For one final time the Georgia Bulldogs will take the field to wrap up the 2015-16 season. It will also be the start of the Kirby Smart era.
Smart will be in Jacksonville on Saturday. He made that known on Tuesday at the Cotton Bowl’s media day.
However, he has already has some of his assistant coaches observing the team and they’ll likely be at the TaxSlayer Bowl watching the returning players.
This means one thing, your first impression comes on Saturday if you’re a Georgia player.
They’ll be coached by Bryan McClendon, who has already taken a job with Will Muschamp at South Carolina. Junior safety Quincy Mauger says the older guys are trying to keep everyone’s head in the game.
“Me and a couple of other leaders have came together and told the team that it’s up to us,” Mauger said. “It’s always been about us. We have to kind of be big brother to the little guys and show them the way to go.”
We’ve seen perception of players change the past two seasons in Athens, with coaching changes. It was the case when Jeremy Pruitt took over the defense and then when Brian Schottenheimer took control of the offense.
This team has been seeking leadership on the field during the past month with all the coaching changes. Mauger also mentioned that fellow safety Dominick Sanders as another one of those players taking on a leadership role leading up to the Penn State matchup.
“We know we have to show Kirby Smart the same thing we had to show coach (Mark) Richt,” Sanders said. “My leadership will never stop. I’ll continue doing that. That’s to continue going harder for the new coach.”
Sanders says this team is also motivated by the seniors and trying to get guys like outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins their 40th career win.
Jenkins is obviously not going to be playing for the new staff. However, he’s still trying to get the younger players to do the little things the right way.
“As far as workout wise, we’ve really had a good turn up for all voluntary work we’ve had the last couple of weeks,” Jenkins said.
The Bulldogs will be shorthanded at some positions, with injuries to running backs Quayvon Hicks/Brendan Douglas. This means that redshirt sophomore AJ Turman will likely get some carries.
Freshman wide receiver Shaquery Wilson (academics), freshman safety Jonathan Abram (personal), junior linebacker Tim Kimbrough (suspension) and freshman defensive lineman Chauncey Rivers (suspension) will miss the TaxSlayer Bowl.
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