The Bulldogs took down Texas on Saturday night with a playing rotation that was almost exclusively veterans.
Georgia used only three true freshmen in Saturday’s 30-15 win against a team that held the consensus No. 1 ranking in the land coming into the game.
We’ve charted freshman participation for many years for DawgNation and just seeing three true freshmen see the field is a very low figure. Even for a Top 10 matchup.
That said, it wasn’t like the Bulldogs played a lot of sophomores, juniors and seniors either.
There were just 40 Bulldogs on the postgame participation report. That’s also as low of a figure as a I can remember for the Dawgs in a big game.
Here’s a few examples to reinforce that point.
- Players that saw action for Texas against No. 5 Georgia (2024): 51
- True freshmen that saw action for Texas against No. 5 Georgia (2024): 7 (Plus an additional five redshirt freshmen)
- Players that saw action for Georgia at No. 4 Alabama (2024): 49 (3 true freshmen)
- Players that saw action for Georgia against No. 8 Alabama (2023): 57 (7 true freshmen)
- Players that saw action for Georgia against No. 4 Ohio State (2022): 55 (9 true freshmen)
- Players that saw action for Georgia against No. 1 Tennessee (2022): 57 (10 true freshmen)
Remember how Kirby Smart has kept driving home the point that nobody has any depth any more thanks to the transfer portal? That is an Exhibit A to support what he’s saying.
At least for an elite roster like the one in place at UGA.
That’s the first interesting participation takeaway from the Texas game.
The second is what the total participation outlook looks like for the 2024 roster, including the freshman class.
Georgia true freshmen participation class so far in 2024
We’re at what could be seen as the midpoint of the season. The Bulldogs have played seven games and the team we saw on Saturday in Austin is in line to play about eight or nine more games this year.
That’s crazy to just think about with the advent of the 12-team playoffs.
This week also marks the second bye week of the season. It is a good time to take a look at how much the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class from the last cycle has gotten on the field up to this point.
There are two freshmen Bulldogs that have seen action in every game this fall. That’s interesting, but it is also intriguing to monitor which freshman are in line for a redsirt or who have already burnt theirs.
These four Bulldogs are no longer eligible for a redshirt for the 2024 season. Safety KJ Bolden has made the biggest impact for the Dawgs this fall. The first-half suspensions that will be enforced to a pair of safeties for the Florida game now put him in line for the first college start of his career in Jacksonville.
- S KJ Bolden (former 5-star recruit/Nation’s No. 1 S): 7 games
- LB Chris Cole (former 5-star recruit/Nation’s No. 3 LB): 7 games
- RB Nate Frazier (former 5-star recruit/Nation’s No. 2 RB): 6 games
- OT Jahzare Jackson (former 3-star recruit/Nation’s No. 74 OT): 6 games
Chris Cole is the other Bulldog to see action in every game. He’s really coming on of late. He got more than 20 snap on Saturday against Texas, including the near one-handed interception that got everyone’s attention.
The following Bulldogs could still qualify for a redshirt for the 2024 season. The limit is participation in up to four games before losing the ability to take this season as a redshirt year.
With games left to play against Florida, Ole Miss, Tennessee, UMass and Georgia Tech in the regular season, there’s a possibility for a few of these names to see action in a couple more games this fall. At least.
If there’s an injury at their position group, their chances of substantial playing time will also go up.
- DE Joseph Jonah-Ajonye (former 5-star recruit/Nation’s No. 6 DE): 4 games
- EDGE Quintavius Johnson (former 3-star recruit/Nation’s No. 30 EDGE): 4 games
- LB Justin Williams (former 5-star recruit/Nation’s No. 1 LB): 4 games
- CB Ellis Robinson IV (former 5-star recruit/Nation’s No. 1 CB): 3 games
- RB Chauncey Bowens (former 4-star recruit/Nation’s No. 17 RB): 2 games
- OL Daniel Calhoun (former 4-star recruit/Nation’s No. 9 OT): 2 games
- TE Colton Heinrich (former x-star recruit/Nation’s No. 33 TE): 2 games
- CB Demello Jones (former 4-star recruit/Nation’s No. 3 S): 2 games
- TE Jaden Reddell (former 4-star recruit/Nation’s No. 4 TE): 2 games
- DL Jordan Thomas (former 4-star recruit/Nation’s No. 14 DL): 2 games
- WR Nitro Tuggle (former 4-star/Nation’s No. 20 WR): 2 games
- WR Jeremy Bell (Former 3-star; preferred walk-on): 1 game
- OT Nyier Daniels (Former 4-star: Nation’s No. 24 OT: 1 game
- OL Marques Easley (former 4-star recruit/Nation’s No. 21 OT): 1 game
- DL Justin Greene (former 4-star recruit/Nation’s No. 27 DL): 1 game
- DT Nasir Johnson (former 4-star recruit/Nation’s No. 16 DL: 1 game
- DT Nnamdi Ogboko (former 3-star/Nation’s No. 85 DL: 1 game
- WR Sacovie White (former 4-star/Nation’s No. 23 ATH: 1 game
- OL Michael Uini (former 4-star/Nation’s No. 7 OT: 1 game
The following freshmen have yet to see action in 2024: 4-star CB Ondre Evans; 4-star OT Marcus Harrison; 4-star LB Kristopher C. Jones; 4-star RB Dwight Phillips Jr.; 4-star QB Ryan Puglisi; 3-star IOL Malachi Toliver; 3-star P Drew Miller.
What about the redshirt freshmen?
Georgia had a season-high 18 freshmen see action against Tennesee Tech earlier this year. But that figure also included another five redshirt freshmen.
These are the redshirt freshmen that have seen action this year
- DL Xavier McLeod: 5 games
- DB Kyron Jones: 4 games
- DB Chris Peal: 3 games
- OT Bo Hughley: 2 games
- OT Jamal Meriweather: 2 games
- DB Justyn Rhett: 2 games
- WR Walter Blanchard (PWO): 1 game
That adds up to a total of 30 freshmen or redshirt freshmen Bulldogs that have seen action so far during the 2024 season.
Georgia football participation so far in 2024: A few other nuggets
Those aren’t the only interesting things we see when looking at the 2024 participation roster for the entire team this fall.
A few elements stand out:
- Transfer WR Michael Jackson also appears in line for a redshit having played in just one game so far this season. He saw action in 25 games in his first three years of college football at USC. Jackson even made three stars for the Trojans. That seems to say something about the differences between the two programs.
- Highly-regarded Class of 2023 LB signee Troy Bowles has seen action in two games this year. This is his second season in Athens, but he did not report early in the fall of 2023. He looks in line for a redshirt this fall after seeing action in five games as a true freshman.
- Bowles was the No. 6 LB in America in the 2023 cycle. He was rated as the nation’s No. 80 overall recruit.
- Alabama transfer Jake Pope redshirted during his first season in Tuscaloosa in 2022. He then played in 12 games for the Crimson Tide last fall. Pope has seen action in just two games so far for the Bulldogs.
- Redshirt sophomore LB Terrell Foster has played in six games this season. The preferred walk-on LB saw action in eight games last fall. He redshirted his first year at UGA in 2022. I continue to carry the opinion that there are a few teams in the SEC that he would start for this fall. The stories we’ve presented so far on Bowles and Foster show just how strong the LB room is in Athens.
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)
