Tag: ga bulldogs football

CBSSports releases 2020 NFL Top 100 list: Three Georgia players included

Three former Georgia football players made CBSSports’ list of the top 100 NFL players for 2020.

Pete Prisco of CBSSports recently released his list of the top 100 NFL players for the 2020 season and included three Georgia Bulldogs.

Related: If UGA was fielding a starting team based on current NFL players, here’s what it would look like

A few notable players who did not make the list include: Matthew Stafford, Todd Gurley, Justin Houston, Roquan Smith, David Andrews

Here are the Dawgs that did make the list:

53. Geno Atkins

At #53 on the list is Georgia great Geno Atkins.

Atkins has been one of the league’s most dominant interior defensive lineman since entering the NFL in 2010. He has played his full career with the Bengals, is an eight-time pro-bowler, a two-time first-team all-pro and a member of the 2010s NFL All-Decade Team.

Prisco’s thoughts on Atkins:

“His sacks numbers were down to 4.5 last season, the fewest he’s had since 2014. He’s still capable of doing more than sacking the quarterback, but is age (32) starting to slow him down?”

63. AJ Green

At #63 on the list is another Cincinnati Bengals star, former Georgia phenom AJ Green.

Green remains one of the league’s best wide receivers despite missing the entirety of the 2019 season. When he’s healthy, he’s one of the best in the league, and some can argue that he is the best.

Let’s see what he can do this year now that he finally has a quarterback in Joe Burrow.

Prisco’s thoughts on Green:

“He sat out the entire 2019 season with an ankle injury, so he’s a tough one to slot. But I still think at the age of 31, he can still be a No. 1 receiver. Health is the key.”

71. Nick Chubb

Scott R. Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

Nick Chubb is fresh off of his second season in the NFL that saw him come 46 yards shy of leading the league in rushing.

Chubb is the 7th ranked running back on this list, coming in behind Christian McCaffrey, Ezekiel Elliott, Saquon Barkley, Alvin Kamara, Dalvin Cook, and Derrick Henry.

Prisco’s thoughts on Chubb:

“With much of the talk about the Browns passing game coming into the season, it was Chubb who was the best offensive player. He was second in the league in rushing with 1,494 yards and also caught 36 passes. He averaged 5.0 yards per rush.”

for the full list, click here

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Sam Pittman on Georgia’s 2020 offensive line: ‘They’ll be fine’

Former Georgia football OL coach Sam Pittman is confident in UGA’s 2020 offensive line depth chart.

Georgia fans were devastated to hear the news of the departure of former offensive line coach Sam Pittman in December.

Pittman assembled the best offensive line Georgia, and quite possibly college football, has ever seen … and he has the evidence to prove that.

The Dawgs had three offensive linemen go in the first 111 picks in the 2020 NFL Draft. Two went in the first round: Andrew Thomas fourth to the New York Giants and Isaiah Wilson 29th to the Tennessee Titans.

Georgia had never had two offensive linemen selected in the first round of the same draft, and Thomas became the highest-drafted Bulldog offensive lineman in school history.

Solomon Kindley was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the fourth round of the draft.

Pittman took the head coaching job at the University of Arkansas, which triggered Kirby Smart’s hiring of former Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke to fill Pittman’s position in Athens.

The Athens Banner-Herald spoke with Pittman about his old players, and the future of the Georgia offensive line.

“I was proud of them,” Pittman told the Athens Banner-Herald.  He was referring to the guys who stepped up in last year’s Sugar Bowl for the absent Andrew Thomas and Isaiah Wilson, who sat out for obvious reasons. “Jamaree Salyer did well. Warren Ericson was in there and played well. Cade (Mays) jumped out to left tackle and, of course, I know he’s not at Georgia anymore. The new guys, I felt like they played about what they played and Coach (Luke) did a nice job of getting them ready. I was really happy, and happy to see them win the game. I was happy for the kids because they finally got a chance to step in there and prove that they’re good football players as well.”

Coach Luke will be without a key piece he thought he would have the Dawg’s 2020 offensive line, Mays. The tackle entered the transfer portal this offseason and transferred to Tennessee, his father’s alma mater.

Pittman had some nice things to say about rising junior guard Salyer.

“Jamaree played quite a bit more this year than he had in the past. He actually played a lot of ball. To look at him, you’re going, man, he’s probably not a tackle but he is a tackle and he’s going to be a really good player. He’s kind of a natural pass protector.”

The Dawgs will also have rising junior center Trey Hill returning, who is a likely NFL prospect.

Pittman was not the slightest bit worried about Georgia losing so much talent to the NFL draft, even though the Dawgs are now conference foes to him.  Pittman knows there is a surplus of talented linemen at Georgia and has plenty of confidence in Matt Luke taking over what he started.

“There’s plenty of talent on that line there even though they lost several kids but they recruited well like Georgia always does,” Pittman said. “Xavier Truss is a kid that’s got a lot of talent. They’ll be fine. They’ve got a really good offensive line coach there. They’ll be fine.”

With Georgia football spring practice postponed, who’s most affected?

In the college football world, it’s hard to imagine that any individual or team benefits from a delayed practice schedule.

It’s old news by now: earlier this month, the SEC cancelled all remaining spring competitions amid COVID-19 concerns. Outlined in an official announcement, the plans to halt play include abandoning spring football scrimmages, events that are open to the public and free to attend at most schools.

Spring football practices have been postponed indefinitely.

In the college football world, it’s hard to imagine that any individual or team benefits from a delayed practice schedule. Maybe a starter with a minor injury has enough extra time to be cleared for full participation, but that’s the only hypothetical that comes to mind.

Of all players, graduate transfers are the most negatively impacted. Finding themselves on new college campuses less than four months after the conclusion of the previous season, these players with only one remaining year of immediate eligibility have less time on the field to gel with their new teammates.

On the Georgia’s Bulldogs’ offense, this includes quarterback Jamie Newman and tight end Tre’ McKitty, grad transfers from Wake Forest and Florida State, respectively.

Pro Football Focus rates Newman as the top returning quarterback among all SEC teams. Though he’s already studying the Silver Britches’ playbook, the lack of face time with his new offensive line, tailbacks, receivers, and tight ends like McKitty prevents Jamie Newman from having the start he and the Bulldog Nation would prefer.

For the lauded dual-threat presupposed to be the Dawgs’ starting quarterback come September, practice limbo couldn’t have come at a worse time in his college career.

Tre’ McKitty has the opportunity to be the second tight end in as many years to lead the position group in receptions after having transferred. Eli Wolf did so last season and hauled in more passes than in his three years at Tennessee combined.

Following the departures of tight ends Wolf and Charlie Woerner, a proven commodity like McKitty can still pull it off, but it’ll be a great deal more difficult without the “head start” of starting on time.

They will practice under newly appointed offensive coordinator Todd Monken. Without witnessing drills firsthand, the postponement gives Monken (and all other coaches in their first seasons at a new program) significantly less time to develop game plans with their available personnel.

This is exceptionally more challenging when scheming with players who have no game film playing for Georgia.

Right now, any coordinator might have a pretty good idea of how a freshman, transfer, or graduate transfer fits into their team based upon film from their previous team (collegiate or high school), but that idea isn’t as good as it’d be if these players were on the field getting in some reps together.

Matt Stafford doing his part to help coronavirus first responders in Michigan

Former Georgia football star and Detroit Lions QB Matt Stafford is doing his part to help coronavirus first responders throughout Michigan.

Former Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, who was selected No. 1 overall by the Detroit Lions in the 2009 NFL Draft, is doing his part to help out his local community during the coronavirus pandemic.

Accompanied by his wife Kelly, who was a cheerleader at UGA when she and Matt met, the two have announced that they will pay for medical workers’ meals all throughout Michigan.

“We will be doing this at multiple restaurants in Michigan,” Kelly wrote on her Instagram story.

“I will announce them tomorrow here on my Instagram, so if you work at a hospital, please go grab a meal on us and please stay safe and healthy,” she added.

From Detroit television station WDIV:

The couple said they will cover up to $5,000 in orders made by first responders, including doctors, nurses, police officers and firefighters, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The giveaway will begin on Thursday, March 26 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Royal Oak Wahlburgers restaurant only. Customers should order online at wahltogo.com or on the Wahlburgers app. Only takeout or curbside delivery is available. First responders should be in uniform or show their ID badge.

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Herschel Walker tells us how to stay fit during coronavirus quarantine

Georgia football legend Herschel Walker tells us all how to stay healthy with this home workout routine during your coronavirus quarantine.

When you think of Herschel Walker, the words “fit,” “beast” or “ripped” may come to mind.

Herschel, now 58, is still all those things that he was 30-40 years ago during his days at Georgia, in the USFL or the NFL.

But he was not always that way. Actually, as a child, Herschel was overweight and the victim of bullying. That is until one day he decided enough is enough.

“I grew up overweight,” Herschel told Daniel Williams of NFL.com. “I used to have a speech impediment. I was picked on. And I realized that if you dedicate yourself to anything, you can do it.”

Eventually, Herschel sought out to lose that extra weight and replace it with muscle. Every day after school in Wrightsville, Herschel would head out to the train track that ran behind his house and raced the trains that passed by. When he was finished and would go home, he would turn on the television like any other kid would. But his workout was not complete. Each commercial break posed as an opportunity to get in extra push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and squats.

To this day, Herschel still does 1,500 push-ups and 3,000 sit-ups each day.

Herschel wants you to remain fit during coronavirus lockdown:

For a lot of us, our workout routines have been thrown off greatly thanks to the coronavirus quarantine happening around the world.

All that hard work you’ve put in to get healthy and fit can be undone if exposed to weeks on end of a sedentary lifestyle.

Herschel does not want to see that happen to you. On Tuesday, the greatest college football player of all-time took to Twitter to share some easy home-workout tips with you.

He also strongly suggests that you read up on the CDC guidelines on how to stay healthy, safe and mentally stable at a time like this.

“People always talk to me about my workout, and I always say that my workout came from reading books,” Walker told Fox Business in 2018. “Particularly, reading about a Marine who did all these push-ups and sit-ups and really dedicated himself. And that’s what I try to encourage kids to do.”

The Athletic Build did a profile on Herschel and touched on his workout routine, noting that he has never been a fan of weight-lifting. What you saw dominate the football field in the early 80s was a product of years of body weight exercises.

From TheAthleticBuild:

If you think Herschel Walker is some kind of weight room warrior you would be wrong, Herschel has never been into weightlifting, all of his exercises are body weight exercises. He started doing sit-ups and push-ups as a kid, as many as 5000 a day and still to this day he does 750-1500 pushups every day as well as 3000 sit ups. He also mixes in 1,500 pull-ups, 1000 dips, and 1000 squats every day. For cardio, he will run up to 8 miles and do sprints as well. He also does a regimen of martial arts and MMA after he has completed this workout every morning.

Herschel’s diet is also a bit on the unorthodox. He does not eat breakfast or lunch. The only meal he eats is dinner which consists of soup, salad, and bread. He does not eat red meat but will have chicken on occasion.

Two former Georgia football players/coaches leave South Carolina for NFL

Two former Georgia football players and coaches have left South Carolina to coach in the NFL.

Two coaches are leaving the South Carolina program to take NFL coaching jobs.

Both of those coaches happen to be guys who played and coached at the University of Georgia.

Thomas Brown, who played running back at Georgia from 2004-07, has joined the Los Angeles Rams staff as the running backs coach, where he will coach former Dawg Todd Gurley.

Related: Thomas Brown hired to Rams

And Bryan McClendon, who caught passes in Athens from 2002-05, will be joining the Steelers staff as receivers coach.

Related: Report: Former Georgia WR Bryan McClendon hired to Steelers

After their collegiate playing careers, both players returned to Georgia to coach shortly after testing out the NFL.

McClendon coached the running backs and receivers in Athens from 2009-2015, after spending two seasons as a grad assistant at Georgia.

Brown coached at Georgia in 2011 as a strength coach and then came back in 2015 to coach the running backs, which at the time was Nick Chubb and Sony Michel.

Both ended up on the same staff at South Carolina under none other than former Georgia defensive back Will Muschamp, who is head coach of the Gamecocks.

Georgia ties run deep.

Report: Former Georgia football player and coach hired to Steelers staff

The Pittsburgh Steelers have reportedly hired a former Georgia football wide receiver to coach.

According to the ABC television affiliate in Columbia, S.C., the Pittsburgh Steelers have pulled from the college ranks to find their next receivers coach.

The Steelers have reportedly worked out a deal with former Georgia wide receiver Bryan McClendon, who also coached in Athens for nearly a decade.

The Steelers have been on a long search for a receivers coach. This past season, interim receivers coach Ray Sherman handled those duties after Darryl Drake passed away during training camp in August.

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McClendon played at Georgia from 2002-05, finding a ton of success in Athens.

After college, he tried out the NFL for a year with the Bears but quickly found himself coaching at Georgia in 2007 as a graduate assistant and staying until 2015. In 2009, McClendon was promoted to running backs coach under Mark Richt, a position he held until 2014, before switching to wide receivers coach in 2015. He also added other titles along the way, such as assistant head coach and interim head coach after Richt’s firing.

In 2016, McClendon was named co-offensive and wide receivers coach coordinator at South Carolina and in 2019 was named the Gamecocks’ offensive coordinator.

Oddly enough, McClendon is the second former Georgia football player to get an NFL coaching job today. And even more odd, the other, Thomas Brown, also left a position at South Carolina to do so.

Twitter reacts to Georgia football landing No. 1 recruiting class

Georgia football raked in college football’s No. 1 class and here is how Twitter reacted.

For the second time in three years, Kirby Smart and Georgia football have landed the top ranked recruiting class in the country.

And that’s if you go by 247Sports team rankings. If you look at Rivals’ rankings, the Bulldogs have actually finished with the No. 1 ranked class three years in a row now.

That’s simply incredible. What Kirby has built in his short time in Athens is something that Georgia fans should never take for granted.

Before Kirby came, Mark Richt was doing a fine job in recruiting – consistently finishing anywhere between that No. 5 and No. 12 spot. But it just was not good enough, especially at Georgia, where even if you don’t want to leave your state to recruit you can still finish with a top-five class.

So Kirby came and he elevated recruiting to where we expect it to be. And look at Florida?

“We’re closing the gap! We’re closing the gap!”

Actually, no Gators, you’re not. Georgia is consistently finishing with the top ranked class in the country while in Gainesville they are celebrating the No. 8 ranked class. No. 8 is something to be excited about, sure. But think about the difference in talent between a No. 1 and a No. 8. The gap is not closing.

Recruiting is one of those things that get people so fired up that it’s actually hard to scroll through Twitter on big recruiting days. 50 year old men and women arguing with each other about where a 17 year old kid wants to go to college is…weird. But it’s college football. But man is it weird, too.

If you’re a Georgi fan, you’re loving every minute of Kirby on the recruiting trail. If you’re a rival, say Auburn or Florida, you despise Kirby for tasking your top recruits. Everybody will claim Georgia cheats, or whatever they’ll say to make themselves feel better.

But the reality of it is that Kirby and the Bulldogs spend the most money nationwide on recruiting expenses, they put in the most time and they build the best and quickest relationships with these prospects.

Following another day in which Georgia wrapped a ribbon on its No. 1 ranked class, elating DawgNation and pissing off the rest of America, I went through Twitter to take a look at the good tweets and the not-so-nice tweets.

The bad…

 

On this day in 1862, the poem from which UGA borrowed its de facto fight song, “Glory, Glory”, was published

This is a historical date in Georgia football history.

On this day in 1862, “The Battle Hymn of The Republic”, a poem by Julia Ward Howe, was published in the Atlantic Monthly. 

“Glory, Glory”, the rally song for the Georgia Bulldogs, was adapted to the tune of “John Brown’s Body” by Georgia Students and began singing the song at football games in the early 1890s.

The “Glory, Hallelujah” tune was a folk hymn developed in camp meetings in the South that were popular in the 1800s. In the first known version, “Canaan’s Happy Shore,” the text includes the verse “Oh! Brothers will you meet me on Canaan’s happy shore?” and chorus “There we’ll shout and give him glory, for glory is his own.” This developed into the familiar “Glory, glory, hallelujah” chorus by the 1850s. The tune and variants of these words spread across both the southern and northern United States.

Some researchers have maintained that the tune’s roots go back to an African-American wedding song from Georgia in the early 1800s.

“Glory, Glory” is the de facto fight song of the Bulldogs, with the official fight song being “Hail to Georgia”. The song is played by the Georgia Redcoat Band when the Bulldogs take the field and during scores and turnovers. It is often followed by the school’s official fight song, “Hail to Georgia”, after the extra point attempt. Over the years, Georgia fans have mofified the “G-E-O-R-G-I-A” phrase with “And To Hell with Georgia Tech”.

In one of the most moving traditions in college sports, a slower-played version, using a more complete melody of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” is played before the start of each home football game. A Redcoat solo trumpet-player takes a position on the upper deck of the south stands near the west endzone and reverently plays the first haunting fourteen notes of the Battle Hymn to an adoring crowd. During the solo, BulldogNation rises to their feet and acknowledge their respect to the soloist by pointing towards the upper deck. To make the atmosphere even more electric, on the video board, UGA legendary broadcaster Larry Munson narrates a moving piece on the hallowed traditions of Georgia football, and the Redcoat Band finishes the song, which is referred to as “The Battle Hymn of the Bulldog Nation” by Munson.

As the Sanford Stadium faithful are nearing a feeding frenzy, the Bulldogs congregate in the west end zone. The Redcoat Band begins playing the hair-raising “Krypton Fare”  and through a haze of white smoke, The Dawgs burst through the large Power G banner and onto the field through a tunnel of the Redcoats playing “Glory, Glory”. If you haven’t witnessed this in person, it’s one of the greatest spectacles in sport. The colors, sounds, pageantry, mystique, traditions….why we love colllege football!

Glory, Glory

Glory, glory to old Georgia!

Glory, glory to old Georgia!

Glory, glory to old Georgia!

G-E-O-R-G-I-A

Glory, glory to old Georgia!

Glory, glory to old Georgia!

Glory, glory to old Georgia!

G-E-O-R-G-I-A

Hail to Georgia

Hail to Georgia, down in Dixie!

A college honor’d fair, and true;

The Red and Black is her standard,

proudly it waves.

Streaming today and the ages through.

She’s the fairest in the Southland

We’ll pledge our love to her for aye;

To that college dear we’ll ring a cheer,

All hail to dear old U-G-A!

Hail, our Varsity of Georgia!

Thy sons will e’er thy glory sing:

To thee we’ll ever be faithful, loyal and true;

Ever and aye will thy praises ring.

Grand old time of ours at Georgia

The happiest days they’ll be always;

Alma mater, fair beyond compare,

All hail to dear old U-G-A!

Watch: Mecole Hardman on how Georgia football prepared him for the NFL

Georgia football great Mecole Hardman discussed how UGA and the SEC prepared prepared the Kansas Chiefs WR for the NFL and Super Bowl.

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This past week, CampusLore was able to sit down with Georgia football great Mecole Hardman, who is enjoying a phenomenal rookie season with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Hardman was asked how Georgia prepared him for the NFL, and the speedster credited the level of competition in the SEC, how Kirby Smart ran the program and playing in front of 93,000 people.

Hardman’s rookie season concludes with a trip to the Super Bowl in Miami where he will face one of the most ferocious defenses the NFL has seen in a long time. For Kansas City to come out on top, it could use some big plays from its speedsters on the outside – Hardman and Tyreek Hill.

Related: Must watch: Georgia football’s Mecole Hardman mic’d up during Super Bowl week

The Bowman, Georgia native is about to wrap up a rookie season that saw him take the NFL by storm with his blazing fast speed. In 2019, Hardman, a former 2nd round pick, reeled in 26 catches for 538 yards (20.7 YPC!!) and four touchdowns.

As a kick returner, Hardman makes both teams hold their breaths and punished the opposition who was daring enough to kick the ball his way. In addition to his six touchdowns, Hardman also added a 104 yard kick return.