Coaches normally are resistant to change during the season. They like to do things the same way every week, stay in a routine. They generally don’t want one week to look different from the next regardless of what game is coming up that particular Saturday.
Georgia coach Mark Richt went in a different direction this week. With junior tailback Todd Gurley coming back from a four-game NCAA suspension and an important game against Auburn on the horizon, Richt decided to batten down the hatches from a media-access standpoint.
Richt shut down regular post-practice interview opportunities after Monday’s practice and has done the same thing for Wednesday’s workouts. Tuesday’s weekly “media day” was limited to four hand-picked players of Richt’s choosing. It was no coincidence they were all seniors coached to toe the party line.
Even coordinators and assistant coaches, normally available at the end of the day on Tuesdays, weren’t made available. Gurley, it should be noted, also hasn’t been available to speak. And he won’t be unless it’s after Saturday’s night’s game against the Tigers — if then. UGA hasn’t made that decision yet.
“Well, I just felt like probably the most-asked question was going to be, ‘what do you think about Todd being back, what do you think about, you know, all that stuff?’ And I wanted to just get through this week,” Richt explained during his weekly news conference Tuesday. “It’s our normal policy for a guy coming off suspension not to talk to the media, period. So Todd’s deal is nothing new.”
So the Bulldogs appear to be wound just a little tight this week. But they insist they’re not. Gurley’s return is not as big a deal to the team as it is to everybody else, they insist.
“It’s not like Todd hasn’t been around,” senior center David Andrews said. “He’s been practicing every week. It’s not like he’s coming off an injury or something like that. He’s played all season. And Todd’s a gamer. He’s going to be ready to go and we’re just going to go out and do our thing.”
Said quarterback Hutson Mason: “There’s a lot more chatter now that Todd’s back. He’s always chirping. So he just kind of brings that feeling to practice and to games where you know you’ve got your best player. It’s exciting when you know you’ve got a great weapon back.”
Gurley was suspended for Georgia’s previous four games as punishment for admitting that he had accepted more than $3,000 from sports-memorabilia dealers for autographing merchandise over the past two years. That’s a violation of NCAA rules regarding improper benefits and amateurism.
The Bulldogs went 3-1 during Gurley’s absence, winning road games at Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky and losing to arch-rival Florida 38-20 on Nov. 1.
It could be argued that Gurley’s actions put his team in a bind. But his teammates weren’t taking it that way. Said Andrews: “No one’s mad at Todd. We all love Todd and we’re just ready to play with him.
Instead, Richt said his star tailback should be lauded for the way he handled the investigation and for his attitude since the ruling.
“I’m proud of the guy being truthful,” Richt said. “You know, I still think it’s the best policy. I still think if I’m an NFL team and I’m looking at Gurley, I’m going to say, ‘you know what, the guy might have done this thing …’ I don’t know how much they care that he got some money to sign some autographs or not, but I think they care about his character and they care about what kind of person he is. … If you make a mistake, you know, ‘fess up to it. And he did, and I’m proud of him. And I’m glad the suspension is over, and I’m looking forward to watching him play.”
That’s the other effect of Gurley’s return. There’s a general state of giddiness in the Bulldogs’ camp. Despite not having Gurley — a Heisman Trophy front-runner and the SEC’s leading rusher at the time of his departure — for the past four games, Georgia continues to lead the SEC in scoring (43.8 ppg).
Much of that success has to be credited to freshman tailback Nick Chubb, who averaged 168 yards rushing and score five touchdowns in his four fill-in starts. Now he moves back one spot in the rotation behind Gurley, who is averaging 156 yards per game. Add to that the recent returns of tailback Sony Michel and receivers Malcolm Mitchell and Jonathon Rumph, and the Bulldogs believe they'll be more explosive than ever.
“He looks just as fresh and healthy as he’s every looked to me,” Mason said. “To be able to have not only him but Chubb and Sony and all those fresh legs, it’s been a while since we’ve had that.”
Gurley’s return goes beyond what he can do on the football field, other players say.
“What Todd does for this team emotionally and as a leader, we need that from him,” Swann said. “He’s one of the best if not the best player in college football right now. So when you’ve got that guy as a part of your team, how he can respond and how he can make a team react, that’s big for us. He’s been that way for a couple of years now. So having him back around full time now is going to be big for us.”
That said, Richt would like to limit the Gurley talk from this point forward.
“I want everybody to be excited about Todd being back,” he said, “I am and the rest of the team is and the staff is. But let’s focus on the game. Let’s focus on Georgia.”
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