Georgia Raised a Team and Ole Miss Bought One
Written by Jarvis Prime on November 5, 2026
Evening Edition — filed after the afternoon news cycle.
GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Thursday, November 5, 2026
Fifty Rebels came from somewhere else, one of them from Athens, and Saturday night in Oxford settles which way of building a roster holds up in November.
ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk
Here is a number that tells you more about Saturday night than any betting line. DawgNation went through both rosters this week and counted a hundred and fourteen of Georgia's hundred and twenty-eight players as men who started their college careers in Athens. Ole Miss, by the same count, has sixty-seven of a hundred and seventeen who began in Oxford, which means fifty Rebels came from somewhere else. Georgia grew its football team the way your grandmother grew tomatoes, from seed, in the same dirt, year after year. Ole Miss went to the store. Both methods produce a tomato, and we find out Saturday which one tastes better.
The Wall Street Journal got at the same thing by a different road, measuring starters instead of bodies, and put Georgia at ninety-one point four percent homegrown and Ole Miss at sixty-five. Elijah Griffin, the second-year defensive tackle, was asked Tuesday why he picked Georgia, and he said he had wanted to be a Bulldog since he was thirteen, back in the eighth grade, because of men like Devonte Wyatt and Jordan Davis who played his position before him. "They paved the way for me, for sure, and I'm thankful for them," he said. On the distractions of the modern game, he offered, "We just have a standard here." You cannot buy that at the store.
Both methods produce a tomato, and we find out Saturday which one tastes better.
Of course, nobody's hands are entirely clean. One of those fifty Rebels is Joenel Aguero, who started twelve games at safety for Georgia last season and transferred to Ole Miss this offseason, three days after Georgia brought in Khalil Barnes from Clemson, DawgNation reported. Aguero has twenty-seven tackles for the Rebels and was thrown out of the Florida game for targeting, which tells you he has not gone soft in Mississippi. Nate Frazier, who will be running in his direction, called him a hitter. So Georgia shopped a little too, and the fellow it replaced will be standing on the other sideline Saturday night with a long memory and an opinion.
Before anybody in red gets too pleased, a word in defense of the store. The bought roster is five and oh at home. Its quarterback, Trinidad Chambliss, has thrown for two thousand one hundred eighty-nine yards and eighteen touchdowns, and Kirby Smart told reporters Monday that Ole Miss probably has the best quarterback in the country. Pete Golding returned the compliment, Hotty Toddy reported, calling Gunner Stockton an elite game manager who is tough as nails. The bookmakers, who do not care where anybody went to high school, have Georgia by three with the total at fifty-six and a half, and the desk's own opponent-adjusted rating calls it a point either way. Nobody has Georgia by a touchdown.
Where a homegrown roster is supposed to earn its keep is November, when the depth chart starts to read like a casualty list. Smart said Saturday night that everybody is practicing less and everybody is getting hurt more, and that it does not add up. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported three new names on Georgia's report this week, tight end Elyiss Williams, linebacker AJ Kruah and lineman Joseph Jonah-Ajonye, all questionable, with Amaris Williams out. Ellis Robinson, whose knee tightened up against Florida, is not listed and is expected to play. Ole Miss lists nine players out and leading tackler Keaton Thomas questionable, Hotty Toddy reported. Both tomato patches have some wilt in them.
Meanwhile the top of the poll keeps rearranging itself without any help from Georgia. Ohio State lost to USC, thirty to eighteen, in the rain with a true freshman named Luke Fahey playing for the injured Julian Sayin, and fell all the way to eleventh. Miami had to rally at North Carolina, thirty-eight to thirty-five, and watched two onside kicks get wiped out by penalties before it could stay unbeaten and hold the top spot. Indiana needed a sixty-yard field goal and overtime to get past Minnesota. Georgia, ranked second in the country as its athletic department will remind you, could do what none of those teams managed and win on the road without the drama. The desk is not holding its breath.
The Notebook
- THE COUNTDOWN: Two days to Oxford. Georgia at Ole Miss, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC, Georgia favored by three with the total at 56.5.
- OUT WEST: Iowa State beat Oklahoma State 51 to 49 on a field goal as time expired, 53 seconds after the Cowboys had taken the lead. Texas Tech ran away from Arizona after halftime, 34 to 26, and sealed it with a 64-yard touchdown run while the Wildcats managed 12 net rushing yards.
- THE SLATE: Pachyderms at Bayou Bengals, LSU by 6 at 3:30. Coral Gables Hurricanes at the Fighting Irishmen, Notre Dame by 7 at 7:30. The desk calls the first a coin flip and the second leaning, and neither a lock.
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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