The History Georgia Football can make in 2023
In less than four weeks, Georgia kicks off the defense of its second national title in as many years with arguably the best accumulation of talent in the Kirby Smart era. That means Georgia and its players have the potential for some historic accomplishments in 2023.
Brock Bowers to join an exclusive club
With two National Championships, a John Mackey Award, 1,989 yards of total offense and 24 total touchdowns, Brock Bowers is already a Georgia legend.
Yet, he hasn't even reached his ceiling. In fact, with another spectacular season, Bowers will reach rarified air among Georgia football greats.
The Napa, Cal, native can join Herschel Walker and David Pollack as the only three-time All-Americans in school history. Talk about good company.
The odds are in Bower's favor, even with changes on offense. Few college offensive coordinators utilize tight ends as heavily as Mike Bobo. A tight end exceeded 400 receiving yards five times in Bobo-led offenses, the best being Orson Charles's 574-yard campaign in 2011.
No offense to Charles, Martrez Milner and Arthur Lynch; they were all solid tight ends; they weren't Brock Bowers. Not only is Bowers the favorite to win the Mackey Award, but he's also on the preseason watch list for the Fred Biletnikoff Award.
Should Bowers take home both pieces of hardware, he'd become the first two-time winner of the Mackey Award and the first tight end to win the Biletnikoff Award.
Georgia climbing the all-time ranks
Is Georgia a college football blue blood? If not, what will it take for the Bulldogs to join those ranks? Those answers are hard to define, but there are some valuable metrics that may help solve those riddles.
After two national title campaigns (with 29 wins to boot) Georgia has soared up the "Weeks at AP No. 1" list. The Bulldogs correctly rank No. 12 with 37 weeks atop the AP Top 25. They've surpassed Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Penn State, Clemson, Army, Michigan State and Michigan over the last two seasons.
Georgia now has its eyes set on LSU (38 weeks), Florida (41 weeks) and Texas (45 weeks) and could climb as high as No. 9 by the end of the year. Miami (68 weeks), Nebraska (70 weeks) and Florida State (72 weeks) are still safe for a few years.
Another ranking the Bulldogs can climb this year is the "Consensus All-Americans" list. Georgia enters the year with 39, good enough for No. 14 all-time. With talented stars like Brock Bowers, Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, Malaki Starks, Javon Bullard, Jamon Dumas-Johnson and Smael Mondon, Georgia could leapfrog a few teams on this list such as Tennessee (41), UCLA (41), Penn State (43), and Florida State (45).
Three-Peat
The most obvious bit of history Georgia is chasing this year is the all-elusive three-peat. It's a feat no team has accomplished since Minnesota did so from 1934-to-1936.
Coincidentally, Minnesota did so with head coach Bernie Bierman a former Minnesota running back from the 1910s. Much like how Kirby Smart, a former Bulldog safety from the 1990s, has led Georgia to the promised land two years in a row.
In the poll era (1933-present), there have been 11 instances of teams winning consecutive national championships, and seven instances of teams winning two national titles in the span of three years. That just goes to show how close so many teams were to reaching that evasive third-consecutive national title.
