Saturdays in Athens
GEORGE SOMERVILLE – THE TOUCHDOWN SEC CORRESPONDENT
Saturday 10th December 2022
With Georgia’s demolition of the LSU Tigers in the rear view mirror, we say adios to the 2022 SEC football season.
But with bowl games and the National Championship play off games the focus now, things have slowed a little in SEC land. Much of this is because student athletes have returned for the last few weeks of semester and Coaches now hitting the road as the recruiting window opens.
So time to put the feet up and rest after a long hard SEC season I hear you say? Nope. Not a chance. As they say, the SEC is the conference that never sleeps. So here I am grabbing the headlines as they fall like snow. Poignant for this frosty time of year.
Here are this weeks headlines….let’s get started y’all!
portal problems for Bama
Tuescaloosa, AL
There was a surprising amount of transfer portal activity out of Tuscaloosa in the week after the Iron Bowl game. A number of players, as you would expect those not featuring regularly – intimated they would seek to play their football away from Alabama next season. Of course with the transfer portal effectively encouraging the free transfer of players, it is now the norm to find higher numbers of players dipping their toes in the water to see if they can be enticed to greener grass and dare I say it, better NIL deals.
This was certainly the case this week, with 19 of Alabama’s rostered players entering the transfer portal – the largest representation from any team at this stage.
A surprising number of offensive line players decided to opt out including, Javion Cohen, Damieon George Jr, Tommy Brockermeyer, Amari Knight and Tanner Bowles. Per the Athletic, three wide receivers – Traeshon Holden, Jo Jo Earle and Christian Leary have also taken the opportunity to move on. As previously reported, running back Trey Sanders has also entered the portal.
With the exception of Cohen, none of these players were perpetual starters and given the season that Bama has just had it is likely that changes will be made on both the coaching side and within the roster regardless. So some players taking the opportunity to jump before they were pushed.
Tanner Bowles has since confirmed he will transfer to Kentucky and continue to play his football in the SEC.
Burton Stays Put
One player who has experience of the transfer portal but who has decided to stay in Tuscaloosa is wide receiver, Jermaine Burton.
Suffice to say that Burton has had a tumultuous time in Tuscaloosa since his transfer from Georgia. Burton did not make the impact at wideout that he nor Alabama thought he would have. All of this was further exacerbated with his unprovoked assault on a student on the field after Tennessee had beaten the Crimson Tide. Things did not look good for Burton.
However in the last 3 games of the season things seemed to click for Burton. Against Austin Peay he had his best game of the season with two touchdown’s and 128 yards. Prior to the Sugar Bowl, Burton has 37 receptions for 590 yards and 6 touchdowns. It is fair to say that the vast majority of that tally came in the second half of the regular season.
While not confirmed by Burton himself, Alabama beat writers are reporting that the Junior who would be draft eligible, is expected to stay in Tuscaloosa. Given the turnover at wide receiver over the last few seasons, this will be good news for Nick Saban and his coaching staff.
#RollTide
Speaking of acrimonious splits....
Thank you🤍🐶 #HailStateForever pic.twitter.com/eZgbRuci91
— Dillon Johnson (@Dill_7k) December 8, 2022
Starkville, ms
Speaking of players transferring via the portal, Mississippi State running back Dillon Johnson announced via Twitter that he was leaving Starkville.
In a post on his social media account, Johnson thanked family and friends for their support but stopped a long way short of thanking his head coach. A long way short. Johnson said,
“With that being said, since I am not very tough, and Leach is glad I am leaving, I will be entering my name into the transfer portal with the hopes of finding a more fit playing environment for me,”
Ouch. Which is quite the indictment of the relationship Johnson had with coach Mike Leach. Responding to ESPN, per Mark Schlabach, Leach said,
“We only comment on players currently with our program. In any case, we wish him the best with his future.”
We know from past experience that Leach can have a love-hate relationship with players and it would appear that Johnson is not in the love camp.
#HailState
kentucky fried Mertz
— Graham Mertz (@GrahamMertz5) December 4, 2022
Lexington, KY
There is no doubt that Will Levis’ departure for the NFL leaves a huge hole at quarterback for the Kentucky Wildcats. With Levis’ announcement to forego Kentucky’s bowl game, this leaves the Wildcats with three quarterbacks on the roster – sophomore Deuce Hogan, redshirt freshman Kaiya Sheron and true freshman Destin Wade.
Next season there will be changes all round in Lexington, following Mark Stoops decision to let quarterback coach Rick Scangarello and running backs/special teams coach John Settle go.
But an interesting name appeared in reports this week about a possible transfer into Big Blue which may solve this QB conundrum. Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz announced that he would enter the portal following the appointment of Luke Fickell as the new Wisconsin head coach.
Mertz has 2 years of eligibility remaining. Per ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, Mertz has accumulated 5,405 passing yards with 38 touchdowns and 26 interceptions over his 3 years with the Badgers. Mertz’s record is 19-13 as Wisconsin’s starting quarterback.
Bringing in an experienced QB such as Mertz would help Coach Stoops in his bid to get Kentucky back on track after a relatively disappointing 7-5 season which landed the Wildcats 4th in the SEC East – in a season where they were expected to fight for the SEC East title. Watch this space.
#BBN
Heisman Hopeful
Athens, ga
This week the finalists for the 2021 Heisman award were shortlisted. Arguably this year’s contest for the best player in college football is wide open.
Ohio State’s CJ Stroud, USC’s Caleb Williams, TCU’s Max Duggan and the Mailman from Georgia, Stetson Bennett IV are the players making their way to New York City.
From an SEC perspective perhaps there is some debate as to why Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker isn’t travelling North for the ceremony, but one thing we know is that Heisman voters have notoriously short memories. Meaning the Vols QB who has had a historically great season has to sit the party out.
All of this should not diminish the seat that Georgia’s Stetson Bennett has at the Heisman table. The much maligned Bennett has come on a quite remarkable journey. A walk on at Georgia -the school he really wanted to attend but wasn’t offered a scholarship – Bennett started with the scout team. He could not break through and with Justin Fields the QB1 in waiting behind Jake Fromm, Bennett transferred to JUCO. After a successful year Bennett wanted back into FBS and by chance Justin Fields did not want to wait his turn in Georgia and transferred to Ohio State. Bennett sensed a chance and came back to Athens. However, even this wasn’t an easy ride second time around. JT Daniels had transferred in from California and was the highly regarded, big reputation QB that Georgia fans so craved.
Things did not work out for Daniels or the other UGA quarterbacks that Kirby Smart tinkered with, and Bennett got his shot. While the college football world and Georgia fans would not give Bennett the credit he deserved for being a National Champion, Stetson’s confidence grew exponentially as Georgia’s QB.
This season’s Todd Monken offense is nearly unrecognisable in comparison to last year – in a good way – and Bennett is the orchestra’s conductor. Finally, Bennett is the leader of this Georgia team.
Which is funny as the criticism being levelled at Bennett’s Heisman final votes is that voters are only marking an x beside his name because he is the QB of the best team in the land. Make your mind up folks.
What we do know is that should Georgia and Bennett achieve back to back National Championships, the record books will be rewritten. While the Heisman will have been won and lost long before the Natty is handed out, it would be hard to see past the Mailman should he deliver a second successive National Championship to the people of Athens. But of course that’s not how it works.
#GoDawgs
GEORGE SOMERVILLE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER
A GLASWEGIAN LIVING IN LONDON, GEORGE IS A COLLEGE FOOTBALL FAN WHO FOLLOWS THE ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE. HE PROVIDES CFB CONTENT FOR THE TOUCHDOWN AND IS ONE THIRD OF THE COLLEGE CHAPS PODCAST.