Welcome to our countdown, and we are less than four weeks away until Georgia football kicks off the 2016 season! Each day leading up to the season opener, Patrick Garbin and I will each show three unique and creative ways why we think that number is special to the Dawgs. I have never seen 27 Dresses, a movie released in 2008, but I heard it is a “chick flick.” Hopefully, that term doesn’t offend anyone; still, I can now say I filled my quota of using pop culture references of that particular genre. Tomorrow, I will be back to normal. Now, I can move onto memories I enjoy a lot more, like these regarding Georgia football and the number 27:

By Dave McMahon—Twitter @dave_mc_stats

3 – Mikey Henderson was not the biggest wide receiver/return specialist at Georgia in recent years, but he made some big plays. Wearing No. 27, he returned two punt returns for touchdowns in 2006 and, a season later, caught two touchdown passes. One of his touchdown receptions in 2007 came against No. 16 Alabama on the first play Georgia possessed the ball in overtime (also, the first play after Mike Patrick asked about Britney Spears). His other career touchdown reception came against No. 9 Florida, covering 53 yards. Both of those games resulted in Bulldog victories.

2 – Every Bulldog fan is excited about what Nick Chubb is capable of doing this season. And, if they aren’t, they’re likely lying. There are some question marks heading into 2016 regarding No. 27 and, hopefully in 27 days, they will be answered. And, in a way Dawg fans will like. Chubb has 2,294 yards rushing in his career in just 19 games, including only 14 starts. He is already ninth on the all-time rushing list at Georgia. The stat of his I like best is his 7.38 yards-per-carry average, which is the highest in team history. With a 6.44 career average, Todd Gurley ranks second. Notably, Chubb can gain zero yards in his next 45 rushing attempts, and still have a higher average than Gurley. But, let’s hope that doesn’t happen…

1 – The aforementioned two wore No. 27, whereas these two scored 27 career rushing touchdowns: Robert Edwards and Tim Worley, each of whom is tied for eighth all time at Georgia in rushing touchdowns. Edwards, who actually had three more rushing scores in the 1998 Outback Bowl (but, bowl stats did not count back then), scored a career-high 12 rushing touchdowns (actually, 15) in 1997. The most Worley scored in a season was 17 in 1988. Also, both had some pretty special moments against the Florida Gators in their careers. In 1985, Worley rushed for an 89-yard touchdown to help the Dawgs defeat the No. 1-ranked Gators. The 89-yarder is still tied for the longest running play in Georgia history. And, if you watch the video below, it wasn’t the only big play in his Cocktail Party career. In the 1997 meeting with Florida, Edwards rushed for four touchdowns to lead Georgia to an upset win, and snap a seven-game losing streak in the series. To make today’s number even more so special, the first of Edwards’ four touchdowns covered 27 yards.

By Patrick Garbin—Twitter @PGarbinDT

3—After redshirting in 1987, Marietta’s Chuck Carswell exhibited he was a punt-return extraordinaire for the Bulldogs. Returning punts for the first time in his collegiate career, No. 27 Carswell gained 388 punt return yards—then, the fifth-most in UGA history—and averaged 12.5 yards per return in 1988. After missing the following campaign due to a serious injury which nearly ended his playing career, he averaged more than 10 yards per return in 1990 and 1991, while returning a punt for a touchdown each season. In doing so, Carswell became only the second Bulldog (after Buzy Rosenberg, 1970-1971) in history to return a punt for a score in consecutive seasons (since then, Damien Gary, 2001-2002, and Isaiah McKenzie, 2014-2015, have followed). Still, it was a play made on defense which Carswell is likely best known for during his time at Georgia. In three seasons at cornerback, including just one as a starter, he totaled 116 tackles and 13 broken up passes. Carswell also tallied five career interceptions—the second of which saved the day for the Bulldogs in a 17-16 victory over Alabama in 1990:

2—These next two “27s” are a bit of a stretch but, realizing this countdown will be over before we know it, I promptly wanted to feature two legendary figures. From 1946-1949, halfback Billy Henderson did a little bit of everything for the Bulldogs despite not being one of the team’s top two or three halfbacks for any of his four seasons. He ran the ball (452 career rushing yards and five touchdowns), caught it (six receptions), returned punts (nearly a 12-yard average), and could even pass the ball, completing two passes for 92 yards, including for a 54-yard touchdown in 1946. Still, what Henderson was likely best at was returning kickoffs. He averaged 26.9—or, “27” for the sake of today—yards per return for his career. Included is his noteworthy 1947 campaign, whereby he returned 12 kickoffs for 319 yards, or a 26.6-yard average. Henderson, who would eventually become best known for his legendary high-school football head-coaching career at Willingham (Macon), followed by Clarke Central (Athens), remains second all time in Georgia football history (behind Tim Worley, 29.5 average) in kick return average of those with at least a dozen returns.

1—Everyone reading this is likely very familiar with Larry Munson, and his legendary career as “Voice of the Bulldogs” from 1966 to 2008. But, perhaps most are unfamiliar with the fact that for much of his time calling Georgia games, Munson was—you could say—“long-distance Larry.” From the early 1950s through the late 1970s, or a period of 27 years, Munson produced and hosted for Nashville’s WSM-TV what was believed to be the first-ever television show on fishing. For nearly half of the 27 years, he commuted from Nashville to Athens during the weekends to call Georgia games, continuing to live in Tennessee so he could produce his fishing show during the week.