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CARDINALS

Georgian Rankins eager to face UGA

Steve Jones
@stevejones_cj

Sheldon Rankins grew up a University of Georgia football fan, attending Eastside High School in Covington, Ga., about 50 miles from Athens.

Now Louisville's junior defensive end will get his shot to knock off the team that he followed closely all his life.

When the No. 21 Cardinals were paired up with No. 13 Georgia on Sunday for the Dec. 30 Belk Bowl in Charlotte, Rankins got excited. It'll be a special meeting to compete against a lot of old friends from his home state who are on the Bulldogs' roster.

"With Georgia being right down the street, it was always a program I was able to watch, enjoyed watching, and I followed their players," he said. "So when it rolled across the TV that we were playing Georgia, my eyes kind of lit up."

Rankins, one of 10 U of L players from the Peach State, wore a Georgia T-shirt many days when he was in high school and received some recruiting interest from the Bulldogs. He said he knows an "endless" number of the players on the roster at UGA, which he called a "storied program."

Facing friends "brings out more of a competitive spirit," he said. "It's kind of like playing against your older brother. You don't want him to beat you at anything. So knowing I'm going up against some guys I went against in high school, is going to bring that much more juice out of me."

There are a few interesting cross-program storylines in this UGA-U of L matchup.

Louisville defensive coordinator Todd Grantham held the same position with the Bulldogs for four years and should be positioned to game-plan well for a UGA offense he saw in practice every day.

"I know he'll pull everything out of his bag of tricks for this one," Rankins said.

And the Cards have two transfers – safety Josh Harvey-Clemons and cornerback Shaq Wiggins – sitting out this year after leaving UGA. Both players were part-time starters for the Bulldogs in 2013.

"They were shocked (to see the pairing)," senior offensive tackle Jamon Brown said. "Mostly because they're not able to go out there and play against them. They know that by being here, they've become part of this team. I'm pretty sure they have friends and different guys they still communicate with at the other school, and I'm pretty sure they're starting a rivalry already."

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For the non-Georgian Brown, who went to Fern Creek High, this year's Belk Bowl offers the Cards a chance to make up for a loss to North Carolina State in that game after the 2011 season.

"It gives us a chance to kind of redeem ourselves," he said. "It's a good opportunity to get back down to the Belk Bowl in Charlotte. … Being my last game on the collegiate level, being able to end the season with an opponent like Georgia, I think the guys are hyped up and ready to go."

A win would guarantee U of L (9-3) a third straight season with double-digit victories, and it's a mark that would mean something to the Cards.

"When I came here, U of L was an up-and-coming program," Rankins said. "For us to be able to establish ourselves with 10 wins in our first year in the ACC would be a big milestone for us – the players that are playing now, the seniors that are leaving and the recruits that are looking to come to this program."

Steve Jones can be reached at (502) 582-7176 and followed on Twitter at @SteveJones_CJ.

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GEORGIA VS. LOUISVILLE

Belk Bowl, 6:30 p.m., Dec. 30, Charlotte, N.C.

TV: ESPN