Even the Gators’ Coach Has Gone to Bragging on Chris Cole
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 29, 2026
GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Thursday, October 29, 2026
Georgia's linebacker made the Butkus list Wednesday, and the man charged with beating him Saturday could not help agreeing.
ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk
Georgia's athletic department said Wednesday that junior linebacker Chris Cole is one of 15 semifinalists for the Butkus Award, which goes each year to the best linebacker in the country. Cole is from Salem, Virginia, which is a long way from Athens but apparently close enough. He is one of five SEC players still standing. It is the third year running Georgia has put a man on this list, and the last one, Jalon Walker, went and won the thing in 2024. Roquan Smith and Nakobe Dean won it before him. That is the company Cole is keeping, and nobody in Athens seems the least bit surprised.
The numbers back it up, and this desk has been known to check. Cole is second on the team with 40 tackles, leads it with 28 solo stops, and leads it again with eight and a half tackles for loss and two and a half sacks. He has fallen on two fumbles, both of them in the 41-13 win over Oklahoma, and he carried one of them 85 yards to the end zone, which is farther than most linebackers care to run with anything. He has been named a captain three times this season. Linebackers do not usually get the ball. Cole has learned to go and get it.
When the fellow across the field starts complimenting your linebacker on a Wednesday, he is either being gracious or he is measuring him for Saturday.
Here is the part worth a second cup of coffee. Jon Sumrall, the Florida coach, is trying to end a five-game losing streak in this series, and Gators Wire reported Wednesday that he spent part of his week praising the other side. Of Cole he said, "You turn on this tape, and you're like, oh my gosh, this guy's really good." He called Georgia's physicality its defining trait and said losing one man like KJ Bolden does not cause a drop-off. When the fellow across the field starts complimenting your linebacker on a Wednesday, he is either being gracious or he is measuring him for Saturday. Likely both.
The measuring has a name, and it is Jadan Baugh. The Atlanta native leads the country with 13 touchdowns and is hunting close to 30 tickets for his first game in his hometown, according to Gators Wire. Senior linebacker Raylen Wilson told reporters Tuesday that Baugh likes to jump cut and runs through arm tackles. "He likes to run that ball and we like to stop the run," Wilson said. "It's going to be a good game." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Auburn's 192 rushing yards against Georgia are the model Florida is working from. Cole and Wilson are the men expected to tear up the blueprint.
The rest of the country spent last Saturday teaching humility to anybody who had not yet learned it. UCF beat No. 2 BYU 39-31 in double overtime after a disputed roughing-the-kicker penalty, and Cincinnati knocked off unbeaten No. 8 Texas Tech 37-24. Unranked Wisconsin held No. 16 USC to one touchdown in a 24-7 win. The game nearest Georgia's business was in Austin, where Texas beat No. 7 Ole Miss 34-27 behind an Arch Manning bootleg. That is the same Texas team Florida walked in and beat the Saturday before, which ought to settle the question of whether the Gators' upset was a fluke. Florida beat a team that can play.
Kickoff is Saturday at 3:30 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, on ABC, under a roof, so the weather desk gets the day off. The bookmakers have Georgia by 12 and a half with a total of 53 and a half, and the model in the back room likes Georgia 30-21 and gives the Bulldogs a 70 percent chance to win outright. It covers that spread in only 41.7 percent of its simulations, which is the model's polite way of saying it believes in Georgia more than it believes in the number. ESPN's computer is sunnier at 82.7 percent. Nobody's computer has to tackle Baugh.
The Notebook
- THE COUNTDOWN: Two days. Georgia and Florida, Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC, from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the first time this game has left Jacksonville since 1995.
- THE GATOR REPORT: Florida's Wednesday availability report lists slot receiver Vernell Brown III as probable after a three-game absence, running back Duke Clark questionable and linebacker Jaden Robinson doubtful, according to 247Sports.
- THE SLATE: Notre Dame is a 30 and a half point favorite over Navy at noon, and the desk calls that a lock. Indiana by 20 and a half over Minnesota gets the same verdict. Ohio State at USC, Buckeyes by six and a half, is the coin flip of the night.
Written in the tradition of Lewis Grizzard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1946–1994.
Hear the desk read tonights report on Radio Free Albany, WPFQ 96.7.
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