Happy Friday, y’all!
We made it through SEC media days and are that much closer to the start of football season (throws confetti).
Quick programming note before we talk football: I will be out next week, my last time off before buckling down for the season, and my co-worker Connor Riley will be filling in for me on the newsletter. Shout out to Connor, who I’ve known since our college days at Georgia and who does an awesome job.
Today, let’s talk some final thoughts from SEC media days. With such a rapidly evolving college sports landscape, it seems like coaches have to spend almost as much time addressing NIL, their transfer portal philosophies and potential College Football Playoff expansion as they do Xs and Os.
This quote from Georgia coach Kirby Smart on Tuesday stuck out to me: “Everywhere I go, TV, media, everybody wants to talk about the landscape of college football. It’s sad it’s forgotten what wins games. Maybe that becomes boring, mundane, but not at our place.”
So I figure today, we’ll kick things off with the best player-related intel we heard at SEC media days:
Below is a running list of what Smart, quarterback Gunner Stockton, center Drew Bobo and linebacker Raylen Wilson had to say about some other Georgia players:
Smart on safety Khalil Barnes: “Yeah, when we went in, we had to find a starter. We had to find someone that could play multiple positions and start in our secondary. We were losing a lot of experience there. We were young there. We had some good young players up and coming, but we needed a veteran. He’s a kid that grew up, you know, in the shadows of our stadium, known his dad for (a) long time when I was a player. And you know, we probably messed it up when he was coming out and didn’t do a good job. And he went, grew up, played well for Clemson. They’ve said nothing but great things about him, and we’re excited for the opportunity to take a kid on that played in a very good defensive system that we’re excited to watch play for us.”
Smart on defensive back Gentry Williams: “Intelligence, well coached. You know, when you take guys from a Brent Venables defense, you know what you’re getting. You’re getting a guy that understands leverages, coverages. A lot of similarities to us defensively, teaching-wise, and that’s shown that he’s, you know, he’s played. He’s got experience. He’s got play experience, and that’s what we were searching for. Some guys that could be competitive, compete for starting jobs, come in and help us, and you know, God forbid, you never know what kind of injuries you have during a year. You got to have the ability to have six to seven defensive backs who’ve got play experience. So he’s got that.”
Bobo on offensive linemen Juan Gaston and Dontrell Glover: “Dontrell Glover, Juan Gaston, all those guys, I think they’re big pieces. Getting them just a year of experience, especially as freshmen, is just really good for them.”
Stockton on wide receiver Thomas Blackshear: “I think Thomas, I call him T. Black. He’s a really good guy. Just seeing his growth and being able to throw. He’s been doing a great job. He’s from Savannah, so it’s pretty neat to see him and just how much he’s grown. He’s a great guy. Just seeing him work this offseason, if it’s throwing 7-on-7 or in the weight room, just seeing all the work he puts in. He’s been doing a great job.”
Wilson on defensive lineman Elijah Griffin: “I mean, his growth in the weight room has been crazy, just bench pressing and squatting. Just his leadership role, he’s been taking that pretty seriously. He’s going to be a good leader for us this year as a young guy.”
Read Connor’s full story to learn more.
Our “DawgNation Daily” crew did an awesome job of covering SEC media days.
It would be impossible to embed every story, video or show they tackled while in Tampa, Florida, this past week, but here’s a few to get you started:
- Mike Griffith talks Georgia wide receivers and playoff expansion on “The Paul Finebaum Show”
- Kaylee Mansell interviews Tony Barnhart on the surrounding cast for Gunner Stockton
- Brandon Adams talks high expectations for Georgia’s defense with linebacker Raylen Wilson
- Brandon, Kaylee and Connor discuss Smart’s comments on the possibility of an SEC breakaway from the NCAA
Trivia section
This player holds the record for most touchdown receptions in a season at Georgia with 13.
New site, same hostility for Georgia-Florida game this season
Georgia and Florida hold a bitter disdain for each other. While the venue for the 2026 game will be different, the hostility between them remains the same.
Because of stadium renovations in Jacksonville, Florida, the series shifts to neutral-site venues for the next two years, beginning this season with a showdown happening on Oct. 31 at 3:30 p.m. in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The 2027 game moves to Tampa, which doubled as the site for this week’s SEC media days.
The last time these two sides met outside of Jacksonville was in the 1994 and 1995 seasons when the two schools played home-and-home games — both won by Florida. No active player was alive for those contests, as it was during the playing days of Georgia coach Kirby Smart.
Many hoped history could repeat itself with getting games in both Sanford Stadium and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium again, but ultimately Atlanta and Tampa were selected to house the matchups.
But any disappointment over the venue will long be forgotten when the two sides face off on Halloween.
“I think the Florida-Georgia rivalry is obviously a historic rivalry. A lot of great players, and I think just because you change the sites, you don’t really change the magnitude of the game,” Gators wide receiver Vernell Brown III said Wednesday at SEC media days. “But I think it’ll be the same high-pressure rivalry game and I’m excited for it.”
Brown participated in his first World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in 2025, one that Georgia came back to win 24-20. Georgia running back Chauncey Bowens capped the comeback with a 36-yard touchdown run with 3:18 left in the game.
Read Hunter DeLauder’s full story here.
Alabama has ‘made it a rivalry’ game with Georgia
The SEC is all about tradition and, in that vein, celebrates its traditional rivalry games, of which Alabama versus Georgia does not exist.
But in the case of the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide, the programs’ SEC dominance has led to an intense series that’s put fans on the edge of their seats in anticipation of the next meeting this season.
The Alabama players at SEC media days feel it, too, as Tide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams noted.
“We’ve made it a rivalry,” Coleman-Williams said when asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the series’ significance. “It doesn’t have the same feeling as the Third Saturday in October (Alabama-Tennessee rivalry), or the Iron Bowl (Alabama-Auburn), but it’s definitely a rivalry.”
To Coleman-Williams’ point, Georgia has its traditional rivals, too: Florida, Auburn, Georgia Tech and Tennessee being chief among them.
But beating Alabama holds a special place for the Bulldogs, as they have taken over the mantle as the league’s premier team as reigning back-to-back SEC champions and appearances in eight of the last nine league title games.
Georgia’s biggest win over the Crimson Tide came in the CFP championship game, 33-18, following the 2021 season.
“It’s not really a rivalry, but I can tell you the view from the die-hard Alabama fans,” said the SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum, who hosts a daily call-in show. “They think Alabama owns Georgia. I hear it from every single one of them. Alabama fans think Georgia is an automatic win.”
Perhaps, but the Bulldogs own current bragging rights by virtue of their decisive 28-7 win over the Tide in last season’s SEC championship game.
Come Oct. 10, the game will once again ignite, as UGA travels to Tuscaloosa to play the Tide.
It’s a place Georgia hasn’t won since 2007, when NFL MVP Matthew Stafford led a Mark Richt-coached team to a 26-23 overtime victory.
Read Connor’s full story here.
Trivia answer
Tight end Brock Bowers in 2021
