Champion Dawgs set April 16 as date for annual G-day game

At Georgia’s national championship celebration last month, coach Kirby Smart urged fans to pack Sanford Stadium for the annual G-day game again this year. Now we know the date of that game.

The Bulldogs have set the annual spring intrasquad game for April 16. That will represent the 15th practice of the spring session, which begins March 15.

Smart credited Georgia’s overflow crowd for his first G-day game, April 16, 2016 — before and since labeled 93K Day — for setting the foundation for the Bulldogs’ run to the national championship this year.

Georgia defeated Alabama 33-18 on Jan. 10 to capture the school’s first football national championship in 41 years.

While dozens of elite prospects attended 93K Day, there are a lot reasons beyond impressing recruits for attending this year’s game. Nineteen of them to be exact.

That’s how many members of the Bulldogs’ 2022 freshman class already are attending UGA as early enrollees. That’s a Georgia record.

Not all of them will be on display that day.

A few, such as heralded defensive line signee Bear Alexander and linebacker C.J. Madden, have undergone offseason surgical procedures and won’t participate. However, the majority of the incoming freshman class will make their Dooley Field debuts.

At that point, they will have been on UGA’S campus for more than four months, completed offseason workouts and 14 spring-practice sessions.

“They’ve been very impactful in adding depth to our roster,” Smart said. “As they begin to work out and go through our academics, our equipment staff, our nutrition staff, our player-development staff, everybody has commented about this group. How serious they are, how well-mannered they are, and how they handle their business. That’s always good to know that you’ve got the right kind of kids in your organization.”

Of course, several key returnees from the national championship game will participate as well, including quarterback Stetson Bennett, receiver Adonai “A.D.” Mitchell, tight end Brock Bowers, defensive tackle Jalen Carter, outside linebacker Nolan Smith and cornerback Kelee Ringo.

Priorities for the Bulldogs include finding inside linebackers to replace Nakobe Dean, Channing Tindall and Quay Walker, defensive backs to step in for Derion Kendrick and Lewis Cine and establishing a running back rotation.

Smart is entering his seventh season as Georgia’s coach. The first six have been pretty good.

He’s averaging 11 wins per season (66-15, .815), with four SEC Eastern Division championships, one SEC title, three College Football Playoff victories, wins in the Rose, Sugar, Peach and Orange bowls and, of course, one national championship.

CURTIS COMPTON/CCOMPTON@AJC.COM Georgia outside linebacker Nolan Smith works on defense during the annual G-day game in 2019. Smith is among the national champions’ key returnees for this year’s edition of the G-day game.