DEL.ICIO.USCOLLEGE FOOTBALL: GEORGIA
Moreno makes decision without NFL input
The Atlanta Journal-Consitution
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Athens — Knowshon Moreno decided to leave Georgia and enter the NFL draft without any input from the league about his pro potential.
“I didn’t get my papers in on time,” Moreno said Wednesday, a bit sheepishly.
Brant Sanderlin / bsanderlin@ajc.com
Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno right, head coach Mark Richt, left, and quarterback Matthew Stafford enter Wednesday’s news conference.
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Most college-football underclassmen seek a projection from an NFL advisory committee of their likely draft status before leaving school early. Georgia coach Mark Richt said last month that Moreno had submitted his paperwork, but later found out differently from the NFL.
“Knowshon felt pretty good about his status, I guess,” Richt said.
The redshirt-sophomore tailback from Belford, N. J., felt good enough to announce Wednesday that he’ll forego his final two seasons of eligibility at Georgia and enter April’s NFL draft.
While he took the step without a league-generated projection of his potential, most media-generated mock drafts have pegged him as a middle to late first-round pick.
Asked if he projects himself as a first-rounder in a draft that could feature several other highly regarded underclassmen running backs, Moreno said: “You never know. People can say things about it, but it … depends on what a team needs at a certain time.”
In any case, Moreno said he was driven to leave school for the NFL because of a combination of football and financial considerations.
The main football consideration was that he plays a physically demanding position where careers tend to be shorter than at other positions.
“Like [NFL-bound teammate Matthew] Stafford said, I only have a few more carries in me,” Moreno said with a laugh. “That definitely was a factor.”
Finances were a consideration, he said, because he’ll be able to share the rewards of a lucrative NFL contract with family members.
“Of course, I’ll get my family something special,” he said after Wednesday’s press conference. “Supporting family really means a lot to me.”
His grandmother, aunt and uncle were in attendance for his announcement. Looking toward them at one point, Moreno said: “I love you guys so much.”
He said he consulted only with family before making what he called the “very tough decision” to enter the draft.
“What I thought about was: ‘Could I make an impact at the next level?’” he said. He decided that he could.
He said the hardest part of the decision would be leaving his Georgia teammates, although one of them — Stafford — accompanies him in the draft. Unlike Moreno, Stafford submitted his paperwork in time to the NFL’s draft advisory committee, which reassured him he’ll be a first-round pick.
Moreno leaves Georgia as the fourth leading rusher in school history despite playing only two seasons. He was redshirted as a freshman before gaining 2,734 yards in the past two seasons.
That ranks behind only Herschel Walker (5,259 yards), Garrison Hearst (3,232) and Lars Tate (3,017) on Georgia’s career rushing list. Walker and Hearst played three seasons and Tate four.
With 1,334 yards in 2007 and 1,400 in 2008, Moreno became the only Georgia player other than Walker to have back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.
Richt often reprimands himself for red-shirting Moreno in 2006, but the coach tapped his departing tailback on the shoulder and said: “That was a whole year’s worth of hits you didn’t take.”
