Georgia Football: After Four Historic Years, William Mote is on to his Next Chapter

Mote was Georgia’s long snapper on every punt since 2020 and took over the snapping duties for field goals during the 2022 season. Now, after two national championships and a lot of winning, he’s headed to Mobile for the Reese’s Senior Bowl. Before that, he sat down with Dawgs Daily to discuss his time in Athens, including being a starter on the team that won the school’s first title in 41 years.

“A lot of guys decided to come back, a lot of really talented guys, and we really got to work like the work ethic was there,” said Mote. “A lot of those guys that came in, like in 2019. You wanted to work with those guys like, Quay Walker especially, I think he came in the year before I did, Jordan Davis, Devonte [Wyatt], those guys came in every day and worked. NIL became a thing in the summer of 2021, so that was a new whole thing as well. And as a whole team, we kind of agreed that like, look, we don't really care, like COVID is behind us, and this NIL stuff is not where you're gonna make your money. If we all like work like we should work it’ll work because Coach Smart has been a part of great programs and knows how to win. Like, if we all come together work in, and kind of put this NIL thing behind us, and not really worry about it, then we can really achieve some great stuff.”

Achieve great stuff they did. Mote was part of a historic run that saw Georgia win 29 straight games. A big part of that was an offense led by great quarterbacks. For a long snapper, that meant not seeing the field for punts much. Georgia punter Brett Thorson has joked about that coyly, saying Stetson Bennett didn’t like him because he never got to punt. Did Mote harbor those same feelings?

“Stetson and I had a good relationship, Stetson was the holder. So I mean, every time it seemed like he was out there throwing a bomb, I was jogging out there with him and, and getting to celebrate a little bit as well. When it comes to came to punting, I mean, for a punter, you need the stats, if you want to keep playing the game, you got to have good stats, and there's no ill will, I wouldn't say. We enjoy winning and Stet led us well. So I do like my job and being able to punt. But I mean, like I said, I'm gonna put the team before myself. At any point, it's not really, whether I get the play or not, I mean, I still get to go out there and snap on short snaps when we score a touchdown.”

From all those big moments we mentioned above, did any stick out to Mote?

“I would say the biggest pressure moment was Ohio State. Because at one point, Coach Smart showed us this after the game, it was like a 95% chance that we were going to lose that game. And then every point that we got from then on really changed the game. And I remember when we scored to tie them, and then we had an extra point to go up one point, and I started jogging out there. And I remember grabbing the ball going through my whole process and everything and then like right before I had the ball, Stetson was just in his stance and everything, I said to myself, ‘Man, like, if I screw this up…’”, laughed Mote. “That game was by far the most pressure game I've ever been in. And not just from special teams, just all around. It's like no matter what we did, we could not mess up anything in order to win that game. And both teams were playing to that level. It was unmatched. So at that point of the season, I was like that was a pretty high-pressure moment but overcame it and felt good about it.”

We’ll have more from our interview will William as we get closer to the Senior Bowl on Febuary 3rd.