On a Saturday in October in my freshman year at Vanderbilt in 1980 around midday, I was out on my dorm quad and throwing the football with some guys and drinking a couple of beers. Vanderbilt was playing at Georgia and we weren’t that interested as those were lean times for the Commodores, as many seasons have been though very optimistic for new promising coach Clark Lea. We were playing in Athens, so we weren’t expecting much.

A couple of SAE’s came over to the dorm and the first thing they said was, “there’s this freshman for Georgia, some guy named Herschel Walker, who’s run for 225 yards in the first half.” The great Herschel went on to rush for a career high 283 yards with touchdown runs of 80, 48, and 53 against the Vanderbilt defense. He brought a lot of misery to Vanderbilt football. Remember it well. He went on to lead his team to the national championship that year under historically great head coach Vince Dooley and the also great Erk Russell and his “Junkyard Dawg” defense. Herschel won the Heisman in 1982 and had a pretty solid professional career. He was certainly one of the greatest college football players to ever play the game.

Them Dawgs had been up and down under Mark Richt in the 2000’s. They had some good years, but seemed to underachieve many years. Georgia hired Kirby Smart in 2016 and he’s brought them to a level of greatness at times, and has a talented 2021 team. Smart is 52-14 entering his sixth year in Athens. He is 32-9 in the SEC and he’s won 3 SEC Eastern Division titles, 1 SEC Championship and played in the 2017 national championship game against Alabama losing on a Tua Tagovailoa to DeVonta Smith surreal 41 yard TD pass in overtime. He’s had an excellent career in Athens so far and the future looks unlimited for the Dawgs with the way Smart recruits and develops.

Of course, he was defensive coordinator at Alabama for 9 years and helped Coach Saban lead the Tide to 3 BCS National Championships in 2010, 2012, and 2013 and 1 CFP (College Football Playoff) National Championship in 2016.

Georgia looks loaded this year. There are 8 returning starters back on offense led by quarterback J.T. Daniels and a super talented backfield. Daniels came in the 7th game of last year and played in the final 4 and completed 80-of-119 passes, 67%, for 1,231 yards, 10 TDs against only 2 interceptions. He averaged 307 yards passing for the 4 games he started, 3 regular season victories and a 24-21 Chick-fil-A Bowl victory over Cincinnati. In that game, he was 26-of-38 for 392 yards and a TD. In the G-Day Game, Georgia’s spring game, he was 28-of-41 for 324 yards and 3 TDs and 0 ints. He’s quite a passer, but is not very mobile and can get sacked. Georgia has a stellar defensive front and got to him several times in the spring game. The Georgia offensive line looks like they’re trying to figure it out. The size and talent are there, but they need to come together. Daniels HAS to have time to throw.

The backfield is loaded with talent. Zamir “Zeus” White is the leading returning rusher. He ran for 779 yards and 11 TDs last season averaging 5.4 per carry. He’s a big strong back at 6’0”, 215. James Cook is a high quality back as well. Cook ran for 303 yards last season and scored 3 TDs, but he’s capable of getting his team 800 to 900 yards a season with significant carries, Kenny McIntosh and a highly talented Kendall Milton are returning as well. Daijun Edwards may be the most talented 5th string running back in the country, but he may jump some of the others and get a lot of carries.

But you’ve gotta block for’em. Warren Ericson is a 6’4”, 305 redshirt junior center and will be calling the signals for the O line. Senior and team leader, 6’4”, 330 pound right guard Justin Shaffer, is a preseason All American. 6’4”, 325 pound Jamaree Salyer is the left guard. At right tackle is 6’4’, 300 pound redshirt sophomore Warren McClendon, and at the all important left tackle position is 6’7”, 330 pound redshirt sophomore Xavier Truss. If Truss performs well he can make quite a paycheck in the NFL in the future. They all can, but that left tackle spot is a tremendously high earning position in the pros. Georgia has good depth including the No.1 player in Alabama in 2019, redshirt sophomore left guard Clay Webb, who is 6’3”, 290. Webb needs to put on weight, but he was a 5 star and highly heralded talent who got out of the state.

The Bulldogs took a blow to their receiving corps in the spring when standout and former Hoover star George Pickens tore his ACL and is out until most likely November. He wants to play in November, so if Georgia is doing well, Pickens could be a season defining player for them come November if he can make it back by then. They will have stellar tight end play with 6’7”, 265 pound Darnell Washington and promising freshman Brock Bowers, 6”4”, 230. Both looked very good in the spring game as Bowers was an early enrollee. Washington looks unstoppable. Arik Gilbert is a phenomenal addition from LSU at wide receiver. He transferred to Georgia after the 2020 season. Gilbert is 6’5”, 253 and can play on the line or split out wide. He’s an excellent receiver and causes major matchup problems for defenses. Demetris Robertson, one of their leading returners at wide receiver, transferred to Auburn this summer. That’s good for Auburn’s receiving corps, but Georgia still has a lot of weapons nonetheless. Sophomore Jarmaine Burton is a 6’0’ 200 pound electric receiver. Kearis Jackson returns after catching 36 passes for 514 yards and 3 TDs last season. He’s going to have a big year. Some backups, Dominick Blaylock, Arian Smith, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and freshman Adonai Mitchell, whom the Georgia staff is very high on, and a couple of others will lead the receiving corps as well. So there are a lot of weapons on the perimeter even without PIckens though they will welcome PIckens back with wide open arms if he can return before the season concludes. He wants to make it back to the team, so it could very well happen. PIckens caught 36 passes for 513 yards and 6 TDs in 8 games last season.

The defense returns 5 starters and it all starts up front with preseason All American Jordan Davis, a 6’4” 340 pound senior. He’s a dominator at the line of scrimmage and a game changing player himself. He’ll be up for all the defensive line awards at the end of the year if he stays healthy. The defensive front is big and talented. Junior Nolan Smith, a former 5 star, 6’3”, 225, is a leader and playmaker at outside linebacker. Georgia employs a 3-4 defense. Quay Walker is a 6’4”, 240 senior inside linebacker, who’ll be a key leader on the defense. Nakobe Dean is a 6”0”, 225 pound inside linebacker. and the other outside linebacker is 6’5”, 230 pound senior Adam Anderson. Georgia got a tremendous transfer in Clemson cornerback Derion Kendrick. Kendrick was a 5 star out of high school and a big time player at Clemson. Georgia also got former 4 star and Alabama transfer, safety Brandon Turnage. Ameer Speed is a redshirt senior corner and Tykee Smith is a 4 star STAR, hybrid linebacker/safety transfer from West Virginia. Lewis Cine is a junior free safety who will also be a key guy on the backend.

Senior Jake Camarda is back to punt, redshirt junior Jack Podlensy is the kicker and Kearis Jackson and Jermaine Burton are punt returners. That will be electric when one of those 2 is returning punts, particularly Burton. Jackson, Kenny McIntosh and Zamir White will be the primary kick returners with 2 of the 3 back deep as they will rotate.

Georgia got the 4th best class nationally in 2021 and is No.5 in 2022. Amarius MIms , a 6’7”, 315 pound offensive tackle, was the highest ranked player in their 2021 class. Five star quarterback Brock Vandagriff, 6’3”, 210, was an early enrollee and is getting his sea legs under him. The class of 2020 4 star Carson Beck, 6’ 4”, 225, looks to be Daniel’s backup at QB. Stetson Bennett is still there as well. If there’s one knock on Smart it’s that he’s never had stellar quarterback play. He had Jake Fromm, and Fromm was good at times, but mostly a mixed bag. Smart was loyal to him and chose him over the major talent Justin Fields even when Fromm was struggling. In the spring game in 2018, Fields looked spectacular, the same year that Trevor Lawrence looked spectacular in Clemson’s spring game. Lawrence got the starting job at Clemson and led them to a national championship, but Smart stuck with Fromm even when Fromm struggled. In a game at LSU in 2018, Georgia was losing by 10 and looked to have no shot at coming back. I was yelling at the TV for Smart to put in Fields. He didn’t and Georgia lost by 17. Fromm ended up leaving Georgia high and dry after his junior season when he really could have used a senior year to improve his draft stock. Fromm is now a backup for the Buffalo Bills behind Josh Allen, whom the BIlls made a major financial investment in, so you never know, but thought he should have come back in 2020. Fields went on to Ohio State and played well in Columbus for 2 years leading the Buckeyes into the national championship game against the Crimson Tide this past season, where the Tide played well. Fields was the 11th overall draft pick in 2021 by the Chicago Bears. He’s quite a player, though the jury is always out when talented college quarterbacks reach the NFL. Fields might have led Georgia to the national championship if Smart had ever elected to go with him.

Daniels can definitely sling it, but will need protection, because of his relative immobility.

Georgia finished 8-2 last season, and 9-2 including the bowl victory over Cincinnati on a last second field goal, a 24-21 victory.

2021 Schedule

The season opener is about as big a blockbuster as you can find in college football any year, as Georgia plays Clemson Saturday, Sept. 4th at 6:30 PM CT in Charlotte. The game will be televised by ABC. I’m sure Chris, Kirk and Maria will be there. Wow. Knock your socks off stellar game with 2 teams with national championship aspirations colliding. The winner gets an early boost to its resume and the loser is certainly not out of the playoff hunt. These teams do not like each other and there will be fire burning from both sides in efforts to win this football game. Should be exceptionally entertaining.

On Saturday, Sept. 11th, Georgia hosts UAB at 2:30 PM CT on ESPN2. Good luck Blazers. The Blazers will have a good team, but this is a tall order. Then on Saturday, Sept. 18th at 6 PM CT on ESPN, the Dawgs host South Carolina and new coach Shane Beamer. Beamer has a top 15 recruiting class for 2022, but this is another tall order in Athens. @Vanderbilt on Saturday, Sept. 25th. Clark Lea will do a very good job in Nashville, but is a heavy longshot in this game. Arkansas comes to Athens, Saturday, Oct. 2. Former offensive line coach and looking like stellar Arkansas coach Sam PIttman brings his team between the hedges. On Saturday, Oct. 9th, Georgia is @ Auburn in an earlier than usual game. This game is usually in November. Promises to be a hard fought war on the Plains. Then Kentucky comes to Athens on Saturday, Oct. 16th. After an off week on Sat. 10-23, the Cocktail soiree is Saturday, 10-30. Dawgs-Gators in Jacksonville is as good as it gets and there will most likely be major SEC East implications on the line. Missouri comes to Georgia on Sat. 11-6. Then the Dawgs are @ Tennessee Saturday, 11-13. Charleston Southern at Georgia, Sat. 11-20, then @Georgia Tech, Saturday, 11-27. If the Dawgs navigate their way through the east. they’ll play in the SEC Championship game on Saturday, Dec. 4th at 3 PM CT on CBS.

This Georgia team is an SEC Championship contender and a national championship contender. The road is tough and they’ll always most likely get Alabama in the SEC Championship game, so Kirby is still working on defeating S, a tall order for any coach in the country, and especially his former assistants who are a combined 0-19 against him . It could happen this year, but the Crimson Tide looks prolific once again, so it’ll be tough. But both teams have a lot of football to play before they can think about that. Georgia looks like a playoff caliber team for sure. The team has the material to secure a special season.