Micah Morris is going through his fifth spring with Georgia football.
The photo the offensive guard sees above his locker is still the one when he first arrived as a 17-year old from Camden County High in January of 2021.
“Half the time, I don’t know who that guy is,” he said. “Just maturing, thinking about all the great times I’ve had here. All the good memories, the locker room, the camaraderie, the jokes, the friendships, the bonds that I’ve built here.”
With it came a couple of national championships.
Morris is the only player that remains from the 20-player 2021 Georgia signing class that ranked fourth in the nation.
“Anytime Coach (Kirby) Smart looks for an older guy, it’s always my name that comes up,” he said.
Morris and running back Cash Jones, who came to Georgia as a walk-on, are the only remaining players from Georgia’s 2021 national championship roster.
There are no starters left from the Bulldogs’ 2022 national championship team but seven players who saw action in the game remain: Morris, safety JaCorey Thomas, tight end Oscar Delp, running back Branson Robinson, cornerback Daylen Everette, wide receiver Dillon Bell and punter Brett Thorson.
“The standard at Georgia is to win a national championship, to win it all,” Delp said. “We don’t go into a season thinking that’s not going to happen. I think every year I’ve been here I think I should have had a national championship.”
Georgia was kept out of the College Football Playoff in 2023 after going 12-0 in the regular season and then losing to Alabama in the SEC championship game. Its 2024 season ended in the CFP quarterfinals with a loss to Notre Dame.
“After the game, everyone was like, ‘We left so much on the table,’” junior tight end Lawson Luckie said. “Everyone knows that this year, and we’ve got such a young team. We don’t really have many people on the team that have won rings. Last year we had a bunch of people who won a ring or two. This year everyone’s hungry, everyone’s got something to prove. I’m excited for that. We haven’t won a lot here. At least my class. We’ve won, but we haven’t got the big one and we’re excited to work towards that.”
Making a championship run isn’t currently on the top of the minds of coaches as the Bulldogs wrap up spring practice with Saturday’s G-Day spring game. Getting another overhauled roster up to speed is front and center.
“We have got more new people in new positions than in the 10 years I’ve been here,” Smart said. “And every year, that has probably ratcheted up a little bit, but it is to the point where you almost have to start, like no one knows anything. Make no assumptions, don’t assume anything, and start all over and go ground up.”
Monroe Freeling, a junior offensive tackle, called this year’s Bulldogs “a really young team.”
“I think everyone on this team is more hungry because most people on this team haven’t won a national championship — including myself,” Freeling said. “I think that drive and sour taste left in our mouth will bring us into the next season starting strong.”
Said inside linebacker Justin Williams: “I feel like it drives us every day. We know what we came here for. We came here to win championships. That’s all we’re here to do is win and hold up to that standard.”
Morris tries to share with players that haven’t been around as long what he’s learned from four seasons in the program.
“I just try to give wisdom — maybe that’s the right word — wisdom to the younger guys because I’ve seen it all, the two national championships back-to-back, the SEC championships, multiple appearances,” Morris said.
He said he usually tries to convey that to his younger teammates during film sessions and with words of encouragement on the practice field.
“Trying to give wisdom, knowledge to them,” he said, “that if you trust the process, it will work out.”
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