Smith & Boykin Honored

FOOTBALL

Sophomore defensive end Garrison Smith has been named the Southeastern Conference Co-Defensive Lineman of the Week following his performance in the 31-17 road win over #25 Georgia Tech, according to a league announcement on Monday.

Smith is the second straight Dawg to earn the conference’s Defensive Lineman of the Week after junior Abry Jones garnered the honor following the win over Kentucky. This conference award gives Georgia 14 SEC weekly honors this year.

Smith, a 6-3, 294-pound native of Atlanta, came off the bench after senior defensive end DeAngelo Tyson went down with an ankle injury on the second play of the game. Smith finished with a career-high seven tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss, to help limit the Yellow Jackets to their second lowest point total all season.

Thanks in part to Smith’s contribution, the Dawgs held Georgia Tech scoreless for two quarters and to 243 yards on the ground. The Yellow Jackets came into the game ranked second nationally averaging 323.6 yards rushing per game with their spread option attack. For the year, Georgia is third in the SEC in both Scoring Defense (17.8, 10th nationally) and Rushing Defense (94.8, sixth nationally).

ALSO OF NOTE: Senior Brandon Boykin was named to the Paul Hornung Award Weekly Honor Roll for the eighth time this season following his outing at #25 Georgia Tech. Defensively, Boykin finished with two tackles, including 0.5 tackles for loss, while starting his 20 consecutive game.

The Fayetteville native also had one kickoff return for 60 yards that set up the Dawgs’ third touchdown. Boykin is the active SEC career leader in the kickoff return yardage category with 2,544 yards. He is second all-time in the conference with the best average return (24.69).

Boykin also recorded one catch for 28 yards against the Yellow Jackets. Currently, Boykin has 999 all-purpose yards this season, which is the most for a defensive player since Champ Bailey had 1,138 in 1998.

The 12th-ranked Dawgs (10-2, 7-1 SEC) travel to Atlanta for the third time this season to take on top-ranked LSU (12-0, 8-0 SEC) in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday at 4 p.m. CBS will televise the matchup.