TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Like every team in college football, Georgia went through its share of roster transition this offseason. The Bulldogs had eight players drafted last spring and saw a mixture of incomings and outgoings through the transfer portal.
Despite that, the majority of the bunch Alabama beat in last year’s SEC Championship Game remains. Georgia returns 10 starters on offense and six more on defense from last season.
What does that familiarity mean for No. 4 Alabama heading into this weekend’s matchup against No. 2 Georgia? Crimson Tide players feel it's somewhat of a double-edged sword.
On one hand, Alabama’s experience against the Bulldogs last December has helped the Tide’s preparation. Starting left guard Tyler Booker said he’s used his familiarity with Georgia to help provide insight to new teammates such as Washington transfer center Parker Brailsford.
“Some keys, some stuff that they give away, some stuff that they do really well,” Booker said Tuesday when asked about the information he’s passing down. “Some stuff we can take advantage of.”
On the other hand, Georgia’s returning talent creates even more of a challenge. The Bulldogs bring back seven members from last year’s All-SEC team. Along with past production, that group provides a mixture of confidence and chemistry that could prove key in big games like the one this weekend.
“It’s hard to beat a team rather than individuals, and they have a team that we’re playing against,” Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe said Tuesday. “It’s going to be a hard task for us. We’ve got to keep preparing.”
Alabama underwent more of an offseason overhaul following Nick Saban’s retirement. However, while the Tide is still getting used to a new staff and breaking in several newcomers at key, it returns some chemistry of its own.
Alabama returns six offensive starters and five defensive starters from last year’s SEC Championship Game. That includes a pair of returning team captains in Milroe and safety Malachi Moore as well as first-year captains such as Booker and linebacker Deontae Lawson.
“They’ve had success in the SEC. They’ve had success against Georgia,” Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said Monday. “Certainly, you wanna rely on the experience of those players. There’s a lot of young players that don’t have those experiences, right. And we talk about experience being finite, but also, as best you can, you want these younger players to be able to draw upon the experience and confidence that comes from guys like Malachi and Deontae and a number of our defensive line that has played in SEC matchups and particularly against Georgia.
“So those are things that we’re gonna rely on, and hopefully, our experience shows up in the right way Saturday night.”
Alabama will find out how much its experience with Georgia pays off on Saturday when the two teams square off at 6:30 p.m. CT inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Based on previous experience, the Tide is expecting a battle.
“We’re here on Tuesday, so we’ve got a couple days to prepare and maximize every opportunity we have,” Milroe said, “because they’re definitely going to give us some looks that we have to challenge as a group to master.”
