Why this UGA football team is in position to repeat as college football national champions

LOS ANGELES — Onto the next.

That was the mindset of Georgia football about a week after winning its first national championship in 41 years last January, according to center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger.

“We understood that last year had nothing to do with this year, so we had to work for everything,” the redshirt sophomore said.

That work by players and staff and a still-loaded roster even with a slew of NFL departures has gotten No. 1 Georgia to Monday’s 7:30 p.m. College Football Playoff national championship game against upstart and No. 3 TCU at SoFi Stadium.

Georgia is trying to become the fourth team to win back-to-back national titles since 1979, joining Nebraska in 1994-95, Southern Cal in 2003-04 and Alabama in 2011-2012.

“It doesn't start when the season starts,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said Sunday morning. “It starts Tuesday when the season ends. And it just continues. I don't know that you can relax and just say, OK, we're going to be fine.’ You have to make it happen. And I think each and every year you have a different team.”

Smart has won five national championships as a coach including four with Alabama as defensive coordinator under Nick Saban including in 2015 when he finished out the season after being hired by Georgia.

The Crimson Tide won it in 2009, but went 10-3 the following year in a season that ended in the Citrus Bowl.

Alabama completed back-to-back national titles in 2011 and 2012, going 12-1 and 13-1.

The Crimson Tide lost eight NFL draft picks off that 2011 team including four first-round picks—running back Trent Richardson, safety Mark Barron, cornerback Dre Kirkpartrick and linebacker Don’t’a Hightower. Six of those eight draft picks came from the defense.

“I think Coach Smart has learned and adapted, and he had the greatest to learn from,” Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett said.

There are some key components in getting to this position again, according to starting left tackle Broderick Jones.

“Great coaching, great players and just the tenacity of the team,” Jones said. “Not trying to dwell on the past and trying to build another legacy and not thinking about the past year’s legacy. Trying to get back to where we left off.”

Georgia has turned to many backups from last year’s team who have moved into frontline roles this year.

“I think it would mean a lot for this program, especially for the guys that are leaders this year,” Van Pran-Granger said. “Last year we were a part of something and played our part. But for this year to be a part of helping lead the team, I think it would be very, very special being able to do something that's never been done in our school history.

Kicker Jack Podlesny thought to himself in the aftermath of the national title: “Oh, no, we’re losing a lot of guys. A lot of great leaders, a lot of great players.”

It turned out to be a modern-era record 15 NFL draft picks, including five first-rounders all from the defense.

Months later during the middle of spring football, Podlesny felt like they could make another run for the title.

“Just seeing all the guys come together, knowing we’ve got a good team,” he said. “Not good, but great.”

Georgia players did some of the same things that last year’s team did—they got to know their teammates better through “skull sessions,” where they learned the guy next to them’s why—what motivates him.

The Bulldogs have rallied around those who doubted their chances to get back on this stage even with some revisionist history.

“There was a lot of talk of how we weren’t going to be the same caliber team that we were last year,” wide receiver Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint said. “We’re going to be a 6-6 team.”

Wait, hardly anybody said that, but inside linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson also told reporters that people felt Georgia might win 5 or six games.

In reality, Georgia was No. 3 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Sports AFCA Coaches polls behind only Alabama and Ohio State.

“We basically just put our head down in the offseason and put in a lot of work,” Rosemy-Jacksant said. “Worked our ass off. This whole season we’ve just been playing hard-nosed football. This team has embraced the role of not being the same caliber of team of last year. It’s a younger team but this team has a lot more grit I feel like. I love the way this team has battled throughout the year and I’m excited to see how we’re going to play on Monday night.”

Said tight end Darnell Washington: “We just put our head down, didn’t listen to the doubters and just worked. “It’s kind of how we’ve been all along since the summer.”

Georgia’s roster doesn’t have any players who came from the transfer portal last offseason.

It was built mostly off the back of elite recruiting classes landed by Smart and his staff.

“He had a dream and he told us, I want to get Georgia back to where we belong,” said senior outside linebacker Nolan Smith who was lost for the season with a torn pectoral muscle. “We all just came here and wanted to do something different. …“We found the extra components in which we needed.”

Smith is one of 12 players remaining from a 2019 class that ranked No. 2 overall nationally.

Eight starters come from the 2020 class that was No. 1 including defensive tackle Jalen Carter, offensive linemen Broderick Jones, Tate Ratledge and Van Pran-Granger, cornerback Kelee Ringo and Washington

“I think it just starts with Coach Smart and his staff,” said Van Pran-Granger, a 2020 signee who is in his second season as a starter. “I think they do a tremendous job of developing guys. Came in my first year, took some time to develop, and by the time I got to my second year, I felt like I was ready.”

Smart views each Georgia team independent of the other but this one has picked up where last year’s left off when it comes to its approach.

“They play hard regardless of the score,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said. “That’s a big credit to the culture of their program”

That culture includes constructive criticism from coaches who didn’t back down after the Bulldogs lifted the trophy last January.

“You’ve got to be able to take that because we have hard-nosed coaches on the staff,” Jones said. “Being able to listen to the message and the tone of what they say that’s what got us back to this point.”

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This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: How UGA football kept its edge to have a shot at repeat national title