Kirby Smart calls this the 'toughest year' of his tenure while praising Tate Ratledge, Jalon Walker

The 2024 season was a challenging one for Georgia head coach Kirby Smart. Despite the Bulldogs winning the SEC and reaching the College Football Playoff, Smart described this year as “easily the toughest year” of his tenure following the loss to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.

Smart credited two Georgia players in particular who stepped up from a leadership point this season in offensive lineman Tate Ratledge and linebacker Jalon Walker. He spoke about the two team captains following the loss to the Irish.

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“When we do our captains – and rarely have I ever seen this where we did our captains – and two guys got more votes than anybody we’ve ever had. A combination of an offensive player and a defensive player,” Kirby Smart said.

“Well, that’s picked by the 130 players on the team. So they picked these two guys at about a 95% rate. Meaning out of the 130, 95 guys put these two guys in their combination.”

Tate Ratledge just wrapped up his senior season with Georgia, while Jalon Walker was a junior in 2024. Smart said the two were without a doubt the leaders on their respective sides of the ball.

“What they did with this team in the toughest year of at least my tenure… they dominated the room,” Kirby Smart said. “They controlled the room. They led the room through hard games and situations. There were some hard games and situations.”

Smart pointed to the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech rivalry game in particular as a time when Ratledge and Walker stepped up.

“I’ll never forget this guy against Georgia Tech chasing everybody down telling them to stay in the game, hope’s still alive. This guy doing the coin toss and saying we’re about to win this game in overtime,” Kirby Smart said.

“And I know today will be written about and that’s fine. But these two guys right here are as special as they come. Thank you, guys.”

In the rivalry game, Georgia trailed 17-0 at the half and 20-6 in the fourth quarter, before the Bulldogs rallied for a 44-42 win. Kirby Smart and Georgia followed that up by winning the SEC Championship Game and earning the No. 2 seed in the CFP.

The season didn’t end the way the Bulldogs wanted it to, but it was still a strong year overall, which included an SEC title.