest run: 43 (Burton)
- Longest TD run: N/A
- Most receiving TDs: 1 (Carter)
- Receiving yards (season): 53 (Burton)
- Rushing yards (season): 90 (Milton)
- Sacks (game): N/A
- Sacks (season): N/A
- Tackles (game): 3 (Carter)
- Tackles (season): 5 (Jalen Carter)
- Tackles for a loss (game): 1 (Carter)
FRESHMEN ON SOCIAL MEDIA
There were a lot of big plays to share from Saturday’s win against the Vols.
FRESHMEN TO PLAY IN EVERY GAME
The following true or redshirt freshmen Bulldogs have played in every game so far this season:
- WR Jermaine Burton
- DT Warren Brinson
- DT Jalen Carter
- RB Daijun Edwards
- CB Jalen Kimber
- Redshirt QB D’Wan Mathis
- Redshirt OT Warren McClendon
- RB Kendall Milton
- Redshirt LS William Mote
- WR Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint
- Redshirt OT Xavier Truss
- TE Darnell Washington
2020 Freshmen participation
The Bulldogs who have seen action so far in 2020.
- S Major Burns (2 games)
- WR Jermaine Burton (3 games)
- DT Warren Brinson (3 games)
- DT Jalen Carter (3 games)
- Redshirt ILB Rian Davis (2 games)
- RB Daijun Edwards (3 games)
- OT Broderick Jones (1 game)
- CB Jalen Kimber (3 games)
- Redshirt QB D’Wan Mathis (3 games)
- Redshirt OT Warren McClendon (3 games)
- RB Kendall Milton (3 games)
- Redshirt DT Tymon Mitchell (1 game)
- Redshirt LS William Mote (3 games)
- Redshirt DE Bill Norton (1 game)
- OT Tate Ratledge (1 game)
- WR Justin Robinson (1 game)
- WR Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint (3 games)
- Redshirt TE Brett Seither (1 game)
- OLB MJ Sherman (2 games)
- DT Nazir Stackhouse (1 game)
- Redshirt OT Xavier Truss (3 games)
- OC Sedrick Van Pran-Granger (2 games)
2020 signees who did not play this week: CB Kelee Ringo (out for year/shoulder); WR Arian Smith (knee/wrist); OL Chad Lindberg; WR Justin Robinson; OL Austin Blaske; DB Daran Branch; OL Devin Willock, WR Ladd McConkey; OL Cameron Kinnie; PK Jared Zirkel
2019 signees who did not play this week: Sophomore WR Dominick Blaylock (out for year/knee); Redshirt freshman ILB Rian Davis; Redshirt freshman TE Ryland Goede; OLB Jermaine Johnson (injury); Redshirt freshman DT Zion Logue; Redshirt freshman DT Tymon Mitchell; Redshirt freshman DE Bill Norton; Redshirt freshman TE Brett Seither; Redshirt freshman WR Makiya Tongue; Redshirt freshman OG Clay Webb.
2018 signees who did not play this week: Redshirt sophomore WR Tommy Bush; Junior RB James Cook (shoulder injury and should return vs. Alabama.)
2017 signees who did not play this week: Redshirt junior WR Trey Blount; Senior Walter Grant.