The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bulldogs vs. Vols: First thing first
UGA hosts Tennessee in season’s first SEC game between hedges.
The Georgia-Tennessee game marks a Saturday of firsts for the Bulldogs and the Volunteers.
Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt returns to Athens today for the first time since leaving for the defensive coordinator job at the University of Alabama.
“I think it’ll be cool,” Georgia defensive lineman Michael Barnett said. “I miss those guys and those are the guys that recruited me. It’ll be pretty cool to just say, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ ”
Pruitt served as Georgia’s defensive coordinator from 2014 until head coach Mark Richt was fired in 2015. Pruitt headed in 2016 to Alabama, where he helped lead the team to a 2018 national championship win over the Bulldogs as the Crimson Tide’s defensive coordinator.
The championship game in January — the last time the Bulldogs faced Pruitt — was used during preparation for Pruitt’s
return today to Athens.
“You know Coach Pruitt, he’s going to have his defense,” Georgia quar- terback Jake Fromm said. “We’ll watch as much as we can and try to get a beat on it.”
Pruitt’s return to Athens is Georgia’s first SEC game between the hedges this season. The Bulldogs are 2-0 in conference play after beating South Carolina and Missouri on the road.
The Volunteers (2-2) are 0-1 in SEC play, losing by double digits to Florida at home. The Volunteers lead the all-time series against Georgia 23-22-2. Tennessee’s last victory in the series came on a 43-yard Hail Mary pass in the final four seconds in 2016 at Sanford Stadium. With the abil- ity to tie the all-time series against Tennessee today, Georgia will also look to cor- rect miscues from the first four weeks of the season.
“It’s been close for years, and we have to worry about us,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “We have to go correct our mistakes and our problems and make sure that we got our stuff tightened up so we can play the best we can play.”