Continuing our weekly series on top players at specific positions at several elite SEC programs, we’ll look at Georgia’s secondary over the last half-century:

Who are the Bulldogs’ five best defensive backs? The order of this list will be debated, but each made a tremendous impact on the program:

5. Bacarri Rambo (2009-12)

This multi-year starter and fearless hitter from his safety position tied a program-record with 16 interceptions during his career, assuming a starting role as sophomore after spending much of his 2009 freshman season as a situational threat. A first-team All-American in 2011, Rambo picked off a league-high eight passes, swatted 16 others and helped the Bulldogs reach the SEC Championship Game.

During that pivotal season, Rambo lost a stillborn son, Braylin, three days prior to intercepting two passes during a win over Ole Miss. Rambo played through the pain and dedicated the rest of his junior campaign to the little man he never knew.

One of college football’s fastest players in coverage during his stint at Georgia, Rambo was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the sixth round of the 2013 draft to provide extra help in a depleted secondary, but his skills didn’t translate as fast as he had hoped. He struggled with tackling at the next level and was signed by the Buffalo Bills as a free agent the following season.

“We tried as a coaching staff to give him every opportunity to be successful, and hopefully, he’ll go somewhere else, calm down and relax,” Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett told the Washington Post in November 2014. “I think he was so nervous to make a play that he couldn’t make a play, so hopefully he’ll get another opportunity.”

4. John Little (1984-86)

As Terry Hoage’s primary replacement in 1984, Little emerged as a top underclassmen playmaker in the secondary who wasn’t afraid to make tackles. Georgia wasn’t sure what it had in the hard-nosed defensive back, but he proved to be a diamond in the rough as an eventual three-year starter.

Little got acclimated so quickly to the college game that he posted All-American seasons in 1985 and 1986 and was one of the team’s top tacklers despite his primary focus against the pass during those years. Little’s 381 career stops is the most-ever by a Georgia defensive back.

3. Jake Scott (1967-68)

There may not have been a more productive two-year player at Georgia than this safety, the Bulldogs’ record holder in career interceptions (16). Scott led the SEC in picks both of his seasons in Athens and was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1986. During an era dominated by the run-heavy offenses, no defensive back made more plays while the ball was in the air. His career highlights included two interception returns for touchdowns against Kentucky (SEC record) and a punt return score during a win over Tennessee.

“You know how I feel about Herschel (Walker). Nobody did more for Georgia than Herschel,” former Georgia quarterback Mike Cavan told Tony Barnhart during a 2011 interview. “But Jake Scott! Good Lord. He was just the best football player I’ve ever seen.”

A bit of a headache off the field at times, Georgia coach Vince Dooley respected Scott’s game called him a ‘free spirit’ before suspending him prior to the 1968 season. At the urging of teammates, Dooley let Scott back on the team and the Bulldogs won the SEC Championship that season with the star safety was named the league’s most valuable player.

His NFL career was arguably more impressive than his college days. After leaving Georgia a year early to pursue a one-year stint in the Canadian League, Scott was signed by the Miami Dolphins in 1970 and played in five consecutive Pro Bowls to go along with three Super Bowl appearances. He won a championship and was named SB VII MVP in 1972.  In 2011, Scott became the 12th Georgia player to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

2. Champ Bailey (1996-98)

Ask anyone associated with Georgia football over the last several decades and you’ll hear a near unanimous player uttered as the program’s top multi-position threat. With a name like Champ, you’re destined for stardom and this Folkston, Ga., native didn’t disappoint.

One of the SEC’s top cover guys during his time, Bailey won the Nagurski award in 1998 as the top defensive player in college football and was a unanimous All-American selection. A trend-setter as a playmaker with the ball in his hands, Bailey played the majority of his team’s snaps during the 1997 and 1998 seasons, catching passes on offense, covering the opposition’s best wideout on defense and returning kicks and punts on special teams.

As a freshman in 1996, Bailey was clocked at a league-best 4.29 seconds in the 40-yard dash, an element that later became a leading talent indicator in recruiting. In the ‘offseason’, Bailey starred on Georgia’s track team and set a school indoor long jump record as a junior with a leap of 7.89 meters at the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships. He also participated in the 55 and 60 meters.

His career on the SEC gridiron ended with 147 tackles, eight interceptions, 1,588 yards of total offense and five touchdowns.

The seventh overall pick by the Washington Redskins in 1999 after leaving Georgia a year early, Bailey garnered 12 Pro Bowl selections during his 15 seasons as a pro, tied for second-most in NFL history by a defensive player and tops for a cornerback. He was one of the game’s premiere shutdown defenders for nearly a decade and later in his career, quarterbacks rarely threw to his side of the field.

A member of the Denver Broncos’ 50th Anniversary Team, Bailey retired with the team he spent the most years in November 2014 with 52 career interceptions, 925 total tackles and a Super Bowl appearance. He’ll be eligible as a first ballot Hall of Famer in 2019.

“The work is done,” Bailey said according to the Denver Post at his retirement press conference. “There’s nothing I can do about it now. Looking back, I think it’s a first ballot career, but I’m not voting. I just hope I convinced enough people that it was.”

1. Terry Hoage (1980-83)

A consensus first-team All-American his junior and senior seasons in Athens, Hoage earned SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors twice and was named a Heisman finalist in 1982 — a rarity for a defensive player in any era of college football. During his four-year stint as a starter, the Bulldogs went 43-4-1, captured three conference titles and a national championship.

Hoage holds the SEC record for interceptions in a single season (12, 1982) and is one of only three Bulldogs ever to pick off three passes in a single game (Vanderbilt, 1982). At the turn of the century, Hoage was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and is a member of the Walter Camp All-Century Team as a safety. The Texas native played 13 years in the NFL after being drafted by the New Orleans Saints in 1984 and tallied 21 career interceptions with six different teams. He won a Super Bowl with the Washington Redskins in 1992.

Legendary Georgia coach Vince Dooley said of Hoage: “He’s the best defensive player I’ve ever coached and maybe the best one I’ve ever seen.”

Hoage’s story after football is an interesting one.

He and his wife purchased a 26-acre Californian vineyard in 2002 and eventually turned that into a profitable wine-making business. Several of Hoage’s wines are named after Georgia football-related memories including ‘The Hedge’, a rich wine that pays homage to the well-known foliage around Sanford Stadium. The equivalent to a multi-interception outing in the wine business is scoring the industry’s standard of 100 on the wine scale. Hoage says there’s a fine line between perfection and disappointment.

“In football, at the end of the day you know who the better team is,” Hoage told Yahoo Sports in 2012. “In the wine world, that’s impossible.”