ATHENS, Ga. -- Prince Miller isn't under any illusion that he'll hold it all together before his final game between the hedges tonight in Sanford Stadium against Kentucky.
"If you're not emotional for your last game, you probably don't have a heartbeat," the senior cornerback from Duncan, S.C., said. "You just go out there and leave it all on the field for your last one and have fun."
Georgia will honor 23 players on Senior Night.
"It's crazy how fast it goes," fifth-year senior quarterback Joe Cox said.
It went even faster for Miller, defensive tackle Geno Atkins and linebacker Darius Dewberry, who have combined to start 61 games at Georgia.
Of the 27 players signed in 2006, those three are the only Bulldogs who took the fast track to four seasons of playing and will soon be done.
"It seems like just yesterday I was a freshman coming in," Dewberry said. "Me, Akeem Dent, Darryl Gamble and (Akeem) Hebron, we came in as linebackers together and we just sit around and talk about how fast it went. They say it hasn't hit them yet that I'm a senior because they redshirted and I ended up playing my freshman year."
The '06 recruiting class might go down as the most-talented group in coach Mark Richt's nine seasons. It was rated a consensus No. 4 in the nation.
"If these guys will unite as a team, take care of business academically, behave like they should and work like they should, we ought to be special three, four and five years down the road because of this group of guys right here," Richt said on signing day in 2006.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford, running back Knowshon Moreno and cornerback Asher Allen were all part of that class.
Stafford left after three years to become the NFL No. 1 overall pick. Allen was a third-round draft pick. Moreno departed after his redshirt sophomore season and was the No. 12 overall pick.
Receiver Kris Durham, who is redshirting this year because of a shoulder injury, was the sixth player in the '06 class to play as a freshman.
Fifteen others are now redshirt juniors including Reshad Jones, Shaun Chapas, Demarcus Dobbs, Darryl Gamble, Josh Davis and Chris Davis.
There were others who were dismissed (Michael Lemon), transferred (NaDerris Ward) or left the team (John Miller).
HIGHS AND LOWS
There were plenty of highs.
The blackout game against Auburn and the celebration against Florida in 2007.
Winning the Sugar Bowl that season and finishing No. 2 in the nation in the Associated Press poll.
They were on top of the college football world to start 2008 with the program's first-ever No. 1 preseason ranking But there also have been lows that teams under Richt were unaccustomed to in his first five seasons when the Bulldogs won two Southeastern Conference titles and finished as a top-10 ranked team four straight years:
Losing four of five games in a difficult stretch in 2006.
Getting blown out against Tennessee and Florida this season in a 4-4 start before winning the past two games.
Richt said the 2006 group has dealt with more adversity than "probably any group since I've been at Georgia. Hopefully they'll finish as strong as the '06 team."
"You'd like to see what you'd be if you had Moreno back, if you had Stafford back," recruiting coordinator Rodney Garner said. "Maybe we wouldn't feel like we've been feeling the last few weeks. ... I'm proud of these kids, the way they persevered, the way they fought through it. A lot of people could have given up. They haven't."
Signing a letter of intent with Georgia might have seemed like it came with a clause in it that an SEC championship ring came with it.
After all, every Georgia player who signed from 2001 to 2005 that stuck around got a ring for SEC titles in either 2002 or 2005. Until now.
"You never know how a career is going to go individually or how the team is going to do while you're there, but they've been in a bunch of great games and played great," Richt said. "I'm sure they've got some wonderful memories. Not to have a ring, I'm sure is something that they'll always regret. I'm proud of them and thankful they were here."
Atkins, Dewberry and Miller are the first seniors under Richt who didn't win that prize that every Georgia team chases.
"That's life," Miller said. "In life, you have ups and downs. It's no different in football.
Everything's not going to be great and we fought through all the tough times. It's just going to be bittersweet."
Said Dewberry: "Everybody wants an SEC championship ring, but hey, sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't. We've got a Sugar Bowl ring. That's pretty sweet. That was my first ring, too, even through high school."
The fifth-year seniors who will be honored today won an SEC title ring when they redshirted in 2005 and may have figured more were on the way.
Cox keeps his in the box it came in at his home in Charlotte.
"It's definitely something I'm proud of even though I didn't play," Cox said. "We got four state championship rings in high school and then I came to college and the first year we got a big ring. I was like 'Wow, this is just like we were doing in high school. This isn't going to be too bad,' and then you see how it is to get back to that game and how difficult to be in the race for the SEC championship every year. It's definitely something I cherish more now than when we first got it."
FAVORITE MEMORIES
The redshirts from 2006 have a chance to come back next year and make another run for the SEC championship.
This year's seniors leave with personal individual favorite memories.
For Dewberry, it was making his first career interception against Vanderbilt in 2008. Miller picked his interception against Colt Brennan in the Sugar Bowl win over his 92-yard punt return for a touchdown against Alabama in 2008. "We lost that game," Miller said.
There are games that stand out from the rest.
Winning the Sugar Bowl over Hawaii sticks with Miller.
The blackout win against Auburn in 2007 is one that Atkins won't forget.
"That was just crazy," Atkins said. "Nobody in Georgia history had worn the black jerseys. The atmosphere was amazing."
Georgia players wore red jerseys for warmups and were surprised when they returned to the locker room and found out that black jerseys were waiting for them.
Atkins reaction? "I can't believe that coach Richt broke the rules and got out of his comfort zone and let us wear black jerseys."
All three expect to graduate in the next year with degrees in housing.
Dewberry in on track to graduate this summer. Atkins will get ready for the NFL draft while he finishes classes and receives his degree in the spring. Miller will graduate next month, finishing in three and a half years and becoming the first person in his family with a college degree.
Before the walk at graduation, there is the walk out of the tunnel tonight in ceremonies for the seniors.
"I'm hoping not to cry," Atkins said, "but I might tear up a little bit. It's going to be pretty emotional."
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