Georgia is media’s preseason pick to win SEC
Media members from around the Southeast flocked to Nashville this week for SEC Media Days, now in the books. With their departures comes the league’s announcement of preseason picks for All-SEC and order of finish, both areas in which the Georgia Bulldogs are receiving lots of love.
For the first time since 2004, Georgia is the media’s pick to win the SEC Championship come December. The Bulldogs have accomplished that feat three times since then, including last season as a part of their perfect 15-0 campaign, but were never the pick to do so coming out of media days. The prediction ends an seven-year streak of Alabama being chosen for the top spot with the Crimson Tide taking that title in 11 of the last 13 years since 2010.
Projected Order of Finish: SEC East
1. Georgia (265)
2. Tennessee (14)
3. South Carolina (3)
4. Kentucky (1)
5. Florida
6. Missouri
7. Vanderbilt (8)
Projected Order of Finish: SEC West
1. Alabama (165)
2. LSU (117)
3. Texas A&M (1)
4. Ole Miss
5. Arkansas (3)
6. Auburn (4)
7. Mississippi State (1)
SEC Champion: Georgia (181), Alabama (62), LSU (31), Tennessee (5), Vanderbilt (5), Arkansas (2), Auburn (2), Texas A&M (1), Mississippi State (1), South Carolina (1)
Georgia also led the way with 16 All-SEC selections including wide receiver Ladd McConkey, tight end Brock Bowers, offensive lineman Amarius Mims, offensive lineman Tate Ratledge, center Sedrick Van Pran, defensive lineman Mykel Williams, defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse, linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson, defensive back Malaki Starks, defensive back Kamari Lassiter and defensive back Javon Bullard all on the first team.
Running back Kendall Milton, offensive lineman Xavier Truss and linebacker Smael Mondon made the second-team while third-team selections included linebacker Jalon Walker and long snapper William Mote.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart and a trio of Bulldog players – all three of whom made the first-team (Bowers, Van Pran, Lassiter) – made their appearance in Nashville during the second day at SEC Media Day. Smart’s message to the media: coming off of back-to-back national championships, Georgia is not going to be complacent.
“This year we studied the New Zealand All-Blacks, most successful sports team in the history of really teams, over 100 years they’ve had the highest winning percentage. So we took a deep dive. We took a six weeks. We took a title and a mantra from them and studied those things for six weeks because we don’t want complacency. They’ve done it better than anybody else, and we use that,” Smart said during his opening statement at SEC Media Days. “One of their big mantras is better never rests. We believe that. Those are strong words now when you think about it. Think deep on it. Better never rests. Our kids understand it. Our kids have learned it. What drives us for this season is intrinsic motivation. We’re not going to be controlled by outside narratives and what people say and who’s going to be the quarterback. The intrinsic motivation comes from within and what we decide to do.”
“This team, the 2023 team, is still defining itself. We don’t know where that goes. That happens over the course of the rest of the summer and fall camp, but I like where it’s at,” he continued. “I love the buy-in. I love the fact these guys being around each other and they love competing and they love football, so that’s important to me.”
Georgia opens fall camp in less than two weeks and kicks off the season at home on September 2nd against UT-Martin.
