georgia football quarterback play elite JT Daniels

ATHENS — One of the mantras of this Georgia football team is, “You’re either elite or you’re not.” Through five games, it’s pretty clear Georgia falls into the elite category in most areas. Defense, special teams, talent for sure.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart mentioned the word elite 14 times in his press conference on Saturday. He’s made it a point to use that specific word as Georgia makes its way through the 2021 season.

“The buy-in to that has been great. The kids, they understand it,” Smart said. “There’s not a lot of grey area where it’s 50-50. You either are, or you’re not. Nobody wants to be not. Everybody wants to be elite, at least in this group, and that’s kind of permeated into our team.”

The Bulldogs (5-0, 3-0) thrashed Arkansas (4-1, 1-1) on Saturday. The 37-0 final score did not indicate a game between the No. 2 and No. 8 teams in the country. Some of that can be chalked up to the talent edge the Bulldogs had over Arkansas. But Georgia was also playing with its back-up quarterback in Stetson Bennett. Imagine what the score might have been with JT Daniels able to play.

Daniels was absent once again on Saturday, as he is now dealing with a Grade 1 lat strain. Smart stated Daniels’ status was week-to-week, adding the Georgia quarterback will be a game-time decision going into Auburn.

Georgia was not the only top-ranked team to blast a ranked foe on Saturday. Alabama absolutely manhandled No. 12 Ole Miss. The final score was 42-21, but the Crimson Tide at one point had a 42-7 lead.

There’s been little doubt that Alabama and Georgia have been the best two teams in college football this season. Question their schedules all you want, but those two teams have passed every major test so far. More often than not, the two teams have won in dominating fashion. They certainly did so on Saturday.

The same cannot be said for the rest of the top teams in college football. No. 10 Florida and No. 3 Oregon lost to unranked foes on Saturday. No. 9 Notre Dame lost at home by double digits to Cincinnati. Oklahoma once again won a one-score game against an unranked Big 12 opponent.

If Georgia and Alabama continue to play head and shoulders above the rest of the country, the two programs will likely be on a collision course for the SEC championship game. Georgia still has difficult games against Auburn, Kentucky and Florida, but each of those opponents has shown signs of weakness this year.

If there’s an area complaint about Georgia though, it’s the lack of availability when it comes to Daniels.

“JT can’t control his lat injury,” Smart said. “There’s nothing I can say. I’ve talked to trainers at the Cowboys, the Yankees. We’ve done all this research. There’s nothing else we can do but let it heal.”

Smart may not like the questions about Daniels and what he means for Georgia’s potential. Bennett was once again good enough to lead Georgia to win on Saturday. But no one can look at Bennett’s 72 yards passing on 11 attempts and declare that as elite.

Smart side-stepped a question about what Georgia’s ceiling might be this season, stating instead he prefers to focus on growth.

If the Georgia offense is going to continue to grow, Daniels offers the chance to maximize the output of the offense. The Bulldogs did get Darnell Washington back and hope to see other receivers like Kearis Jackson, Dominick Blaylock and others take on expanded roles in the weeks to come.

The offensive line and running game took major steps forward on Saturday, as the Bulldogs ran for a season-best 273 yards. So to Smart’s point, Georgia has shown signs of growth.

But the offense has always looked its best when Daniels is under center. And if the Bulldogs are going to continue to be elite, eventually it will need Daniels first to play and then play well.

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