Once a character in UGA-Bama rivalry, Chris Conley now tells his own stories
Former Georgia wide receiver Chris Conley was in downtown Athens recently when he encountered a Bulldogs fan who wanted to offer his consolation for a game that took place 13 years ago.
UGA diehards probably know the game the fan was referring to. In the 2012 SEC championship game at the Georgia Dome — a de facto play-in game for the national championship — No. 2 Alabama slipped past the No. 3 Bulldogs, 32-28.
On the final play, Georgia was inside the Alabama 10-yard line and needed a touchdown to win but was out of timeouts. Conley caught a deflected pass not intended for him and fell inbounds short of the goal line. The clock expired before the Bulldogs could get another play off.
The Crimson Tide went on to rout Notre Dame for a national championship that almost surely would have been Georgia’s had the Bulldogs defeated Alabama. Conley’s unwitting reception is an indelible, if painful, memory for Georgia fans who have agonized over Alabama’s domination of the series. The Bulldogs will again try to break the chain Saturday as the two teams meet for the SEC title at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Back to Conley, who said the fan told him that catching the ball — not in a position to score, he could have allowed the ball to fall incomplete and stop the clock — was the natural thing for him to do. It was a well-meaning attempt to relieve Conley of any guilt he might feel for the play.
One small thing.
“I had no idea what he was talking about until he kept talking for a while,” Conley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a phone interview this week.
It is perhaps the best response that you might hope Conley could give. We sometimes trap athletes in ember, forever thinking of them as who they were when they played for the teams we follow. And sometimes athletes confine themselves to that same identity, unable to move past.
But Conley most surely has.
“For the most part, there’s been so many things that have happened since then,” he said.
After announcing his retirement from the NFL in June after a 10-year career, Conley is back in Athens, pursuing a master’s degree at the UGA film school.
“I’m enjoying it,” said Conley, 33. “This has been a dream of mine for a long time, to go into filmmaking.”
So much so that he’s only been to one Georgia game this season. Beyond raising two children — daughters Calani, 4, and Caia, 2 — with his wife, Brianna, Conley has been consumed with 16 credit hours of classes, writing papers, making films and helping classmates with theirs.
“It’s been a long time since I did an annotated bibliography,” he said.
This is no idle pursuit. UGA fans may remember Conley wrote, directed and starred in a “Star Wars” fan film in 2014 while in school that included cameo appearances by teammate Todd Gurley and coach Mark Richt. During his NFL career, he used his offseasons to make short films, some of which can be seen on his YouTube channel (@conmanXP). For amateur productions, Conley’s filmmaking skill is evident — along with his heart, sense of whimsy and creativity.
In his NFL career, Conley played in a Super Bowl and appeared in 132 regular-season games. According to Pro Football Reference, only three players selected with him in the third round of the 2015 draft class played in more games, a testament to his ability and dependability.
Conley could have kept playing, but he made the decision to cap his career at 10 seasons in accordance with a goal he set for himself as a student at North Paulding High to play that many years professionally. Compared to pursuing a career in a highly competitive field, continuing to play and living a comfortable life did hold appeal.
“I elected to retire and to chase this dream, even as crazy as it is,” Conley said.
And that is where he is, at the start of a 2½-year master’s program. He is older than nearly all of his classmates. He rarely gets recognized on campus. He is busy learning the skills — such as writing, editing and pitching — necessary to reach his goal of being a director and screenwriter of feature films.
Among his projects is a narrative short film based on the integration of the university, including “The First Five” — the five men who integrated the football team in 1971.
“I’m excited for the day that I get to show the world some of the other stuff I can do,” Conley said. “Now, it’s just the grind phase. I’ve got to do the work right now.”
He is well aware of his team’s trials against its crimson nemesis, the struggle that goes back to his own days in red and black.
“I don’t watch all the games, but I do understand that,” he said. “I understand it’s a hump that they’ve got to get over. I believe in the guys.”
Saturday, he’ll make a point to watch the game, but it’s a busy day for his studies. In the morning, he’ll be screening the film he has worked on this fall and then prepping for a Sunday shoot of another film that he and his classmates are making outside of the program. Conley is the producer.
His football dreams fulfilled, new aspirations unfold.
About the Author
Ken Sugiura is a sports columnist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Formerly the Georgia Tech beat reporter, Sugiura started at the AJC in 1998 and has covered a variety of beats, mostly within sports.
