Ladd McConkey using last year as motivation to defend national title

Everything about last season for Georgia was perfect – as long as you forget about the SEC Championship game. It’s a tale Bulldogs fans are all too used to, having not won a conference title since 2017 despite appearing in the game three times since.

Ladd McConkey, Georgia’s standout redshirt sophomore wide receiver, discussed last season’s 41-24 loss to Alabama in last season’s conference title game and how his team plans to avenge the only loss McConkey has ever suffered in two seasons with the Bulldogs.

“We try to look at it as, like, last year’s team was last year. We’re a new team this year. There’s obviously a lot of different players on this team, some players that are playing in different roles,” McConkey said. “We want to kind of go make a statement for ourselves and do it for this team and not just last year. I don’t feel like there’s really a sense of relaxation or anything like that. We’re still treating this like this doesn’t happen often so we want to go out there, make the best of it, do what we can, be as successful as we can.”

2021 was the first SEC Championship McConkey has experienced with UGA. He hauled in two receptions for 35 yards and a touchdown in the losing effort, and will look to provide even more production this Saturday.

As much as this Georgia team knows what it’s like to win – no player on the current roster has won an SEC title with the Bulldogs.

“There’s been so many guys that have played in the SEC championship before but haven’t won it. That’s a goal that we set at the beginning of the year, is to win the SEC championship,” McConkey said. “… It kind of gives us motivation to go out there and get the job done. We know what it takes. We’ve been in this position before. So we just got to make the most of it, go play our game, let the rest take care of itself.”

Kickoff between the Tigers and Bulldogs is set for 4 p.m. ET from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta live on CBS.