SDS Mailbag: JT Daniels expectations, best fit for drafted SEC players and ranking Thanksgiving foods
The 2020-21 college basketball season is just around the corner. In fact, games will have been played by the time the next Mailbag comes out next Friday.
No, we aren’t getting a full Feast Week of tournaments like we normally would, but I’m just happy we’ll have any basketball at all. Hopefully, we can make it all the way to March Madness and get a full tournament played this year.
For now, though, I’ll settle for these makeshift Thanksgiving week tournaments.
Here are your questions for this week’s SDS Mailbag:
Robert:
What are your realistic expectations for JT Daniels in his first start for Georgia?
My expectations are super low for Daniels. I’m skeptical of why it has taken him this long to win the job. Stetson Bennett IV clearly isn’t the answer, as he’s struggled the past 3 weeks. Meanwhile, D’Wan Mathis hasn’t been able to move the offense much during his limited time on the field.
Daniels has been cleared to play by doctors for a few weeks now, but hasn’t gotten on the field at all. That’s a concerning sign.
I have all the confidence in Daniels being a good, solid SEC quarterback, but I don’t think it’ll happen this year. Clearly, something isn’t fully right with his recovery from the knee injury.
But, the good news for Georgia fans is this — he doesn’t need to do much for the Bulldogs to win. Georgia’s defense and running game continue to be the strong suits of the team. Daniels just needs to avoid turning the ball over. That’s why Bennett has been benched (along with being banged up, too).
If Daniels throws for 220 yards, 1 or 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions against Mississippi State on Saturday, that should be taken as a wonderful sign moving forward.
Michael:
Which SEC player chosen in the first round of the NBA Draft this week landed in the best situation?
So, to recap, Anthony Edwards went to the Minnesota Timberwolves with the No. 1 overall pick. Then, Isaac Okoro went to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kira Lewis Jr. went to the New Orleans Pelicans, Aaron Nesmith went to the Boston Celtics, Tyrese Maxey went to the Philadelphia 76ers and Immanuel Quickley went to the New York Knicks.
Obviously, Quickley is out, because I won’t believe the Knicks are a capable franchise until they prove otherwise. Likewise with Okoro to the Cavaliers.
My pick is Nesmith. The versatile forward now has a path to immediate playing time alongside Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown after Gordon Hayward opted out of the remaining year on his contract.
The Celtics are one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, and Nesmith will be a great fit. He’s a lights-out shooter and plays solid defense. He’ll fit right in alongside Brown, Tatum, Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart and others.
Keep an eye on Edwards, too. Playing alongside D’Angelo Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns will give him plenty of opportunities to score. He’ll be a solid bet to be the Rookie of the Year.
Rachel:
If you could invite 3 TV show characters to your Thanksgiving dinner, who would you choose and why?
Hmmm, that’s a great question. I’ll be honest — I thought about this for a long time. “TV characters” is such a broad category, but I’m sticking to shows I like.
Therefore, my group of 3 characters looks like this:
- Jim Halpert from The Office
- Jake Peralta from Brooklyn Nine-Nine
- Jessica Day from New Girl
I think that’s a great group. Not a ton of drama, but a lot of fun, interesting characters. I don’t think Jack Bauer, another favorite of mine, would be a good Thanksgiving dinner guest. Too much going on in his fictional life.
Let me know in the comments who you’d invite to your dinner!
@Dobbe8:
Rank these traditional thanksgiving foods: turkey, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, cranberry sauce, stuffing (or dressing) and dinner rolls.
I shouldn’t be answering this question before lunch, because now I’m starving. Anyway, here’s how I’d rank those foods:
- Mashed potatoes (especially with butter and goat cheese mixed in)
- Turkey (I prefer dark meat over white meat)
- Mac and cheese (as long as it is fancier than just straight out of the box)
- Dinner rolls (heavily buttered)
- Cranberry sauce (not a huge fan)
- Stuffing or dressing (I hate it)
There you have it. I also really like green bean casserole, as long as it is covered in those crispy onion things. And, of course, no Thanksgiving dinner is complete without plenty of wine and a Hot Toddy or 2.
I can’t wait to stuff my face and watch football all day next week! Oh, and college basketball will be on, too. It’s going to be great.
Have a question for next week’s Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at ASpencer@SaturdayDownSouth.com.
I cannot believe you don’t like stuffing
Dressing over stuffing all day every day.
Cornbread dressing is life
Are they not the same thing?
Not really. One is made in the turkey while the other is baked. Usually have different seasoning also.
I was over twenty before I ever saw stuffing at a table for Thanksgiving. I wasn’t missing anything. Dressing all day, preferably chicken cornbread dressing smothered in my mamaws cornbread and giblet gravy and cranberry sauce.
Stuffing with sausage, mushrooms, onions, celery is to die for. I have had dreams about it. Can’t wait. Turkey is still#1, then dressing #2, gravy#3, fresh bread #4, and it doesn’t matter after that.
I know, gravy and bread wasn’t on the list but I don’t care. (I would sub good corn bread for regular bread in a heart beat.)
We will finally see how JT Daniels plays SEC football…lots of ??? as to why he has not played already.
Thanksgiving food favorites at my home: Marinated ahi tuna from my grill & Steamed Alaskan King Crab plus homemade cole slaw & a twice-baked potato. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone !
I respect the hard veer from traditional thanksgiving food. I would much prefer that to Turkey and ham.
Stuffing made from scratch and cooked correctly can be a genuine treat. Cheap or badly made stuffing is very quickly forgettable.
I also agree that expectations should be set low for Daniels if he does indeed start. Patience is key. I’m surprised that certain elements of dawg nation seem to have expected, in the year of COVID, that the first year of a new OC and new offensive scheme were going to be instantly productive and explosive. It almost always takes at least two seasons for everything to gel, and that’s under non-pandemic conditions.
A reasonable stat line for JT Daniels. I don’t think it will be any better than that certainly. Three great tv shows, if I were choosing from those shows I would go:
1 Darryl
2 Jake (Gina would be my third if I were doing multiple from a show)
3 Nick
Agreed on JT. Have known of him back as a sophomore at Mater Dei. We’ll see if something is off fairly quick. His best asset is his coolness factor.
If you aren’t inviting George Constanza to your Thanksgiving dinner, then you aren’t doing it right.
Lol
“I have all the confidence in Daniels being a good, solid SEC quarterback”
Sort of like when Jamie Newman was named first team ALL SEC QB in the offseason. And why is that? Because they play at UGA. The QB history of the current coaching staff tells a much different story but some are slow to learn
Well let’s look at the QB whisperer. He had Franks and his mediocre play starting ahead of a guy who is now pushing for the Heisman. He’d still be sitting on the bench if Franks hadn’t gotten hurt. Mullet really knows talent when he sees it. Lol.
Franks is a good QB and he’s proving it at Arkansas. Better than anyone on UGA’s roster.
In your opinion.
Not opinion but just a fact according to what has transpired so far this season. Unless you want to say Daniels and Beck are better without them having played a single SEC snap. Wouldn’t surprise anyone coming from the most delusional fanbase on SDS
And yet he played against UGA and got outclassed by Stetson, go figure
These Bama and Gator clowns are just gonna hate on UGA. Head to head Bennett outplayed Franks this year. Bennett threw for 20/29 for 211 and 2 TDs No Ints, Franks was 19/36 for 200 with 1 TD and 2 picks. Maybe Arkansas can get Bennett to transfer.
This is funny to me that Dawg fans keep bringing this up. I guess Mullen has nothing to do with Trask now being a Heisman candidate right? Let’s just forget about the development that’s led him to be where he is now and only focus on the fact that he wasn’t started sooner. Dawg fans need to learn what QB whisperer actually means.
And Florida fans need to stop deifying Mullen. Mullen has several high profile successes developing QBs but also an equal or greater number of QBs he didn’t do so well with. Also, how have Mullen’s QBs faired in the NFL?
Box, most coaches go an entire career without having a great quarterback, Yet Mullen has had Alex Smith, Tim Tebow, Dak Prescott, and now Kyle Trask. Of course he’s had more who haven’t been great; that’s just the numbers game.
I hope Mullen lets Trask throw at least 5 td’s today.
Wrong again, Trask was set to get the start after the Mizzou game but broke his foot next practice and was out for the year. That and what 17Tide said
But that’s impossible, Mullet never fails developing QBS so no way in hail he was replacing QBs, no way, ain’t happening. Bartender, cut this guy off…
Show me a link that says that.
@UGAGrad, really? Just Google “Trask breaks foot.”
Well, it took an injury to Feleipe Franks of all people for Mullen to actually play Trask, so maybe you should sit this one out before casting stones about QB utilization.
It seems highly likely that Daniels wasn’t ready to play. It’s one thing to scrimmage without contact and quite another to expose your 13-month old knee surgery to live contact, cleared or not.
And for the 20 millionth time:
1. Trask was going to start after the Missouri game in 2018. He broke his foot.
2. Mullen turned Franks into a good quarterback. And Trask has matured tremendously just since last year in his reads. Look at Burrow in 2018 versus 2019. Anybody who thought he was a potential Heisman winner in 2018 is flat out lying.
Franks was not good at Florida. I’m fairly confident Auburn wins that game last year if it were him instead of Trask playing.
Lol…Mullet turned Franks into a good QB…that’s hilarious, lol, Mullet had the number 4 pro style QB .9732 high 4*, 54th rated 247 comp and turned him into a good QB…in the immortal words of fire marshal Bill…well alrighty then!
Humper, You Georgia fans are so blinded by 247 ratings. You really do need to take them with a grain of salt.
Franks may have been as overrated coming out of high school as Trask was underrated. Franks’ 247 rating was almost entirely based upon his physical size, athleticism and ridiculous arm strength. But he had no quarterback coaching to speak of at Wakulla High School, in Crawfordville, Florida. Bonus points if you can find it on a map without Google’s help.
Franks’ redshirt freshman season with McElwain (2017), his CMP was 54.6% and he threw roughly one interception for every TD pass (sort of like J.T. Daniels). And he only passed for 1,438 yards all year.
In 2018, his first year under Mullen, Franks improved his CMP to 58.5%. Not earthshaking, but he drastically reduced the interceptions, to about one for every four TD passes. And he threw for 2,284 yards. And for the last four games of the year, including a Peach Bowl win over Michigan, his CMP was over 70%.
He only played three games in 2019 and all anyone remembers is one dumb pass he threw in the Miami game, but his CMP for those three games was 76%.
Franks’ CMP ratio through seven games at Arkansas this season is 68%.
Like I’ve always said: Meet the new Franks, same as the old Franks. Even this year he throws 2 picks aganst UGA. He’s a 2 pick minimum versus UGA. Rocket arm and legs, zero between the ears. LMAO.
Mullen did not do anything good with Franks. I like him as a coach but Franks was a choke artist under Mullen. Blitz him two or three times and he was skittish.
Franks is a much better player away from Mullen probably because he doesn’t get chewed out when he makes a mistake and there’s zero pressure at Arky. This is the Franks everyone expected when he was recruited.
@tonytiger, the stats say otherwise. He has played well at Arkansas, but about the same or at a slightly lower level than his last seven games at Florida.
Wish you had Franks on your roster this year puppy
We’ll pass on that dumba$$.
Fromm was great in 2017 and 2018. But clearly struggled in 2019 due to the OC and WRs. I’m not sure that adds up to the point you’re trying to make.
“Great” is debatable. Average is probably the better description. He just had more talent around him to make him look better than he was and it showed once that talent left. In 2018 his stats were pretty identical to Franks’ and I don’t think anyone would label Franks as great. Hard to place that label on someone would didn’t break 3000 yards once in his career, something Jones and Trask might do in 8 games.
Stats don’t tell the full story. Fromm was given 2 or 3 plays each down and was charged with reading the defense’s coverage and checking the offense into the right play. He was absolutely elite at doing that. Calling Fromm average is frankly laughable.
Franks = zero between the ears. Joe Marks < Franks. Mullet = Clown running around in a Darth Vader costume.
Joe Marks is a moron. UGA’s game plan when Fromm was QB was to have a balanced attack with emphasis on the run. We had 2 first round and 1 second round future NFL runnings backs in the backfield. You got one good year out of Trask. And you won’t make the playoff. I guarantee it.
Stuffing/Dressing (whatever you call it) with giblet gravy, is a great meal by itself. I’m a traditionalist…Turkey, ham, broccoli casserole, sister schubert rolls, mac n cheese. Everything but cranberry.
3 TV Characters:
– Monica from Friends (those meals…)
– Barney from HIMYM (brings the best booze and fun)
– Al Bundy (would be a blast watching football and reliving his 4 TD game)
Yes, aren’t dressing and stuffing the same?
Not even close. Dressing is made with cornbread and the grease drippings from the turkey. Mmmm. Stuffing is made from bread. Dry and bland.
Ron Swanson, Larry David & the Mandalorian. Ron brings the turkey, Larry is a riot and Mandolin wouldn’t eat anything leaving more leftovers while being cool. Hating stuffing & chocolate makes you a very strange person.
Unrelated to anything but I wish Saturdays down south had like a reaction button because I don’t want to actually reply to your comment but I like your comments or I just dislike them
Yeah that would be good. But that means SDS would have to spend some money upgrading this Spartan website. Not going to happen.
First, ANY person who thinks dressing and stuffing are the same thing should never, ever speak of food again. Second, stuffing anything in the middle of 10 to 20 lb. bird carcass that already has a notoriously finicky process to cook properly is just bad gambling. And that stuff in the box belongs in the trash along with that marshmallow monstrosity Yankees and southerners who cant cook call sweetpotato casserole, just a waste of sweetpotatoes.
Last, anyone who can rank a side over the entree has obviously never had smofried turkey pumped full of melted butter, typically with a bit red pepper and garlic. Why are we ranking these foods, anyway? Wouldn’t it make more sense to rank options, turkey v ham, rolls v Parker House rolls v biscuits, side v side v side v side, gravy v gravy v sauce, etc, etc?
I get the criticism around Kirby getting elite qb’s to STAY at UGA, but I’m not so keen on the criticism by the lack of ability to develop a qb.
Year 1, Freshman QB. Year 2 Sophomore gets hurt first game, Freshman comes in at leads team to national championship berth. Year 3, same QB leads team to SECCG berth and has a tremendous game against the eventual NC runner ups. Year 4, lack of receivers, new OC, regression of SAME championship caliber qb. Year 5 Covid, projected starter opts out leaving with virtually no game experience in a shortened offseason.
I’m not sure where the perception of ‘not developing qb’s’ come from, when 3/5 years, Georgia was led by a QB who led them to their first NC berth in a billion years. 1/5 was led by a true freshman 5 star in Smart’s first year of coaching, and 1/5 was adversely affected by COVID.
If you want to criticize smart at QB, criticize his ability to retain 5 star qbs. (though, it’s not uncommon for a 5 star who isn’t playing to transfer) Criticize his bone head in game decisions, like the fake punt.
There’s not enough qb sample size to criticize the team’s ability to develop qb’s.
Fromm was definitely hurt by the lack of talented receivers in his last two seasons. That’s where Bama recruits better than just about anyone. They have so much first round depth at receiver.
If he punts they still lose. The defense was spent. The winning TD would have taken maybe 3 extra plays had he punted.
Stuffing dressing aren’t same. I never had true stuffing until older at girlfriends house in California. It was delicious. I was raised on cornbread stuffing cooked in pan and it is great too with giblet gravy. I like the cranberry suace from the can that looks like a can. Candied yams, green bean casserole, giblet gravey Not turkey gravy, mash potatoes( take or leave) no rolls, Turkey, prefer dark but white ok with gravy.
The stuffing was actually cooked inside the turkey. I never had it before and didn’t even know what it was. That same year her mom had a prime rib roast for Christmas. Man that was good eating.