Kickoff countdown: Who wore it best? #61
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 history to wear that particular jersey number.
We select Eddie Weaver, “Meat Cleaver,” as the best Georgia player to wear jersey No. 61.
#61 EDDIE WEAVER
Position: Defensive Guard
Hometown (High School): Haines City, Florida (Haines City Senior HS)
Height/Weight: 6-0, 270
Lettered: 1978-1981
Stats: 269 tackles (169 solo), 8 sacks, 9 other tackles for loss, and 6 fumble recoveries in four seasons.
Career: Eddie Weaver weighed nearly 280 pounds when he signed with the Bulldogs, making him already one of the heaviest players in Georgia football history at the time. In filling out an athletic questionnaire, Weaver answered his “favorite food” with simply “all.” Still, the rotund freshman from Florida was quick as a cat, running a 4.87 in the 40, and strong as an ox, benching a school-record 430 pounds as a newcomer before reaching 515 pounds before his departure from the school. Weaver was nicknamed “Meat Cleaver” as a reserve defensive lineman early in his Bulldog career. In his first game against Baylor, he made a key tackle for loss, which forced the Bears to attempt a field goal—a field goal in which they missed in an eventual two-point upset win for Georgia. Often playing through the pain while suffering with tendinitis as the Bulldogs’ starting left defensive guard from 1979-1981, Weaver earned first-team All-SEC honors as both a junior and senior. In 1981, he was one of only two Bulldogs—Herschel Walker being the other—recognized as an All-American by the UPI.
Speaking of Walker, the running back legend said the biggest lick he ever endured in all of his years playing football actually resulted during a UGA practice—and was courtesy of “Meat Cleaver” Weaver.
#61 Honorable Mention: C- David Andrews (2011-2014); LB- Jeff Lewis (1975-1977); C- Ben Jones (wore #61 his first three seasons, 2008-2010); OG- Pat Rodrigue (1966-1968)
An AP image printed in newspapers nationwide, Weaver poses in an Athens bar for a publicity shot in 1981:
After practicing against one another for two seasons, 1980-1981, Weaver faced off against Walker again less than two years later in the USFL's first televised game:
