Chip Patterson of CBS Sports stated that as it stands right now, the Bulldogs are, in fact, the team of the 2020s.
“From the start of the 2021 season through the end of 2023, Georgia went 42-2 with two national championship game wins and the only defeats coming to Nick Saban and Alabama in SEC Championship Game appearances,” Patterson wrote. “And while the winning percentage has dipped a bit in the last two seasons (23-5), those years have each included SEC Championship Game wins. Kirby Smart helped build the juggernaut of the 2010s with Saban, and as we stare down the final four years of the 2020s, he’s currently driving the front-runner to be the team of the decade.”
Patterson notes that Ohio State is nipping on the heels of the Bulldogs, despite Georgia having a 3-1 edge in terms of conference championships and a head-to-head victory the lone time the two have met.
Georgia is the only team with multiple national championships this decade, but Ohio State, Indiana and Alabama all seem like threats to get a second.
Oregon, Texas, Miami and Notre Dame appear to be annual contenders for the national championship. Especially in a world with an expanded College Football Playoff.
We’re past the halfway point when it comes to this decade, yet there are still four seasons left for one team to stake its claim as the dominant program of the decade. While the Bulldogs have gotten out to an early lead, there is still time for someone else to surpass them.
So what do the Bulldogs have to do to ensure they remain in position to be the team of the decade?
4-star OL Miller Westerfield commits to Georgia football
Miller Westerfield took all of his visits last month. He saw LSU, Georgia and Tennessee on his official visits.
He took some time to think about those three options over the last two weeks.
The conclusion the 4-star OT from Roswell High School reached was the same one he had growing up. Westerfield grew up wanting to play for the red and black one day. The 6-foot-5, 292-pound rising senior has announced that his childhood dream is now a reality.
He now becomes the 18th member of the 2027 Georgia football class. The in-state target is also the first commitment for the class since 3-star North Carolina DL Antwan McKoy chose the Dawgs on June 16.
The Roswell High road grader is the eighth prospect in this UGA class with a 4-star ranking or higher. That number also includes a pair of 5-star commits in RB Kemon Spell and TE Jaxon Dollar.
This decision moves UGA up four spots to the nation’s No. 13 class on the 247Sports Team Composite rankings for the 2027 cycle.
Westerfield wears No. 69 for his high school team. He appreciated how Tate Ratledge brought his own unique style to that number while in Athens.
“I’ve always loved Georgia,” he told DawgNation earlier this year. “I never thought recruiting could go so deep, but it has really come down to so much more. I thought it was, like, just ‘What school do you want to play at?’ But there’s where you want to be, like, live in what town and who do you want your teammates to be? But it’s really coming down to development. Because, like, if people tell you that you have the tools to play at the next level, you want to get there. But getting there just takes years of work.”
“You’ve got to find the teammates you want to put that work in with and the coaches you want to put all that work in with.”
Roswell offensive tackle Miller Westerfield, a 4-star prospect, has committed to Georgia football. He's now the 18th member of the 2027 class. (Courtesy)
Roswell offensive tackle Miller Westerfield is the eighth prospect in this UGA class with a 4-star ranking or higher. (Courtesy)
Roswell offensive tackle Miller Westerfield visited LSU, Georgia and Tennessee last month before committing to the Bulldogs. (Courtesy)
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Trivia section
Last season, Nate Frazier led the Bulldogs in rushing with 947 net yards. Who was second? Bonus: Can you guess how many yards he rushed for?
(Answer at the bottom of the newsletter).
Georgia football drops home game against Florida A&M from 2028 schedule
The mutual decision between the schools, confirmed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday night, leaves the Sept. 9 date open on Georgia’s schedule.
The Bulldogs’ 2028 slate is already a heavy one, as it’s loaded with 11 teams from Power 4 conferences. UGA has a nine-game SEC schedule in addition to facing Florida State and Georgia Tech.
The game with the Seminoles at the new (domed) Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of two neutral-site games at NFL stadiums for Georgia in 2028.
The Bulldogs will also play the Gators in Jacksonville, Florida, as the new EverBank “Stadium of the Future” is expected to be complete in August 2028.
The Rattlers, who went 5-7 last season, might ultimately have been too light, losing to Florida Atlantic — the only Football Bowl Subdivision team they faced — 56-14.
Smart was not happy with the level of competition an overhauled Marshall team provided in last season’s opening game.
“I think that team was overmatched a little bit,” Smart said after UGA rolled to a 45-7 home win. “But that’s beyond our control. All we can measure is how hard we play.”
What contract extensions for Schumann, Bobo mean for the future of Georgia football
If you believe that your contract states what your value is to a company, Georgia now sees offensive coordinators Mike Bobo and Glenn Schumann as equals.
After an open records request revealed the length and salaries of the contracts for Georgia’s offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, we now know that Bobo and Schumann will make the same amount of money over the next three seasons. Their deals are also of equal length, with each set to expire after the 2028 season.
Bobo received a raise and extension this offseason after he was named a finalist for the Broyles Award. He was the lone offensive coach to be a finalist in 2025, and it marks the second time in three seasons that Bobo finished as a finalist for the award given to the nation’s top assistant.
Bobo has always been a bit of a lightning rod, dating back to his first tenure as the team’s offensive coordinator from 2007 through 2014. Bobo will enter his fourth season this fall as the team’s offensive coordinator. In doing so, Bobo becomes the longest-tenured offensive coordinator to work for Smart.
Schumann is the lone assistant from Kirby Smart’s initial coaching staff in 2016 to remain with him through the entirety of his tenure. He’s entering his 11th year as Georgia’s inside linebackers coach. This coming season will be the fifth where Schumann is the team’s defensive play-caller.
Schumann has long been making over $2 million as Georgia’s defensive coordinator, due in no small part to outside interest in his services. He once interviewed for the defensive coordinator job with the Philadelphia Eagles and had been linked to the North Carolina job before the Tar Heels elected to hire Bill Belichick.
Despite that past interest, Schumann has seen several defensive coordinators sign contracts that pay them more than Schumann. Per CBS Sports, six defensive coordinators make more than Schumann. That includes former Georgia assistant Will Muschamp, who will be the defensive coordinator at Texas this coming season.
Georgia is one of six schools to pay both of its coordinators over $2 million per year.
In tying Bobo and Schumann together, it helps ensure further stability within the Georgia program. That’s a hard thing to come by in today’s age, with how much the sport has changed in recent years.
