Thoughts on: G-Day 2011

It was a perfect afternoon in Athens on Saturday for the 2011 version of G-Day. There were a ton of Georgia alums on hand to see the black team led by Aaron Murray and Brandon Boykin defeat the red team, 18-11. Here are my thoughts on the game:

- Carlton Thomas had another good G-Day, but reaffirmed the reason why he does not need to carry the ball up the middle. Two fumbles, including one at the goal line, are not acceptable. With Crowell, King, Ealey, and Malcome expected to be around this fall, hoepfully we have seen the last of Carlton carrying the ball in goal line situations.

- Orson Charles is poised for a big year. The one thing I liked about the play calling was the emphasis on the tight ends. Charles, White, and Lynch all had multiple catches in the game (8 or 9 total, though I have not seen official statistics).

- Ken Malcome and Caleb King ran hard and looked quick. Caleb only carried a few times, but looked fast and lowered his head at the end of plays. Malcome, as we have heard, showed his ability to pick up extra yards. His game-winning touchdown run was especially impressive. I still think Crowell starts this fall, but a little competition is a good thing.

- Ogletree was everywhere. While he may have made more spectacular hits at safety, he is going to make a ton of plays at LB. Jarvis Jones also looked good and I am definitely glad to see Samuel back on the defensive side.

- Aaron Murray looked sharp and without two drops, would have had a big day. Marlon Brown looked okay, but he dropped what would have been about a 25 yard pass from Murray. And Christian Conley blew his first chance at a big play at Georgia missing one from Murray that could have gone for about 35.

- I was glad to see Christian LeMay lead the Dawgs to a score on that final drive. He had looked timid before, but finally got it together and made a couple of nice throws. He definitely has a ways to go, but you can definitely see the potential.

- And lastly, as others have written, the most impressive thing I saw on Saturday was Kwame Geathers. He looked in shape and was simply blowing people up at the line. At least twice, he blew through the line and took down runners in the backfield. It was impressive and the thought of him sharing a line with Jenkins is scary.

Despite a boring first half, it was a great day in Athens. It was great to see the former quarterbacks back in Sanford, but as expected, Stafford won the competition. One of the craziest things I saw was the AJ Green autograph line. A couple of former players, including David Greene and Jeff Owens, were signing autographs on the side when AJ walked up. It was like a wave of people leaving Owens and Green for AJ. Pretty crazy.

Now we've got about 20 weeks to wait until the next football game. It's going to be a long summer.