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5 players to keep an eye on during the Georgia-Georgia Southern game
By John Hollis
Published:
It will be a family affair of sorts in Athens on Saturday when Georgia hosts Georgia Southern at Sanford Stadium.
The Theus family of Jacksonville, Fla., will be well-represented along both sidelines as two of their members – left tackle John Theus and long snapper Nathan Theus – are seniors set to play their last home game for the Bulldogs. A third, Jeremiah Theus, is a freshman offensive lineman but will not be playing for Georgia Southern. He is seeking a medical hardship after suffering a shoulder injury that required surgery.
But here’s a quick look at five players who will be playing and who could decide the game’s outcome.
1. Georgia, Sony Michel, So. RB: A home run threat every time he touches the ball, Michel leads the Dawgs with 795 yards rushing and has added 5 touchdowns on 152 carries. He’s equally as dangerous in the passing game, with 20 catches for 219 yards and 3 more scores.
2. Georgia, Malcolm Mitchell, Sr. WR: The senior continues to be his team’s go-to guy in a limited Bulldogs passing game. Mitchell has team highs in catches (45), receiving yards (637) and receiving touchdowns (4) and consistently comes up big when the Dawgs need a play downfield.
3. Georgia, Isaiah McKenzie, So. WR/KR/PR: The speedy sophomore showed last week against Auburn just what he’s capable of when healthy. He delivered a timely 53-yard punt return for a touchdown after a 4-yard rushing scamper on another score to pace the Dawgs to the 20-13 victory. Before last weekend, Auburn had not allowed a punt return for a touchdown (not including blocked punts for TDs) since LSU’s Skyler Green took one back 66 yards for a score in 2005.
4. Georgia Southern, Matt Breida, Jr. RB: The junior has racked up 1,242 yards rushing and a Sun Belt Conference-leading 14 touchdowns for the season. Breida currently ranks 8th in the country, averaging 138.0 rushing yards per game, and is averaging 8.9 yards per carry, tops in the country among running backs (min. 70 rush). He boasts three games of 200 rushing yards or more in his career.
5. Georgia Southern, Antonio Glover, Sr. SS: Has matched a school record this season with 6 interceptions, including 3 against Western Michigan.
John Hollis is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Georgia and Florida.
