Profiles in Hope: Freshmen QBs at UGA

If I were ranking the freshman years of Georgia QBs over the past 20 years, I'd put them in this order.

1. Quincy Carter (9-3) - stunning FR year. The next two...not so much. Highlighted by the legendary performance at LSU.

2. David Greene (8-4) - The Boston College and South Carolina games were brutal. Otherwise, a tremendous year highlighted by the Hobnail Boot win.

3. Eric Zeier (9-3) - Transitioned to full-time starter after the big win at home vs. Top 10 Clemson. Dark spot on the record was the loss at Vanderbilt.

4. Matt Stafford (9-4) - Tremendous hope inspiring performances vs. Auburn, Georgia Tech and Va Tech. As well as rag tag outings against Colorado, UAB and Kentucky.

What I found interesting when looking back at those seasons was the biggest determining factor in that Year 1 performance wasn't the natural ability or intelligence of the player. That was certainly a factor, but the quality of the supporting cast around had a tremendous impact on their overall success.

Let's look at their supporting cast:

1. Quincy Carter in 1998
OT - Matt Stinchcomb - 1st Round Draft Pick
OT - Chris Terry - 2nd Round
OG - Jonas Jennings - 2nd Round (Soph on this team)
WR - Champ Bailey - 1st Round
RB - Olandis Gary - 4th round
RB - Patrick Pass - 7th round (Jr on this team)


2. David Greene in 2001
OT - George Foster - 1st Round
OT - Jon Stinchcomb - 2nd Round
WR - Reggie Brown - 2nd Round (FR on this team)
WR - Fred Gibson - 4th Round (FR on this team)
TE - Randy McMichael - 4th Round
RB - Verron Haynes - 5th round
RB - Musa Smith - 3rd round (Soph on this team)
FB - JT Wall - 7th round (Jr on this team)


3. Eric Zeier in 1991
OT - Bernard Williams - 1st round (FR on this team)
OT - Alec Millen - 7th round (JR on this team)
RB - Garrison Hearst - 1st Round (Soph on this team)
WR - Andre Hastings - 3rd round (Soph on this team)


4. 2006 Matt Stafford
OT - Ken Shackleford - 6th round
OG - Chester Adams - 7th round (JR on this team)
TE - Martez Milner - 4th Round
WR - Mohamed Massaquoi - 2nd Round (Soph on this team)
RB - Thomas Brown - 6th Round (INJURED in '06)

Now...check this out:

2010 Aaron Murray

OT - Clint Boling (30+ starts. All-Star)
OG - Cordy Glenn (20+ starts. All-Star Candidate)
OG - Chris Davis (30+ starts. Role Player)
C - Ben Jones (20+ starts. All-Star Candidate)
TE - Orson Charles - will play on Sundays
WR - AJ Green - will play on Sundays
RB - Two above average or better backs with experience
OT - Trinton Sturdivant (if healthy potential all-star)

The point -- As Mark Richt said last week, Aaron Murray doesn't have to be a hero. He simply has to play solid football and let the offensive pieces around him do the heavy lifting. When you have solid tools to work with you can make magic happen.

It's also worth nothing that 3 of the last 4 freshmen QBs won 9 games. So the predictions from the peanut gallery of a 7 or 8 win season because UGA has a freshmen QB seem more than a bit pessimistic.

See Also:
-- Georgia's strongest and weakest units - Chris Low ESPN

PWD