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.
Resumé:
- All-SEC Freshman Team (1996)
- All-American (1998)
- Two-time All-SEC
- Bronko Nagurski Award Winner (1998)
- Vince Dooley MVP Award Winner (1998)
- Top Ten in Heisman voting (1998 – No. 7)
- State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame inductee (2018)
- College Football Hall of Fame Nominee (2020)
There may not be a more athletic player to ever through Georgia than Champ Bailey. Shutdown corner, go-to wide receiver, kick and punt returner, there was nothing Bailey couldn’t do. Over his career for UGA Football, Bailey touched the ball 80 times on offense. He turned that into 1,077 yards and five touchdowns. He added another 560 yards on kick and punt returns.
In his three years at Georgia, Bailey played in 33 games, starting in 24. He amassed 147 tackles, forced one fumble, made two fumble recoveries, caught eight interceptions, and defended 27 passes. Bailey was Georgia’s last dominant shutdown cornerback before the emergence of Deandre Baker. When discussing the best cornerbacks in the history of the game the argument usually comes down to Deion Sanders or Bailey.
Even as good as Baker was, Georgia really hasn’t had another defensive back since Bailey with his level of talent. His speed, ball skills, tackling ability, and athleticism hasn’t been matched by anyone in Georgia’s secondary since. Bailey was certainly one of a kind.
Resumé:
- All-American (1994)
- Three-time All-SEC
- SEC Rookie/Freshman of the Year (1991)
- Two-time Top Ten in Heisman voting (1993 No. 10) (1994 No. 7)
- Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame inductee (2008)
- Georgia Circle of Honor inductee (2010)
- Two-time SEC leader in passing yards
- Two-time SEC leader in total yards
- SEC leader in passing touchdowns (1994)
- SEC leader in passer rating (1994)
- 11,153 career passing yards (SEC record in 1994)
- 67 career passing touchdowns
Eric Zeier was one of the easiest choices for this list. Zeier is the best quarterback to ever play at Georgia. When he left UGA Football in 1994, he held the SEC record for most passing yards in a career. After Garrison Hearst left Georgia to pursue his NFL career Zeier became the focal point of Ray Goff’s offense. He was responsible for 74% of Georgia’s offensive output in 1993 and 61% of Georgia’s offense in 1994. Zeier finished in the top 10 of Heisman Trophy voting as a junior and senior.
During the 93 and 94 seasons, Zeier had to shoulder the entire offense and still was able to muster an 11-10-1 record over his last two seasons as a Bulldog. He didn’t lead the Bulldogs to a bowl game in those years, but just being able to come out of those two seasons with more wins than losses is very impressive. Especially with such an unbalanced offense.
Resumé:
- 2002 SEC Champion
- Three-time All-American
- Three-time All-SEC
- Two-time AP SEC Defensive Player of the Year
- Two-time SEC Coaches’ Player of the Year
- Two-time Ted Hendricks Award Winner
- Two-time Vince Dooley MVP Award Winner
- Atlanta Sports Club Lineman of the Year (2003)
- Rotary Lombardi Award (2004)
- Chuck Bednarik Award (2004)
- Lott Trophy (2004)
- SEC Player of the Year (2004)
- Georgia’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player (2004)
- Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame inductee (2009)
- Set UGA record for career sacks with 36
- Set UGA record for career tackles for loss with 58.5
- Set UGA record for blocked punts with three
David Pollack was arguably the best defender to ever play for UGA Football. His 36 career sacks are third all-time in NCAA history and a career-best at Georgia. Pollack was a beast at getting after the quarterback, but he may be known more for an interception than for a sack. Pollack’s interception of South Carolina quarterback Corey Jenkins in the end zone is a hard play to forget.
Pollack is the second most decorated Georgia Bulldog player, and only the second three-time All-American in school history. The Bulldogs haven’t had a pass rusher like him since he left. Georgia could really use another pass rusher with Pollack’s knack for getting to the quarterback.
Resumé:
- 1980 National Champion
- Six-time SEC Champion
- Two-time National Coach of the Year
- Five-time SEC Coach of the Year
- State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame (1978)
- College Football Hall of Fame (1994)
- Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame (1996)
- Georgia Circle of Honor inductee (2004)
- Gator Bowl Hall of Fame
- Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl Hall of Fame
- Sun Bowl Hall of Fame
- Citrus Bowl Hall of Fame
- Georgia record for career wins (201)
When you think of head coaches for UGA Football, the first one that comes to mind is Vince Dooley. He was the head coach at Georgia for 25 years delivering a 201-77-10 record including an 8-10-2 bowl record. Dooley’s bowl record is very surprising when considering just how successful Georgia was under him. He led them to six SEC Championships and a National Championship.
Dooley is the longest-tenured head coach for the Georgia Bulldogs football team. No other coach since has been able to maintain consistent success like Dooley. It’s been 32 years since Dooley was the head coach of Georgia, 40 years since he won a National Championship for the Bulldogs. Georgia is still waiting for a coach to come along and pick up the torch that Dooley left behind.
Dooley set a very high bar for coaches at Georgia to follow.
Resumé:
- 1980 National Champion
- Three-time SEC Champion
- 1982 Heisman Winner
- State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
- Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame
- Three-time All-American
- Three-time All-SEC
- Three-time SEC Coaches’ Player of the Year
- Two-time Georgia Outstanding Offensive Player of the Year
- Maxwell Award Winner (1982)
- Walter Camp Foundation National Player of the Year (1982)
- Two-time UPI National Back of the Year
- Atlanta TD Club Back of the Year (1982)
- College Football Hall of Fame (1999)
- Three-time SEC leader in rushing yards
- Three-time SEC leader in total yards
- Three-time SEC leader in rushing touchdowns
- Three-time SEC leader in total touchdowns
- 5,259 career rushing yards (SEC Record)
- 52 career touchdowns
Herschel Walker, can you even talk about UGA football without mentioning him? Is there a Georgia football team without Walker? He had to make this list. Not only is he the best player to ever play at Georgia, but he is the best college football player of all-time. Some may say it is that other running back from Alabama, but they would be wrong.
Dawn of the Dawg Expert, Kyle Funderburk, makes the perfect argument for Herschel Walker:
"In Herschel Walker’s three seasons with Georgia football, the team accumulated 13,019 yards. 5,502 of those yards belonged to Herschel Walker. Walker accounted for 42.3-percent of Georgia’s yards over his entire career."
Walker’s combination of size and speed is something you don’t see but once in a generation. He was definitely one of a kind. You also couldn’t ask for a better ambassador for the school.