Jamaree Salyer: Georgia's record against Alabama is motivation

Offensive lineman Jamaree Salyer is currently in his fourth season with the Georgia Bulldogs. Salyer has been around for four matchups between Georgia and Alabama, all of which have been won by the Crimson Tide. Despite a winless record against Alabama, Georgia is looking to use it as added motivation.

With a National Championship at stake on Monday night, Salyer knows that Georgia needs to focus on playing its own game, rather than dwelling on past records.

“I mean, it’s definitely motivation,” Salyer said of Georgia’s record against Alabama. “I wouldn’t say tired of it is. It is what it is. It’s the truth. You can’t really run away from the truth. That’s what it is. That’s our record. But we’re not trying to make it an emotional thing, where you go out playing with emotions.

“You want to be calm, collected and have composed attack. Play our game not necessarily play their game but be who we are. We’re good enough at what we do. We have great coaches. We have great players and great game plan.”

Salyer has played at both left tackle and right guard this season for Georgia. He was named second team All-SEC by AP. The Bulldogs opened the year with 12 consecutive victories before falling to Alabama in the SEC Championship. Now, the Bulldogs are looking to build off of the momentum from beating Michigan in the CFP semifinal.

“We are good enough at what we do,” Salyer added. “The record has been the record but we’re – this is a new game coming up. A different game, different environment. One different than I’ve ever played in. The stakes are different. We want to play this game. Not worry about the last few.”

Georgia’s offensive line is motivated

In the CFP semifinal against Michigan, Georgia had no issues on either side of the ball. The Bulldogs cruised to a 24-11 victory. Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett said after the game that Georgia’s strong offensive line play was the major key for the big win.

“First things first, we can’t do anything on either side of the ball if we don’t win up front,” Bennett said.

“That’s the start of football, always has been and always will be. And we knew that they had those two guys on the edge and we knew they were going to be coming for my head. Jamaree and Warren and all the guys inside, they took a — they kind of felt slighted a bit by the Joe Moore Award going to Michigan. And they knew what everybody was writing and what everybody was saying, that those two guys would ruin the game for us. And they took it as a personal challenge, and they were focused and locked in the whole week, and they played their butts off.”