Who are the most influential people in the history of UGA football?
There have been a lot of top-five and top-ten lists, but CBS Sports has been doing something different. Their Franchise Five list for every NFL team is a list of the five most influential people for each NFL franchise. So I got the idea to do one for UGA Football.
I asked Patrik Walker, a writer at CBS Sports, what the criteria for these lists are. Here is the answer he gave me: one quarterback, three non-quarterbacks, one head coach, and no duplicating a position.
These stipulations made things a bit difficult to create a list for UGA Football because you could put multiple running backs in their “Franchise Five.” Since you couldn’t do this list justice without Herschel Walker, it cuts out every other running back that could have been included. One such running back is Garrison Hearst, who should have been UGA Football’s third Heisman Trophy winner.
Another player I could mention is Nick Chubb. Had Chubb not had a horrific knee injury early in his career he may have had a chance to break Herschel Walker’s school career rushing record and he came within a play or two from being a National Champion.
Jarvis Jones was another player that didn’t make the cut. He was a two-time All-American at Georgia and one of the best defenders to ever play in Athens.
That said here are the players and coach that made Georgia’s Franchise Five.