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ATLANTA -- The Ridley family will be split on Monday.

Alabama junior wide receiver Calvin Ridley will play in his third College Football Playoff National Championship Game, but half of his family will be cheering for the Crimson Tide’s opponent, No. 3 Georgia, because of the Bulldogs’ sophomore wideout Riley Ridley.

Or his younger brother, who used to go by Cavin Ridley.

The two siblings will face off as their teams play for the national title Monday in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. And until the final horn sounds in Atlanta, they have nothing to say to each other.

“I’ll talk to him after the game,” Riley Ridley said Saturday. “It’s a work week.”

Don’t get it twisted, though, Calvin and Riley are loving brothers.

But business is business. And to be the best in college football, you have to beat the best in the sport. Alabama and Georgia are those two teams to end this year, and each Ridley brother stands in the way of the other lifting a national championship trophy on Monday.

It would also go against everything they’ve said to each other since they were kids.

Georgia WR Riley Ridley

Calvin, the older brother, has always motivated Riley to dream big. Before he joined the Crimson Tide program, the elder of the two explained what was going to happen in Tuscaloosa. Three years later, Calvin is eight receptions away from tying Amari Cooper’s team record for catches in a career (128) and has caught at least one pass in every game he has played.

“What’s crazy is before we came to school he told me, ‘I’m going to go be the best,’” Riley said. “And when my brother says certain things, you don’t take it for granted because he really means it. … Just seeing him do these things now is remarkable.”

A 3-year starter at Alabama, Calvin has been one of the best receivers in the nation. But Riley has found a path of his own.

The now-sophomore wide receiver chose Georgia over Alabama as a 4-star prospect out of Deerfield Beach (Fla.) and has been a key contributor in Athens, Ga., to start his career. This season, he has compiled eight catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns.

“I didn’t really think about it as my brother’s choice. I thought of it as my choice,” Riley said. “I understood that he had a good career going at Alabama, and I wanted to do the same. I just felt it would be a better choice for me to do it here at Georgia.”

The two have battled like that since the days of their youth in Florida.

Riley joked the first time he beat his older brother in basketball was at two years old, and that Calvin used to get angry when his younger sibling would beat him in quick, 20-yard races.

That type of approach carried over to the football field when the duo first started playing on the same team. And it’s also where the talk of reaching their football and family dreams started.

“My brother always told me, ‘We can’t be sorry. We’ve got to be good, we’ve got to provide for our family,’” Riley said. “Since then, we’ve always had the same mentality playing ball and taking care of our family.”

That family will be torn Monday at 7:17 p.m. CT. But that doesn’t matter to the players. The only person Riley was concerned about was his mother, “but she’s rooting for Calvin and Cavin.”

And although he might not outwardly celebrate on the Georgia sideline, if his brother continues his current trend of catching a pass in every game, Riley will likely have a smile on his face.

“I’m going to always root for my brother, even if he’s on Alabama. That’s family. Even though I play for Georgia, I’ll be rooting for my teammates and myself and hoping that we come out with the W. But if Jerry (Jeudy) or my brother make a play, I’m all for it.”

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).