Rece Davis, Pete Thamel list Georgia as their preseason No. 1 team

Georgia sat at No. 1 in all the rankings for most of last season before losing in the SEC Championship. Now, looking way ahead to next season, both Rece Davis and Pete Thamel expect to see the Bulldogs return to that top spot.

Davis and Thamel made some way-too-early picks for this fall’s preseason during the ‘College GameDay Podcast’ on Thurday. When it came to No. 1 going into the year, they agreed that Georgia would be their selections to be leading the way at the start of the campaign.

“I would say Georgia for now. I’m going to give Georgia the edge for now,” said Thamel.

“Me too. Yeah. Me too,” Davis said during Thamel’s response.

With portal decisions still taking place and the season still over half a year out, it’s difficult to suggest anything for certain with the polls. However, for right now, they felt like the growing sense is that it’ll be one of either Georgia or Ohio State in that No. 1 slot going into 2024.

“A lot of roster movement left here but I would say Bulldogs,” Thamel said. “Then, and I haven’t looked at it super holistically? But Bulldogs-Buckeyes feels right.”

It’s hard to knock any selection of Georgia considering all things from the past three years. The Bulldogs are 42-2 since 2021. The only losses in that span have come against Nick Saban and Alabama in the SEC Championship. Even so, they’ve had three consecutive undefeated seasons, a trio of appearances in the conference championship, and have won the College Football Playoff in both seasons where they made the field.

While that defeat in the SEC Championship held them out of the playoff this year, one could have still easily made the case that Georgia was still one of the four best teams. They further underlined that point with their 63-3 victory over Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

It’s also more than justified considering what Kirby Smart will have back from last season’s roster.

That group starts with QB Carson Beck. In his first year as a starter, he threw for nearly 4,000 yards and posted 28 touchdowns. He’ll also have four of his top seven receivers to work with again in WRs Dominic Lovett, Rara Thomas, and Dillon Bell along with TE Oscar Delp. There will be some key men back on their offensive line as well.

Then, on defense, Georgia also brings back several starters such as LBs Smael Mondon and CJ Allen, DL Nazir Stackhouse, and DB Malaki Starks.

That’s all coming back to Athens before you even get to the No. 66 portal class according to On3’s 2024 Team Transfer Portal Rankings. While they only add six additions compared to 21 losses, the Bulldogs still added some quality pieces like RB Trevor Etienne (Florida), a trio of wide receivers in London Humphreys (Vanderbilt), Colbie Young (Miami), and Michael Jackson III (USC), and two defensive players in DL Xzavier McLeod (South Carolina) and DB Jake Pope (Alabama).

Few teams, if any, have succeeded at the same rate as Georgia since the turn of the decade. That’s why, even with kickoff still several months out, Davis and Thamel are going with a pretty safe bet for their No. 1 team come the preseason.