Georgia junior tailbacks Nick Chubb and Sony Michel and junior linebackers Davin Bellamy and Lorenzo Carter did not want to be remembered for last month's 28-27 loss to Georgia Tech inside Sanford Stadium.
All four Bulldogs announced Thursday that they would be returning for their senior seasons, giving first-year head coach Kirby Smart a boost in a 7-5 debut year that will conclude in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 30. Chubb is coming back despite missing more than half of his sophomore season due to three torn knee ligaments, and he was slowed for a couple of games this year with a sprained ankle.
"The last game didn't go like any of us wanted," Chubb said as he stood alongside Bellamy, Carter and Michel in a news conference. "I couldn't have that as my last memory of Georgia. I'm a very prideful guy, and to bypass next year and the chance to do something that's hopefully always going to be there - to bypass hanging out with my friends and the brotherhood we have here is something I couldn't pass up.
"A lot of thought over a lot of nights went into it, and I think I made the best decision for myself and my family and everyone around me to come back and build something I think is going to be great and special in the years to come."
The Bulldogs held a two-hour practice Thursday, their second of eight on-campus workouts.
Chubb rushed for 1,547 yards as a freshman and had 745 yards through his first five games last season before the injury. He had a career average of 7.4 yards per carry until this year, which has consisted of 207 carries for 988 yards and 4.8 yards per carry.
NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper recently suggested that Chubb return, adding that he did not have the 5-foot-10, 228-pounder from Cedartown among his top 10 tailbacks.
Michel led the Bulldogs last season with 1,161 yards and has rushed for 753 yards and 5.5 per carry so far this year. The 5-11, 222-pounder from Plantation, Fla., suffered an open fracture of his forearm in an ATV accident in July, which caused him to miss the opening win over North Carolina.
"I'm excited to come back," Michel said. "We have a young team."
The 6-5, 241-pound Bellamy and the 6-6, 242-pound Carter are Atlanta-area players who share the team high in sacks this season with four. Bellamy has 49 tackles and eight tackles for loss, while Carter has 37 tackles, including five for lost yardage.
"I think it all started with this last game at Sanford, when we didn't get the results we wanted," Bellamy said. "I was getting a little teary-eyed before the game looking at all the young guys and seeing how far they had come. We've got a young D-line, and it would have been so tough leaving those guys."
Said Carter: "We're going to be ready to make some big things happen next year."
Smart called the four players "bright guys with bright futures in the NFL," and he was pleased with how each handled the process.
Not everybody is coming back for a second season under Smart, who announced that sophomore receiver Shaquery Wilson and sophomore defensive backs Juwuan Briscoe and Rico McGraw were transferring and would not be traveling to Memphis. Briscoe was a starting cornerback in September before getting beat out by Deandre Baker, while McGraw's most recognized moment this season was the 15-yard penalty he drew in the final seconds against Tennessee for running out on the field in celebration without his helmet.
"We wish these guys nothing but the best," Smart said. "They've been good to Georgia and have worked really hard."
Odds and ends
Smart said sophomore receiver Michael Chigbu would miss the bowl after undergoing minor knee surgery. Georgia landed its first official member of its 2017 signing class this week when D'Marcus Hayes, a 6-6, 320-pound offensive tackle from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, signed his national letter of intent. Two former Georgia players, defensive end Chauncey Rivers and defensive back Jonathan Abram, signed with Mississippi State after one-year detours at Mississippi junior colleges.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.