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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > April > 18
Friday, April 18, 2008
Darren Woodson surprised by Herschel’s mental issues
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Now it makes sense.
Or does it?
Who knows what to believe anymore when Herschel Walker’s tongue is flapping, and you’re listening?
If nothing else, everybody has to ask themselves the following when it comes to their past dealings with this University of Georgia legend: So was that the real Herschel speaking, or was it one of the two, seven, 12 or how many other Herschels that supposedly existed through the decades, according to “Breaking Free,” the recently published book written by either one or several of those Herschels?
I’m wondering as much as anybody, especially after a bizarre conversation I had with Walker last autumn that I eventually wrote about. One moment, we were discussing Knowshon Moreno’s dramatic rise to become the 21st century version at Georgia of Garrison Hearst, Rodney Hampton, Tim Worley and the aforementioned “He’s running over people!” guy from Wrightsville. The next, Walker was sprinting out of nowhere to mention how he wished to knock the arrogance and everything else out of Steve Spurrier in a boxing match.
Where did that come from?
At first, I thought Walker was kidding, because this didn’t make sense. We weren’t talking about Spurrier, the South Carolina football coach, who is years removed as Georgia’s Darth Vader with the Mighty Gators. Even so, Walker wouldn’t let this Spurrier thing drop. That’s because Walker wasn’t kidding, and it didn’t matter that the physically imposing former college and NFL star was 45 to Spurrier’s 62. Walker just kept steaming and ripping Spurrier for taking his old school to task a few weeks earlier over the Bulldogs’ juvenile moment in the last Georgia-Florida game.
That moment came after Georgia scored the game’s first touchdown, and coach Mark Richt watched all of his Bulldogs follow orders by rushing into the end zone to celebrate the moment. Spurrier said later that he would have countered Richt’s move by sending one of Florida’s third-stringers into the Dog pile to pick a fight and force the SEC to suspend a slew of prominent Georgia players.
“Well, you know, is that not insulting? That’s totally insulting for a coach of [Spurrier’s] stature to say something so stupid,” said Walker, the disgust in his voice becoming more pronounced by the millisecond. “So my question I say to him is, if he’s got that much guts, why don’t he step in a ring against me? You don’t say something that silly, because you’re going to get somebody hurt. Georgia was punished, because that’s a penalty. They didn’t go out to hurt anyone. He talks about hurting somebody. How much guts do you have? Step in a ring with me, and we’ll see.”
This was one of those other Herschels speaking.
It had to be.
Given the real Herschel’s historically peaceful spirit and strong spiritual leanings, the only person that the real Herschel would challenge to a fight would be Satan, at least according to most.
“You know what? This just blows me away, because I never in my wildest dreams would have thought something mentally was going on with Herschel Walker, of all people,” said Darren Woodson, the perennial Pro Bowl safety who played two seasons with Walker for the Dallas Cowboys in the mid-1990s. Woodson added over the phone on Friday from his home in Dallas, “He was always in the same mood, in the same place when he came out of the locker room. He was a big guy, a gentle guy. He talked to everyone. He was a regular at Bible study.
“I can tell you this: I played with [defensive lineman] Alonzo Spellman who you just knew was bipolar, but there was not one person in that locker room who would say they saw any sign whatsoever that Herschel was sick.”
So what’s going on here? Woodson paused, sighed and then said, “To sell books? I don’t know.”
I don’t know, either.
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