Georgia’s next game is one of the bigger Week 1 games to start the 2022 season, as the Bulldogs open with the Oregon Ducks. In addition to being a matchup of top-15 teams, there’s the added subplot of Georgia facing off against its former defensive coordinator in Dan Lanning.

But that game is still nearly four weeks away. We’re not quite in the week-in, week-out grind of the regular season. Instead, the Bulldogs are much more preoccupied with a different type of grind. Fall camp.

“It’s in the back of my mind,” defensive lineman Zion Logue said of facing Oregon. “We got so much to worry about here so you have to push it to the side and worry about us first.”

Logue and his teammates are no strangers to top-billed non-conference matchups, as Georgia opened the 2021 season against the Clemson Tigers. Georgia and Clemson began the year ranked in the top-5, with the build-up having a College Football Playoff-type fell to it. While the game wasn’t a work of art, it proved to be a launching point for last season’s team. The Bulldogs dominated Clemson defensively, pulling out a 10-3 win.

From there, Georgia was well on its way to a championship season.

Logue wants to see Georgia do the same thing once again this year. He knows how difficult that Clemson game was for Georgia last season and how it came after a grueling set of fall practices.

While Georgia has a number of key players to replace from last season’s team, veterans like Logue and others know what it takes to get to the end of the season. It’s a long process, built in the August Georgia heat.

“You have to go earn it again. It’s not going to be given to us,” Logue said. “You have to go make that run to go to Arizona or Atlanta to get to California. We got to do it one week at a time. It starts right now with fall camp. After this it goes straight to Sept. 3. So just take it week by week.”

Georgia coach Kirby Smart was a little more forceful in terms of swatting away any questions about Oregon. While the Ducks are a nice carrot to have in front of the team as they push their way through fall camp, Georgia has to focus on itself first before putting the Ducks in their rifle scopes.

“The last thing I’m worried about is Dan Lanning. I mean, we got a million battles to face before that,” Smart said. “I’m not even thinking about Oregon. Our concern is our roster. How do we build depth? I mean, we’re not even thinking about that.”

Related: Kirby Smart provides key details on various Georgia football position battles in 2022 fall camp

Georgia has completed its first three practices and will return to the field on Sunday as it continues to rev up the intensity for the 2022 season. The Bulldogs have a number of key position battles ongoing, while entrenched starters such as Stetson Bennett, Nolan Smith and Logue look to use their voices to help lead the team.

The Bulldogs will have multiple scrimmages between now and the Sept. 3 opener to help better simulate the situations against Oregon. But even those will be more about Georgia bettering itself than specifically preping for Lanning and the Ducks.

“We’re so far away from that right now,” Smart said. “We’re focused on us, our team, our connection and getting the right players in the right spots. If we do that, that’s going to control the outcome of the game, much more than what he knows about us and what I know about him.”

Georgia coach Kirby Smart ‘not worried’ about Dan Lanning or Oregon as fall camp starts

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