Greg McElroy gives solve for Georgia passing struggles: 'They need to take the handcuffs off'

Two games into the season, we have not seen much explosiveness from the Georgia Bulldogs. Specifically in the pass game under new starting quarterback Gunner Stockton. Georgia will be hoping to change that Saturday inside Neyland Stadium against the Tennessee Volunteers.

ESPN’s Greg McElroy believes Georgia needs to open up the playbook a bit. Yes, Stockton needs to be better — however, McElroy says “handcuffs” on the offense as a whole from OC Mike Bobo. Per usual, the offensive line plays a role in this whole equation too.

“They need to kind of take the handcuffs off the passing game,” McElroy said Tuesday on SportsCenter. “So far, in the first two games, they’re just not trying a whole lot downfield, but when they have, they haven’t had success. The protection also hasn’t held up very well, either. But Gunner Stockton right now is averaging less than 5.5 air yards for attempt – meaning the ball, on average, is traveling just five yards downfield. That’s not good enough. He’s just 1-for-7 on throws that travel 20 [or] more yards downfield.”

Overall, Stockton is doing a nice job connecting with receivers on a consistent basis. His completion percentage sits at 69% on 58 attempts. But as McElroy mentioned, you would be hoping for more than 417 yards and two touchdowns considering the competition. Georgia opened the year against Marshall and then faced Austin Peay.

If there were a game to set Stockton free, Tennessee might be it. Both of the Vols’ starting cornerbacks are expected to miss Saturday’s game due to an injury. Georgia could wind up having a massive advantage with their wide receivers, a position head coach Kirby Smart heavily invested in this offseason via the NCAA transfer portal.

“They have got to take advantage of a Tennessee secondary that has some question marks at corner,” McElroy said. “Jermod McCoy, their All-American, he’s down. He tore his ACL in the spring. Rickey Gibson got hurt in Week 1. He’s their other guy. So their top two corners are down. Georgia has explosive playmakers. Now, we just want to see them work downfield against what might be a vulnerability for the Tennessee secondary.”

Tennessee owned one of college football’s best defenses last season. Still, they struggled in the Georgia game against the Carson Beck passing attack. Beck threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns, putting up 31 points.

Producing similar numbers might equal a ninth straight victory in the series for Georgia. Something everyone will be focusing on heading into the 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff in Knoxville.