Tate Collier Ratledge (born April 26, 2001) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

for the

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

. He won two

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

with the Bulldogs.

Early life

Ratledge attended

Darlington School Darlington School is a private, coeducational, college-preparatory day and boarding school in Rome, Georgia founded in 1905. It serves students from pre-kindergarten to grade 12, and is divided into a Pre-K to 8 division and an Upper School divi ...

Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statisti ...

, where he competed in football, basketball and track and field. Coming out of high school Ratledge was ranked the number 39 overall player in the 2020 class, the number five rank at his position and number six in the state of Georgia. Ratledge committed to play

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

over

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

whom he grew up rooting for.

College career

As a freshman in 2020, Ratledge played in just one game, playing a total of seven snaps. He earned a starting spot as a sophomore ahead of the season opener against Clemson, but suffered a Lisfranc ligament fracture in a foot after just four snaps and missed the rest of the season. In the 2022 season, Ratledge started 14 of the team's 15 games, only missing one game against

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. Ratledge also got a start in the Bulldogs' two playoffs games, including in the

2023 College Football Playoff National Championship The 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship is a college football bowl game that is scheduled to be played on January 9, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The ninth College Football Playoff National Championship, the g ...

. Ratledge was ranked the seventh best returning interior offensive lineman by Pro Football Focus ahead of the 2023 season. Ratledge was named preseason first team all-SEC. Ratledge was also named to the watch lists of multiple awards, such as the Outland Trophy and the Lombardi Award.

References

External links

Georgia Bulldogs bio
2001 births Living people Players of American football from Rome, Georgia American football offensive guards Darlington School alumni Georgia Bulldogs football players {{offensive-lineman-stub