Per Mike Griffith, Georgia is up to eleven players who won’t suit up for the Peach Bowl.
DawgNation has confirmed that Ojulari, the team’s sacks leader with 5.5, will not play in the game. UGASports.com was first to report the most recent attrition.
The Bulldogs are expected to be without at least 11 former starters, including an eye-popping nine that have chosen to “opt-out” rather than suit up one final time with their teammates at 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 1 in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
There are only three starting seniors left, Devonte Wyatt, Malik Herring and Justin Shaffer. I guess they can skip that belated Senior Day at the bowl game now.
We’re about to find out if Kirby’s got that whole motivation thing under control.
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It’s a backhanded tribute to Kirby’s recruiting and development to have that many opt out.
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It’s true about the motivation thing for the UGA staff, just curious if CKS says screw ’em or does he stay true to the “players coach anthem”…and it’s next man up, thanks for coming…
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Are we in trouble numbers wise? I don’t criticize the players opting out, it’s a math question. It’s been a tough year for everyone.
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We’ve got 14 or so newbies who’d love to make their college debut.
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Early signees can’t play, unfortunately.
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Feels a lot like the Baylor game last year. I think this is probably a new normal for Bowl season, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
I hope those players opting out get healthy and get ready for the combine and the next wave of starters get valuable practice and game reps.
Outside of the playoffs, to me, bowls were already about laying a foundation for the next year
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Until Georgia gets back into the playoff we’ll always lead the way in players opting out. We’ve had the highest rated recruiting classes among teams not consistently in the playoffs.
The only way to stop players from opting out is to give them something to play for, which means you have to expand the playoff to 8 teams. If more teams are in the mix for the playoff then more players will not opt out. I’ve aIways said you have take the conference champions of each Power Five, highest ranked among Group of Five and two at-large. This gives college football at least 15 teams if not more a chance to make the playoff going into championship weekend.
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Only a matter of time before players start to realize that playoff games and meaningless bowls both come with the same risks and equal zero dollar payouts. Having something to play for still matters, but Georgia can make the playoff as is.
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Kirby knows, the players know, and everyone else knows… that this game doesn’t mean a damn thing. It’s playoff or bust. Since we aren’t in the playoffs, I wonder if Kirby doesn’t encourage the players with draft prospects that aren’t planning to return to not play in the bowl game. These practices are huge for building for next year and they are a lot more efficient when you can give the practice and game reps to the players who will actually be on the team next year. His comments in this headline really seem to point that way. Motivating your team is easy when they are competing for playing time in their future.
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Where does he get the news that Stokes has opted out? He hasn’t put that on Twitter.
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yikes
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The only thing I’m really concerned about is the shortened practice time for the bowl this year. Last year, we had 3 weeks of practice with the new guys to get ready for Baylor. This year it will be less than 2 week. I’m not too worried about the talent of the backups, but with all the moving parts that KirbLanning likes on defense, that can be a problem (cough “wheel route” cough).
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Opting out is the new norm at UGA, and for other teams going to Bowls.
It is the presursor to the end of college bowls and playoffs.
They know not what they do.
NCAA will end bowls and playoffs as fans and viewers start opting out like the current culture in the NFL.
Go to a longer regular season and coaches / fans voting for top 12 teams.
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The very first step in player compensation should be paying seniors to appear in bowl games and paying them even more to win bowl games. Make that the new Senior Day sendoff.
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Guys like Daniel, Webb and McKitty probably aren’t even draft picks. Not sure why they’d be opting out.
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