Georgia football: Move to JT Daniels is too little, too late for Dawgs

Kirby Smart has officially named JT Daniels his starting quarterback for this weekend’s showdown with Mississippi State, but this decision needed to come way sooner. 

For Georgia fans waiting to see JT Daniels line up under center for the Bulldogs, your long wait is about to come to an end. Kirby Smart announced the former five-star signal-caller and USC transfer will get the start on Saturday when Georgia faces Mike Leach and Mississippi State.

The question everyone has for Smart, however, is what in the heck took so long? It feels like the Bulldogs have been playing musical chairs at the quarterback position, with Daniels making his debut feeling like it has come far too late.

JT Daniels should have made his Georgia debut far before the seventh game of the season

In Smart’s defense, the situation at quarterback was thrown into a loop when Wake Forest grad transfer Jamie Newman decided to opt-out of the 2020 campaign. Once that happened, though, and it was announced Daniels would be given immediately eligibility, the expectation was that the former USC quarterback would run the offense.

That hasn’t been the case, with Stetson Bennett running the show. Bennett has played well at points this season, but he’s really struggled at times. In the loss to Florida, he was 5-of-16 for 78 yards, with one touchdown and one interception before leaving the game injured. D’Wan Mathis then came in, but threw for only 34 yards and tossed two interceptions.

Mathis’ struggles led to Georgia fans practically begging for Smart to give Daniels the ball moving forward. Bulldogs fans have gotten their wish, but it just feels like this move from Georgia needed to come far earlier in the season.

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