Each season starts with fresh hope and promise, and so it is with the 2013 Diamond Dawgs. But a trip back to last May is sobering. A late-season collapse kept the team from making the NCAA Tournament even after a 10-1 start and a top-ten ranking. The evaluation of the season even prompted a defense of the program by AD Greg McGarity – one that included a puzzling statement about Georgia’s expectations to compete against the teams at the top of the league.

Georgia could be good this year, and the return of Kyle Farmer fuels that optimism. A deeper pitching staff will have to carry an offense that still doesn’t look to have a ton of power. The question is whether “good” will be “good enough.” The Dawgs are projected to finish fifth in the seven-team SEC East, and it could be another season on the bubble. If that kind of season pans out, it’s hard to imagine Greg McGarity having the same certainty about the leadership of the program.