Editor’s Note: It may be time for the Georgia Bulldogs to take back the SEC East in 2017. We’ve featured the most important UGA players, coaches, fans and staff for the upcoming season in a 20-part video series, which you can binge-watch right here.

ATHENS – Unlike some of Georgia’s other behind-the-scenes personnel whose work largely goes unnoticed by the general public, Bryant Gantt is a behind-the-scenes administrator whose work sometimes finds its way front and center.

Gantt carries the title of director of player programs at UGA. According to his bio in the school’s football media guide, his responsibilities are to “provide advice and counsel to student-athletes in areas related to life skills, personal accountability and personal development.” 

But one of his chief duties is helping out the football players when they find themselves in trouble, whether it be with law enforcement or in other areas of life. Gantt is the first person they call if they’re facing any kind of difficulty or uncertainty.

For that reason, Gantt’s name often can be found in police reports on the rare occasions that one of the Bulldogs finds himself in the company of law enforcement. He’s there almost as soon as the police are, gathering information and providing advice. Gantt is knowledgeable about the law because he was an investigator and process server for 19 years for an Athens law firm.

Likewise, Gantt is there for players in the case of domestic or medical strife. For instance, if a player is injured and has to go to the hospital, Gantt is there with him and provides information to his family. It is in that role that Gantt ended up forging an extremely close relationship with Devon Gales, the Southern University player who suffered a catastrophic spinal-cord injury in a game against the Bulldogs in 2015.

Gantt grew up in Athens and attended Cedar Shoals High School. He lettered as an outside linebacker in 1989 and 1990. He was named the athletic association’s Employee of the Year in 2016.

Click here to see more of “Own the East,” our 2017 season preview of the Georgia Bulldogs in video form.