Late Monday afternoon, University of Georgia student Peyton Bennett drove to a post office in Athens. He needed to ship out a few packages to some loyal Bulldogs fans.
“They’re selling really quickly,” said Bennett, a senior business major from Lilburn.
As of now, Bennett makes a profit off the name Todd Gurley. The bearer of that name, on the other hand, remains indefinitely suspended by the university for allegedly doing the same thing. The irony does not escape Bennett.
By selling #FreeGurley T-shirts around campus in Athens, Bennett says he’s “pointing out a huge flaw in the system that the NCAA has.” And he makes some money while doing so.
The suspension and investigation of Gurley surrounds the allegation that he took money for signing memorabilia for a dealer. It took Bennett three days following the announcement of Gurley’s suspension to churn a similar profit.
Each white Gildan T-shirt, branded #FreeGurley in bold black and red font, sells for $15 a pop.
“We sold about 100 in three days with really no marketing plan besides walking on campus wearing them,” Bennett said.
Bennett and his friends who helped create and sell the shirts needed little help other than word of mouth and social media. He sent out email flyers to Greek organizations and club sport teams on campus and is working with one downtown Athens bar to give away free shirts when patrons spend a given amount on drinks.
The shirts, he said, allow Georgia fans to support Gurley as a show of solidarity as he awaits a decision from the NCAA on his punishment and possible reinstatement.
“Somebody told me they were wearing the shirt and Todd Gurley saw them and pointed at them and gave him the head nod,” said Bennett, who does not know Gurley personally. “Not that he was endorsing it or anything, but that he recognized it and respected it I guess.”
A picture of Gurley made its rounds on Twitter over the weekend in which it appears the tailback is wearing a navy “Free Gurley” T-shirt. Bennett confirmed that the shirt is not his, and that although there are many other fans creating similar merchandise, he said he is the only one with access to Georgia’s campus as a student.
Since his suspension on Oct. 9, Gurley has missed the two games against Missouri and Arkansas, both of which Georgia won. Gurley and the rest of the Bulldogs are off this week, a welcomed bye week that precedes their game in Jacksonville against Florida on Nov. 1.
Senior offensive lineman Kolton Houston experienced his fair share of NCAA uncertainty when the governing body of college athletics deemed him ineligible for testing positive for an anabolic steroid he took in high school to recover from an injury.
“Limbo is no fun,” Houston said. “Unfortunately my limbo lasted like two and a half years. Hopefully Todd’s will only last a week or so. It’s not any fun.
“It’s more of a mental thing, just feeling the mental agony,” Houston went on to say about practicing while ineligible. “But at the end of the day it’s our work. It’s what we do and you’ve got to come do it.”
Gurley practiced with the team in the week leading into the Arkansas game and will continue to do so, according to coach Mark Richt. Junior outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins said Gurley is his jovial self at practice with the team.
“It just makes you think what’s going on in his head, what’s going on his mind because it’s troubling for some of us just seeing how it’s going for him, but you just wonder how he feels,” Jenkins said.
Bennett has mixed feelings about when Gurley might return. He hopes and suspects no later than Auburn on Nov. 15 based purely on speculation.
“As a Georgia fan, I hope [the suspension] is lifted as soon as possible,” Bennett said. “As a T-shirt salesman, I’m kind of hoping it’ll stay unannounced a bit longer.”
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