Morning, y’all!
The Georgia crew of coach Kirby Smart, center Drew Bobo, linebacker Raylen Wilson and quarterback Gunner Stockton spoke at SEC media days on Tuesday.
We’ve got a lot to unpack today, including Georgia’s theme for the season: Be uncommon.
What does that mean exactly?
Let’s take a look:
Smart is ready for Georgia to bring the thunder in more ways than one this season.
Smart, on the verge of his 11th season as the Bulldogs head coach, shared at SEC media days how his team studied the NBA’s Oklahoma Thunder in its quest to be “uncommon” with selfless play.
It’s a timely message in this collegiate football era of the players’ high-dollar NIL earnings and free transfer policy.
“If you’re not studying how other people are doing it and maybe the ways they’re doing it … I think you’re missing out,” Smart said.
“It’s very unique what the Thunder was doing, especially when they won the championship in terms of leading in so many categories, but most importantly, selflessness, and that’s what we try to emulate.”
The 2024-25 version of the Thunder led the NBA in point differential and turnover margin, ranking in the NBA’s top-five in scoring (fourth), team defense (third) and blocked shots (second).
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the team with 31.1 points per game and was named the NBA’s MVP the past two seasons, but the championship version of the Thunder featured six players averaging double-figure scoring.
The team-first element is what Smart seeks, to the extent he said “being uncommon nowadays is hard to do in the culture (of) college football, so we’re emphasizing those uncommon traits they have in terms of sharing the ball, passing, leading in all stats, assists, turnovers and defense they were good in all traits.”
Here’s more from Mike Griffith on how Georgia wants to follow the “be uncommon” mantra this year.
Trivia section
Which Georgia player holds both the school and SEC record for most interceptions in a season with 12?
Drew Bobo is a lot more than Mike Bobo’s son for Georgia
Most kids see less of their parents when they go to college.
For Georgia center Drew Bobo, it’s been the opposite.
“I tell people these past four or five years, I’ve seen my dad more than I’ve seen him the rest of my whole life,” Bobo said at SEC media days on Tuesday. “So it’s been cool to have the same off time, getting to go play golf together, getting to go on vacations together. It’s just been really cool to do that.”
Bobo is the son of Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, who returned to Georgia ahead of the 2022 season as an analyst. He’s been the team’s offensive coordinator since the 2023 season, much to the chagrin of a vocal minority of the Georgia fan base.
Drew Bobo’s entire college career has been in Athens. In his teenage years, his dad coached at Colorado State, South Carolina and Auburn. Those stops came after serving as offensive coordinator at Georgia from 2007 through 2014.
In an age where players can transfer after every season, Bobo has become a rock for the Georgia program, emerging as its best offensive lineman. He’s now a key leader, as evidenced by his selection as one of the player representatives for the Bulldogs at this year’s SEC media days.
“He embodies what our team is,” Smart said of Drew Bobo. “This is a returning captain, which is rare on our team. This is one of the toughest kids on the team that played a series with a Lisfranc (injury) in his foot. This is a guy that pushes everybody to be better. And there’s no greater position of importance on your team, maybe outside of quarterback, than the guy that’s snapping it to him. And we learned that last year in what we do.”
When Bobo is on the field, he’s one of the best offensive linemen in the league. He earned Second Team All-SEC honors last season.
But Georgia had a much better understanding of how important Bobo is to the team when he suffered a season-ending foot injury against Georgia Tech.
While Zachariah Branch was scoring the game’s only touchdown in a 16-9 win, Bobo had his foot stepped on. He knew he was in pain and had the injury checked out by trainers, but he felt he could still play.
He went back in for another series before realizing just how serious his injury was.
Bobo broke the fourth metatarsal in his left foot, which required Lisfranc surgery. The injury ended Bobo’s season and kept him out of spring practice.
Georgia wants to be careful with Bobo as he returns to the field, but there’s optimism he’ll be ready to go when the Bulldogs open the season against Tennessee State on Sept. 5.
“The biggest news is Drew looks great,” Smart said. “He’s taking reps. We’ll probably load-manage him some and not overdo him.”
Read Connor Riley’s story on Bobo, and how he can power Georgia’s offensive line, here.
SEC approval of 24-team playoff field held up by 2 major issues
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has heard all the talk of college football moving to a 24-team playoff, but he’s not ready to take action.
“We’re not necessarily interested in finding the easiest path,” Sankey said at the SEC media days on Monday. “We are focused on finding the right path for college football.”
The Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 have said that more teams (24) is the right way to go, while the SEC vote remains cast at 16 while Sankey researches how a 24-team field might look.
As the discussion has evolved, two major questions have emerged:
- Deciding the value of the added playoff inventory relative to maintaining value/ratings in regular season and conference championship games.
- Developing a playoff schedule that would optimize game placement and length of season.
“Some of those important questions that remain for us is how do we preserve and build the value of the regular season?” Sankey said, explaining why he’s not yet on board with the 24-team concept.
“That is a judgment-based answer that we continue to consider and research.”
The SEC and Big Ten hold control over the College Football Playoff format, thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by all 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conference commissioners and Notre Dame in March 2024.
If the league cannot reach an agreement by Dec. 1, the CFP field will remain at 12 teams.
SEC coaches were vocal in their desire to expand the CFP field from 16 to 24 at the league’s spring meetings in Miramar Beach, Florida, earlier this offseason.
Read more of Mike Griffith’s story here.
Stockton looks to push Georgia from good to great in 2026
It’s stereotypical for a team’s quarterback to be viewed as its leader. He’s the one barking out plays and taking command of the huddle.
When Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton is between the white lines of the football field, he fits that mold. When he speaks in the huddle, his teammates listen.
But away from the football field, Stockton’s image is counter to what one would think of in today’s college football age.
Teammates love his calm and happy demeanor. Instead of driving the fastest sports car, he drives a Ford pickup truck, though a newer edition than the 1984 version he drove in high school.
On a recent white-water rafting trip with the Georgia team, Stockton was sitting at the front of the boat and bore the brunt of the North Carolina rapids rocking the boat.
“They explained this was the most risky position,” coach Kirby Smart said. “You may fall out. When you go over a rapid you’ll be nose down and you’re the first to go down into the water. Obviously had a life jacket. Made it as safe as we possibly could.
“But he chose to jump into that seat. I think that says a lot about who he is.”
As Georgia fans saw last season, Stockton never ducks from contact. Perhaps that was a determinant, especially given some of the violent hits Stockton took over the year. He was dealing with an oblique injury against Ole Miss in October, though he still accounted for five touchdowns in the win.
Stockton took two brutal hits in the rematch against Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff, a game in which he didn’t play quite as well. That difference, going from great to merely good, was the difference in a season-ending loss to the Rebels.
Entering his second season as the team’s starter, Stockton knows the bar he has to clear.
Winning an SEC championship, something he’s done the last two years, would be good.
As for a national championship, something Georgia did when Stockton was a freshman, would qualify as the great height Stockton hopes to reach.
“The thing is, you know, we’ve been up short the past two years,” Stockton said. “It’s definitely going to be something we’re trying to work towards.”
Read more of Connor’s story on Stockton here.
Trivia answer
Terry Hoage in 1982
