University of Georgia Athletics
Photo by: Tony Walsh/UGAAA
With New Things All Around, Bulldogs Focused On Camp
August 02, 2024 | Football, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
With his cleats already on, nearly every inch of them covered in black tape, and with strips of white tape already on the fingers of his right hand, Tate Ratledge was clearly ready for the start of fall camp when he sat down for an interview Thursday.
"I think it's fun — I get to hit somebody again; I get to play football again," the senior offensive lineman said. "This is the fun part. Of course, it's long days, not a lot of sleep and it's a grind, but it's the fun part of what we do. We're not out there running (as players do so often during the offseason), we're playing football. It's what everybody looks forward to, or should look forward to."
"He's always been a great practice player," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said of Ratledge.
At his news conference Thursday, Smart said Georgia had 120 players at the start of preseason practice, a number he was "fired up" about. He also said all 120 will be challenged and tested.
"So, we've got good depth in camp, and we're looking forward to creating some mental and physical adversity through the heat and through practices" as the coaches "start to form our team."
Smart said he wanted to see how his players, young and old, respond to the adversity they face, something that was harder to assess the last time the team was together.
"I don't know that in spring practice you can simulate that. We try to simulate it in the summer conditioning program, but it's not the same as having all these pads on, helmets on, equipment on, and I can't simulate the heat they're going to have with that equipment on," he said.
Every season is different, of course, just as every team is different. The Bulldog squads that won back-to-back College Football Playoff national championships in 2021-22 were very different from last year's team that went through the regular season undefeated but stumbled in the SEC Championship Game against Alabama and missed the four-team Playoff.
This year's team is very different from that team, notably losing top offensive weapons Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey and Kendall Milton, but those are far from the only changes afoot in 2024. The SEC has added Texas and Oklahoma, and the Bulldogs will play at Texas on Oct. 19. Meanwhile, the four-team Playoff is now a 12-team format
With the new-look SEC and the new Playoff, there are lots of potential logistical changes and schedule changes, but for the players and coaches, football is still football. Fans and media and others may spend hours discussing and debating what's good for the sport, or not, or how will this school do against that one when they meet for the first time, but if you're a member of Georgia's football program, that kind of stuff isn't really on your mind right now.
"We go over the new SEC and the Playoff — we go over it so we're aware of it, and then we lock back in to what's in front of us," said senior safety Dan Jackson.
"It's football and you've got to win on Saturdays," Ratledge said of all of the changes. "It's more games and more opportunities, in my eyes. That's what I see it as, it's another opportunity to go play somebody."
What's in front of the Bulldogs now is two weeks of long days and intense practices and meetings. After that, once classes and regular routines begin, it's about two weeks of regular practice before the Aug. 31 season opener against Clemson in Atlanta.
The last time Georgia opened its season against the Tigers, in Charlotte in 2021, the Bulldogs eked out a win and then marched all the way to their first national championship since 1980. Ratledge, Smith and Jackson all played in that game. It was the first action ever for Jackson, a former walk-on, and he made one tackle, and Smith had a catch for six yards in the 10-3 win.
"That was a big moment for me," Jackson said, "playing special teams and a little bit on defense."
As for Ratledge, he started at right guard in the game, but he wasn't around long.
"I made it three plays and then I got hurt," he said with a laugh. "I'm hoping to make it longer this year."
Until the opening kickoff, the Bulldogs will work and sweat and study for the next couple of weeks. College football may be entering a new era, but the game remains the same.
Staff Writer
With his cleats already on, nearly every inch of them covered in black tape, and with strips of white tape already on the fingers of his right hand, Tate Ratledge was clearly ready for the start of fall camp when he sat down for an interview Thursday.
"I think it's fun — I get to hit somebody again; I get to play football again," the senior offensive lineman said. "This is the fun part. Of course, it's long days, not a lot of sleep and it's a grind, but it's the fun part of what we do. We're not out there running (as players do so often during the offseason), we're playing football. It's what everybody looks forward to, or should look forward to."
"He's always been a great practice player," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said of Ratledge.
At his news conference Thursday, Smart said Georgia had 120 players at the start of preseason practice, a number he was "fired up" about. He also said all 120 will be challenged and tested.
"So, we've got good depth in camp, and we're looking forward to creating some mental and physical adversity through the heat and through practices" as the coaches "start to form our team."
Smart said he wanted to see how his players, young and old, respond to the adversity they face, something that was harder to assess the last time the team was together.
"I don't know that in spring practice you can simulate that. We try to simulate it in the summer conditioning program, but it's not the same as having all these pads on, helmets on, equipment on, and I can't simulate the heat they're going to have with that equipment on," he said.
Every season is different, of course, just as every team is different. The Bulldog squads that won back-to-back College Football Playoff national championships in 2021-22 were very different from last year's team that went through the regular season undefeated but stumbled in the SEC Championship Game against Alabama and missed the four-team Playoff.
This year's team is very different from that team, notably losing top offensive weapons Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey and Kendall Milton, but those are far from the only changes afoot in 2024. The SEC has added Texas and Oklahoma, and the Bulldogs will play at Texas on Oct. 19. Meanwhile, the four-team Playoff is now a 12-team format
With the new-look SEC and the new Playoff, there are lots of potential logistical changes and schedule changes, but for the players and coaches, football is still football. Fans and media and others may spend hours discussing and debating what's good for the sport, or not, or how will this school do against that one when they meet for the first time, but if you're a member of Georgia's football program, that kind of stuff isn't really on your mind right now.
"We go over the new SEC and the Playoff — we go over it so we're aware of it, and then we lock back in to what's in front of us," said senior safety Dan Jackson.
"It's football and you've got to win on Saturdays," Ratledge said of all of the changes. "It's more games and more opportunities, in my eyes. That's what I see it as, it's another opportunity to go play somebody."
What's in front of the Bulldogs now is two weeks of long days and intense practices and meetings. After that, once classes and regular routines begin, it's about two weeks of regular practice before the Aug. 31 season opener against Clemson in Atlanta.
The last time Georgia opened its season against the Tigers, in Charlotte in 2021, the Bulldogs eked out a win and then marched all the way to their first national championship since 1980. Ratledge, Smith and Jackson all played in that game. It was the first action ever for Jackson, a former walk-on, and he made one tackle, and Smith had a catch for six yards in the 10-3 win.
"That was a big moment for me," Jackson said, "playing special teams and a little bit on defense."
As for Ratledge, he started at right guard in the game, but he wasn't around long.
"I made it three plays and then I got hurt," he said with a laugh. "I'm hoping to make it longer this year."
Until the opening kickoff, the Bulldogs will work and sweat and study for the next couple of weeks. College football may be entering a new era, but the game remains the same.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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