Georgia storylines we're following at SEC Media Days

Georgia’s spot at SEC Media Days comes up tomorrow. It’ll be Kirby Smart’s 10 as the head coach at UGA, and, in the past, he has used his time on the stage quite well. He always get through his opening statement fast enough to take plenty of questions. His radio row and breakout room appearances are also quite informative. He’s bringing Gunner Stockton, Daylen Everette, and CJ Allen with him this year, all guys who figure into prominent roles for the 2025 team. So what will we be watching? Here are a few storylines.

What’s Georgia’s team mantra for 2025?

The Bulldogs did some really good things in 2024. They won the SEC and won 10 out of 12 games against one of the toughest regular season schedules in school history. Georgia did not, however, put its best foot forward in the playoffs, and it didn’t play consistently good football throughout the season.

SEC media days is often where Smart reveals what his team has been focused on in the offseason. He usually reveals some sort of mantra for the team, one that, if you listen closely enough, you’ll hear how they feel about the previous season. I always think of “better never rests” after Georgia had just won National Championships in back-to-back seasons.

So what will the mantra be this year? Georgia has used “you’re either elite or you’re not” and “eat off the floor” in the past. But what will this year’s message be as they try to get back to the top of that National Championship hill in 2025.

Will Stockton come out of his shell?

The fact that Stockton is making the trip tells you everything you need to know about the starting quarterback position. This is Smart’s way of announcing that Stockton is the guy. It’s more than just his job to lose at this point. With that said, Georgia’s signal caller is probably the worst quote of any player I’ve ever covered in Athens. That’s not a knock because he seems to be an excellent human being. It also doesn’t reflect on him as a player because Brock Bowers is a close second.

My hope is that moving around SEC Media Days will cause Stockton to open up a little. It’s not like Jake Fromm, JT Daniels, Stetson Bennett or Carson Beck were awesome quotes, but Stockton is just on a different level in terms of his reticence. It’s clear he doesn’t like to talk but maybe, just maybe, all the bright lights and fanfare will coax him out of that shell.

Georgia lost a lot on defense. What’s next?

The fact that Smart is bringing two defensive players to Atlanta isn’t lost on me, especially when you consider the fact that Georgia lost so much from that side of the ball at the end of the 2024 season. Jalon Walker, Mykel Williams, and Malaki Starks were all taken in the first round. Smael Mondon, Warren Brinson, Nazir Stackhouse, and Dan Jackson were all starters and they’ll be in NFL training camps real soon.

Yet here come two more defensive leaders ready to take the reigns. It’s pretty impressive that Georgia has been able to cultivate such a reload culture on that side of the ball. I’m anxious to hear what those guys think about the outgoing players but also what they think of the guys projected to replace them.

I pull no punches when it comes to SEC Media Days. It’s one of the most lively but boring things out there. I hate going to cover it because if you surf twitter, SEC Network, and radio stations, you’ll learn more than you are when you are at the event. But one thing it is incredibly good at is breaking down the walls of players — like I hope to be the case with Stockton — and it gets them to speak on specific teammates. What’s the word on Army transfer Elo Modozie? How much better has Daniel Harris gotten after some major struggles in 2024? What about those young but incredibly talented inside linebackers? Maybe most importantly, what can we expect from the defensive front? I suspect the two Georgia defenders will give at least some indication.