Georgia Football Geography
What Bulldog players are from where… by Patrick Garbin—Twitter @PGarbinDT
We at UGASports.com recently got our hands on what appeared to be a dated all-time listing of Georgia football players by hometown. After some updating and the correction of a few errors I spotted, produced was an accurate listing of all players appearing on a Georgia roster from 1964 through the 2016 season—all 1,729 of them. Some highlights:
Of the rostered Bulldogs, 69 percent of them hailed from the state of Georgia. Of those, the top 10 Georgia cities/towns having produced the most Bulldog players over the last 53 years and—just out of curiosity—where each town ranked in the state as far as total population according to the 2010 census:
City | No. of Players | City's Population Rank | |
---|---|---|---|
1) Atlanta |
106 |
1st |
|
2) Athens |
65 |
6th |
|
3) Marietta |
36 |
13th |
|
4) Rome |
34 |
24th |
|
5) Macon |
33 |
4th |
|
6) Valdosta |
28 |
15th |
|
7) Columbus |
27 |
2nd |
|
Savannah |
27 |
5th |
|
9) Augusta |
23 |
3rd |
|
10) Decatur |
20 |
48th |
For the more than 500 rostered players hailing from outside of Georgia, including three whose hometown is that of a foreign country, the top states according to percentage of out-of-state players:
Rank | State | % of Out-of-State total |
---|---|---|
1st |
Florida |
28.8 |
2nd |
South Carolina |
15.4 |
3rd |
Alabama |
11.2 |
t-4th |
North Carolina |
6.4 |
t-4th |
Tennessee |
6.4 |
6th |
Texas |
3.9 |
7th |
California |
3.7 |
Notably, the top out-of-state cities having produced the most Georgia players are 1) Jacksonville, Fla. (31); 2) Birmingham, Ala. (16); 3) Miami, Fla. (14); 4) Greenville, S.C. (12); t-5) Charlotte, N.C. (10); and t-5) Memphis, Tenn. (10).
Back to the in-state players, I noticed Atlanta’s total of 106 was essentially the same amount of an average college team. And, if the totals of Athens, Macon, and Augusta were added (121), considering a large number of players from Athens did not letter—certainly, by proportion, more than the rest of the towns (maybe, over time, more convenient to walk-on if hailing from Athens?)—the three-town total could comprise another team.
Using my best judgement, I selected what I thought would be the 24 starters (based on how they performed during their eras) for both UGA’s Atlanta Team and the Athens-Macon-Augusta squad, or the AMA Team, and the top reserves for each:
ATLANTA | Position | AMA |
---|---|---|
Matt Robinson (74-76) |
QB |
Andy Johnson (At, 71-73) |
Jimmy Poulos (71-73), Bruce Kemp (67-69) |
RB |
Horace King (At, 72-74), Al Pollard (M, 74-76) |
Pat Hodgson (63-65), Bryan McClendon (02-05) |
WR |
Damien Gary (At, 00-03), Amp Arnold (At, 77-80) |
Billy Payne (66-68) |
TE |
Richard Appleby (At, 73-75) |
Tommy Lyons (68-70), Mac McWhorter (71-73), Alec Millen (91-92), Winford Hood (81-83), David Weeks (92-95) |
OL |
Craig Hertwig (M, 72-74), George Foster (M, 99-02), Mack Guest (M, 76-78), Steve Wilson (M, 73-75), Jeff Harper (M, 78-80) |
Patrick Beless (13, 15) |
PK |
John Kasay (At, 87-90) |
Travis Stroud (94-97), Lee Daniel (67-69), Garrison Smith (10-13) |
DL |
Jimmy Payne (At, 78-82), Chuck Heard (M, 69-71), Quentin Moses (At, 03-06), David McKnight (Ag, 72-74) |
Chip Wisdom (69-71), Knox Culpepper (81-84), Orantes Grant (96-99), Akeem Dent (07-10) |
LB |
Ben Zambiasi (M, 74-77), Sylvester Boler (Ag, 73-74), Tony Gilbert (M, 00-02) |
Sean Jones (01-03), Reshad Jones (07-09), Buzy Rosenberg (70-72), Branden Smith (09-12) |
DB |
Sanders Commings (Ag, 09-12), Mark Mitchell (Ag, 74-76), Johnny Henderson (M, 75-77), Bobby Thompson (Ag, 75-77) |
Bucky Dilts (74-76) |
P |
Gordon Ely-Kelso (At, 03-06) |
QB/DB- Lynn Hughes; DL- Ric Reider; DL- David Jacobs; LB- Jeff Lewis; LB- Jarvis Jackson; DB- Chris Welton; DB- Damian Swann; DB- George Wynn; DB- Dick Conn |
Top Reserves |
QB- Jeff Pyburn; WR- Rex Putnal; WR- Michael Greer; PK- Billy Bennett; DL- Mixon Robinson; DL- Jermaine Smith; LB- Kendrell Bell; LB- Rusty Russell; DB- Charlie Dean |
The above begs the question: What if Georgia’s Atlanta Team faced off against the AMA Team? Offensively, my opinion is that the AMA has the slight edge at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and offensive line (notably, all five starters from Macon). However, the Atlanta Team has an extraordinary defense, although the AMA’s front seven is rather sound as well. Therefore, like a lot of games, I think this contest could come down to the kicking game, where AMA not only has standouts Kasay and Bennett at placekicker, but also Steve Crumley and Bill McCullough. Plus, being that the humor and charisma of AMA’s snapping specialist/backup center Bobby Poss will assuredly help keep his team loose and inspired, I’ll go with AMA over Atlanta in a close one, 23-21.
Anyone else? What do you think would result if UGA’s Atlanta Team squared off against its AMA Team?