TAMPA — College football has finally caught up to Georgia, even if the rest of the SEC has not.
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The Bulldogs remain the league’s standard-bearer, yet no longer tower over the sport as NIL and the transfer portal have narrowed the gap.
Georgia is still among the nation’s best, but arrrived Tuesday at SEC Media Days three years removed from a bid for college football’s first three-peat since 1936. They also are coming off consecutive opening-round losses in the College Football Playoff after missing the playoff entirely in 2023.
“We have not had our best performances when we needed them most,” coach Kirby Smart said.
The two-time defending SEC champions set such a high standard that conference titles are expected. Beating archrival Florida, losers of eight of nine meetings, has become passé.
National titles are now the measuring stick for Smart’s propgram. Back-to-back national crowns in 2021 and 2022 fueled a conference record 29-game winning streak that ended against Alabama in Nick Saban’s final SEC title game.
Those Georgia teams produced 10 first-round draft picks from 2022-24, while boasting depth few programs could match. That advantage has thinned as NIL and the transfer portal have given recruits and reserves attractive options elsewhere.
Even so, Georgia remains confident as the team to beat in the SEC, with Texas, Oklahoma, LSU, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Alabama giving chase.
“I wouldn’t say it made us more vulnerable,” veteran linebacker Raylen Wilson said. “I really wouldn’t care if they called us the favorite or not. We know who we are.”
The Bulldogs return 14 starters, including quarterback Gunner Stockton, tailback Nate Frazier and three offensive linemen led by center Drew Bobo and left tackle Earnest Greene III. Defensively, linebacker Raylen Wilson spearheads a formidable front seven while cornerback Ellis Robinson IV and safety KJ Bolden anchor arguably the nation’s top secondary.
“Coach Smart, our staff, does a really good job with player retention,” Bobo said. “We’ve kept a lot of players around. I think also the culture in our locker room does a really good job there. It’s a good time at Georgia, and just with that, it all leads into different things.”
Georgia is also one of only three SEC programs, along with Oklahoma and Vanderbilt, to retain both coordinators. Mike Bobo returns to direct the offense while Glenn Schumann leads the defense.
“It’s huge because it’s so many familiar faces,” said Drew Bobo, the offensive coordinator’s son. “You know everybody there, and it just helps build our connection because that’s one of our core DNA traits.”
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There are still reasons for concern.
The 2025 Bulldogs finished last in the SEC in sacks and weren’t consistently a downfield threat in the passing game, finishing 10th in the SEC with 42 plays of at least 20 yards.
“We want to be more explosive,” Bobo said.
Georgia Tech transfer receiver Isiah Canion was signed to provide more big-play ability.
Canion, Kentucky tailback Dante Dowell and former Clemson defensive back Khalil Barnes were front-line players added through the transfer portal at a time when programs have aggressively used it to address weaknesses and attrition. Dowell, though, recently had a severe off-campus ATV accident and is sidelined indefinitely.
“People say you’re just a retention team and you don’t believe in the portal,” Smart said. “Our most explosive offensive player last year was out of the portal. So we still have guys that we need.”
The Bulldogs lack the experienced depth that once defined the roster, making injuries more difficult to overcome. Georgia was without five starters during its 39-34 CFP loss to Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl — and the addition of a ninth SEC game will only increase the physical toll.
Smart’s preferred formula — winning with defense, physicality and ball control — also leaves less margin for error.
A third straight SEC championship likely will require a different path than last seasaon. Georgia rallied from behind in six of seven conference victories and were third in the nation in fourth-down conversions — impressive accomplishments that are difficult to duplicate.
“The biggest challenge you have when you retain not only your roster, but your staff, is you have to be willing to grow,” Smart said. “You have to be willing to experience, try new things. You can’t just sit back and do the same old things and expect to get the same return.
“My job as the leader is to make sure we’re thinking outside the box.”
A Sept. 26 visit from Oklahoma and trips to Alabama (Oct. 10) and Ole Miss (Nov. 7) are the toughest test on an otherwise favorable schedule.
Georgia has every opportunity to extend its streak of five straight SEC championship game appearances and capture a fourth conference title in five years.
But if the Bulldogs are to nagivate the new landscape and reclaim college football’s summit, they’ll have to do it without the overwhelming talent advantage that once made them untouchable.
“It’s changing more rapidly, but what wins football games has not changed,” Smart said. “If you get really lost and caught up in the landscape … guess what you’re not worrying about? What matters.
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“We’re going to worry about what matters.”
Edgar Thompson can be reached at [email protected]