Watching the Georgia/South Carolina game a few weeks ago, something struck me and I immediately became sick to my stomach: I had seen this before. As I watched Jarvis Jones fail to make an impact in Georgia’s blowout loss to the Gamecocks, I was transported back to Halloween weekend 2008. I watched that day as future first-round pick Knowshon Moreno was a non-factor as Georgia was blown out by a top-10 team. Moreno appeared to take himself out several times during the game to seemingly save himself for the NFL. Many Georgia fans still shake their head at Moreno’s actions (or inaction) and wonder what would have happened if he had gone full-out.
That is not to say that Jones took himself out of the South Carolina game or is saving himself for the NFL. He looked like he wasn’t giving 100 percent towards the end of the game, but afterwards, injury news broke. Over the bye week, word came out that Jones was more injured than he let on, and it is possible that he will not suit up against Kentucky because of various ailments. Georgia would likely rather have Jones on the field for next week’s Florida game over the Kentucky game.
At the end of the day, the sickening part is a first-round lock failed to make an impact in the biggest game on the schedule to this point. Can Georgia still win the SEC East? Yes. But a big game from Jones against South Carolina could have done some big things for the program, much the same way a big game from Moreno in 2008 could have done some big things for the Georgia program. Alas, Georgia fans had to be wondering, haven’t we seen this before all throughout the South Carolina game. Hopefully for Georgia fans, they will be saying the same thing next week in regards to Jones’ performance against the Gators one year ago. That is the kind of repeat performance the Bulldog Nation wouldn’t mind seeing again.
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