With two weeks to the 2023 season, the silence is deafening.
Maybe it's the long, endless summer of losses around the Georgetown program that gives reporters little interest to ask why. Others may have simply given up on the idea of progress. Maybe it's a result of how little Georgetown wants to shine a light on where the Hoyas are right now. But in any case, the season is soon upon us, and with it, a lot of questions about a program that looks as much like the 2008 season as 2023.
That 2008 team was coming off two productive seasons by QB Matt Bassuener and some fine individual efforts on both sides of the ball, but the offenses under former coordinator Jim Miceli were inexperienced and lacked direction. From a 2007 team that averaged just 15 points a game on offense, a three quarterback rotation in 2008 managed fewer than 10 points a season later, while its defense allowed nearly 36 minutes of time of possession.
Past need not be prologue. The 2008 Hoyas opened with three consecutive road games en route to a 2-9 finish, while 2023 opens with three very winnable home games before things start to get serious. With this in mind, five questions for the Georgetown offense as the season opener approaches:
1. Who Is The Starting Quarterback? You have to go back, way back, to find a less experienced group of quarterbacks entering the start of a season. Following Bassuener's graduation, the 2008 team rotated through sophomore Keerome Lawrence and freshmen James Brady and Scott Darby, neither of whom had seen time as a college quarterback, and it showed.
In 2023, fifth year senior Tyler Knoop enters as the favorite until we are told otherwise, in no small part because he is the only quarterback with any prior experience. In two seasons, Knoop threw 12 passes for 136 yards, mainly out of wildcat formations. The challenge for Knoop is to stay in the pocket and throw, and to avoid injury, because it he's not in the game, things will get messy real quick.
The Hoyas have six QB's on the roster. Senior Connor Katz and sophomore Danny Lauter have not seen any game time. Freshmen Jacob Holtschlag and Jordan Holmes are longer term options. Sophomore Dez Thomas played two years at Division III Trinity (TX), but that's a significant jump to Division I FCS.
Owing to a pass-first philosophy by assistant coach Rob Spence which has been intermittently successful, the eventual signal caller has to learn to stay in the pocket, something Pierce Holley did a good job of last season, and avoid becoming a running QB, because Georgetown hasn't been built for it.
2. Who Steps Up? A heavily senior and grad-level offensive lien gave way to the inevitable: four of five starters from 2022 are gone, and that's a big step forward for those needed to enter those roles in 2023.
Grad student Spencer Harris and juniors Luke Popma and Richie Pinomi need to make the jump to full time starters. With likely 2023 starter Sam Telesa having transferred, grad student Talati Polomalu can't do it alone, and experience is vital in the o-line. This leaves opportunity for a dozen other candidates, including sophomores Joshua Sauickie, Trevor Swan, and Losini Maka, to taken another step forward, while others have to be ready for the call should injuries become a factor.
The Hoyas' run game won't go far without a line, leading to the next question...
3. Can The Hoyas Run? At 6-0, 225 lbs., grad student Joshua Stakely is the largest man in the backfield for the 2023 Hoyas. Georgetown has struggled to recruit backs over the years and carry just five other RB's, with an average height of 5-9 and 186 pounds between them. By contrast, Holy Cross averages 213.8 pounds per back and a pair of backs over 230.
Stakely led all rushers in 2022 but with just 34.5 yards per game. Georgetown averaged just 2.6 yards per carry in 2022 and allowed 5.0, so it can't simply give the ball to Stakely 25 times a game. If Naieem Kearney is available in 2023, his high school numbers can't be ignored but they haven't been proven at this level and he could be an option. Sophomore Mason Gudger, known more for special teams in 2022, is another good candidate.
4. What Are the Options For Receiver? Joshua Tomas graduated this spring as a second team All-America, the first Georgetown offensive player with All-America recognition in 30 years. While Tomas did so many things for the offense in 2022, there are a number of solid returnees for the receiver corps. Three to watch would be Senior Asante Das (36-431, one TD), Brock Biestek (7-100, 1 TD), and Cam Pygatt (7-81, 1 TD). Freshman Jayvin Pyle-Thompson may be a year away but comes to the Hilltop with some strong numbers behind him, while sophomore Jimmy Kibble could see some action in thee receiver packages.
Overall, the receivers have more depth than the backs, but carry more of the offensive load as a result.
5. Can the Hoyas Control Time Of Possession? It's a little unusual to consider that the team that finished second in the PL in time of possession finished last in the standings, but such was the fate of the 2022 Georgetown Hoyas. Its 22.6 points a game was third best in the PL but when the defense allowed 36.5 points, that's underwater from the start.
Time of possession starts with the rushing game and that's concerning for Georgetown, who even with three seniors and fifth-years last year, was last in the PL and 119th of 123 nationally on the ground. Georgetown hasn't finished with a rusher with more than 500 yards on the ground in eight years, and just one over 750 yards since 2005.
The Hoyas were 47th nationally in first downs, much of it on the arm of Holley, whose 2,882 passing yards in 2022 was a school record. Absent a repeat performance by Knoop and Company, time of possession must run on the ground, and the Hoyas are not well suited for that kind of domination.
Next, five questions for the defense.
