AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – SEC Media Days are raging on in Dallas, Texas.

Kirby Smart and his Georgia Bulldogs stepped up to the mic to help set the stage for what should be another exciting season of football between the hedges.

After just barely missing the opportunity to complete the three-peat last year, the Dawgs are back, barking louder than ever.

With Quarterback Carson Beck returning for one last ride and their defense getting bigger and faster, the Dawgs will be in a position to compete for their third national championship in the last four seasons.

Kirby says his dawgs are ready for the challenge of this new 16-team SEC and a much more difficult schedule.

“Coming out of spring, I love the practice environment, the competitive nature between the offense and defense, the battles we had on the field like the practices were really spirited, it seemed like. And I enjoy that. I think when you have good, spirited practices, they get more out of them,” said Smart.

Beck said: “I think over the course of last year if you go look a game on and then you go look at game 40 and it’s not even the same quarterback and you know, making the decision to come back this year, I’m excited to see what the progression from Game 15 to whatever X amount of games we might play this year is going to look like.”

All eyes will be on number 15 both in Athens and around the country, because according to most sportsbooks out there, Beck is either the favorite or tied for the best odds to win the Heisman Trophy this year.

Beck threw for just under 4,000 yards and had 30 total touchdowns in 2023.

With Brock Bowers, Ladd Mcconkey and Kendall Milton moving on to the NFL, he’ll have some new weapons this year, but Qb1 still believes the best is yet to come.

“When you focus on the team and you really put other people before yourself and you are selfless and you focus on your agency, we focus on our line, you focus on the tight end, we focus on the defense, focus on the team as a whole. It kind of takes all that, you know, outside noise and pressure of these individual awards and individual statistics, and it puts it on, okay, let’s win this week. And then that’s within the next week and then so on, and so forth. And when those things happen and you can focus on the team and everybody on the team is on that same mindset, that’s when those individual kinds of awards start to happen,” said Beck.

In addition to that tough loss to Alabama in the SEC championship game, one thing that kept Georgia out of the playoff last year was their strength of schedule.

That won’t be a problem this year because the Dawgs will have their hands full with tough games against Clemson to open up the season and battles with Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss all on the road.

Mykel Williams, defensive line, said: “A personal goal I have this year is to win and win a lot of games. The game plan behind that is to go in week in and week out and do the things necessary to win.”

Malaki Starks, defensive back, said: “Complacency gets you passed up. You know, if you’re flat-lining, people who are consistently going are going to pass you at some point. The goal is to not get passes, keep going. You know, I feel like especially on defense, there’s nothing that you can’t get better at, nothing. You can’t grow into the best as the goal is just to keep growing day by day.”

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COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee is moving into its second day on Tuesday.

There are people with Columbus connections participating in the convention. One of those is former State Sen. Josh McKoon, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. 

In his role as the leader of the Georgia Republican party, Josh got the honor of committing the state’s 59 delegates to former President Donald Trump. And he predicted that Trump would carry Georgia in 2024. It’s a state the former president narrowly lost four years ago. 

Here’s what it sounded like Monday followed by Josh talking about the experience. 

“On November 5th, the Peach State will cast 16 electoral votes for the once and future President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. And today, we proudly cast all 59 votes for President Donald J. Trump,” McKoon said enthusiastically.

He said it was an honor.

“Well, I just really wanted to say that, you know, Georgia’s back,” McKoon told WRBL. “I mentioned that, you know, we are going to win Georgia. We are going to get those 16 electoral votes for Donald Trump. And yeah, I wanted to give a little commercial and all the hard work that so many people have done to make Georgia the most business friendly state in the nation. So, I felt good about the message I was able to convey in a short period of time.” 

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp addressed the Georgia delegation this morning before the delegates departed for the convention. Josh said the governor received a warm reception and several standing ovations. 

“His message was we needed to focus on winning this election,” McKoon said. “And he talked about how vitally important it is to win the White House, to return our legislative majorities to the General Assembly and to re-elect our congressmen. It was a very positive, unifying message about how Republicans need to come together so we can win. He made a remark along the lines of, ‘You don’t get to govern if you don’t win.’

WRBL reported Monday night that there was only one delegate in the Georgia delegation from Columbus. We would like to correct that error.  

Local businessman Paul Voorhees joins Alton Russell as one of the 59 Georgia delegates at the Republican National Convention. 

Here’s what Voorhees said about Monday night visit by former President Donald Trump into the convention hall.

“It was really joyful,” Voorhees said. ” We had so many people who are so excited about getting this country  affordable again, safe again.  And we have so many people in the streets and have so much crime on the streets and there’s so much on the grocery bills, cash bills,  Automobiles have gone up so much in price. It’s just  it’s it’s not a fun thing in this country.  And that last night, I got chills. I mean, it was really, really like  the spirit  come down on everybody.” 

The Oregon Ducks football program, coach Dan Lanning, Nike and NIL are being talked about at SEC Media Days. Georgia coach Kirby Smart jokingly looks a little green with envy when talking about his former defensive coordinator Lanning.

“This year, we took Nike, who I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting Phil Knight and his wonderful wife Penny,” Smart said at day two of SEC Media Days. “And I wish I could get some of that NIL money that he’s sharing with Dan Lanning. But that’s another note.”

Lanning coached under Smart as Georgia’s defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach at from 2018-21. Lanning helped Georgia go undefeated in his final season with the Bulldogs, winning the 2021-22 National Championship.

Lanning will have a chance to react to Smart’s comments at Big Ten media days at the end of July. The Ducks are also bringing linebacker Jeffrey Bassa, tight end Terrance Ferguson, and transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

Name, Image, Likeness has completely changed the college football landscape and some programs are adjusting quicker to the change than others. The Oregon Ducks are thriving in the new environment in their inaugural season in the Big Ten Conference.

Part of this success has been due to the efforts of Oregon’s Division Street NIL collective which has been lauded by many as the most innovative and effective in the country.

Two Oregon Ducks are top NIL earners in the country. Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel and receiver Evan Stewart are both in the top 10 of NIL earnings among football players, clocking in at No. 8 and 10 respectively. This represents quite an accomplishment for the two high-profile transfers as they’re both yet to play a single snap for Oregon. 

Oregon is recently receiving attention because of a report that Nike’s Phil Nike is allowing “unlimited NIL” for the Ducks. Has Knight written a blank check in order to buy a team that can bring home Oregon’s first national championship in football?

All football programs, including the Ducks, are of course using their resources to better their team and win championships.

But the Ducks’ success in recruiting and transfer portal runs deeper than that.

Oregon’s conference realignment means the Ducks will play against the top talent in the country vs. teams like the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes. Recruits and transfer athletes want to play against the best to prove they are the best. Next steps would be making it the NFL. With Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix, Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota all playing on Sundays… It’s no wonder transfers like Gabriel and Dante Moore want to be a Duck.