NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When Zamir White took to the field in the first time for his collegiate career, fellow running back D’Andre Swift couldn’t help but smile.

He wasn’t the only one.

The Georgia-dominated crowd at Vanderbilt Stadium immediately started chanting “Zeusssss.” White’s nickname. When he finally touched the ball, picking up three yards, everyone went wild.

Swift, along with the entire Georgia team, did as well.

“We’re so happy for him. Just for him to be doing what he’s doing, everyone has been wanting to see that young man win--the entire organization,” Swift said. “Even the fans; you heard the Zeus chants. He does a great job. Everybody is a Zamir fan.”

He finished with five carries for 51 yards.

By now, White’s story is a familiar one. After first tearing an ACL in November of his senior year, the North Carolina native tore the ACL in his other knee in August of 2018, costing him the rest of the year.

“He's been through so much. He's a tremendous kid. I love all our kids, and he's just another one who has been through a tough time,” head coach Kirby Smart said. “To see him go out there and have some success, he's so deserving of that, and our medical staff is deserving of a pat on the back for getting him out there, because they spent a lot time with him on the mend.”

White almost really gave everyone something to cheer about during Georgia’s final possession of the third when he nearly broke a long run, settling for a 27-yarder before fumbling the ball out of bounds.

“After he got his first carry, he came to the sideline, telling everyone ‘I’m nervous!’” Swift said. “But he did a great job. We’re all very proud of him.”

The game might have been in Nashville, but it certainly had a distinctive Georgia flavor.

By most estimations, Bulldog fans outnumbered Commodore fans 80-20.

In fact, the crowd got so loud that Vandy quarterback Riley Neal would at times have to go to a silent count.

"That says everything about Georgia The University of Georgia is a special place. The reason all of y'all are here is covering Georgia, right? Georgia is an unbelievable place. Georgia's unbelievable market, an unbelievable university, an unbelievable academic institution," Smart said. "The fans travel well, they love their stadium, they love our place, they want to go. I mean I'm proud to be at the university of Georgia and I'm proud to be an alum of the University of Georgia and I know our fans turn out because they want to be recognized. They want to be great. They want to be part of something special and so do we. So, the two groups align, for sure."

According to TicketIQ.com, the average ticket to Saturday night’s game cost $145 on the secondary market, making it the most expensive for any game the entire weekend.

Right tackle Isaiah Wilson left the game in the third quarter after twisting his ankle, but returned.

Wide receiver Kearis Jackson was scheduled to have his hand X-rayed after taking a hit during his fourth-quarter fumble.

Defensive end Malik Herring traveled to the game but did not play. When asked after the game, Smart said, “He’s fine.”

What Smart learned about the team:

"That we have a chance to be explosive offensively, and we're going to try to be aggressive defensively. I really feel like the backs, I kind of knew about. The wideouts, they had some chances to make some plays. George, he would have caught one of those if he'd had the opportunity. It was just out of range for him,” Smart said. “A couple of the other guys made good catches and made plays, so I feel good about that. I agree with you that it's going to be blown out of proportion, either really positive, or they struggled in the second half, but that doesn't matter to us.

"All we're doing is, we're going back to work on Monday. We're going to go good on good and we're going to put the hammer down and find out who's going to get better. We've got 72, 73, 74, 75 players, 77, all the way up that want to be on this trip. They're going to come out and try to take someone's job."

On the play of Jake Fromm, who completed 15 of 23 passes for 156 yards:

"I thought Jake did a great job. He got a lot of looks. He got a lot of pressures. He got a lot of blitzes. He checked, as soon as he saw pressure to one side, he moved it. People don't know what he did that was really, really sound and put us in good football plays,” Smart said. “Some of those explosive runs were because he knew where to put us. Derek (Mason) mentioned it before the game, it's so comforting to have a starter that has been there for his third year, and you just know he's not going to put you in bad plays."

On the play of Jordan Davis, who made two tackles, one for a loss, and almost blocked a field goal:

"Well the sky's the limit for Jordan. He's athletic, he's big, he's smart, he's fun to talk to. He's just entertaining,” Smart said. “But Jordan has to work hard to keep his stamina up,” Smart said. “People can negate him by going fast, by going hurry-up, they can wear him down. But he's extremely physical, he's a typical SEC D-lineman. I can't judge how he did tonight, because I don't know. I know he was hard to block."

On holding Vanderbilt without a touchdown:

"I think those three players (Ke’Shawn Vaughn, Jared Pinkney, and Kalija Lipscomb). If you had told me we'd hold them without a touchdown--because Lipscomb's been here forever, Pinkney is ferocious, and the back is really good,” Smart said. “I know from how we played them last year, we struggled last year, to be able to control these guys (was good). Now they didn't have the quarterback, and that makes a difference, the guy that gets the ball to them. But they have a good team offensively with those three guys."

On the play of Brian Herrien, who started and rushed 12 times for 65 yards:

““I thought Herrien did a great job. I love the way he runs. He runs with reckless abandon. He has no regard or concern for himself. He tries to be physical on the tacklers. He’s very patient. I’m proud of our backs,” Herrien said. “They’ve got to improve their blitz pickup and they’ve got to improve ball security. The ball got loose some. We’ve got good backs. We’ve got to figure out our true identity and figure out a way to be more dangerous in the passing game.”

● Five tackles on Vanderbilt’s opening drive--all by linebackers.

● First throw to Matt Landers, an 11-yard reception.

● Rotating at right guard, Cade Mays started before Ben Cleveland came in for the third series.

● Eli Wolf lined up at fullback and blocked for Brian Herrien on his 2-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

● With the crowd 80-20 in favor of the Bulldogs, Vanderbilt had to go with a silent count at times during the game.

● Travon Walker--6-5, 290--was used for kickoff coverage for the Bulldogs.

● Saturday’s attendance was 40,350.

● Redshirt freshman Kearis Jackson (WR) and redshirt freshman Azeez Ojulari (OLB) made their first career starts. Sophomore Trey Hill made his fifth career start but his first at center. Junior QB Jake Fromm started his 29th straight to lead the offense, while graduate J.R. Reed (S) now leads the defense with 30.

● Junior Demetris Robertson’s first career catch as a Bulldog resulted in a 3-yard TD from Jake Fromm. He finished with three for 23 yards and a score. Last year, Robertson’s first career touch as a Bulldog resulted in a 72-yard rushing TD in the season-opening win over Austin Peay. Redshirt sophomore Matt Landers notched his first career catch for 11 yards. Graduate transfer Lawrence Cager notched a 38-yard catch for his first as a Bulldog in the 2nd quarter. Graduate transfer tight end Eli Wolf made his first catch as a Bulldog for 11 yards in the fourth quarter.

● With Saturday night’s 30-6 victory, the Bulldogs improve to 96-27-3 in season openers, including 4-0 under Kirby Smart. Georgia is now 58-20-2 in the all-time series with Vanderbilt, including 27-12-2 in Nashville. It marked Georgia’s first season opener versus an SEC team since 1995, and the first time an SEC season-opener on the road since 1994. Also of note, Georgia has extended its streak to 14 consecutive wins over SEC Eastern Division teams, dating back to the 2016 season. Georgia is now 19-6 in the SEC regular season under Smart and 33-10 overall.

● With his three extra points in the first half, graduate Rodrigo Blankenship moved up to third in SEC history for Career Consecutive PATs made with 157, four away from second place. The SEC record is 198 held by Daniel Carlson (Auburn) with 198. Blankenship already owns the Bulldog record. Also, he booted a 50-yard field goal, and he’s 4-for-5 from 50+ in his career. He made a 37-yarder and a 31-yarder in the second half to push the lead out to 30-6. Five of his seven kickoffs were touchbacks.