Georgia Bulldogs College Football Pregame Quote, 12/30/2024

Q. Do you enjoy plane rides? Or are you afraid of flights?

TATE RATLEDGE: I’m usually asleep before the plane takes off.

Q. Stylistically, I feel like they look a little bit like you guys. They play gaps. They play sound football on both sides of the ball. Do you see that as well?

TATE RATLEDGE: Yes, I think they’re very similar to us. They don’t give up any free plays and just the way they play physically.

Q. I feel like with their ability to cover, they can add additional hatch to the box pretty consistently?

TATE RATLEDGE: Yeah, something I noticed. They do like adding a hatch to the box, but yeah, their corner, their secondary is really good.

Q. How is the practice up there with Gunner [Stockton] at quarterback?

TATE RATLEDGE: I think we’ve had really good practices. And I think everybody is confident with Gunner and ready to roll with him.

Q. A lot of people expect the offense to change. How much do you think the offense –

TATE RATLEDGE: It’s been the same offense we’ve always ran. Going out there and executing the play calls, it’s up to us to execute.

Q. Now there was a moment when Gunner [Stockton] comes into the SEC Championship game where it’s obvious the offensive line is getting crowd excited for him to come into the game. What was that moment like for you guys?

TATE RATLEDGE: I think it’s all just about letting him know that everybody in stadium and everybody on the field has confidence in him to get the job done. And in that moment, I think it was really important to let him know that.

Q. You played through a lot of injuries this year. How do you feel right now?

TATE RATLEDGE: I feel good. Definitely that bye week and having time off helped with getting back and have recovery.

Q. Why was it so important to play through your injury this year?

TATE RATLEDGE: Just what this team means to me and what this university means to me, everything they’ve done for me. Me coming back was just something ‚Äì me coming back in the first place this year was something that I wanted to do. And just getting hurt, of course, slowed it down, but getting back out there is something that meant a lot to me.

Q. Their starting D tackle (Jason Onye) is out for the rest of the year. How do you see their unit without him?

TATE RATLEDGE: Obviously, he’s a phenomenal player. But they also have really good players around him. So just with him being out, I expect to see the guys they’ve had in there with him out here and there throughout the year. But another than that, they still have really good defensive players behind him.

Q. How you feeling?

TATE RATLEDGE: Feeling a lot better. I think that bye week was huge getting the recovery and getting a little time to getting my body right.

Q. What did you do during that time off? It’s a lot of time off. As football player, you never really have that much time off, even in the offseason. So what was it like for y’all? How did y’all go about it?

TATE RATLEDGE: We had really physical practices. A lot of good-on-good stuff, just going against each other, trying to better ourselves.

Q. That’s kind of been a theme of this program multiple times in this situation now where you sort of ‚Äì I can remember after the Alabama game, SEC title game, Kirby [Smart] talked about you guys went back and scrimmaged. You guys played games ,essentially. Is that what you needed to do to be able to get ready for this?

TATE RATLEDGE: Yeah, I think if you go a long time without playing a football game, it’s going to be hard to see the speed of the game. So putting yourself in as many game-like situations at practice I think is good for everybody.

Q. Nobody ever really goes at Georgia over the last couple years because of how physical y’all play. Notre Dame’s ‚Äì that’s their M.O. though. That’s how they want to attack y’all. Do you invite that?

TATE RATLEDGE: Yes, I do. Definitely. But looking at their defense, there’s a lot of similarities to our defense, how they gap sound, how physical they are. And seeing that is definitely a challenge us to. And I enjoy games like this.

Q. How jealous are you that Drew Bobo has more career passing yards than you do?

TATE RATLEDGE: Pretty jealous, but that was pretty cool when that happened.

Q. Have you lobbied any for any special play for you? You’ve been here a long time. You’re been a leader on this team. Can you get at least one?

TATE RATLEDGE: I’ve tried. I don’t think it’s going to happen. They’ve all got shut down.

Q. Can you peel the curtain back for us on Gunner [Stockton] and what he’s like? I was in Atlanta doing the game, and this is not directed at anybody else another than him, that sideline came alive. I watched it with my own eyes. It’s not pretend. When everybody saw that he was going to be the dude. That says something about him. Is he just sort of that likable? Everybody roots for him kind of a guy?

TATE RATLEDGE: Yeah, I’ve always said, if you don’t like Gunner, then there’s probably something wrong with you. He’s just a likable kid. Off the field, on the field, and just seeing how he’s done nothing but the right thing leading up to this point I think just has everybody excited for him.

Q. Does it change anything that you do knowing that you’re a veteran leader where you have a new quarterback to make sure everybody rallies around him (Gunner Stockton)?

TATE RATLEDGE: I think a lot of it is just hoping ‚Äì letting him know that everybody has confidence in him. Whether that’s us up front, the running backs, the receivers, the defense, the coaches, just him knowing everybody has confidence in him.