ATHENS, Ga. - The days have drifted since Georgia's Terry Godwin made his acrobatic 5-yard touchdown reception during the 20-19 win at Notre Dame on Sept. 9.
Reminders, however, have not.
"I actually heard about it going into my first class this morning," a smiling Godwin said earlier this week. "I walked into (legal studies) class, and my teacher tossed me a pencil and was like, 'I hope you can catch that with one hand better than the ball.' It's things like that I hear around campus."
Godwin's one-handed snag against the Fighting Irish quickly evoked memories of A.J. Green's dazzling 3-yard touchdown catch at Colorado in 2010, but credit the 5-foot-11, 185-pound junior from Hogansville, Ga., for moving on better than most. In last week's 42-14 whipping of Samford, Godwin had four catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns.
Adding a career-best performance to his career-best reception has continued Godwin's fun start to this season.
"It's been very exciting," he said. "The team has come out with a 'W' each week. We've been putting in a lot of hard work, and I think that's showing off."
The No. 11 Bulldogs will seek a 4-0 start Saturday night when No. 17 Mississippi State (3-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) invades Sanford Stadium. The visiting Bulldogs are coming off a 37-7 shellacking of LSU and have a secondary that includes junior safety Johnathan Abram, who signed with Georgia along with Godwin in 2015 but transferred to Jones County (Miss.) Community College after that season.
Godwin said he and Abram, who started four games as a Georgia freshman, talk on a regular basis. When asked this week if he told Abram he was going to score a couple of touchdowns on him, Godwin laughed.
"We don't talk like that," he said. "It's a friendly thing."
After averaging 10.6 yards per catch through his first two seasons, Godwin has posted a 22.3-yard clip this season. That is the most notable jump Godwin has experienced from a statistical standpoint, but second-year coach Kirby Smart believes he has become much better at the less dazzling aspects of the position.
Which starts at the line of scrimmage.
"As frustrated as I was last year with his physicality and his lack of practice effort, he has practiced so hard and blocked so well," Smart said. "He blocks bigger than he is, and he's not afraid to stick his face in there. I remember watching him as an eighth- and ninth-grader at Callaway High School, and he was hitting people, but I didn't see enough of that last year.
"Now you see it, and he's getting rewarded by catching the ball and making plays."
Godwin insists he never got down last season, when his 38 catches for 397 yards were comparable to the 35 for 379 he tallied as a freshman, but he knew he had to change.
"I just had to set a new culture," he said. "You have to know that practicing each day is going to get harder and harder, because the weeks are going to get longer and longer. We all kind of bought in to that last year, but it's been set in stone this year, and that's something we're going to live by from here on."
After setting a high bar the past two weeks, Godwin simply wants to do whatever it takes to help Georgia win its SEC opener. He returned a punt against both Appalachian State and Notre Dame, but sophomore receiver Mecole Hardman got the only return last week.
Godwin was a Rivals.com top-10 national prospect in 2015, and he is exposing his talents more than ever before.
"Ever since I've been here, I've been having fun," he said. "The only thing that's changed has been the coaching staff, and even with that, everyone who's been here through that is still having fun. We know what it takes to play this game, and we're putting in the hard work."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.