Hutson Mason, now Georgia’s No. 1 quarterback, said late Saturday night that it was “almost jaw-dropping” to see Aaron Murray being helped to the locker room, his left leg unable to bear weight. And it was. For 52 games over four careening seasons, the thing Murray did best — and he did many things well — was get back up.
He’d taken frightful hits from the famous (Auburn’s Nick Fairley, South Carolina’s Jadeveon Clowney) and a cheap shot from a lesser light (Alabama’s Quinton Dial). He’d led with his head to score the touchdown that gave Georgia an astonishing lead at Auburn on a recent day that would yield an even greater astonishment. Murray’s team didn’t win every game, but no loss was ever because of his lack of trying.
But now he’s done, 52-and-skiddoo. It was announced Sunday morning that he’ll undergo surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered in the thrashing of Kentucky on a night that began with the fifth-year senior being saluted for a career that can stand alongside any Georgia quarterback’s of any era. He will not play against Georgia Tech, the rival against which he’d engineered three victories. He will not play in a bowl. After playing for what seemed liked forever, Murray will play for the Bulldogs no more.
In the end, whatever it was that impelled him to get back up might have done Murray a disservice. He hurt his left knee on a 28-yard option run to start the second quarter — coach Mark Richt said Sunday that Murray “felt something pop but didn’t know for sure what it was” — but waved off Mason and threw his fourth touchdown pass of the night shortly thereafter. Georgia coaches had determined that Murray should then take a seat. Murray refused.
Speaking Saturday night, Richt said: “I asked, ‘Has somebody told Murray?’ So I went and found him — he was on the bicycle — and he was adamant (about staying in). I said, ‘Get on the headset and convince your coach (offensive coordinator Mike Bobo).’”
Bobo said he told Murray, “I need to see you move around.” Apparently Murray moved well enough on the sideline to allay Bobo’s fears. The man who’d started every Georgia game since Sept. 4, 2010, would work one last series.
On third-and-goal from the Kentucky 8, Murray threw a pass that receiver Rhett McGowan tipped into the hands of a defender while Murray was being spun around and flung to the turf by an onrushing Za’Darius Smith. Murray’s knee buckled in mid-spin. The quarterback who always got up stayed down.
Richt would say afterward that “it was evident it wasn’t safe for him to be out there.” So why was he? Who’s running the team, the quarterback or his coaches?
Georgia’s coaches love Murray — “I’ve never had a kid like him; all he does every day is try to make Georgia the best in the country,” Bobo would say — and they wanted badly for him to have a bravura Senior Night. Still, if it wasn’t safe for him to play, you do whatever it takes to get him off the field. You call timeout. You threaten to take away his scholarship. You make the adult decision, because that’s your responsibility. (Yes, Murray is 23, which makes him technically an adult.)
Richt said Sunday that the MRI revealed the torn ACL “was the only injury. It’s not like there was added cartilage or bone chips or something.” In the end, the quarterback who’d had the bad luck to be on the wrong end of some famous finishes got lucky. His stubborn nature didn’t add injury to injury.
Richt said he talked with the crestfallen Murray at halftime — the quarterback would soon leave for St. Mary’s Hospital — and Murray made the sardonic observation: “That’s how our season has gone.” Sometimes bad things just happen. A lot of bad things just happened to this Georgia team.
Some Georgia fans have long wanted to see what Mason can do and here’s their chance. In extended appearances against Appalachian State and Kentucky, the backup looked very good. But App State and UK are terrible. Georgia Tech is not. I wouldn’t extrapolate much from Mason’s relief stints beyond saying that he’s not apt to be overwhelmed by the moment. Neither is he apt to be Aaron Murray.
For as much criticism as was leveled at Murray for not winning the Big Game (which he wound up doing several times, by the way) or for making too many big mistakes, he was a tremendous college player. I’ve been watching Georgia quarterbacks since the days of the Goff/Robinson tandem, and there’s not one I’d put above him. Not a single one.
