Yesterday, Dominick Sanders and other Georgia football players were interviewed about the upcoming game with Notre Dame
“But you know, my main thing is coming out and punishing them from the start. I really don’t care about what they’ve got going on.”
Those were the words of Georgia football safety Dominick Sanders when asked by reporters yesterday about the history of the Notre Dame program and what it meant to him growing up. But Sanders doesn’t care about the gold domes, Rudy or the “Four Horsemen”.
Nor does he care about their 13 national titles, 876 wins or seven Heisman winners. The only thing on his mind that pertains to Notre Dame is this Saturday’s game, and what him and his teammates are going to accomplish.
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“I just care about my guys doing what we’ve gotta do: Punishing them from the start,” he said. “Just my main thing is, let’s put them pads on and let’s go to work.”
Those are the comments of a cocky young kid. They’re coming from a man prepared to lead his defense into a hostile environment 735 miles away from home. He isn’t distracted by the glitz and glamour of the Notre Dame program, he’s focused on what him and the Bulldogs can control.
Effort, preparation, fundamentals and intensity, those are the things that are occupying Sanders’ mind this week. And they are what is going to occupy his mind this Saturday when he steps on the field.
He isn’t even concerned about the fact that Georgia is a 4.5-point underdog, because he can’t control that. Why be worried about something someone else says, something that is out of your control?
“We can’t worry about what people are saying out there. A lot of people are saying we’re underdogs and all that. We don’t care about any of that,” he said. “We just keep our composure and day-by-day get better, and we’ll come out and prove these people wrong on Saturday.”
It wasn’t just Sanders who voiced those sentiments yesterday. Defensive tackle Jonathan Ledbetter echoed him by saying:
“Definitely it’s exciting. You can ask any of our defensive lineman, linebackers, even all the way back to our secondary. I know everyone’s itching to get a good lick on every single one of their guys… But good competition is hard to come by. So when you see it and everybody’s raving about it, you want to prove a point. So we’re ready to prove a point.”
Again, this isn’t just trash talk from a group of guys who just like talking smack. These guys are focused, hungry and ready. Ledbetter went in to greater detail about how prepared him and the Bulldog defense will be this Saturday.
“Somebody will always have a weakness, and you have to find it. And we’re going to find it. And we’re going to execute off it,” he said. “We’re pretty thorough in our game-planning, so I’m not worried on their front or their quarterback being super-athletic, because I know what we bring to the table, and we’re going to work as hard as we need to, to be ready for Saturday.”
Next: Observations of Georgia's opponents after week one
This is exactly why the 2017 Georgia football team will have the best defense in recent memory. Here are two leaders almost bragging, not about how good they are or how they’re going to whoop someone’s butt.
They’re taking about being focused, about being prepared. Not just prepared, thoroughly prepared as Ledbetter put it. But most of all, they’re talking about intense they will be, and how much effort they will exert to win Saturday.