Honorable Mention
David Greene
When I was a kid, David Greene was the man. I was just starting to learn about sports during his heyday, so he was bound to be one of my favorites.
Greene racked up well over 11,000 passing yards and threw for 72 touchdowns, leading the Bulldogs to the 2002 SEC title in the process. If Mount Rushmore consisted of five people, then Greene would absolutely be included.
Wally Butts
Wally Butts doesn’t get nearly enough credit these days. He led the Bulldogs to the first of their two national championships back in 1942 and coached consensus All-Americans Frank Sinkwich and Charley Trippi. Butts took what Harry Mehre built in the 1930s and turned it into Georgia football’s first golden era, if you will.
Aaron Murray
Murray’s probably my favorite Georgia player of all time, but he’s not good enough to make this list. Had he and the Bulldogs won the 2012 SEC Championship game and possibly even the national championship, then I think there would be a strong argument for including Murray. He finished with 13,166 passing yards and 121 touchdowns, which are both the most in SEC history in their respective categories.
Mark Richt
Mark Richt took the Bulldogs’ football program and made it relevant again and kept it that way for several years.
He’s got the second-most wins of any Georgia head coach (145) and built a 9-5 mark in bowl games. However, it’s Richt’s relative lack of titles that make him disliked by a sector of Georgia’s fan base. He was a tipped pass away from a third conference championship and possibly a national title. But that 2012 SEC title game was representative of Richt’s performance at Georgia: good, but not quite good enough.
Next: The Easy One