Published July 17, 2012 - 10:21am
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I’m not stat rat, but you might be. Stats are important because they tell the overall picture of how well teams are performing, but stats just do not cover everything, namely heart (please excuse me for the cheesy Rudy line).
But these guys sure put up some numbers last year.
Let’s take a look at the top offensive players returning for another year, strictly by the numbers based on their statistics.
Here are the top three players returning, by position, on offense, with newcomers starred:
Quarterback – Passing Yards
Tyler Wilson, Arkansas: 277-438 (63.2), 3,638 yards, 24 TDs, 6 Int.
Aaron Murray, Georgia: 238-403 (59.1), 3,149 yards, 35 TDs, 14 Int.
*James Franklin, Missouri: 238-376 (63.3) 2865 yds, 21 TD, 11 Int.
AJ McCarron, Alabama: 219-328 (66.8), 2,634 yards, 16 TDs, 5 Int.
Running Back – Rushing Yards
Zac Stacy, Vanderbilt: 201 carries, 1,193 yards, 14 TDs
*Christine Michael, Texas A&M: 149 carries, 899 yds, 8 TD
Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina: 163 carries, 818 yards, 10 TDs
Eddie Lacy, Alabama: 95 carries, 674 yards, 7 TDs
Wide Receiver – Receiving Yards
*Ryan Swope, Texas A&M: 89 catches, 1207 yards, 11 TDs
Da’Rick Rogers, Tennessee: 67 catches, 1,040 yards, 9 TDs
Malcolm Mitchell, Georgia: 45 catches, 665 yards, 4 TDs
Tavarres King, Georgia: 47 catches, 705 yards, 8 TDs
Scoring (TDs)
Zac Stacy, Vanderbilt: 14 TDs, 84 total points
Da’Rick Rogers, Tennessee: 9 TDs, 54 total points
Connor Shaw, South Carolina: 8 TDs, 48 total points
Punt Return AVG
Tyrann Mathieu, LSU: 27 attempts, 421 yards, 2 TDs
Johnathan Banks, Miss State: 16 attempts, 166 yards, 1 TD
Ace Sanders, South Carolina: 16 attempts, 166 yards, 1 TD
Kick Return AVG
Tre Mason, Auburn: 24 attempts, 633 yards, 1 TD
Andre Debose, Florida: 19 attempts, 495 yards, 1 TD
Dennis Johnson, Arkansas: 18 attempts, 461 yards, 1 TD
All Purpose Yards
Dennis Johnson, Arkansas: 1,386 yards
Onterio McCalebb, Auburn: 1,323 yards
Jeff Scott, Ole Miss: 1,014 yards
Howdy, Jon. Curious… why is Marcus Lattimore not on the list? Though he went down with a knee injury against Mississippi State, it has been reported that he has been working hard and impressing the “Old Ball Coach.”
Oh yea, Roll Tide!
Malcolm Mitchell lead UGA in yards per game, not Tavarres King, who drops the football.
When I saw little Aaron Murray listed, I had to go back to the headlines to see if you were listing the worst players for our team’s defense with his 23 fumbles and 22 interceptions in his 27 starts with 11 resulting losses, including all 9 teams who made any top 25 poll.
At 3 wins out of 16 games against teams who made the AP Poll Top 10 all 11 years of the Mark Richt era, until we can beat the top teams, we’re going to continue to get lackluster opponents in our bowl games such as the 11 bowl games Mark Richt has in his tenure – not 1 a win over any team making any top 10 poll.
There is not one player on Mike Bobo’s and Mark Richt’s offense who even made The SEC 1st team offense for 2012. Not 1.
Our problems which lead to this are not just only all the games where little Aaron Murray tried to do too much, running 7 carries a game averaging 1 yard per carry all 27 Starts with his resultant 23 fumbles and his 22 interceptions in 27 starts, but the fact that he has run up his stats against cupcakes while putting up :
128 QB Rating 2011 vs 4 teams making any top 25, losing all 4 Aaron Murray
133 QB Rating 2010 vs 5 teams making any top 25, losing all 5 Aaron Murray
“Little” Aaron Murray also threw for 35 TDs last season and 24 his FRESHMAN yr. lets not forget he was only a sophomore last year playing behind an OL that never gelled and got drilled countless times by blitzers that Crowell never laid a finger on. Id say “little” Murray did about everything he could. I like his aggressiveness and hope that doesn’t change but do expect him to be more seasoned now and step into a leader role.
You left out a few of the newcomers.
aTm
Ryan Swope 89 rec 1207 yds 11 TD
Christine Michael 899 yds 8 TD
Mizzou
James Franklin 238-376 (63.3%) 2865 yds 21 TD 11 INT
James Franklin 981 yds 15 TD 90 pts