With the appearances made by Virginia-transfer Greyson Lambert and UAB-transfer Jake Ganus last Saturday, a historical milestone was reached in UGA football history.
Lambert became only the second Bulldog starting quarterback in history who had previously played at another Division I program, and the first to throw a touchdown. Ganus, who is the first Georgia player to have transferred from a defunct program since Terrell Davis left Long Beach State for Athens following the 1991 season, started Saturday at one of the inside linebacker positions.
So, when was the last time the Bulldogs had two transfers arrive from other programs the same year while making immediate impact like Ganus and Lambert?
Never—nothing even close has ever occurred in the annals of UGA football.
A little more than four years ago, I posted Georgia's All-Time Transfers, or one-time Bulldogs who left the program for other schools. On the contrary, in the spirit of new beginnings for Ganus and Lambert, here's the Bulldogs' All-Time Arrivals team (11 position players + a kicker + some reserves + a pair of ironic honorable mentions, while excluding players from JUCOs, prep schools, and those pre-WWI players who played football at UGA while attending, say, law school after being an undergrad somewhere else):
Back- STEVE ROGERS (1977): Hailing from Jacksonville, Fla., Rogers transferred to UGA following a freshman season at the Naval Academy in 1975. As a reserve for the Midshipmen, the dual-threat quarterback was responsible for a couple of touchdowns, and was even the team's primary kick returner in the Army-Navy game—"the greatest experience of my life," according to Rogers after his transfer. Following a couple of unfortunate scrapes with the law while sitting out a season in Athens, Rogers was tangled in a quarterback competition in 1977 even more complicated than the Bulldogs' three-way race in 2015.


Rogers is one of the few Georgia players who had a newspaper article dedicated to him written by the late, great Lewis Grizzard—"The Legend of Steve Alan Rogers," which forecasted him being named the Bulldogs' starting quarterback a little over a week prior to the start of the season. In the end, Rogers was the team's second-stringer, but made starts against Alabama and Auburn before ending the '77 campaign sidelined with an injury. After a move to defensive back, Rogers returned to Coach Dooley's doghouse after another disciplinary issue, and was dismissed from the program.
• Reserve Back: safety Chip Miller (Appalachian State '71-'73, Georgia '74-'75)
Back- TERRELL DAVIS (1992-1994): Prior to the 49ers dropping football, Davis rushed for 262 yards in just five games as a freshman at LBSU in 1991. For three years at Georgia, despite playing behind Garrison Hearst for a season, at times being injured, and perhaps underused, Davis rushed for 1,657 yards, averaged 5.2 yards per carry, had five 100-yard rushing games, caught 46 passes, and scored 18 touchdowns. A mere seven-season NFL career which is borderline Pro Football Hall of Fame-worthy, Davis' 7,607 rushing yards for an NFL career by a former Bulldog is second only behind Herschel Walker; his three AP first-team All-NFL selections is tied for the most with Champ Bailey and Richard Seymour.
• Reserve Back: tailback Olandis Gary (Marshall '94-'95, Georgia '97-'98)
Lambert became only the second Bulldog starting quarterback in history who had previously played at another Division I program, and the first to throw a touchdown. Ganus, who is the first Georgia player to have transferred from a defunct program since Terrell Davis left Long Beach State for Athens following the 1991 season, started Saturday at one of the inside linebacker positions.
So, when was the last time the Bulldogs had two transfers arrive from other programs the same year while making immediate impact like Ganus and Lambert?
Never—nothing even close has ever occurred in the annals of UGA football.
A little more than four years ago, I posted Georgia's All-Time Transfers, or one-time Bulldogs who left the program for other schools. On the contrary, in the spirit of new beginnings for Ganus and Lambert, here's the Bulldogs' All-Time Arrivals team (11 position players + a kicker + some reserves + a pair of ironic honorable mentions, while excluding players from JUCOs, prep schools, and those pre-WWI players who played football at UGA while attending, say, law school after being an undergrad somewhere else):
Back- STEVE ROGERS (1977): Hailing from Jacksonville, Fla., Rogers transferred to UGA following a freshman season at the Naval Academy in 1975. As a reserve for the Midshipmen, the dual-threat quarterback was responsible for a couple of touchdowns, and was even the team's primary kick returner in the Army-Navy game—"the greatest experience of my life," according to Rogers after his transfer. Following a couple of unfortunate scrapes with the law while sitting out a season in Athens, Rogers was tangled in a quarterback competition in 1977 even more complicated than the Bulldogs' three-way race in 2015.


Rogers is one of the few Georgia players who had a newspaper article dedicated to him written by the late, great Lewis Grizzard—"The Legend of Steve Alan Rogers," which forecasted him being named the Bulldogs' starting quarterback a little over a week prior to the start of the season. In the end, Rogers was the team's second-stringer, but made starts against Alabama and Auburn before ending the '77 campaign sidelined with an injury. After a move to defensive back, Rogers returned to Coach Dooley's doghouse after another disciplinary issue, and was dismissed from the program.
• Reserve Back: safety Chip Miller (Appalachian State '71-'73, Georgia '74-'75)

• Reserve Back: tailback Olandis Gary (Marshall '94-'95, Georgia '97-'98)


Notably, while transitioning from SMU to UGA in early August of 1987, Vincent said, "I'm still 100 percent SMU, but I had to find a new place to play until things get settled down [at SMU]. ... I plan on going down there [after one year at UGA] and helping get the [football] program back on its feet the right way." Only two months later, Vincent had already experienced a "slight" change of heart, demonstrating that attending the University of Georgia sure does seem to have an effect on people: "...my No. 1 choice for law school is Georgia. I love it here. I don't even think about SMU now. It's gone better than anything I could have expected. I wish I would have been here the whole time."
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The 291st pick of the 1957 NFL Draft, Orr was the 1958 NFL Rookie of the Year as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and one of Johnny Unitas' favorite targets as a standout end for the Baltimore Colts during the 1960s. Orr was essentially tops in all career receiving marks for an NFL career by a former Bulldog before being surpassed by Hines Ward.

• Reserve End: tight end Jermaine Wiggins (Marshall '94-'95, Georgia '97-'98)



• Reserve Lineman: OL George Mrvos (Penn State '84, Georgia '87)

End- RUSTY RUSSELL (1973-1975): The son of legendary UGA defensive coordinator Erk Russell, Rusty began his collegiate career at Florida State, where he was a linebacker for the Seminoles in 1972, but did not letter. Walking on at Georgia, Russell was one of the Bulldogs' leading tacklers in each of his three seasons in Athens, while starting at three different positions: DT in '73, DE in '74, and returning to linebacker in '75. As a member of his father's "Junkyard Dogs" defensive unit as a senior, Russell was third on the squad with 90 tackles.
• Reserve End: Dick Wilkins (Notre Dame '55, Georgia '57)

HONORABLE MENTION: In early January of 1987, just after Wichita State had dropped its football program, former-Shocker players defensive back Derrick Richey and fullback Eric Gilstrap drove 850 miles to Athens after being lured by the Bulldogs to transfer. However, upon their arrival to UGA after the rather lengthy trip, the two players were denied admission because of a problem with their transferable hours.
"We're going to take steps to see something like that never happens again," said Coach Dooley after the players were turned away, prompting Richey to declare, "Georgia should have checked that out before recruiting us."
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