Based on the time that news stories were posted on the Internet, Mark Beard’s departure from the Georgia football program lasted about 17 hours. In reality, it was much shorter than that.
“I changed my mind in like an hour,” said Beard, a rising 6-foot-5, 300-pound senior offensive lineman. “It stopped real quick.”
On the afternoon of Feb. 6, Beard informed Georgia coach Mark Richt that he had decided to quit the program. He intended to take advantage of the NCAA’s senior transfer rule and find another place to play his final season in college.
But it wasn’t long after having that conversation — then calling his mother in Adamsville, Ala., to inform her of the decision he made — that Beard dialed Richt’s cellphone again and asked the coach if he would take him back.
“My mom, she’s one of the biggest die-hard Georgia fans there is,” Beard said with a grin. “I told her I’d stick it out.”
It’s a scenario lived out by many. Of the hundreds of football players who have come through the Bulldogs’ program over the years, a surprisingly large number have either informed a coach of their intention to quit or actually followed through with that intent.
Former Georgia coach Vince Dooley still tells the story of Mike “Moonpie” Wilson going home and swearing he was never coming back, only to return and lead Georgia to an SEC championship in 1976 as an All-SEC offensive lineman as a senior. So regular were such occurrences that Dooley appointed assistant Doc Ayers as his “Bring-Em-Back-Alive” coach.
Richt also can cite multiple examples off the top of his head. David Pollack is one of his better known ones. Fernando Velasco was the story he shared with Beard.
Velasco toiled as a backup lineman at Georgia for three seasons before finally breaking through as a starting guard as a senior. Velasco will play his eighth season in the NFL this fall.
“I wasn’t surprised that he changed his mind,” Richt said of Beard. “He was making the decision when he was really emotional about it. I think it was a culmination of not playing a lot last year, and then the mat drills in the morning, there was … it got heated up a little bit, which it tends to do from time to time. I think he was just like, ‘You know what, I’m done.’ It just wasn’t a wise thing to do.”
Beard said his motivation for leaving goes back to last season when he played very little, and then only as a backup to Kenarious Gates at left tackle. It was an unexpected change of direction from his sophomore campaign, when he played extensively in all 14 games with two starts.
“I was questioning my playing time as a senior,” Beard said. “This is my last year, and I wanted to go out good. I was kind of worried about it. I didn’t know what my future was.”
There also was the matter of some kind of blow-up during the Bulldogs’ famous mat drills. Nobody cared to relive it in any detail.
“It was just kind of frustrated,” Beard said sheepishly. “Just had attitude that day.”
There’s no question that some of the Bulldogs’ decisions on the reorganization of the offensive line did not sit well with Beard. As Gates’ backup at left tackle, he appeared to be heir apparent to succeed him as starter this season. But Georgia’s coaches decided to move rising junior John Theus from right tackle to left and move Beard inside to left guard, which was left open with the graduation of Dallas Lee.
“Yeah, that’s the position I’ve played since little league, so that’s the position I’m comfortable with,” Beard said of left tackle. “But if it takes me starting at left guard, I’ll start at left guard. … I’m cool with it. My main goal since I’ve been here, when I committed years ago, I just want to start.”
There’s no guarantees of that either, but that’s a chance Beard is willing to take.
“It’s all been positive,” he said. “A lot of players told me they didn’t want to see me leave. Since Day 1, every teammate I’ve had at Georgia has been like a brother to me. They opened their arms when I came here from junior college, and I really didn’t want to leave them like that.”
For Richt, it was just another episode in the continuing drama it is to coach college.
“He’s got a great spirit, a great attitude, he’s working hard,” Richt said. “I’ve got no problem. We’ve never had a problem out of Mark Beard.”
Arrests update: Richt said the four players arrested March 17 for theft by deception are being disciplined with "early-morning running and things of that nature," but "there's more to come," he said. Safety Tray Matthews, receiver Uriah LeMay and defensive linemen Jonathan Taylor and James DeLoach have participated in all four spring practices since their arrests. Richt said that's not a sign that he has decided to keep them on the team. "Just thinking it through real good," he said.
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