Todd Gurley: ‘I probably would have hit the (transfer) portal three times’
Former Georgia star Todd Gurley recently revealed he would have attempted to enter the transfer portal after his freshman season with the Bulldogs.
Gurley, who ranks fourth on Georgia’s all-time rushing list with 3,285 yards over his three-year career in Athens, explained on a recent podcast his desire for variety would have been motivation to change schools.
“I ain’t gonna lie, I probably would have hit the portal three times,” said Gurley, who would have commanded sizable name, image and likeness funds on the heels of a 1,385-yard rushing season on his 222 carries (6.2 yards per carry) in 2012.
“I would have went to every school I wanted to go to.”
Gurley’s comments were particularly timely, as current Georgia coach Kirby Smart joked at the FWAA Freshman Players of the Year and Steve Spurrier Awards show in Gainesville, Florida, that he had concerns about Mario Cristobal taking more UGA players.
Carson Beck transferred to Miami following the 2024 season, leaving the Bulldogs with a first-year starting quarterback — Gunner Stockton — to break in entering the 2025 campaign.
Smart, in Gainesville with FWAA Defensive Freshman of the Year Ellis Robinson IV, noted Cristobal and Miami were the runners-up in Robinson’s recruitment, with Cristobal on hand at the event with Malachi Toney.
Former UGA coach Mark Richt told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution how he would have handled things had the transfer portal and NIL existed during Gurley’s era playing for the Bulldogs.
“We’d pay him what he’s worth and let him know how much he’s wanted and needed,” Richt, a retired first-ballot College Football Hall of Fame coach, said Tuesday. “We’d put him in a leadership position and ask him to encourage other players to stick together and be able to recruit new ones to the fold.”
Former Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity, who proceeded current AD Josh Brooks, said he’d have been behind Richt 100% in working to keep a player of Gurley’s great stature and talent.
“My response would have been, ‘How much do we need to pay him, and what do we need to do to keep him?’” McGarity told the AJC, when asked about the hypothetical situation triggered by Gurley’s eye-opening revelation. “It’s like free agency: LSU would pay X, Georgia do you want to match or find another back?
“With a person like Todd, and the type of person he is, you’d want to make sure he’s in the fold.”
McGarity, the current president and CEO of Gator Bowl Sports, said “it’s pro football now in a college football environment, where some kids are making more than some NFL coaches and players.”
Gurley shared his choice of schools after Georgia, in reflecting on his collegiate career.
“Realistically, if there wasn’t any probations at the time I went, I probably would have went to Georgia, (then) taken my talents down to South Beach, to Miami, or LSU, because I was an LSU fan growing up,” Gurley said.
“And then I would have made my way out here, either USC or UCLA, so I would have done everything I wanted to do.”
About the Author
Mike is in his 10th season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 25 years of CFB experience. Mike is a Heisman Trophy voter and former Football Writers President who was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
