Players know legacy of Georgia-Tech rivalry

As a toddler, Bryce Ros didn’t just watch the highlight tape of Georgia’s 1980 national championship season. He memorized it, consumed it, disturbing his parents to the point that Frank and Jan Ros finally consulted the family pediatrician.

Diagnosis: OK, maybe seven times a day is too much; how about twice?

But the genetic message was being passed on and when Bryce, now 19 and a tight end in waiting at Georgia, is asked now about those infantine film sessions, he lights up as if recalling his first blocked punt.

“I watched the old tapes with my dad, the 1980 season when they played Tech at home,” he said. “And my dad always would say, when we’d watch, he’d say … ‘Oh, I hate those guys.’ “

If this is the most consequential week in the state’s football calendar — the fans who are empowered by the Georgia-Georgia Tech game, the players who may be defined by it — what then does Saturday mean to the sons whose fathers played in this game before them?

It means, forget the beer and the pompoms. Jim Bob Taylor was a youngster one year removed from Texas when he quarterbacked Tech against Georgia in 1982. Saturday, his son Cooper will be playing safety on the same Sanford Stadium field.

“He knows the rivalry probably better than I do. He’s grown up with it,” Taylor said. “He’s been down there when Georgia beat us 51-7 a few years ago. People poured beer on us and we kind of got in a fight trying to get out of there. He understands it.

“That’s what I told him when he signed: You got to do what I never did. You have to beat Georgia.”

The rivalry is long been spiced by familial relationships. Three generations of Tereshinskis have played for Georgia, as three generations of Rhinos have played for Tech. This year, there are four such sons involved and through Cooper Taylor will be the only one on the field, all are finding what 115 years of history really tastes like.

Besides Ros, a redshirt freshman tight end, Drew Butler, son of Hall of Fame kicker Kevin Butler, is a redshirt freshman Georgia reserve punter. Besides Taylor at Tech, Kevin Cone, a sophomore wide receiver sitting out the year after transferring from Shorter College, is the son of Ronny Cone, for three years the Jackets’ starting tailback.

“I know it was important when [the fathers] played and it’s just as important now,” Drew Butler said. “You can be 0-10 going into the game and if you wound up 1-10, your season wouldn’t be too bad.

“It’s on the shoulders of all the players here to make the alumni proud, to take what they started and to carry on the tradition.”

That tradition can be instilled in the crib. Ronny and Janet Cone, both Tech grads, had Kevin in his first Tech sweat suit before he could walk and he wore it out.

“We brought him up right. It was all about Georgia Tech,” Ronny Cone said. “We just stayed away from [Georgia]. It’s something we just didn’t talk about.”

Herschel Walker used to baby-sit Bryce Ros. He was visiting Vince Dooley’s house as a tyke. His middle name is Woerner, named in honor of Scott Woerner, the Bulldogs’ All-American cornerback and one of his father’s best friends. Athens was not an option. It was a destination.

“My mom went to Auburn. My brother goes to Auburn,” Bryce Ros said. “Florida is a huge game with Jacksonville. But without a doubt, Tech’s the one you want to win. I always dreamed about playing in the Georgia Tech game.”

Cooper Taylor came in through the side door. He went as far as to call an assistant coach at Virginia last winter to commit but when the coach did not pick up the call, Taylor began to re-assess his choices. His impact on Tech’s defense has been almost immediate.

“To beat Georgia would be huge,” he said. “Getting out here and representing your family, especially when your dad played here, everybody is looking at you to do as well as he did. Or maybe even better, which is added pressure. But it helps.”

“They watch the history,” said Kevin Butler, who only lost to Tech once in four tries. “You have to learn about it. You have to understand what the rivalry is and what’s at stake. Because there’s much more at stake in the locker room than in the stands. The players live and die with it.”

In a way, the last generation was marked when the rivalry took its decided tilt to UGA. When Ronny Cone started his first Georgia game in 1979, the schools had gone 15-15 over the previous 30 years. Since then, Tech has won just seven times in 29 games. One more defeat makes eight straight to the Bulldogs, which would mark the longest losing streak in Tech history.

So it was with some pride that Cone watched Kevin transfer to his old school.

“Everyone says that when you’re playing, you’re playing for more than just yourself,” Kevin Cone said. “It’s your school, your family. I take that to heart.”

Just don’t ask about his brother Zach. A genetic permutation, the younger Cone not only gravitated to baseball but last spring signed on to play at Georgia. A Cone in Dawgs’ clothing?

“I tell you,” said his father. “I took his [house] key from him for a while.”