Georgia football is coming off a historic season, but much like one of its SEC foes, it’s hungry for this upcoming rebuilding year to try and repeat what happened in 2021.
While some of the Dawgs’ fanbase will stop reading this sentence and click off the page — the real ones will realize why that choice of words got used to begin this article. At this point, we’ve all heard Alabama head coach Nick Saban call 2021 a rebuilding year for the Tide, and it’s no surprise at this point.
SEC Network legend Paul Finebaum put it best — Saban does this when things don’t quite go his way. This storyline is Saban’s way of motivating his team, and that is fine, he has done it before, but since Georgia won the title, it feels weird to hear it.
The notion that a defending national champ and preseason No.1 Alabama who went 13-2 overall and played in its ninth championship game under Saban was rebuilding is truly comical. He is 6-3 in title games since he became the head coach at Alabama — have they ever really been rebuilding in the last 15 years?
Georgia football is now in a rebuilding year, per Nick Saban’s definition.
If 2021 was a rebuilding year for the Tide, then 2022 is one for the Dawgs, which if we’re being realistic, could turn into a similar outcome that it did for Alabama.
Head coach Kirby Smart flat out said that this group has talent but not experience. He also said that this 2022 team isn’t worried about what happened in 2021 but how they are hungry to leave their own legacy and prove the Dawgs are far from a one-hit-wonder.
There isn’t a ton of chirping out of Smart or his team — they’re just working.
https://twitter.com/GeorgiaFootball/status/1556075443790528512?s=20&t=E7xnejzK1-S3DtgY_KQY7Q
However, since Saban believes that last year’s team was a rebuilding one — this 2022 squad for the Dawgs is one as well.
Georgia returns most of its offensive playmakers, including the national title winning quarterback, Stetson “the Mailman” Bennett. It’s the defense that has some rebuilding to do, which comes with college football.
There are a few pieces of the puzzle on the defense that returned for another season, but at the same time, we won’t deny the holes. You don’t hear Smart and company claiming they have to rebuild though. Instead, it’s about finding those players the experience they need — which he did a solid job of in 2021 by rotating so much.
https://twitter.com/GeorgiaFootball/status/1555900982726377472?s=20&t=E7xnejzK1-S3DtgY_KQY7Q
Every year could essentially get defined as a rebuilding one because each season is a brand new team that has to learn, grow and come together. Some do it, while others don’t — it’s what makes college football great. Replacing players happens every year, it may not always seem that way, but with the transfer portal in place now, it’s more prevalent.
If Georgia were to claim this year as a rebuilding one, people wouldn’t really bat an eye because the Dawgs haven’t done what Alabama has maintained the last 15 seasons. They have to earn the respect that the Tide has amassed throughout the years, and it seems Georgia is up for that challenge.
So we’re officially calling this season a rebuilding one to show that Smart and his coaching staff have reloaded this team to sustain success. If the Dawgs contend once again, the narrative will follow suit of Saban, but if Georgia falts some, then we’re still not wrong.
Yes, that sounds silly because it is. What Saban said is silly because it is. When most people think of rebuilding, they look to what happened to LSU in 2020 after losing that national title squad.
They look at Georgia Tech still trying to resuscitate their football team or Florida who still hasn’t quite caught up to Georgia. What about when a team switches head coaches — another example of rebuilding?
Fans don’t think that Alabama or even Georgia are rebuilding because the head coaches and each staff have done a great job bringing in talent on a yearly basis. Not to mention the way the culture is at both programs and how players that come there know what to expect.
Georgia football will have some work to do, but much like Saban’s statement, claiming this year to be a rebuilding one is silly. However, as reigning national champions, we wanted to poke some fun at the legendary coach and discuss just how ridiculous it is to claim what he did.
The Dawgs and the Tide have built to sustain success and 2022 will prove that for both teams. We hope you got a chuckle out of this as much as we did writing it.