At the 2010 football gala earlier this month, UGA used the occasion to name the Team of the Decade to coincide with Mark Richt’s tenth season as Georgia’s head coach. Over 37,000 online votes came up with this group:

DEFENSE

DE: Charles Grant and David Pollack
DT: Jeff Owens and Geno Atkins
OLB: Rennie Curran and Boss Bailey
ILB: Dannell Ellerbe and Odell Thurman
CB: Tim Jennings and Asher Allen
FS: Thomas Davis
SS: Greg Blue
P: Drew Butler

OFFENSE
C: Ben Jones
OG: Fermando Velasco and Max Jean-Gilles
OT: Jon Stinchcomb and Clint Boling
TE: Ben Watson
WR: Mohamed Massaquoi and A.J. Green
FB: Brannan Southerland
TB: Knowshon Moreno
QB: David Greene
PK: Blair Walsh

Not bad. A little heavy on more recent players, but that’s to be expected. Subjective lists like these are always fodder for discussion, so here’s who we would have selected. No real criteria other than that they have to had played at least one season for Mark Richt. I considered of course raw production at Georgia but also NFL draft status and even some intangibles.

DEFENSE

DE: David Pollack and Quentin Moses
DT: Jon Sullivan and Geno Atkins
LB: Rennie Curran, Boss Bailey, Odell Thurman
CB: Tim Jennings and Bruce Thornton
S: Thomas Davis and Sean Jones
P: Drew Butler

OFFENSE

OL: Jon Stinchcomb, Max Jean-Gilles, George Foster, Fernando Velasco, Clint Boling
TE: Ben Watson
WR: A.J. Green and Terrence Edwards
FB: Brannan Southerland
TB: Knowshon Moreno
QB: David Greene
PK: Billy Bennett

While we’re at it, might as well do a second team:

DEFENSE

DE: Charles Johnson and Charles Grant
DT: Jeff Owens and Kedric Golston
LB: Will Witherspoon, Tony Gilbert, Justin Houston
CB: Asher Allen and Tim Wansley
S: Kentrell Curry and Jermaine Phillips
P: Gordon Ely-Kelso

OFFENSE

OL: Alex Jackson, Ben Jones, Dan Inman, Ken Shackleford, Chester Adams
TE: Leonard Pope
WR: Mohamed Massaquoi and Fred Gibson
FB: Verron Haynes
TB: Musa Smith
QB: Matthew Stafford
PK: Blair Walsh

I can anticipate some disagreements. Stafford over Shockley? Edwards over, well, everyone but AJ? I was surprised by a few names of some very good players I had to leave off. McMichael. Roland. Oliver. Jacobs. Chapas. Coutu. Blue. Gary. The DE position alone was really tough: no Marcus Howard, Will Thompson, or Robert Geathers. I struggled with putting Justin Houston at LB over someone like Tony Taylor. In the 4-3 Georgia used for nearly all of the decade, would Houston have to be considered with the linebackers or the DEs?

Anyway, feel free to leave your own Dawgs of the Decade in the comments. There’s no shortage of great players who deserve recognition.