ATHENS \u2014 Georgia\u2019s Raylen Wilson is a three-year starting senior at middle linebacker sitting in the heart of the Georgia defense, and the heart of the action.<\/p>\n
If anyone understands the meaning and ramifications of the Bulldogs\u2019 3:30 p.m. game with Florida at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday, it\u2019s the Georgia defensive captain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know emotions will be high,\u201d Wilson said, \u201cbut I try not to be too high; you get too emotional out there, you\u2019ll get out there and make stupid mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mistakes \u2014 missed tackles, missed assignments and missed alignments \u2014 are something the Bulldogs\u2019 can\u2019t afford against one of the most elite tailbacks in the nation in Gators tailback Jadan Baugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brings a great challenge, he\u2019s a good back, he likes to jump cut, he\u2019s a physical back,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe likes to run that ball, and we like to stop the run, it\u2019s going to be a great game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s rushing attack ranks third in the SEC with 197.7 yards per game, while the Bulldogs run defense ranks second in the SEC with 91.4 yards allowed on the grounder.<\/p>\n
No doubt, the key to the game \u2014 stopping Baugh \u2014 is really that obvious, leading Georgia coach Kirby Smart to single out Baugh earlier this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have shown our guys clips of him since the start of the year \u2026 \u201d Smart said. \u201cWe are driving the motivation that every day, you\u2019re trying to prepare for the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson, over his 23 career starts \u2014 most at Georgia on defense among the Bulldogs\u2019 players \u2014 has seen some of the best tailbacks the SEC has had to offer.<\/p>\n
But none have scored touchdowns at the clip Baugh has to this point of the season, as his 13 TDs are tied for the most among the nation\u2019s tailbacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a great back, he\u2019s got thick lowers (legs),\u201d Wilson said. \u201cHe runs through arm tackles, you have to come with it, bring your feet and wrap him up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Georgia defense practiced tackling \u201cday-in and day-out\u201d according to All-American cornerback Ellis Robinson Jr., no doubt, with Wilson at the center of the drills.<\/p>\n
So Wilson\u2019s focus \u2014 for all the pageantry and rivalry talk and discussion of the site change to Atlanta \u2014 is on assignment football.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have bragging rights with some of my homeboys back in Tallahassee,\u201d said Wilson, who hails from Florida\u2019s panhandle.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther than that, it\u2019s nothing, it\u2019s another game we have to go out there and execute.\u201d<\/p>\n
.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATHENS \u2014 Georgia\u2019s Raylen Wilson is a three-year starting senior at middle linebacker sitting in the heart of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[11704,28,30,29,1853,116,16035],"class_list":["post-440632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-everbank-stadium","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-georgia","tag-jacksonville","tag-rivalry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}