Georgia football senior class prepares to say goodbye to Sanford Stadium against Charlotte
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Georgia football has a decent sized senior class with 16 of the 17 seniors preparing to play their last regular season game, and potentially last game ever if they earn a first-round bye in the playoffs, at Sanford Stadium.
The only one not taking the gridiron is Colbie Young. The wide receiver fractured his lower leg on a 36-yard reception from his quarterback to get the Bulldogs a first-down in their eventual 43-35 win over Ole Miss on Oct. 18.
“You’re always going to know when that potential last game at Sanford Stadium is, and for it to be finally coming up this week possibly is just, it’s crazy. It’s hard to think about,” senior tight end Oscar Delp said. “I remember my freshman year spring ball, right when I got here, and just from where we’ve gone since then is unreal. How much these coaches have poured into me and the other players on this team, how much the other guys have supported each other, it’s just awesome.
“We’ve got a special senior group and, you know, we’ve been talking about it a little bit, but we’re more excited than sad.”
Some, like wide receiver Noah Thomas who transferred in from Texas A&M and redshirt senior running back Josh McCray who transferred in from Illinois, have only been around for one year.
Others, like Delp and running back Cash Jones, have done their bidding for Kirby Smart the last four to five years.
The memories are what Jones said he’d miss the most about playing Sanford Stadium.
“I remember going out there for the first time and just being in shock, like how awesome it was the first time,” Jones said. “And it’s sad that it could be my last game in Sanford Stadium, last regular season game, and that’s probably what I’ll miss the most. The memories made there and all the fun I got to have there.”
Delp said he’ll miss getting to put the famed G logo on the most.
“It’s just really special, and a couple weeks ago it really hit me that we’re coming to an end,” Delp said. “These home games, just putting on the red and black, it’s special. The fan base we’ve got is unreal, to be able to have them in your corner is awesome, and I’m going to try to take it all in, as much as I can this weekend.”
Jones and Delp were part of the 2022 national championship team that went 15-0. Since then, the senior class has put up a 48-5 record, only losing one home game in that span, which happened this season. They’ve also won two SEC Championship titles and made it to three consecutive bowl appearances.
If you include the 2021 season, when guys like Jones and offensive lineman Micah Morris were freshmen (before medical redshirts gave them an extra year), that makes their overall record 62-6 with four consecutive bowl appearances and a second national title in 2021.
The seniors, like Jones, going out this year will be the last chunk of Georgia’s active roster who were part of the historic back-to-back championship runs in 2021-2022.
“Shoot, we’re just a bunch of hard-working individuals,” Jones said of his classmates and the impact they’re leaving on the program. “We like to play football. I feel like everybody was tough and we had a great connection. We had fun whenever we could and we did a good job, won a lot of games, did what we needed to do.”
“It really all starts when we got here as freshmen,” Delp added. “With the NIL era now, it’s easy to leave and go ask for a ton more money at other places, any guy in my class could’ve done that. But to have those guys who stuck through it all just shows how much they care about this program.”
Smart said he’s going to collectively remember this senior class because of the leadership they’ve stepped into this year. Despite a couple of them leaving last year, like Malaki Starks and Mykel Williams, this group is the first real senior class brought up into the new culture.
“When you look across the board, the fourth-year seniors, they were kind of the first,” Smart said. “It was in its infancy, the NIL stage, in phases, so we’re proud of them. We love them like we do the others and want to continue for them to grow.”
Georgia (9-1, 7-1 SEC) hosts Charlotte (1-9, 0-7 AAC) on Saturday, Nov. 22, for Senior Day. Kickoff is slated for 12:45 p.m. on the SEC Network.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football senior class prepares to say goodbye to Sanford Stadium
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