Having covered this team for 50-plus years, I’ve seen countless Georgia Bulldogs’ spring G-Day games.

And certainly, watching the Bulldogs scrimmage themselves in the annual spring game isn’t always a good indication of what the Georgia football product will look like when the games count for real in the coming fall schedule.

For one thing, the entire team isn’t yet together. Take this spring, we had 14 early enrollees suiting out in the 2019 G-Day tilt, held on a cold, wet and windy day Easter weekend at Sanford Stadium, but what about those other 2019 signees — some 11 or 12 of them who also were among the leading prep players in the country — who will too be fighting for playing time when fall preseason camp arrives in August?

Likewise, as we all know, some Bulldogs who drew raves for their spring practice showings somehow fall by the wayside and simply don’t see the field much when it comes game time in September, October, November and December. Conversely, players who for one reason or another couldn’t climb the depth chart in April suddenly take their games to another performance level in preseason camp.

The point I’m making is that those 52,630 members of Bulldawg Nation who defied the elements and sat in the stands at this year’s G-Day game (and even Kirby Smart said he kind of doubted he would  have sat through the unseasonably cold conditions) really couldn’t take a whole lot away from a game that was won by the Red team by 22-17 over the Black team. At least not enough to precisely predict what the Bulldogs will be like in 2019.

Smart and his coaching staff kept the game pure vanilla and they had three quarterbacks — starter Jake Fromm and backups Stetson Bennett and D’Wan Mathis — combine to put the ball in the air 83 times. And at the same time, Georgia ran the football only a combined 32 times. You know, as well as I do, that’s not Georgia football. Not what we’ll all see starting Aug. 31 at Vanderbilt when Fromm is handing the ball off to D’Andre Swift, Brian Herrien, James Cook and hopefully, a guy named Zamir White as the Bulldogs’ highly-touted offensive front takes control of the line of scrimmage and the Georgia offense pounds the opponent into submission.

And, too, there was no way to get a true gauge on a Bulldog defense that couldn’t hit the opposing quarterback during G-Day. Sure, there were seven total sacks registered in the game but many of those came when the defenders barely touched the QB. How many times would the quarterback have scrambled away from the pass rush — especially Bennett and Mathis — had this been a real football game? As Kirby commented after the game, “We didn’t have a lot of opportunity for havoc plays in this game.”

So clearly, what we all witnessed at G-Day wasn’t what the Vanderbilt Commodores will see on opening day, 2019.

But, I will say this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more pure playing talent than what the Bulldogs displayed between the hedges on April 20. Smart and his assistant staff have stacked three of the nation’s top recruiting classes on top of each other and there’s talent and depth at every position on the field.

I mentioned the deep running back corps above. Sure, 1,000-yard rusher Elijah Holyfield will be missed but with leading rusher and All-America candidate Swift back making people miss en route to the end zone and Herrien, Cook and again, hopefully White, all being guys who would be tailback starters at other schools, good luck to UGA opponents on slowing down this running attack.

And I don’t have to tell you the Bulldog tailbacks will be operating behind maybe the best offensive line in America. Georgia is two deep up front with All-America candidate Andrew Thomas, Solomon Kindley, Trey Hill, Ben Cleveland, Isaiah Wilson, Cade Mays, Jamaree Salyer, D’Marcus Hayes, Warren Ericson, Owen Condon, Justin Shaffer and heralded freshman Clay Webb capable of moving any defensive front they encounter.

Of course, Jake Fromm is the man who makes the Bulldog attack go. The highly intelligent and sure-passing Fromm, who led Georgia to an SEC championship and the national title game in his freshman season and then sparked the Dawgs back to the SEC title game as a sophomore in 2018, should be better than ever as he directs the attack in his upcoming junior campaign. Indeed, don’t go by Fromm’s mediocre 14-of-29 for 116 yards with one pick-6 interception passing showing at G-Day. It doesn’t mean a thing.

But G-Day did possibly let us know that the backup quarterback situation is a little more solid than many folks first thought. Both redshirt sophomore transfer Bennett and true freshman Mathis did some good things. Bennett, the former Pierce County and Jones County (Miss.) Junior College quarterback who is in his second stint in Athens, played for both teams and completed a combined 12-of-23 attempts for 210 yards and a touchdown while seeing action for both the Blacks and Reds and the 6-foot-6 Mathis, whom you might say was a QB swap with Ohio State for Justin Fields, showed his exceptional foot speed while scrambling for a 20-yard gain, catching a 39-yard reverse pass for a touchdown from wideout Matt Landers and also nailing 15-of-28 passes for 113 yards.

Likewise, despite the loss of Riley Ridley, Mecole Hardman, Terry Godwin and Isaac Nauta to pro football, I would say Georgia’s receiving corps is literally in ample hands led by Jeremiah Holloman (43-yard TD catch from Bennett), Tyler Simmons, Demetris Robertson (who surprisingly was absent from G-Day after a big spring), Matt Landers, Kearis Jackson, Tommy Bush, Trey Blount and incoming highly-touted prospects Dominick Blaylock, George Pickens and Makiya Tongue, as well as Miami transfer  Lawrence Cager. Add to that the play of tight ends  Charlie Woerner and John Fitzpatrick, both who had five receptions each in the spring game.

Defensively, though the Bulldogs were handicapped somewhat during G-Day due to not being able to go full throttle after the quarterbacks, coordinator Dan Lanning displayed enough talent on that side of the ball to make one believe this will be a tough team to move the ball on this coming season.

Right off the bat, junior corner Eric Stokes picked off a Fromm pass and bolted 39 yards for the game’s first score. And Stokes has plenty of help back in that secondary in the persons of Richard LeCounte — who led the Black team with eight total tackles — Tyson Campbell, Tyrique McGhee and of course the leader of the unit, rising senior J.R. Reed. Throw in early enrollee freshmen Lewis Cine (team-leading eight tackles for Reds) and Tyrique Stevenson, juco transfer DJ Daniel and returnees such as Otis Reece, Mark Webb, Divaad Wilson, Ameer Speed, Christopher Smith, William Poole and Latavious Brini, and you can bet the defensive back competition will be fierce come fall camp.

The inside linebacker corps appears to also be sturdy with returning starters Monty Rice and Tae Crowder back, Channing Tindall and Quay Walker pushing for starting time and early enrollees Nakobe Dean, Rian Davis and Trezmen Marshall making their presence known. All eyes in particular were on the 6-0, 220-pound Dean in the spring game and the Mississippi product, winner of the high school Butkus Award and Bobby Dodd National Lineman of the Year Award, responded with five tackles. Is Dean going to become the next Roquan Smith in Georgia red? We’ll see!

At outside ‘backer, incumbent Walter Grant along with fast rising Adam Anderson,  Brenton Cox, Azeez Ojulari and Robert Beal are fighting for playing time but they’ll have to hold off the high-energy early enrollee Nolan Smith, the Maxwell Football Club Defensive National High School Player of the Year, as well as the highly-regarded junior college transfer, 6-5, 240-pound Jermaine Johnson, both of whom had eye-catching springs.

For the Georgia defense to be better in 2019, the guys up front in the defensive line will have to make vast strides. And the personnel seems to be in place for the Bulldogs to do just that. Man-mountain Jordan Davis (6-6, 320, soph.) is back at the nose tackle position after stalemating opposing run games as a freshman and will be joined by the likes of senior Tyler Clark, senior Michael Barnett, senior David Marshall, junior Justin Young, juco transfer Tramel Walthour, junior Malik Herring and junior Devonte Wyatt, who performed exceptionally well in the Sugar Bowl loss to Texas. And the defensive staff can’t wait to see the talent of incoming freshman Travon Walker in fall camp.

Kicking game, you say? Well, Rodrigo Blankenship should be up for all the national place-kicking awards in his senior season and sophomore punter Jake Camarda looks to be much improved after averaging 42.6 yards a kick last fall. And hey, Camarda, as he displayed in high school, is more than also capable of spelling Blankenship at field goals, as witnessed by his 49-yarder at G-Day.

Can this 2019 Bulldog bunch win a national championship this coming autumn? It’s certainly capable of doing so but whatever happens, it’s going to be a fun ride for Bulldawg Nation. Can’t help but be, what with all the talent Kirby Smart has assembled on the UGA roster.