The first one I really remember following was Jeff Pyburn, QB at GA back in the day. Pre-Buck Belue. His dad was DC, or a D position coach. THey were from Athens area and the Pyburn family was friends with our close family friends (surrogate family) in Jasper, AL somehow. So, as a youngster, it was cool to have met the GA DC and QB and stretch the truth on being "friends" or atleast "knowing them". Later in his career, Jim Pyburn would also coach D at Abilene Christian where I attended for a couple years. Seems as though Jeff has made a long post football career as a PI lawyer in Phoenix. Odd to permanently root up in the desert hailing from the south.
Edit: Got curious and looked Jeff up. I forgot he was also a baseball player and made it AAA with San Diego before going to buffalo 4 years after footaball for an invite to try out for DB or LB, and added a career ending injury to his list of collegiate injuries and was out of sports. Having an off-season house in Arizona already he just stayed there and went to law school and has been with hte same firm his whole life since. Had one son play QB at Jacksonville State who would have finished in the last 4-6 years. A daughter who played volleyball at THe Masters Univsersity in Cali, and a son who was a OL at Montana Tech. I also remember Willie McClendon as the RB during Jeff's years at GA. He was really good too.