Georgia Bulldogs 2025 Preview
Elite Or Not?
By: Joe Delaney
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
In 2024 the Georgia Bulldogs won the SEC Championship and went to the College Football Playoffs. They won 11 games and beat the 2025 consensus number 1 team Texas twice.
What a great year, right? Not hardly sports fans. Such are the expectations in Athens, Ga these days. It doesn’t matter that many of the 2024 starters are in NFL camps right now. And the 2025 schedule has top twenty teams all through it. The Dawgs are expected to win and win big!
This all starts with Kirby Smart. Widely acknowledged as one of if not the best college coach in America. Kirby has built a dynasty.
And while the Dawgs annually reload, this year’s edition has more young gunslingers than in the past. That means Kirby will have to be at his best. And that goes for Bobo, Schuman, and the rest of staff.
There are holes to fill and changes to be made. The talent is younger than ever. Georgia will be very good. But will they be elite? That is probably Kirby’s’ favorite phrase. With the schedule they play they had better be.
For me there are 4 critical keys for Georgia in 2025. If these end up positive then the Dawgs will be hell.
First is the offensive line. Georgia lost 4 linemen to the NFL this year. And yet they underachieved. Rushing per game was horrendous. Especially in the 3 losses.
Granted many of Georgia’s second teamers would start for many SEC schools. Well, it’s time for some young pups to get rabid.
Monroe Freeling, Micah Morris (Camden County), Drew Bobo, and Ernest Greene all have starting experience. Add in Daniel Calhoun and these guys have got to be better in the rushing game and protecting the QB.
Secondly is the defensive line. Kirby Smarts Dawg teams have regularly sent D linemen to the NFL. This year was no exception.
And while Christen Miller, Gabe Harris, Xavier McLeod and Jordan Hall have all played extensive minutes for the Red and Black. They and their cohorts will need to step it up in 2025. The linebackers and defensive backs should be solid. So how the defense plays will rest on how the line plays.
Next is Brett Thorson. What? The punter? YEAH…… Think how many times Thorson flipped the field against teams. It’s a big difference to have to drive 80 or 90 yards as opposed to 50. He was missed terribly in the Playoff loss to Notre Dame. How he returns from ACL surgery is critical for the Dawgs.
And last but not least is you guessed it……. Gunner.
Is he serviceable or is he elite? We’re about to find out. With an improved rushing game and receivers who don’t lead the nation in drops, Gunner could be very good.
They have brought in help for both of those shortcomings from last year. If he plays within himself and limits his mistakes, he could be very good.
Throw in the best tight end room in the nation and it’s there for him.
He is completely different from Carson Beck and the team loves the guy. How he held on to the ball on the run to inside the 5 against Texas I’ll never know.
The Dawgs need to run the ball and catch the ball. That’s bottom line. Do that and Gunner has a good chance to shine.
The schedule gets Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas at home.
Alabama and Texas will see Athens go completely crazy.
Road games at Tennessee and Auburn are scary.
Throw in the Gators and Jackets and the pups had better be DAWGS by the time they head to Knoxville.
The Dawgs have the talent. They also have two home games to start the season that should help them fix any issues. After that all hell will break loose one way or the other.
Play Ball
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It’s college baseball’s Opening Day! With the beginning of the season looming, let’s dive into what this season could look like for a couple clubs across the state of Georgia.
Georgia Tech: This season will be the 130th season of baseball for the Jackets and 32nd year under head coach Danny Hall.
Last season saw the white and gold finish with a 33-25 record thanks to rattling off four straight series wins in ACC play in the month of April and winning five of the last seven series in the regular season.
The 2024 campaign ended in the finals of the Athens Regional as a 10-inning loss at the hands of the in-state rival Georgia kept the Jackets from advancing to a Super Regional and continues the drought that hasn’t seen the Jackets advance past a regional since 2006.
The 2025 season will see many fresh faces to the Flats with 31 newcomers into the program this season. Inside that list of newcomers includes the nation’s #2 ranked freshman class by Perfect Game with 21 freshmen coming into the program.
In addition, there will also be a good nucleus of returners for GT led by Drew Burress who took the college baseball world by storm last season.
Burress in his rookie season last year set the Freshman record for homeruns at Georgia Tech with 25 long balls in route to hitting .381 and driving in 67 RBI while collecting ACC Freshman of the Year and named a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist.
Obviously, there are huge expectations for Burress coming into 2025 being named the D1 Baseball pre-season ACC Player of the Year, but other names add to the list of returners to watch.
Tate McKee also showed flashes as a freshman last year on the mound and is expected to be the Opening Day starter for the Jackets on the bump to build off the 4-5 record in 18 appearances (8 starts) last season.
Again, I may be biased (calling GT Baseball games on radio every day), but this Jackets club has the potential to be special.
Drew Burress said it perfectly in the pre-season media availability when he said, “This team has a lot more talent than last year, so the celling is so much higher, but at this point the floor is much lower because we haven’t hit the field.” A lot to prove, but also a lot to be excited about in Midtown Atlanta.
Georgia: Year one for the Bulldogs under new Head Coach Wes Johnson proved to be successful with hosting a Super Regional at Foley Field after winning the Athens Regional.
The off-season has been about construction. In the literal sense, Foley Field has undergone a $45 million renovation upgrade process with incredible additions to one of the country’s best atmospheres to begin with. In the figurative side, Wes Johnson has gone to work “constructing” a much deeper club for the Dawgs in 2025.
Even with the departures of Charlie Condon and Corey Collins in the middle of the lineup, many across the country believe that UGA will be deeper and more balanced up and down the lineup than last year with both returners and some portal acquisitions.
Two of the three outfielders expected to trot out of the dugout this weekend for the Dawgs come from the transfer portal with former Duke Blue Devil Devin Obee and Kentucky transfer Nolan McCarthy expected to play left and center, respectively.
Pair those two immediate impact players with some returners of Tre Phelps, Kolby Branch and Slate Alford, and Wes Johnson has a much deeper starting 9. While the Dawgs finished 2024 with an impressive 43-17 record, the pre-season #9 team in the nation has one thought on the mind…Omaha.
It’s a wonderful time of year. In addition to high level basketball, baseball season is here as MLB Pitchers and Catchers reported earlier this week, and this weekend, the bats will ping, the smell of hotdogs and popcorn will roll through college baseball cathedrals, and it’s time to play ball.
