Former Yellow Jackets quarterback Jordan Yates went viral on Feb. 20 after he went on his TikTok and described how it was going against the Georgia Bulldogs’ 2021 national championship defense.
The Yellow Jackets were mauled 45-0 in that game and only registered 166 yards of total offense. The Bulldogs finished with 12-0 record and their first undefeated regular season since 1980.
What Did Yates Say?
Yates started his video by describing the week of preparation for the then-No. 1-ranked Bulldogs.
“One of our assistants goes up there and he’s just like talking about them. He’s like, ‘Yeah, they have a really fast defense, you know, big d-line, linebackers are pretty fast,’ blah blah blah,” Yates said. “Another coach who’s also in the meeting like sitting down is like, ‘Nah, F that! Tell ’em how it is, Mike! Tell ’em how it really is!’ So my dog Mike, he just kind of pauses and is like, ‘Well, statistically, this is the best college football defense ever. They’re averaging about 12 points a game, and they haven’t given up a rushing touchdown all season’.”
He then goes into the actual game. Yates was a backup quarterback, but he was forced to start because starting quarterback Jeff Sims was injured.
“When you’re growing up and you’re playing in the street in front of your house, you can’t really go side-to-side. All you can do is kind of go forward. That’s what it felt like,” Yates said.
He finished his video by recounting something defensive lineman Jalen Carter said to him in the fourth quarter.
“He, like, said the strangest thing to me. He looked at me and was like, ‘Y’all are so unprepared.’ I was like, ‘Y’all are so unprepared?’” Yates said. “All the things he could’ve said at this point in the game, it was like 45-0. He’s like, ‘Y’all are so unprepared.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He’s like, ‘Y’all just don’t know what’s, like, going on.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, we don’t.'”
Georgia’s 2021 Defensive Statistics
Yates shouldn’t feel bad, because most opponents that the Bulldogs faced that season felt like he did. Alabama’s offense was the only one to find success against them. They scored 41 points in the SEC Championship Game, and Tennessee scored the second-highest with 17 points in the regular season.
The Bulldogs had five players get drafted in the first round of 2022 NFL draft, which was the most ever in the first round from any school. The record eclipsed the 2004 Miami Hurricanes and 2006 Florida State Seminoles that both had four players each taken in the first round.
The Bulldogs defense totaled three shutouts in 2021 and eight opponents failed to score double digits in a game. The defense only gave up 10.2 points per game, 78.9 rushing yards per game with only three rushing touchdowns, 190 yards passing per game, 49 total sacks as a team, and forced 21 total turnovers as a team.
