William King, the Birmingham lawyer who represented Todd Gurley while he was being investigated for NCAA rules violations, says boosting his client’s insurance coverage was not a condition for his return to Georgia.
“I wish I could take credit for being that smart, but I can’t,” King said in a statement emailed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I can’t comment on the specifics of Todd’s insurance, but any suggestion that Georgia did anything to convince Todd to play again, or that Todd had any conditions for returning to the field, is just wrong. Todd’s decision to return to the field had nothing to do with insurance.”
According to sources familiar with the situation, UGA actually purchased additional insurance on Gurley after Gurley applied to the NCAA to have his eligibility restored on Oct. 22. It was after that date that Gurley’s benefit was raised to $10 million — $5 million for total disability and $5 million for loss of value toward his NFL draft status — after previously being covered for $5 million total.
Gurley was suspended by UGA on Oct. 9 after its two-day investigation verified accusations that he had been autographing sports memorabilia for money for more than two years. Gurley had already been suspended for two games by the time he applied for reinstatement and the NCAA extended his suspension two more games.
Gurley played his first game since then this past Saturday against Auburn. He had rushed for 138 yards on 29 carries and a touchdown when he suffered an ACL tear in his left knee with 5:21 remaining in the fourth quarter of that game.
That knee injury is expected to cause Gurley’s draft stock to drop. Before the injury, he had projected as an early-to -middle-first-round selection. Now that he is looking at surgery and an eight to 12-month rehabilitation, it will likely be below that.
If Gurley fell out of the first round, the loss-of-value clause on his insurance policy would be activated.
“He’s not really looking at a free fall,” said ESPN NFL draft analyst Todd McShay, who had Gurley rated as the No. 10 overall player on his board. “He probably will wind up dropping about a half-round or so. But I think he becomes a really intriguing kind of risk/reward prospect late in the first (round), early in the second.”
McShay mentioned the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots, who have late first-round picks, and the Jacksonville Jaguars and St. Louis Rams, who select early in the second, as possible destinations.
McShay compared Gurley’s scenario to the one experienced by Willis McGahee in 2003. McGahee was an All-American tailback with the Miami Hurricanes when he suffered a major knee injury in the fourth quarter of the Fiesta Bowl. McGahee was drafted with the 23rd pick of the first round by the Buffalo Bills. He played in the NFL for 10 years before being cut by the Denver Broncos last year.
“McGahee is probably a good example of a guy who gets injured at the running back position and gets picked in the first round,” McShay said. “The position was more important or viewed with higher value back then. But I also think Gurley is as good if not better as far as his prospects.”
About the Author
