Is Aaron Murray the SEC's Franchise Player?
by Andy Hutchins on Apr 20, 2011 9:53 AM EDT
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ESPN's Ed Aschoff — as you likely know, a former Gainesville Sun writer — has an interesting post on the Worldwide Leader's SEC blog today, riffing on the "Who's your franchise player?" question that gets asked in professional leagues.
Aschoff tries to come up with a name for the SEC, and eventually lands on Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray, who Aschoff chose for his versatility and leadership:
However, I want to build my program around a quarterback and Murray appears to have it all. He can run, throw and certainly earned a ton of respect as a gamer during his first year in Athens, Ga.
But is Murray really the best pick?
Consider what it takes to win the SEC. For the last five years, it's required one of the nation's premier offenses or defenses (or both) just to escape the rugged SEC schedule with an SEC Championship: 2006 Florida had defense; 2007 LSU had defense (but actually had more offense than you think, ranking 11th in scoring offense); 2008 Florida had both offense and defense; 2009 Alabama had both offense and defense; 2010 Auburn had offense.
Now ask yourself this: Does Aaron Murray have a chance to lead Georgia's offense like Tim Tebow, Mark Ingram, or Cam Newton did those three great offenses? I don't think so, at least not yet; Murray's not nearly as physical a runner as either Tebow or Newton, and never will be, though he could maybe approximate Colt McCoy, which would be no small feat. (He's also not a running back, duh.)
Murray needs to throw to be effective, and to do that, he needs protection from the SEC's incredible defensive linemen and targets that can haul in the ball. (Ask Ryan Mallett about how important sure-handed receivers are.) Murray was sacked 24 times last year, and had A.J. Green to throw to; his line is young and should only get better, but Green's departure is going to make throwing on SEC secondaries that much harder.
I'm writing all of this not because I doubt Murray's talent — I think he's going to be a great quarterback not only for Georgia but possibly in the NFL, and I'm going to be grudingly hating him for at least the next two years — but because I doubt how much that talent is worth in today's SEC. I think you need someone who can be Tebow or Newton at quarterback if you're looking for a program-changing franchise player at that position (and, honestly, I don't see any of those players in the SEC right now), so I would shy away from signal-callers as my franchise players.
I'd probably take Aschoff's other finalist, Marcus Lattimore, as my SEC franchise player. He's a sophomore, so I get two or three years from him, unlike the one I would get from Trent Richardson, and he can impact the game more than even a top-flight defender like Dont'a Hightower or Ronald Powell can. Plus, he's shown his ability to hold up over a full season, despite that nasty injury against Florida State in South Carolina's bowl game.
But is my rationale right? Is Lattimore a good choice? Am I neglecting Jeff Driskel's obvious capability to dwarf the accomplishments of Tebow and Newton? (The last one is no, but feel free to argue that a freshman who barely played in a spring game should be your franchise player.) Let's talk in the comments.
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As a Georgia fan I have to agree with you.
Lattimore consistently gained yards last season even when his offensive line was inconsistent. Plus he provided Spurrier with another option during those times when Stephen Garcia couldn’t be trusted not to do something batcrap crazy. If there’s one thing we’ve learned these last few years in the SEC it’s that to win the thing somebody (tailback, quarterback, “all-purpose player”) has to be able to convert on 3rd and 4 or less, especialy late in the game. In the past that guy has been Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, Ronnie Brown or Mark Ingram. This year I think it’s Marcus Lattimore.
As a Gator
I’d go with Murray. Last year he showed himself to be calm and collected, and displayed quite the ability to run that offense. His game may’ve been hurt by lack of of help around him- the loss of Green and the injury extravaganza that is Offensive Tackle at the University of Georgia, but he still played well; he was only a redshirt freshman, too. When he started leading UGA to a comeback in last year’s WLOCP, I feared him.
I agree with EC below about Lattimore. Watching the UGA-Sakerlina game, I informed all the Gamecock fans around me that Lattimore wouldn’t make it through the entire season. He wouldn’t be able to sustain that many carries a game in that hard-hitting a league, similar to Maurice Clarett’s inability to hold up in an 11-game Big Televen schedule. Lo and behold, he got hurt several times, costing Sakerlina their offensive balance.
by swampchomp7 on Apr 20, 2011 11:08 AM EDT up reply actions
If I was going on pro prospects
I’m taking Richardson over Lattimore as of right now. Trent is a more complete back than Lattimore. Lattimore relies too much on running people over, and he’s not Herschel Walker, Tim Tebow, or Cam Newton.
And if you’re telling me that I get the O-line that comes with Back, I’m taking Bama’s all day everyday over the Gamecocks O-line.
But as far as Franchise Player in the SEC, is Jerimiah Masoli still at Ole Miss? He’s got the best chance to be Cam Newton-ish next year, with his talents and cockiness.
Get out of my House!
Then he would be my dark horse Franchise player for next year. He was killer on the Ducks when he was at Oregon. And he’s more of a gmae changer because of the use of his feet. I definitely wouldn’t say he is a better QB than Murphy, but as far as Franchise/Game Changing players, I look for him to be the surprise this year, more so than last year. He just won’t be Cam Newton good.
Get out of my House!
Lattimore gained 15 or so pounds, and is now up over 230.
Dude may rely on running people over, but he’s going to do it.
stuff 'bout stuff.
by silver82blade on Apr 21, 2011 4:52 PM EDT up reply actions
I cannot put Murray into the status of elite until after this season
He had a huge advantage having AJ Green being able to catch everything and it also helped that his tight end and him have been playing together forever. I want to see what he is able to do this year when Green is gone. UGA did not win enough games or have a good enough season for him to be put on a list of dominant players. I think Lattimore is a good pick. He is an offensive game changer. If not him I think we might see a D Linemen pop up this season as a true game changer.
don't forget
Green was suspended for the first 1/3 of the season.
That means Murray threw for 2200 yards and 15 TDs to guys who were not named AJ Green.
The chemistry with Orson Charles isn’t going away either.
I still can’t believe Orson Charles went to another school after he broke our 2006 BCS Championship trophy.
The Once and Future King
I vote we stop recruiting Plant players altogether
Since the Plant coach obviously steers players away from Gainesville anyway.
We are just wasting resources there.
not necessarily
I would expect a freshman QB would naturally play better in his last 8 games than in his first 4 games purely from a learning curve. I think we’ll have to see how he plays this season before we know how much of that was Murray getting better and how much was Green’s return.
Don't get me wrong
I think Murray is a good QB and a talented athlete, I’m just saying to do what he did is a hell of a lot easier with AJ Green on the field. AJ opens up your other options, makes unbelievable catches to bail you out of tough positions, and I believe he was the best player in college football last year.
Even them losing to UCF at the end of the year with Murray having a terrible game is a sign to me. Tebow, Newton, Ingram, etc would not let there teams lose to UCF especially only put up 6 points aginst them.
Newton, Tebow and Ingram
never had the pleasure of playing in Memphis on New Years Eve though….
I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on that game.
both good picks
But I agree with Ed and like Murray. I sure wish we had him, but we all know how much those Plant players love the Gators.
Sure, Murray is losing the best receiver in the conference, but let’s also remember that Murray was a RS freshman last season. He threw for over 3000 yards, 24 TDs and only 8 INTs. Those are fantastic numbers for a freshman QB. Murray is going to be one of those guys about which the fans of the 11 other SEC teams will say “My God – that guy still has eligability left!?!!!?!” (ala Gimel Martinez, David Green, Tim Tebow, etc.)
Plus, how can you not root for a guy who does these types of things?
This Georgia Fan
Thinks Murray is the best, if at all, in a weak crop. He ain’t bad, but he ain’t Herschel, Bo, or Tim.
by Hogbody Spradlin on Apr 20, 2011 7:41 PM EDT reply actions
I'll take a shot.
I’m assuming you mean David Greene and not A.J. Green.
Better all-around athlete than both. Lacks the cannon Stafford has, but may be less likely to rely on the arm to the team’s detriment. On the other hand, has shown that he may balance that plus with a dangerous willingness to rely on his legs in broken plays (no pun intended). Gut tells me he has more team-, program-, school-oriented heart than Stafford did, perhaps on par with Greene. (But I sometimes get the feeling Staff gets a bad rap from Georgia fans on that.)
Greene was a Student of the Game and adapted enormously well to coaching — especially considering it was by coaches who did not recruit him. Time will tell, but I expect Murray to develop the same mastery of the playbook. It is my hope and, I think, a reasonable hope that he will wind up being a better overall QB than both Greene and Stafford. Obviously, he can’t win as many games as Greene did (that ship’s done sailed), and he won’t be the number 1 NFL draft pick, but I think he’ll be an extraordinary performer.
I agree and think he'll be better than both
I think arm strength is overrated in college QBs. That’s more of an NFL necessity when you have to rifle tthe ball into 5 inch spaces on so many plays. Wuerffel’s arm was nothing to write home about, but he had a fairly decent college career.
I think he’s smarter than Stafford in that (at leat so far) he hasn’t shown a tendency to throw silly INTS. His scrambling ability is a plus too. I just think he played more like a junior last year than a freshman, which is scary for the rest of us.
"scary for the rest of us"
I sure hope so. By the way, it also is my hope that Alligator Army can be a place where the fans of our schools can interact with some civility (where interaction is appropriate). Considering the types of fans we both have, there aren’t many places where that happens, and even the sane among us often are too easily baited. I mean, don’t get me wrong: I still hate you and all that, but you know.
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