ATHENS — It might have only been against Coastal Carolina, but don’t bother bringing that part up to Ray Drew or Watts Dantzler.
The ballyhooed freshmen — one from South Georgia, the other from North Georgia — were among four players to play in their first collegiate football game, and each had memorable first plays.
Drew, an outside linebacker from Thomasville, recorded a tackle on the first play of his career. And Dantzler, an offensive tackle from Dalton, “pinned up” his man on his play, a 33-yard touchdown pass from Hutson Mason to Orson Charles.
Both said they were moments they’ll never forget.
“That was a very memorable play right there, my first very play,” Drew said. “I read the quarterback. He was coming down the line, and I saw him hand it off to the back and I just closed down on him hard. Hearing my named called on the intercom for the first time gave me chill bumps. After that the adrenalin got flowing, and I was just able to cut loose.”
Charles’ score put the Bulldogs ahead 52-0 with 4:33 remaining in the third quarter. Nonetheless, Dantzler celebrated wildly with teammate David Andrews, who also was getting his first action.
“Me and David were sprinting down the field as fast as we could, hitting each other, screaming like kids,” said the 6-foot-7, 310-pound Dantzler. “It was awesome, [and the] funnest thing I’ve ever done.”
There was some uncertainty about whether Dantzler, Drew or Andrews would play this season. They were among four players who saw redshirt possibilities end Saturday. Freshman guard Hunter Long was the other.
Georgia has played 13 freshmen. In all, the Bulldogs played 72 players.
Record day for Walsh
With eight extra points in Saturday’s game, senior place-kicker Blair Walsh now has 152 in his Georgia career, which broke the previous record of 148 held by Billy Bennett. He also kicked a career-long 56-yard field goal that probably would have been good from 66 yards.
But that’s not what Bennett was thinking about after the game. He wanted to talk about his fumble recovery on a kickoff late in the third quarter.
“Right place, right time on that one,” Walsh said with a grin. “It came right to me, I fell on it and they crushed me. It was nice to actually get hit.”
Walsh’s 56-yard field goal 1:10 into the second half was the longest at Georgia since Brandon Coutu made a 58-yarder in 2005. Walsh has made nine field goals of 50 or more yards in his career, second to Kevin Butler’s 11.
Defensive realignment
Georgia had three players get first-time starts at their respective positions. Juniors Shawn Williams and Michael Gilliard started linebacker, and freshman Damian Swann started at nickel back.
Junior John Jenkins, who normally plays nose guard, also was scheduled to start at defensive end, but was shuttled off the field on the game’s first play and replaced by Swann for a kind of 2-4-5 look.
“We decided not to go with our base formation,” said Jenkins, who estimated he played 60 percent of his snaps at defensive end. “Our personnel subs can be confusing sometimes.”
Etc.
Wide receiver Marlon Brown (ankle), tailback Richard Samuel (lower leg) and defensive end DeAngelo Tyson (back) missed Saturday’s game with injuries. ... The shutout of Coastal Carolina was Georgia’s first since shutting out Vanderbilt 43-0 last year. It was its largest margin of victory since defeating Northeast Louisiana 70-6 in 1994. ... Sophomore outside linebacker T.J. Stripling returned to action for the first time since injuring his knee against Colorado in the fifth game of last season.
