Dawgs Honored at Annual Gala

UGA Sports Communications

A pair of seniors, a junior and a sophomore were named team captains and brought home a total of five individual awards at the recent University of Georgia football team’s annual gala.

Center Lamont Gaillard (Fayetteville, N.C.) and defensive lineman Jonathan Ledbetter (Tucker, Ga.), both seniors, joined junior tailback Elijah Holyfield (College Park, Ga.) and sophomore quarterback Jake Fromm (Warner Robins, Ga.) as the team’s captains.

Fromm and sophomore tailback D’Andre Swift, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., were the Vince Dooley Offensive Most Valuable Players. Ledbetter and senior defensive back Deandre Baker, a native of Miami, Fla., who won the Jim Thorpe Award last week, garnered Vince Dooley Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Ledbetter also shared the Defensive Up-Front Award with senior outside linebacker D’Andre Walker of Fairburn, Ga., while Gaillard earned the Offensive Up-Front Award with sophomore left tackle Andrew Thomas of Lithonia, Ga. In addition, Holyfield won the Leon Farmer Strength & Conditioning Award.

The Community Service Award went to junior place-kicker Rodrigo Blankenship of Marietta, Ga., and the Senior Scholar Award went to senior tight end Jackson Harris of Columbia, Tenn., who has a 3.74 in Mechanical Engineering.

Blankenship and junior receiver/returner Mecole Hardman received the Kevin Butler Special Teams Most Valuable Player awards and senior receiver Jayson Stanley (Fairburn, Ga.), sophomore outside linebacker Walter Grant (Cairo, Ga.) and junior receiver Tyler Simmons (Powder Springs, Ga.) were included as Charley Trippi Award winners as the team’s most versatile players.

The Frank Sinkwich Award winners for being the team’s toughest players were senior inside linebacker Juwan Taylor (Hollywood, Fla.), redshirt sophomore tailback Prather Hudson (Columbus, Ga.) and sophomore receiver Jeremiah Holloman (Covington, Ga.).

Junior defensive back Tyrique McGhee of Byron, Ga., senior receiver Terry Godwin of Hogansville, Ga., and junior defensive back J.R. Reed of Frisco, Texas, received the David Jacobs Award, which is given to a player who portrays courage, spirit, character and determination.

Headlined by junior receiver Riley Ridley of Coconut Creek, Fla., on offense and junior inside linebacker Tae Crowder of Hamilton, Ga., on defense, eight Dawgs were named the team’s Most Improved Players: Offense – redshirt freshman offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson (Brooklyn, N.Y.), redshirt sophomore offensive guard Solomon Kindley (Jacksonville, Fla.), Ridley; Defense – Crowder, redshirt freshman defensive back Eric Stokes (Covington, Ga.); Special Teams – senior outside linebacker Keyon Richardson, senior snapper Nick Moore (Snellville, Ga.), junior tight end Charlie Woerner (Tiger, Ga.).

There were nine Newcomer of the Year awards given out to various Dawg true freshmen. Offensive lineman Cade Mays (Knoxville, Tenn.), tailback James Cook (Miami, Fla.), quarterback Justin Fields (Kennesaw, Ga.) and offensive lineman Trey Hill (Warner Robins, Ga.) were the winners on offense. On defense, Tyson Campbell, a defensive back from Plantation, Fla., and Jordan Davis, a defensive lineman from Charlotte, N.C., earned the honor while punter Jake Camarda of Norcross, Ga., inside linebacker Channing Tindall of Columbia, S.C., and inside linebacker Quay Walker of Cordele, Ga., were the special teams’ recipients.

Twelve Dawgs garnered Scout Team Player of the Year honors: Offense – redshirt sophomore receiver Willie Erdman (Merritt Island, Fla.), freshman tight end John Fitzpatrick (Atlanta, Ga.), senior receiver Steven Van Tiflin (Saginaw, Mich.), freshman receiver Tommy Bush (Schertz, Texas); Defense – redshirt sophomore defensive back Jordon McKinney (Dalton, Ga.), redshirt freshman defensive back Jake Skole (Roswell, Ga.), freshman defensive back Hugh Nelson (Powder Springs, Ga.), redshirt freshman defensive lineman Kolby Wyatt (Snellville, Ga.); Special Teams - redshirt freshman defensive back Latavious Brini (Miami Gardens, Fla.), Van Tiflin, Erdman, freshman tight end Peyton Mercer (Twin City, Ga.).

Baker And Thomas Honored

UGA Sports Communications

Georgia senior Deandre Baker became the first Dawg to win the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's top defensive back at the ESPN College Football Awards show at the College Football Hall of Fame on Thursday.

The Thorpe Award has been presented for the past 33 seasons. Baker, a native of Miami, Florida, was joined by LSU's Greedy Williams and Notre Dame's Julian Love as finalists for the award. The only other finalist in Georgia history was Champ Bailey in 1998.

In addition, Baker was included on the 2018 Walter Camp All-America Team, giving the Dawgs two players on the First Team in as many years (Roquan Smith, 2017). Baker becomes the first Georgia All-American from the defensive backfield since Bacarri Rambo in 2011 and the first Georgia defensive back to receive the Walter Camp designation since Greg Blue and Thomas Davis garnered the honor back to back in 2004-05.

In addition, sophomore left tackle Andrew Thomas earned Walter Camp Second-Team All-America honors after being named a Freshman All-American by several outlets in 2017.

Baker will be honored at a Thorpe Award banquet in Oklahoma City on February 5, 2019.

Baker has started all 13 games for Georgia. He has 40 tackles and is tied for the team lead with two interceptions. He also has a team-best 10 pass break-ups. In addition, he has a forced fumble and has collected a fumble recovery for a defense that ranks 15th nationally allowing just 18.5 points per game.

Thomas, a native of Lithonia, has gotten the starting nod at left tackle for 12 of the Dawgs' 13 games, missing only the Middle Tennessee State game due to an ankle injury. He has anchored an offensive line that leads the SEC in Rushing Offense at 251.6 yards per game and that currently features one senior, two sophomores and two freshmen as starters.

The Dawgs averaged 39.2 points per game during their second straight run to the SEC Championship Game and their first invitation to the Sugar Bowl since 2008. Thomas and his teammates in the trenches were named a Joe Moore Award finalist earlier this week for being one of the top offensive lines in the nation.

Baker and Thomas are 15 of the SEC players included on the 50-man Walter Camp All-America teams. Players were selected by the 130 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) head coaches and sports information directors. This marks the 129th edition of the Walter Camp All-America teams.

The Dawgs have earned 37 Walter Camp All-America First Team honors dating back to 1922. The 2018 Walter Camp All-America teams will be honored at the organization's 52nd annual national awards banquet on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019, at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

2018 SEC All-Freshman Football Team Announced

Georgia had a league-leading five student-athletes named to the 2018 Southeastern Conference All-Freshman Football Team, it was announced Thursday. The team was voted on by the SEC’s head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own players.

Alabama and Texas A&M had four representatives on the All-Freshman Team, and the Aggies’ JaShaun Corbin was selected at three positions. He garnered recognition as a running back, all-purpose athlete and return specialist.

Auburn, Ole Miss, Missouri and South Carolina each had two student-athletes voted to the All-Freshman Team.

Alabama’s Jaylen Waddle, an SEC All-Freshman Team honoree at wide receiver, was named the SEC’s Freshman of the Year on Wednesday.

2018 SEC All-Freshman Team 

OFFENSE

TE

Daniel Parker, Missouri

OL

Isaiah Wilson, Georgia

Cade Mays, Georgia

Dylan Wonnum, South Carolina

Ben Brown, Ole Miss

WR

Jaylen Waddle, Alabama

Seth Williams, Auburn 

QB

Justin Fields, Georgia

RB

JaTarvious Whitlow, Auburn

*Tyler Badie, Missouri

*JaShaun Corbin, Texas A&M

AP

JaShaun Corbin, Texas A&M

DEFENSE

DL

Jordan Davis, Georgia

Phidarian Mathis, Alabama

Bobby Brown, Texas A&M

Tyree Johnson, Texas A&M

LB

Dimitri Moore, Vanderbilt

*Jacquez Jones, Ole Miss

*Eyabi Anoma, Alabama

*DeAndre Square, Kentucky

DB

Patrick Surtain II, Alabama

Bryce Thompson, Tennessee

Jaycee Horn, South Carolina

Trey Dean III, Florida

SPECIAL TEAMS

PK

Seth Small, Texas A&M

      

P

Jake Camarda, Georgia

RS

JaShaun Corbin, Texas A&M

(* - Ties )

Look At The Sugar Falling

UGA Sports Communications

The University of Georgia will represent the Southeastern Conference and play Big 12 runner-up Texas in the Allstate Sugar Bowl scheduled for January 1st in New Orleans.

Kickoff for the game between the fifth-ranked Dawgs (11-2) and the Big 12 Longhorns (9-4) is scheduled for 8:45 p.m. ET and be televised on ESPN. This will be the fifth all time meeting between the programs.

Georgia has made nine appearances in the Sugar Bowl – more than the Dawgs have played in any other post-season game. Georgia’s last appearance in the New Orleans game was January 1, 2008, when the Dawgs defeated Hawaii, 41-10.

“This will be an outstanding experience for our coaches, players, and fans,” said coach Kirby Smart. “Most of our coaches and none of our players have had the opportunity of a Sugar Bowl trip and I’m especially proud for our seniors who have worked so hard over the last 12 months. It also presents a great opportunity for our fans who have been so supportive of our team throughout the season. I had the opportunity to coach in a couple of Sugar Bowl games and experienced outstanding hospitality, a dynamic city and first class competition. It also represents a great challenge playing a team like Texas who has been one of the country’s most accomplished programs in college football history.”

“We look forward to representing the Southeastern Conference in the Allstate Sugar Bowl—a game with one of the richest traditions in post-season college football history,” said UGA J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Greg McGarity. “Georgia and the Sugar Bowl have been linked together since the 1940’s and returning to New Orleans again also makes this an extremely gratifying opportunity. We are very excited for our players, coaches, and fans. Playing in the Allstate Sugar Bowl against such a quality team and program will be a memorable experience.”

Georgia and Texas have met on four previous occasions: January 1, 1949 Orange Bowl, Texas 41-28; September 21, 1957 in Atlanta, Texas 26-7; September 20, 1958 in Austin, Texas 13-8; and January 2, in the 1984 Cotton Bowl, Georgia, 10-9.

This will be Georgia’s 55th bowl game appearance including last year’s national championship game—fourth most of any team in the country. The Dawgs’ all-time bowl record is 31-20-3. This is the 22nd consecutive season the Dawgs have earned a bowl appearance, which ranks as the second longest active streak in the country.

Georgia’s senior class is 42-11 in their career with three bowl wins (TaxSlayer, AutoZone Liberty, Rose), two SEC Eastern Division championships, 2017 SEC title, 2017 College Football Playoff national runnerup, and pending trip to the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Georgia’s previous Sugar Bowl appearances:

January 1, 1947, defeated North Carolina, 20-10

January 1, 1969, lost to Arkansas, 16-2

January 1, 1977, lost to Pittsburgh, 27-3

January 1, 1981, defeated Notre Dame, 17-10

January 1, 1982, lost to Pittsburgh, 24-20

January 1, 1983, lost to Penn State, 27-23

January 1, 2003, defeated Florida State, 26-13

*January 1, 2006, lost to West Virginia 38-35

January 1, 2008, defeated Hawaii, 41-10

* played in Atlanta due to Hurricane Katrina

Post Game Quotes

UGA Sports Communications

Coach Kirby Smart

I'd like to open with the tremendous atmosphere. The SEC Championship Game, once again, is one of the best games of every year. A lot of credit goes to Alabama. They outperformed us in the second half. The game had a lot of momentum swings in it, up and down, up and down, back and forth, which we knew it would.

We've got a lot of champions on our teams. We've got a lot of kids that have the heart of a lion, these two here especially. They lead this team, they care about this university, and they play really hard.

We told our kids that for a week they would hear nothing but how good Alabama was, and that's what they heard. Everybody said they were unbeatable, and everybody talked about it. We knew what we had, and we knew we've got a good football team. We've got a really physical football team. We've got a talented football team. And we most definitely have one of the best four teams in the country.

The system is what it is. What happens happens. These kids out here today, they battled tooth and nail with what is one of the best teams in the country. We did enough to win the game, and we didn't finish it. Give Alabama credit. They made the plays when they had to. This is a special group.

Can you explain your mindset on the fake punt.

Yeah, we had been carrying that for -actually carried it last year. Thought it was there, and it was there today. We were going to snap the ball quick. We took too long to snap the ball. They didn't have a guy covered. We had a guy wide open. We took so long to snap it, that they recognized it and got the guy covered late. It was probably 20, 30 yards' field position that -- we came to win the game. We wanted to win the game.

I talked to the guys before the game about it. If we get an opportunity to run it, we'll run it. It was there. We just didn't get an opportunity to get it snapped before they covered the guy.

Second half, Alabama defensively, why were they able to kind of continually stop you guys? You guys have been moving it pretty well for most of the game. 

We did some better things. We made some adjustments and made some plays on the ball. Got a little more pressure. They were able to affect us in the pocket. We had one third down where we didn't pick up a guy. They had pressure inside, and Jake had to throw it away. They stopped -- controlled the run game a little better, but we still dominated the line of scrimmage, but it didn't come to fruition.

What was Hurts able to do that Tua couldn't do in the end? 

He broke contain. We wanted him to break contain, but we had a player assigned to run him down, to try to get him, and he got lost in the crowd. The idea was to go flush him and run him down. Give him a lot of credit, guys. This is a guy who's been on the sideline and comes in and plays his guts out. It speaks volumes for college football there's two young men that play that good especially in that stretch of the game. He made a great play when he broke contain and went out and made a great throw and catch. We lost contain on purpose, but the guy that's supposed to chase him down didn't get him down.

Based on what you've seen of Tua on tape versus what you saw from him, especially after that first series, the first time he kind of got knocked around because you guys sacked him, did he seem like not fully himself compared to what you'd seen on tape? 

I don't know about that. I think any quarterback that gets hit gets rattled. We knew we had to affect him. If we listened to you guys, we wouldn't have even showed up. I gave all the love I could all week, and our team just worked. Our guys just grinded. We knew, if we could affect him, we could have some success. We had that early. We've got good cover guys out there too and got good disguise and good defenses. He's a really good player. He's really talented. They also dropped some balls they probably should have caught, and we forced them into some picks.

To have this happen two years in a row to come up short at the very end, what do you feel at home? 

Sick. We've got to play better in the fourth quarter. That's a big thing for us. We talked about it at halftime. We wanted to come out and be the more physical dominant team and play the second half and win. We couldn't close the deal. I don't know what that is. We're going to figure it out, though. I can promise you that. We're a few plays away. There were a lot of plays in that game. Everybody is going to point to whether it's a field goal, whether it's a fake punt, or whether it's a breakdown on third down contain or fourth down contain and they score; a fumble. It's so many things. It's inches, and we didn't get the inches tonight. We've got a damn good football team.

I'm sorry if you said this earlier and I missed it, on the fake punt situation, was your mindset at the time you just didn't want to give the ball back to them at the time because the way they were driving the ball? 

I don't know about that, but we lost some momentum in the game. We certainly maybe we could have stopped them. I felt like that was a great call because it was there. We've seen their safe. We know exactly what their safe is. They line up, and they don't cover a guy. We've got a guy wide open, and he's not going to be covered. But in the last second they saw it. And we had a way to check out of it, but we took too long to get it snapped, and I felt like it was a really good play. It was there. It got taken away at the last second, and we didn't make the play. But I wanted to be aggressive. Look, I wasn't coming here to play to tie, to play to keep it close. We came here to win the game. We wanted to win the game. 

These kids deserve to win the game, and we weren't able to do it.

With the committee watching all day and they're together, what kind of statement do you think you guys made collectively moving forward before the vote, the final vote tomorrow? 

Well, it boils down to one thing. Do you want the four best teams in or not? It's that simple. They sat at home last year and got to go in the game while everybody else is beating each other up, and they had a good football team. Give that coach across the sideline a vote who he doesn't want to play. He'll start with us. I promise you, you don't want to play us. It's not our decision. It's their decision. But you're going to put the four best football teams in.

Jonathan Ledbetter, Sr, Defensive Lineman

You all really did a good job on Tua and really had pressure on him most of the game and really did a good job limiting him. When Hurts came in, you knew he was going to try to probably scramble and hurt you at the end getting outside. What would you say about that? 

They both had mobile quarterbacks. They're both mobile. We knew that going into the game. Our goal was to trap him and keep him in the pocket. We had a lot of guys rushing with a lot of passion and a lot of determination to get those guys on the ground. We did a good job with Tua. Jalen came in and surprised us a bit, a more mobile quarterback. Those are adjustments you've got to make in the game, and you've got be aware, have awareness in those situations. For the most part, I think our team did a good job keeping the quarterbacks in the pocket knowing we had to make those plays in the small moments.

This is sort of the reverse of obviously last year with the quarterback change. You said Jalen surprised you a little bit. What was he able to do that Tua couldn't do in the end? 

I wasn't necessarily surprised myself. I was aware that he was in the game and what he's good at. I just think that the quick change-up kind of caught our defense off guard, and you know they're two different style players that are both mobile, but they run differently. You've got Tua who's going to try to hit our side and roll out on you, and Jalen will hit you as a vertical threat, and he did that. You've got to make sure you just prepare and just be ready for that and make those in game adjustments.
When we needed to, like I said, they didn't happen fast enough.

With the committee watching all day and they're together, what kind of statement do you think you guys made collectively moving forward before the vote, the final vote tomorrow?

I support my coach. We worked hard. We're here. We showed up, and we played. They beat us in the end. You can't say we didn't go out there and fight. You can't say we didn't put it all on the line. You can't say we're not one of the best teams in college football. Just watch the tape. If they watch it, they should put it in.

Jake Fromm, Sophomore, Quarterback

With the committee watching all day and they're together, what kind of statement do you think you guys made collectively moving forward before the vote, the final vote tomorrow? 

I mean, really what these two guys have said, you know, it's really not for me to decide. That's for them to decide. I thought we played our butts off today and we can only control what we can control.