JT Daniels cleared to play for Georgia, but can he save the Dawgs offense?

Georgia struggled mightily on offense in the opener but with JT Daniels cleared to play, can he save the Dawgs offense and lead them to an SEC title?

Georgia got the win in their opener vs. Arkansas but it was much harder than even the most pessimistic Dawgs fan would have anticipated. A win is a win but the Dawgs fell behind Florida in the latest AP Top 25 and the groans from the fans about this being the same pedestrian passing game linger.

After D’Wan Mathis was benched in the second quarter and Stetson Bennett IV struggled to find his footing before a second-half surge, Georgia didn’t look like a team that is going to win another SEC East title and make a return to the College Football Playoff.

But perhaps inserting JT Daniels into the starting lineup and under center is the answer for Kirby Smart‘s team?

JT Daniels is cleared to play for Georgia football but Kirby Smart won’t declare him the starter just yet. But he will and the Dawgs need him to be great

Daniels didn’t play vs. the Hogs because he still was not cleared to play from the ACL injury he suffered in USC’s season-opener but now he’s ready to play. However, Smart stopped short of saying the former five-star recruit would start vs. Auburn on Saturday.

First, that’s just coachspeak and Daniels will definitely be starting vs. Auburn. The Dawgs can’t afford to fall behind Auburn with Bennett leading the offense. A loss could mean the end of their SEC and playoff hopes. With a truncated schedule, the opportunities to make up for a loss is slim. Plus, when Alabama and Florida loom on the schedule, Georgia has to win vs. Auburn at all costs.

Even if Daniels is 90 percent, he will be the starter and he’ll be expected to play at 100 percent of his ability.

Daniels is a good quarterback, but I don’t know if he’s a special transcendent quarterback. But he’s capable of managing the Georgia offense and not putting his elite defense in bad spots or on short fields.

He’s better than a game-manager but the opportunities to throw for numbers such as K.J. Costello or Kyle Trask are not going to happen within this scheme.

That’s fine. He just needs to play within himself and not try to do too much. Much of that will fall on Georgia not asking him to do too much but they’ll ask him to take command of the huddle and show leadership against a good Auburn team that had a strong second half to put away Kentucky in their opener.

Auburn quarterback Bo Nix is a talent on the rise and Daniels probably has a sizable chip on his shoulder after losing his job at USC to injury and being overlooked all offseason with Jamie Newman getting the Heisman love and Daniels being an afterthought on the roster.

With Newman gone, with Mathis benched and Bennett best suited holding a clipboard, it’s time for Daniels to prove his doubters wrong and to show he can be the man to lead this Georgia offense back to the SEC Championship Game.

It all starts with getting a win in Athens vs. rival Auburn on Saturday.

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