Through Aug. 22, Sports Illustrated will count down its preseason college football Top 25 with overviews of each team. Here are the full rankings so far.
It was a strange year at Georgia last season. A successful one in general, but mostly a strange one when judged by the recent past at a program that is now in the rarified air of expecting a national title run or things are a bust.
The Bulldogs won the SEC and made the College Football Playoff, but how they got there could best be described as a roller coaster their head coach and fan base weren’t quite used to. They thumped eventual ACC champion Clemson but nearly lost on the road to Kentucky. They came back against Alabama before losing late, destroyed Texas in Austin in one of the most-watched games of 2024, beat rival Florida in the Cocktail Party, but then got literally stuck in the mud against Ole Miss.
Then came the palpitation-inducing close to the campaign, which featured a bonkers eight overtimes to beat Georgia Tech and two more to top the Longhorns in Atlanta that also cost them their starting quarterback to injury (one of many key losses throughout the season). After a tragic delay to the Sugar Bowl, they got outclassed by Notre Dame in the second half for a one-and-done CFP trip to cap off the most oscillating 11–3 season in Athens, Ga., in some time.
This being Georgia though, turning the page to the next season means it’s time to reload for another run.
As you would expect, there are a host of four- and five-stars all over the two-deep and many of the youngsters are far from inexperienced after getting forced into action at times last season. There are still a host of question marks at a few key spots but, all things being equal, this is still the type of team you’ve come to expect in red and white the past decade, even if the names aren’t quite as big as they once were when winning back-to-back national titles.
“Fifty-four percent of our players are coming into their first or second year. What do you get with that? You get youthful exuberance,” coach Kirby Smart said. “I think the biggest thing that separates college football teams today is complacency among players versus fire, passion and energy among players. So we’ve tried to highlight those traits as much as possible with our players. Our players need to bring juice and energy each and every day. If they don’t, they’ll be confronted by the players that do. And if the players continue to do that, we’ll have a successful season and a successful football team.”
Perhaps the ending to last season will provide a bit of extra motivation to those who return for another run but truthfully, the Bulldogs probably don’t need it given how much talent they have on hand. Linebacker CJ Allen is set to be the next obvious pickup for the Eagles early in the NFL draft next spring. Defensive tackle Christen Miller has just been scratching the surface at what he’s capable of and is primed for a true breakout campaign as the anchor of the defense. New left tackle Monroe Freeling is a mammoth human capable of solidifying the offensive line while the likes of TE Oscar Delp and tailback Nate Frazier are dependable chain-movers.
Throw in a host of key transfers all across the board to fill key positions and it sure seems like a strange season is about to bequeath a familiar feeling of a team that is capable of contending for trophies at the highest level again.
Fast Facts
2024 record: 11–3, 6–2 SEC
Offense: 31.5 ppg (38th in FBS), 6.03 yards per play (50th)
Defense: 20.6 ppg (23rd in FBS), 5.05 yards per play (30th)
On the Headset
Kirby Smart, entering Year 10 in Athens, 105–19 overall
Following the retirement of his old boss Nick Saban, the slight pullback in results for Dabo Swinney at Clemson and Ryan Day’s inability to beat Michigan, it’s pretty easy to slot Smart atop any list you want when it comes to the best coach in college football.
The results certainly confirm it, with seven seasons in the last eight reaching at least 11 wins and a trio of SEC championships to go along with two national title rings.
There’s probably not much of an argument about it from just about anybody around, even if some Georgia fans may want to nitpick at the loyalty to offensive coordinator Mike Bobo’s stodgy offense and how slowly the team has gone after top talent in the transfer portal.
Still, those are minor quibbles in the grand scheme of things and something relegated to the far reaches of the message boards as long as Smart keeps regularly churning out title contenders.
Key Returning Starter
QB Gunner Stockton, RS Jr.
Stockton made his lone career start last season, having been forced into action against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl following Carson Beck’s injury in the SEC title game. He was pedestrian against the Irish, looking like someone who was pretty inexperienced in going 20 of 32 with a touchdown while also making enough mistakes to never really turn the game in the Bulldogs’ favor.
While the performance could have sent Georgia over the top to retain Beck (who left for Miami) or dip into the transfer portal for a high-profile name, it was notable the Bulldogs did nothing of the sort this offseason. Stockton, it appears, is the guy under center this season.
“Gunner is a kid that leads from the front. Gunner is a winner. He comes from an athletic family background, his dad played at Georgia Southern, and he’s the kind of kid you want at the front of the line, and he leads from the front,” Smart said. “He’s going to be a big part of our program this year in leadership and is doing that with the offensive players.”
Stockton set a host of state records for passing touchdowns and yards while in high school and knows the offense well having been a part of the program for several years. He knows the expectations of him and also knows he brings something a little different from his predecessors given his ability to become a weapon in the run game with his 215-pound frame that can scoot a bit.
There’s always a lot of talent around the signal-caller at Georgia and it’s their job to manage the game far more than it is to place the outcome on their shoulders each Saturday. Still, given how good this team can be on both sides of the ball, it feels pretty accurate to think the Bulldogs’ ultimate ceiling will come down to how well Stockton takes hold of the job and performs in some of the marquee games that dot the always difficult SEC schedule.
Key Transfer
WR Zachariah Branch, from USC
Drops plagued Georgia’s wide receiving corps last season and they can probably thank all the issues that Penn State’s unit had in the postseason for helping obscure how middling they were throughout the year. That appears to have changed going into 2025 as the room has been completely remade with a host of transfers, none more dangerous than Branch. He’s dynamite out of the slot and gives the team something different in terms of a home run threat on every play, plus is an All-American return man who should have plenty of opportunities to score a few different ways this season.
Key Departure
OL Tate Ratledge, second-round NFL draft pick by the Detroit Lions
Of the 13 players drafted, including a trio of first-rounders, the biggest loss from the 2024 squad is Ratledge. He was a key cog in just about everything the team did offensively, and it was very noticeable to see a huge drop-off when he was injured and out of the lineup. The Tennessee native also was a great presence in the locker room the last few years and will be missed for his flowing mullet.
Circle the Dates
- Sept. 13, at Tennessee
- Sept. 27, vs. Alabama
- Nov. 1, vs. Florida (Jacksonville)
- Nov. 15, vs. Texas
Bottom Line
This is a much younger Georgia team than most are used to, but it’s still the national title threat it usually is under Smart. Seeing just how good Stockton is at quarterback will play a major factor in how the Bulldogs are viewed, but the roster is excellent and they get most of their toughest games at home or at a neutral site. That’s typically a winning combination and the program is set to do plenty more of that in 2025.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Sports Illustrated’s College Football Preseason Top 25: No. 6 Georgia.
