OFFENSIVE PLAYER
Malachi Toliver – the 6-5, 320-pound redshirt freshman from Cartersville,
Georgia and Cartersville High School was truly the next man up starting at
center for the injured Drew Bobo. In true Kirby Smart fashion, Toliver took
control on the offensive line and helped propel Georgia offense that
averaged 3.4 yards for a total of 159 yards rushing against the Crimson
Tide. Malachi is big and strong and certainly is learning from the best
behind Bobo. His effort and production in the SEC Championship Game
clearly makes him my very easy pick for the offensive player of the game
in the SEC championship. The future looks bright at the most important
position on the offensive line.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER
JaCorey Thomas – The senior out of Orlando had his best game of the
season in the SEC Championship Game. JaCorey has been a main stay
on Georgia’s team for four years and he is showing that his hard work has
paid off. As a senior leader on the defense, he has consistently gotten
better and he proved that with his play against Alabama in the SEC
Championship Game. Alabama was a one dimensional offense coming in
averaging 70% to 30% throwing and with Corey registering six tackles and
a sack for a loss, he really shut down Alabama’s capability on offense to
move the ball and retain possession. His leadership was evident and it will
be very important over the next three weeks as he and his teammates
prepare for the winner of the Ole Miss-Tulane CFP First Round game. We
know we count on JaCorey being ready!

SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER
Bret Thorson – once again the “Thunder from Down Under” was on bigtime
in the SEC Championship Game. Bret has been huge part of the game this
season and his play in The Benz was his most productive. Thorson
delivered a strong game with seven punts with an average of 45.3 yards,
Two punts were over 50 yards with four fair catches. This proved to be way
too much for the Crimson Tide as their offense only went the distance of
the field one time, and that was with the help of Georgia penalties. As a
Ray Guy Award finalist I would not be surprised to see Bret Thorson
introduce Ray Guy and the Ray Guy Award to Australia. He has been a
weapon his whole career and it only seems that he gets stronger and
stronger and I would love to see him punt three more games, Go Dawgs!

UNSUNG HERO OF THE GAME
Cole Speer – the 5-11, 185-pound senior from Calhoun, Georgia might not
be the biggest player, but he certainly delivered the biggest play of the
SEC Championship Game. On fourth and nine from the Alabama 21,
Spear came from the right side, untouched and blocked the Alabama punt
and turned over the ball to the offense at the Alabama 21-yard line. Just a
few plays later the Bulldogs offense hit pay dirt. As Kirby said after the
game, Cole might be one of the dying breeds in college football. A 3-star
recruit on full scholarship that sticks around and contributes to his team
every week no matter the playing time on Saturdays. Guys like him will be
hard to find moving forward. But for right now, he’s the Dawg of the game
and a Damn Good Dawg at that.