Mark Richt predicts Jamie Newman will be 'the best quarterback in the SEC'
Georgia has reportedly landed graduate transfer QB Jamie Newman from Wake Forest.
He’ll be tasked with replacing Jake Fromm, who is off to the NFL after 3 stellar seasons in Athens, leading the Bulldogs to 3 SEC East titles.
Former Georgia coach Mark Richt, who is now an analyst for the ACC Network, has seen lots of Newman’s games at Wake, and he is quite confident the former Demon Deacon will have success in the SEC:
I have been watching Jamie Newman all season with the ACC network. Georgia just landed a great one! I predict he will be the best quarterback in the SEC! Go Dawgs!
— Mark Richt (@MarkRicht) January 11, 2020
That’s high praise from the former Georgia coach, especially with guys like Florida’s Kyle Trask and Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond returning for the 2020 season.
Can Newman live up to these lofty expectations? We’ll find out this fall.
At UGA, Newman will have a more talented supporting cast around him so he won’t be expected to carry the team on his shoulders.
If he wins the starting job that is.
It would be nice to have a mobile QB to give opposing defenses more to think about and defend against. Nobody expected Jake Fromm to run much.
No matter who is under center, the receiving corps need to be up and running for the offense to work.
Defenders will actually have to take the read option seriously. That hasn’t been the case with our offense in years. Should help the backs and receivers.
You’re assuming Kirby will be able to successfully implement some sort of read option scheme. Last time he tried (Fields)…it didn’t go so well.
We’re already running some read options. The problem was Fromm never kept the ball. We won’t have to revamp the offense just make tweaks.
But they ran it with Fields throughout last season and he would just run into the line and fall down. He’s clearly better than that so I assume the coaches just don’t know how to use a mobile QB.
Fromm runs a zone read – D knows he’s handing to the back. TF Fields runs a zone read – D knows he’s likely keeping it. DT senior Newman runs a zone read with the backs we have – it likely works like’s it’s supposed to: if the Edge bites, Newman takes off. If the Edge stays home, one less tackler for the back to deal with.
Alatide were we watching the same Justin Fields? When he ran the read option he did great things and also opened things up in the run game when he didn’t keep it. UGA ran a lot of zone read and the edge would crash and Fromm wouldn’t pull it. It’s what made UGA’s run game really bad this year.
I don’t think I ever saw Fields “just run into the line and fall down”.
Alatide, Kirby has run the zone read a lot the past 3 seasons. In 2017, Fromm would actually keep it occasionally and burn the D for 10-20 yards. In 2018, most of Fields rushing yardage came off the play. Last year we continued to run it often but Fromm only rarely kept the ball, which made it easy for the D to ignore, and they’d simply crash on the back – no hesitation to see which way the ball would go. Watch UGA’s film – countless times you’ll see Jake trotting into an open sea of green after the play.
We’ve run the read option a lot, but with Fromm at QB there was no momentary freeze of the D box to verify who has the ball. The defense knew it was always going to the back. With Newman running the play in 2020 – or really any of UGA’s current QB stable – defenses will have to play much more alert.
Uga’s Defense is nasty and best in the nation imo. A QB that can convert a few more third downs to first downs might be all they need. If he learns the offense, can read defenses, and uses his legs to move the chains, the dawgs could be very very good next year. Also o line needs to replace some folks but they have the depth to do it. Will be interesting and why I love college football.
It’ll be more about his ability to run & extend plays…But he’s gotta sin the job first. And yes…reading the defense in the talent-laden SEC is a lot more difficult that in the ACC.
Oops ! “gotta Win the job first”.
You are correct on both points. That being said, if he does win the starting job and takes over the O, he will have a great supporting cast.
Adding him to the team makes this a much more interesting and exciting year.
Go Dawgs!
That’s a great endorsement. Looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
Richt has been a QB coach and offensive coordinator many years past and played QB at FSU. I respect his opinion. We will see how it plays out. Kirby likes lots of competition in leading roles, so these guys will compete hard in practice to do their best to start in the games. Competition breeds great input to produce great output and effort.
Mark Richt was the OC at FSU. He played quarterback at Miami, where he was Jim Kelly’s backup.
Sorry, you’re right. My bad, he played at Miami but coached QB’s and OC at FSU.
I believe Mark Richt played Quarterback at Miami, and was the Offensive Coordinator/QB coach at Florida State. Good coach but just could not get over-the-hump in Athens. A Good Man too.
He didn’t say he would be the best QB in the conference. He said he wouldn’t be shocked if he ended up being the best!
I’m sure there’ll be pushback to Mark’s comment, but it’s really not a hot take. With Joe, Tua and Jake gone, along with a bunch of Sunday receivers, it’s kinda wide open. No one is coming into 2020 head and shoulders above the others. This may be the most competitive season we’ve seen in the SEC in a while.
I agree…I think it’s going to be a fun season in sec… there’s just so many unknowns right now…
I don’t know what to expect…and I’m not going to have expectations of him being best qb in conference…I just know I feel better with him at qb…than the other 3 choice’s… especially since we don’t even know yet if Mathis will even be available…
I’m sure Kirby appreciates the added pressure now. Nice going Richt hehe.
Pressure is a privilege
Say what you want about Richt he knows QBs.
With all the people leaving Jawja, he won’t have all the supporting cast as y’all been bragging about. It seems when y’all’s starters went down, the back ups didn’t play so we’ll. Y’all have talent yes, but Smart doesn’t seem to coach up that talent. Gonna be interesting next year.
UGA beat a very healthy top 10 Baylor team missing 12 starters. Few teams in the country could have done that. UGA has lots of talented players and given an entire offseason I have little doubt the younger players will be ready to go.
Baylor’s QB had been injured most of the year. I don’t consider Baylor a top 10 team. We will come back after y’all’s first 6 games next year and have this discussion.
The 2020 season will have no bearing on the 2019 season and vice versa.
“ I don’t consider Baylor a top 10 team” next time tell us who is so we will all know. Here we are looking at CFP rankings when this guy had all the REAL rankings
Whats wrong 78? You don’t subscribe to the bryanchip poll? Shame on you! How can you possibly know who’s the best?
Guess you missed the sugar bowl… people sure like taking shots at a coach who has won 36 games the last 3 years…
Bama is licking their chops as we speak. Tennessee is steadily getting better. We will see next year.
Ok buddy… exactly how long has Tennessee been steadily getting better now? I guess your right…they did finally beat their big in-state rival…
Gotta love the Tennessee fans in the offseason. Just try not to pay some FCS school $1million to come beat you at home again.
Dawgs won 12 games and beat 4 ranked teams with barely a semblance of a passing game for much of the year. We’ll return one of the best defenses in the country and an offense overflowing with 4- and 5-star talent. And now we have a senior DT QB with starting experience and exceptional leadership skills (look a little deeper into what his WF coaches have to say about him). Replacing Hot Rod will be tough, but anyone who thinks the Dawgs are suddenly gonna fall back into the pack is deluding themselves.
Y’all are losing a shat load on both sides, starters at that. We will see. Yalls back ups didn’t do much this year.
No UGA is not losing much on defense..9 out of 11 starters are returning on defense…and where do you get the backups didn’t do much? UGA plays about 25 guys on defense during the game…and as far as offense goes…they looked ok to me against Baylor…but however you want to look at it is cool…since Baylor isnt a top 10 team in your personal top 25…
Tennessee getting better? Lolololololololol
Be nice… maybe he was talking about the Titans…lol…they are looking good so far
Maybe some year you guys will actually beat Georgia & Florida in the same year ? Jeremy is making some progress, but how much ? It’s way too early to tell. I’d like nothing better than to see the East be a battle of Florida/Georgia/Tennessee every year, but if it happens..it won’t be 2020.
Yeah, Kelly Bryant really tore up the SEC this year after he transferred from Clemson.
His experience will be valuable in the quarterback room. His accuracy will be an issue.
To be fair…I think Kelly Bryant stayed injured more than he stayed on the field… again I don’t know how good Newman will or won’t be…but at the least he has more experience than the other 3 choice’s…
Kelly Bryant did not have the arm to throw the long ball…even in the ACC and at Clemson they like the long ball…in the ACC there’s not much deep coverage in those secondaries. But he did become injury-ridden at Mizzou.
I agree. But Bryant went to the wrong team. Funny how all the 5 star talent made Bryant look like a Heisman canidate, but let him go to a 3 star school and not so good. He looked awful MOF. Terrible decision for him.
The quarterbacks in the SEC have improved quite a bit since Richt coached here. Oklahoma struggled some with Hurts. Did Missouri’s receivers get a little worse when Bryant showed up?, no. Pass defenses get better when they practice every year against well coached passing attacks. Evolution happens. Don’t expect the Wake Forest quarterback to shock anyone in this league next September. One thing for sure, it’s going to be better than a 9-6 game. And Fromm was good enough. Even Mississippi’s two quarterback system embarrassed good defenses at times.
Dawgs will beat Missery with or without the transfer QB playing. Just saying.
Pipe Dreams
Anyone who knows anything about football knows this kid is pretty good. Then there’s you…
Better than Fromm? Cause if not you will have a tough year.
I hope he starts for you guys.
Is Mac better than Tua? If not you will have a tough year.
See how obnoxiously stupid this sounds?
How is that the same?
Fromm, healthy, loss to South Carolina, regressed for whatever reason.
Tua was on his way to a Heisman before he got hurt. And Mac came in and is a proven commodity after 3 seasons in the same offense. Mac will be fine.
Newman has to learn a new offense, because we know Kirby will not change, or at least didn’t for Fields, and at Georgia who’s receivers struggled this year.
Apples and Oranges man. Still, not trolling.
“Still not trolling” Really?
Why come to an UGA article about our transfer QB and comment “Pipe dream”?
Just own it. Admit you’re a troll. Self acceptance is the first step to a better life
I accept your recognition of what you think is trolling. But it isn’t.
Several QBs have proven they can win in the SEC, have spent time in their respective programs.
Here is a prediction…Bo Pix out plays Newman and has a better year. 24-13 Auburn in that game.
Just an opinion man.
LOL even though Nix looked like Joe Montana against Bama’s weak defense I’m not concerned about Auburn. I appreciate your concern though.
I think Bo will have a good off season. The main thing holding him back this year was his HC play calling. He showed he can play. I think Georgia’s defense will still be stout, but again, missing that alpha dog.
Newman, he is just unknown in this conference. And to just come out and think a kid from the ACC can play in the SEC. Ridiculous. I’m not saying he won’t be good, serviceable like Fromm. But that didn’t get you where you wanted to go this year.
I just don’t think this is the answer. Take off your Dawg glasses.
Maybe I am wrong and this kid sets the world on fire. But it is a very bold prediction to say he will be the best.
Ah wait, is Mark Richt trolling the rest of the SEC? According to your rule book he is.
No. Mark Richt saying a good QB will continue to be good isn’t trolling. You assuming a good QB will be terrible is.
His argument is based on facts and stats. Newman s the 3rd highest rated returning QB behind Lawrence and Fields.
Your argument is “he never played in the SEC”.
I think I’ll take the word of a guy was a CFB coach for over 20 yrs. Not a troll.
Why do you continue to appease this troll? Bored?
He didn’t say he will be good. Did you read the article? He said he will be the best QB in the best conference in a division that you just argued is as good or better than the SEC WEST.
And keep touting that 3rd highest rating of returning QBs. See how that works for an ACC QB, who everyone knows is the worst conference in the country.
I hope you ride into Tuscaloosa with this guy starting. Will be another great win for Alabama.
Now this is trolling.
With four OL gone and no more Swift to help, he’ll need to be able to run.