UGASports is counting down the days until the Bulldogs’ 2024 season opener. For each day in our countdown, we will reveal our opinion of the best player in Georgia football’s history to wear that particular jersey number.

With 55 days before kickoff, UGASports selects Dan Edwards as the best Georgia player to wear jersey number 55.

Position: End

Hometown: Gatesville, Texas

Height/Weight: 6-0, 190

Lettered: 1944-1947

Stats: 13 touchdowns scored—12 receiving, 1 rushing—in four seasons.

Career: A “bowlegged cowboy” and Texas native, Dan Edwards became the Bulldogs’ primary receiving target as a junior after serving mostly as the team’s pass-rushing specialist in 1944 and 1945. As one of the team’s starting offensive ends in 1946, Edwards led an unscathed 11-0 squad in receiving, making 15 receptions for 339 yards and four touchdowns. His 67-yard scoring reception from Charley Trippi in that season’s Sugar Bowl totaled nearly all of Georgia’s 81 yards passing in its 20-10 win over North Carolina. Elected permanent captain of the 1947 team, Edwards ranked second in the nation in receiving as a senior, making 44 receptions for 565 yards and four touchdowns. For his efforts that season, he was the lone Bulldog to be recognized on the AP’s All-SEC first team. Edwards also was named Second Team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and participated in the esteemed Chicago Tribune College All-Star Game. The Pittsburgh Steelers selected him as the No. 9 overall pick of the 1948 NFL Draft.

#55 Honorable Mention: OL- Wayne Radloff (1979-1982); OL- Trey Hill (2018-2020); OL- Matt Braswell (1976-1979); LB- Sylvester Boler (1973-1974)