Georgia honors fallen teammate Devin Willock in season opener
ATHENS, Ga. — Saturday’s game in Athens is the first for Georgia since the tragic passing of Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy on the morning of January 15th, and the Bulldogs went out of their way to honor their fallen teammate before their season opener against UT-Martin.
Willock’s roommate and good friend Xavier Truss came out for warmups wearing the No. 77 that Willock donned during his playing days. It remains to be seen if the Bulldogs do anything else once the game begins.
Willock spent three seasons with the Georgia program, playing in all 15 games for the Bulldogs on their way to a second straight National Championship in 2022. He started two of those contests – against Tennessee and Kentucky.
Several Georgia players, specifically offensive linemen, have previously spoken about what Willock meant to them and their desire to honor him. Sedrick Van Pran, who was in the Class of 2020 with Willock, shared how hard it was for them to decide on a proper tribute.
“It’s kind of hard to, I guess, fully commemorate somebody that you feel like you came in with and this is supposed to be their senior season. When you do it, you want to make sure that you do it right,” Van Pran said this week. “So we’ve definitely talked about a few things. We haven’t set something in stone yet, but I think with something like that it has to be organic and it has to be natural. I think when it hits you hard and it feels right for everybody — when you get that conviction, then that’s what it is.”
“We’ve got a leadership group that has a lot to do with that and imports knowledge to us,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said on the topic in an interview with ESPN. “We talked about that during the spring game and got an opportunity during the spring game. Started on the first play, things like that. That’s something that’s ongoing and something we talk to those guys about.”
It’s not the first time we’ve seen Willock’s teammates honor him in some capacity. Broderick Jones chose to wear 77 in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Warren McClendon also wore 77 during the Reese’s Senior Bowl. Meanwhile, in the NFL at the time of the accident, his teammates from the year before Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean and Jake Camarda all had tributes of their own in the Playoffs.
Then, during Georgia’s spring game, the Bulldogs took the field with 10 men – no left guard where Willock played a large number of his snaps – and watched the play clock run out for a purposeful delay of game penalty.
“Just thinking about both of them and wishing they were here with us,” Smart said after the G-Day tribute. “The players wanted to do something to remember those two, and we felt that was a good to honor them. It was a good way to honor them, love them and that’s what we did.”
Georgia’s season opener is underway, streaming on ESPN+ and SEC Network+.
