Kickoff countdown: Who wore it best? #79

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 79 days before kickoff, UGASports selects Matt Stinchcomb as the best Georgia player to wear jersey number 79.

Position: Offensive Tackle

Hometown (High School): Snellville, Georgia (Parkview HS)

Height/Weight: 6-6, 280

Lettered: 1995-1998

Stats: Started 35 career games along Georgia’s offensive line—1 at split guard (1995), 11 at right tackle (1996), and 23 at left tackle (1997-1998).

Career: A three-time All-SEC performer who started games in all four of his seasons as a Bulldog, Matt Stinchcomb remains the most decorated offensive lineman—for both on-field play and academically—in UGA history. To name just a few of his honors: A first-team All-American in both 1997 and 1998, Stinchcomb is one of only two Georgia offensive linemen over the last half-century to be a two-time first-team All-American. As a senior in 1998, he was elected a permanent team offensive captain and captured the Jacob’s Blocking Trophy as the SEC’s best blocker while becoming the first Bulldog offensive lineman in 13 years to be recognized as a consensus first-team All-American. In addition, Stinchcomb was a two-time Academic All-American who also earned the 1998 NCAA Top Eight Award, an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship, and a National Football Foundation Post-Graduate Scholarship. The No. 18 overall pick of the 1999 NFL Draft, he was only the fourth Georgia offensive lineman to be selected in the opening round of the draft. Elected in 2019, Stinchcomb is one of only 16 former Georgia players to date—and the only Bulldog offensive lineman—inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame.

#79 Honorable Mention: T- Jim Wilson (1963-1964); OT- Tom Nash (1969-1971); OT- Wilbur Strozier (1983-1986); OT- Isaiah Wilson (2018-2019)