Behind The G

College football involves some of the largest sports events across the United States every fall. The most recent national title game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide averaged 22.4 million live viewers in the nail-biting finale, Georgia winning 33–18.

But while the team basked in their glory validating the months of hard work and grit, many Georgia fans (as well as fans of any college football team) only ever see the student-athletes on the field and coaches on the sidelines. As anyone who has worked for a sports team can tell you, there is an army of staff and supporters behind the team every step of the way to create the well-oiled machine of college football.

That is the focus of this short series – Behind The G – to feature and show the faces behind the team. Within Georgia Football, there are a handful of core departments that contribute to the success of the team and athletes that don’t normally appear on air or in the middle of the field for fans to see. These departments include Strength & Conditioning, Equipment, Nutrition, Turf Management, Sports Medicine, Recruiting, and more . Each of these teams contributes to the championship-caliber of the Georgia Bulldogs. These teams are a part of what makes this team efficient, competitive, and tough.

Behind The G (BTG) attempts to highlight each of these departments and their unique contribution in a couple of minutes. As a summer series to drive interest in an otherwise quiet period, BTG offers Georgia fans an inside look at the people who make it happen. While originally I wanted to expand these videos into longer 5 minute videos detailing every step of the process, I had a deadline to meet. Starting shortly after spring practice began, I had a little bit over 6 weeks to produce, interview, direct, and edit this series for social before I graduated and left Georgia Football (my final day as a student worker was May 6). Although I had to compromise on the final runtimes of each video, I am proud of how we were able to capture the unseen work.

The process for each video included identifying at least one person for each department, scheduling an interview, conducting an interview with a crew, shooting b-roll if needed, and editing along with any graphical and coloring needs. And most impressive of all, the majority of this entire process was done by the student workers within the creative department of Georgia Football, including myself. Those who helped me shoot and edit are talented people who shape the fans’ online experience and engagement with the team. They, along with the 4 full-time creative staff, mold the brand of Georgia Football. As such, they deserve a shoutout:

• Turner Cravens (helped shoot, edit)
• Stephanie Lopez (helped shoot)
• Alex Caputo (helped shoot)
• Audrie Uphues (helped shoot)
• Jackson Collier (helped design the intro motion graphics)
• Mitch Bernardo, Georgia Football’s newest senior creative video director, also helped guide and shoot the project.

This project was perhaps the most ambitious one I’ve had to undertake myself during my time at Georgia Football. In the past, I always had the benefit of working alongside one of the former video directors. However, this past spring, I wrote, shot, coordinated, and edited the vast majority of this series by myself. A huge accomplishment for myself despite compromising on the original goal of a longer in-depth series. In the end, I’m proud to be able to show Georgia fans a glimpse of the complexity of the team and a look at some of the incredible people that run the departments that support the student-athletes as well as the coaches. Below I will link to each episode as they are released every Monday starting on June 20, 2022.