More watch list honors: Does it mean much?

The offseason attrition may mean depth issues for the Georgia football team, especially on the offensive line. But if you go by the preseason awards lists, the team still has plenty of potential star power.

Two Bulldogs - tackle Cordy Glenn and guard Ben Jones - are among the 65 players on the watch list for the Outland Trophy. That award goes to the nation's best interior lineman (in other words, O-line and D-line.) Here's the link to that release and full list of players.

Cornerback Brandon Boykin is also among 87 players on the watch list for the Bronko Nagurski award, bestowed upon the nation's best defensive players. Here's the link to that release and full list.

Georgia players have been on a slew of other watch lists released this week, all for positional awards: Punter Drew Butler, kicker Blair Walsh, tight end Orson Charles, receiver Tavarres King, quarterback Aaron Murray and safety Bacarri Rambo.

So let's try to answer the intriguing headline to this blog post: As we pointed out before, the watch lists are really just a chance to get some advance publicity for the season. Players will fall on and off from consideration. And there are, for example, 17 SEC players on the Nagurski list, so that should tell you the level of competition Georgia faces this season.

But it's a hopeful sign for Georgia that:

a) it's quarterback is highly-rated not only at his position, but overall on offense.
b) three of his receivers are nominated, considering all the concerns left by the departures of A.J. Green and Kris Durham.
c) two offensive linemen are highly-regarded, reflecting that if the Bulldogs can shore up the other three spots and keep injuries to a minimum, all is not lost up front.

That's just the offense. And we already knew the special-teamers and Boykin would be highly-regarded. Rambo has been inconsistent, but he's done enough to be noticed entering his junior year.

The front seven hasn't seen any nominees yet. Maybe those are forthcoming, maybe not. But we know there are questions there:

a) Christian Robinson is a good leader, but is he an all-SEC type of inside linebacker?
b) will Alec Ogletree be a good fit at inside linebacker?
c) will Jarvis Jones (assuming he's on the field the first two games) be a playmaker?
d) just how much of a difference will John Jenkins make at nose tackle?

(OK, so I turned a few rather innocuous awards into a full-fledged analysis of the Bulldogs entering the 2011 season. But hey, there ya go.)

If you had to go by the watch lists, I'd say the quick, one-sentence analysis for Georgia football in 2011 is ... "Lots of questions, but still plenty of hope."