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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > September > 09
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Moreno leaps into legendary status
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Athens — Just like that, Knowshon Moreno is a Georgia legend for the ages. It doesn’t matter if he fails to do anything else dandy with a spin or a leap the rest of his career for the Bulldogs. There was Saturday at Sanford Stadium against Central Michigan, and that was enough.
With Moreno’s feet spread wider apart in midair than your average human wearing football cleats, he soared over a 5-foot-10 safety to complete a long sprint before returning to earth.
You had to be there, because it was more amazing than that. Not since Hershel Walker prompted somebody to scream into a microphone “He’s running over people!” nearly three decades ago in Knoxville has the Bulldog Nation seen anything as breathtaking from a tailback.
Ever see that Herschel play? “No, I haven’t,” said the soft-spoken Moreno on Tuesday about that moment when Walker clobbered Tennessee’s Bill Bates on the way to the end zone. Yes, Moreno wasn’t born until seven years after that famous Georgia play. Yes, he grew up far from SEC country in New Jersey. Still, Walker-Bates is everywhere around here.
You can catch it on the big video screen before each home game as part of Georgia all-time highlights. In the Butts-Mehre Building, home to the football locker room for practices, you can push a button on one of the kiosks in the Bulldogs’ Sports Hall of Fame to cheer Walker flatten Bates as many times as you like.
Moreno is oblivious to it all, which isn’t a bad thing, by the way. He is a redshirt sophomore along the way to becoming a first-round pick in the NFL draft, but he rarely sees replays of himself. He spends more time playing his Xbox than watching television. “He’s very humble, and for somebody who is on the cover of magazines and things of that nature, he doesn’t talk much about football,” said Georgia cornerback Asher Allen.
Added wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, “He’s just a normal guy. Whether it’s about life or what you’re doing for dinner, he’s a genuine person who isn’t going to brag or boast.”
He could join a slew of others in becoming a Knowshonmaniac, because it’s like this in Bulldog history: You had Trippi, Sinkwich, Tarkenton and the rest before Herschel, and then you had Bailey, Pollack and those other Bulldog runners of lore afterward. Now you have Moreno preparing for just his ninth game as a starter on Saturday against South Carolina, and he already is within another splendid play or three of ranking with the elite of the Georgia elite.
That’s assuming Moreno isn’t already there. If you combine his hurdle with his dramatic twists and turns as a freshman — highlighted by his 188 yards rushing for three touchdowns against the hated Gators — Moreno is at least a neo-Herschel when it comes to producing wows.
“He has the stuff that makes legends, I guess, or of a guy who can be remembered for a long time, because his productivity, no doubt, is unquestioned,” said Georgia coach Mark Richt. “It’s just his flair, his style, his energy. He’s very much like [David] Pollack in the way he approaches the game. Those two guys love to play and love to practice. When he gets in game, Knowshon is ready to go. Something just clicks.
“If he stays healthy, and if he sticks around a while …”
Richt didn’t finish. Moreno likely is gone from Georgia to the pros after this season, but his legacy will remain.
His hurdle sealed that.
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