On3's J.D. PicKell reveals biggest question mark for Georgia's attempt to repeat as champion

The quest to repeat starts in September for Georgia, coming off the program’s first national title since 1980. But the Bulldogs lost some big-time pieces from that group, and On3’s J.D. PicKell thinks they have some question marks to address.

Georgia lost eight starters from last year’s vaunted defense — five of whom became first-round picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. The Bulldogs also lost running backs Zamir White and James Cook to the draft, but have Stetson Bennett IV and Brock Bowers back for another go-round Athens.

The latter two are going to be essential to a potential repeat, PicKell said. Georgia will likely need to outscore its opponents at some point, which is a bit of an adjustment from last year. Either way, PicKell thinks Georgia will get back to Atlanta for a rematch against Alabama in the SEC Championship.

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“Here’s the summary for me on Georgia,” PicKell said on The Hard Count. “I wholeheartedly believe they will be back in Atlanta playing Alabama for the SEC title game. Can they get there without one loss on their schedule? Remains to be seen. But when they get to that SEC title game, when they get to the potentially College Football Playoff or games where they have to score points — when they get into a corner and it says, ‘OK. You’ve got to score 35 to beat us. You’ve got to score 42 to beat us.’ Can Georgia score with those teams? Because, again, not a knock on Stetson Bennett, but we’ve seen when they put the ball into his hand and say, ‘Stetson, you’ve got to beat us,’ that hasn’t always worked out in Georgia’s favor.

“So ultimately, believe in this Georgia team, but believe that there are still some things they’ve got to put into place in order to get back to the mountaintop, to get back to hoisting that trophy. There’s tons of firepower here. Can you get all your ducks in a row? Can you mix all the ingredients together in the right capacity to get to where you need to be? Ultimately, if Georgia can have that leadership replaced on defense, can have other playmakers step up on the outside and then be able to utilize the talent they have on this team and put them in position to succeed, especially the tight end position, they’re going to be OK. Actually, they’ll be better than OK.”