Welcome to our countdown! And, we’re less than six weeks before the first game. 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. Instead of writing about a song, group, or movie for number 40, I am going to write about one of my favorite places in Athens to watch live music and other events: the 40 Watt Club. The 40 Watt has been in several locations, but has always been at the end of West Washington Street as long as I have been living in the Classic City. My first concert there was the Violent Femmes years and years ago—a great memory for me. And, so are these memories involving Georgia football and “40”:

By Dave McMahon—Twitter @dave_mc_stats

3 – Yesterday, I mentioned fullback Jeremy Thomas in our countdown, and how he was a key blocker for a number of backs, including Musa Smith. Smith gained 2,202 yards rushing in three seasons for the Bulldogs. In his freshman season of 2000, he rushed for 330 yards with a long run of 40 yards in a win against Ole Miss. As a sophomore, Smith rushed for 548 yards with a long of 49 yards in the season opener against Arkansas State. He later added a 40-yard touchdown run during the first quarter in a win at Vanderbilt. In 2002, Smith rushed for 1,324 yards with a season-long rush of 39 yards during the victory in the 2003 Sugar Bowl against Florida State. Perhaps the officials made a bad spot prior to Smith’s 39-yarder, and it actually covered 40 yards? You know how some people get while in New Orleans…

2 – A player that I didn’t expect to write about when taking on this project was Rhett McGowan—a star player in both football and basketball for Calhoun High School before joining the Bulldogs. A walk-on who would eventually earn a scholarship, McGowan finished his Georgia career with 40 receptions, including three for touchdowns. Exactly half of his 40 catches resulted during his senior season of 2013. Still, the year before, McGowan made a dozen receptions, including this leaping touchdown grab against Georgia Tech at the 57:00 mark:

1 – A player whom I’m guessing Patrick will mention in less than a week—six days, to be exact—is Buzy Rosenberg. If you don’t know why, you will soon… But, the stat I am going to feature, Patrick may not think of: In the 1971 season opener against Oregon State, the “Super Frog” returned five punts for 202 yards and two touchdowns. The two touchdowns were returned for 79 and 56 yards, and he had a 37-yard return, as well. In the game, Rosenberg averaged a school-record 40.4 yards per return (or, in the case of this article, a rounded 40 yards per attempt). In the UGA record book, not listed is the number of punt return attempts to qualify for highest average, but I would assume it would be around three returns. For instance, twice last season Isaiah McKenzie averaged over 50 yards per punt return; however, in those two games, he had but just one return.

By Patrick Garbin—Twitter @PGarbinDT

3—As head coach at Georgia from 1996 through 2000, Jim Donnan won 40 games, while losing 19 contests—a respectable coaching tenure. However, of his 40 victories, Donnan defeated Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, and Georgia Tech a combined six times in 20 tries, while achieving a 7-13 mark against AP-ranked opposition.

2—No. 40 Theron Sapp’s jersey number was retired at Georgia in 1959, joining Frank Sinkwich, Charley Trippi and, 26 years later, Herschel Walker as the only four Bulldogs to be bestowed the honor. Whereas Sinkwich, Trippi, and Walker are three of the greatest college football players of all time, Sapp, who had a fine career at Georgia and in seven seasons in the NFL, is more recognized and whose jersey is retired because of a game he had in breaking a long-standing drought against the Bulldogs’ despised state rival—1957 versus Georgia Tech. Sapp led the Bulldogs in rushing in both the 1957 and 1958 seasons. His 599 yards as a junior, including a “drought-breaking” 91 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries against the Yellow Jackets, was a team game-high since 1950. As a senior, Sapp bettered his previous total by rushing for 635 yards and finished with 1,265 in three seasons (1956-1958) on Georgia’s varsity. In 1957, Sapp was chosen third team AP All-SEC and, a year later, second team AP and first team UPI All-SEC (notable, Georgia’s only first team all-conference selection from 1954-1958).

1—As I mentioned on Day 62 of this countdown, I’m rather interested, and perhaps I’m the only one, in who were other players besides the retiree who wore a retired jersey number, particularly the player who wore the number just prior to the player who would be responsible for the number being retired. As for the case of number “40,” just prior to Sapp, a Tom Vassar donned the eventual retired number, and for just one season—1953. Vassar, a 6-foot-0, 210-pound fullback from South Portland, Maine, signed with Georgia in the spring of ’53 out of the esteemed Cheshire Academy in Connecticut. I’ve racked my mind and, without going into thorough research, I believe Vassar could very well be one of the very few—if not, the only prospect—to ever sign with the Bulldogs hailing from the state of Maine. Soon after his signing, the incoming fullback participated in spring practice but was sidelined with a sprained ankle. Very little is known regarding the Maine native following the spring of 1953 except he never played a down for the Bulldogs, and apparently left the program not too long after his arrival to Athens. Vassar would resurface, however—this time playing a new position in a return to “The Pine Tree State” as a center for the University of Maine Black Bears.