Damn Good "Junkyard Dog"



Tough-as-nails and clean-shaven Jeff Sanders
takes a break during a game in 1976 as a
young admirer sits close by.

Although their inception was nearly 40 years ago, for some of those older Bulldog fans who remember them, the memories of the group are as vivid today as decades ago.  They were Georgia's "Junkyard Dogs" of the mid-1970s, and the Bulldog Nation recently lost an original member that absolutely epitomized the entire celebrated group.

Jeff Sanders, or "Jethro" to some of his teammates  – a Georgia defender from 1974 to 1976 – passed away early yesterday morning at 58 years old after a long bout with cancer.  Originally from Adel, Ga., Sanders was living in Orlando.  He leaves behind three children – Rose Marie, Sara, and Jackson; the three had previously lost their mother, Jeff's wife, Kelly, to cancer also.

 

After playing as a second-string linebacker in 1974 as a sophomore, Sanders was moved to defensive tackle in 1975.  If there was one knock on the junior lineman, it was that he was small.  Although 6-foot-3, Sanders was listed at only 215 pounds, which was small, even for back then.  "He's small for an interior lineman," a preseason forecast declared, "and whether or not he'll be able to make the transition [from linebacker] remains the question." 

What the forecast failed to realize was Sanders was tough – tough as they come – and there should have been no question whatsoever if he could make any type of transition.

 

When Erk Russell formed the Junkyard Dogs defense just prior to start of the '75 season, surely he had Sanders in mind.  The defensive unit might have been inexperienced and small, but it was quick, feisty, and tough.  As a top reserve for the Junkyard Dogs, Sanders was said to "compensate for his lack of size with dedication, effort, and technique.  Defensive coordinator Erk Russell calls him a very coachable player."

 

Entering his senior season of 1976, Sanders earned a starting position at defensive guard on "sheer hustle and determination."  According to UGA's football records, Sanders stands as the lightest starting interior defensive lineman for the Bulldogs the last 42 years since 1971.  Yet, playing for a team that would capture an SEC championship and appear in the Sugar Bowl, the small, but tough, Sanders led all Georgia linemen with 74 tackles for the season. 

I recently spoke to a former "Junkyard Dog" teammate of Sanders, who recalled one of the last times he had seen his friend.  The two of them, along with a few other players from the 1975-1976 teams, were sitting together in Sanford Stadium for G-Day in 1999, or a practice leading up to the spring game.

A Delta flight attendant poses with Jeff on the team's flight
to New Orleans for the 1977 Sugar Bowl.

Jeff pointed out two huge, standout linemen on the team at the time, both of whom would eventually be chosen in the first round of the NFL Draft.  "Jeff then said he sure was glad that he didn't play nowadays (1999); he said he wouldn't have stood a chance if he had to go up against linemen that big," the player said to me.  "Then, everyone in the group besides Jeff glanced at each other smiling for it was understood that our friend surely had forgotten how he played as a 'Junkyard Dog.'  Those two linemen might have been bigger than him when he was at Georgia, but pound for pound nobody we could remember that had come through the program was tougher than Jeff Sanders.  Jeff could have played during any era and gone up against any lineman, no matter their size."

 

Personally, I didn't know Jeff Sanders.  But through my work, and primarily this blog, I have fortunately gotten to know and correspond with those that did.  Through them, I've learned the true meaning of Georgia's acclaimed "Junkyard Dogs," and the fact that we recently lost a damn good one and the group's best example.  RIP, JYD.