Andrew Thomas was Georgia's junior left tackle during Saturday's 37-10 loss to LSU in the Southeastern Conference championship game.
Since then, the 6-foot-5, 320-pounder from the Atlanta suburb of Lithonia has returned to being Andrew Thomas the finance major.
"I've got a paper due and two exams this week," Thomas said Saturday night after playing in a third consecutive SEC title contest inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Thomas has some homework to do on his future as well, given that he is widely projected to be a first-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft if he elects to forgo his senior season. That is a choice he must reveal between now and the Jan. 20 deadline for underclassmen to declare, and there is also the decision of whether to play in the Sugar Bowl against Baylor on New Year's night.
Former Bulldogs cornerback Deandre Baker chose to skip last season's Sugar Bowl loss to Texas and wound up being selected late in the first round by the New York Giants.
"I'm going to talk to my parents and my coaches, and we'll go from there," Thomas said. "I've been so focused on football that I haven't really had time to think about the future yet. I don't know my exact timetable."
Fox Sports this past weekend projected Thomas as the second overall pick behind Ohio State defensive end Chase Young.
Thomas, redshirt sophomore right tackle Isaiah Wilson and junior running back D'Andre Swift are Georgia's most likely candidates to leave early, with junior quarterback Jake Fromm and junior safety Richard LeCounte III possibilities to depart as well. Fromm was ranked by CBS this past May as the top overall pick for the 2020 draft, but he has been erratic in recent weeks, completing fewer than 50% of his passes in each of the last five games.
Swift has had two consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons for the Bulldogs and has played through much of this season with an injured shoulder. Wilson, a former five-star prospect from Brooklyn, would be an understandable departure as well, with the 6-7, 340-pounder having admitted his disdain for the Deep South humidity that accompanies preseason camp.
"That's something I'll talk about down the road with my family," Wilson said. "I haven't made that decision yet, and I haven't even thought about it. I will take this one day at a time, because that seems to keep me very level-headed and calm and grounded.
"I don't like to speculate on things that aren't here yet."
Georgia players met Sunday and learned of their Sugar Bowl destination, which came as no surprise after losing the SEC title. Baker originally committed to play in New Orleans last season before changing his mind, and the sooner some of these decisions can be made, the better things may be for coach Kirby Smart and his assistants.
The Bulldogs were lethargic in last season's Sugar Bowl, falling 28-21 to Texas.
"We're going to take the ones who want to play well," Smart said Sunday afternoon. "For a lot of our kids last year, that was the most important game of their season, and for some others it wasn't. You've got to take the guys who are engaged and are excited about playing, because that matters a whole lot more than how good they are."
Georgia players with decisions to make were offering no regrets after Saturday's loss. The Bulldogs have assembled three consecutive 11-1 regular seasons, and they are the first team to earn three straight SEC East crowns since Florida won the first five, 1992-96.
There is also that three-year record of 35-7 that includes a 12-1 mark against rivals Auburn, Florida, Georgia Tech and Tennessee.
"We won a lot of games this year," Swift said. "We can't point fingers at anybody. We fought hard when we needed to, and we just came up short in the end."
As soon as the Bulldogs ventured from Atlanta back to Athens this past weekend, they became students again with a week off from football. For an elite few, there are additional matters to ponder, making this one of the most intriguing times in their lives.
"These next few weeks are going to be pretty interesting," Thomas said. "At least I've got some time to sit down to figure out what I'm going to do."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.