TAMPA — Aaron Murray can cut loose with the best of them. He proved that the weekend of Georgia’s bye in October when he was photographed holding what appeared to be a beer while posing with a shirtless, celebratory Florida State fan in Tallahassee.
But coach Mark Richt expressed confidence that Murray, Orson Charles and the other Tampans on the team — and there are a few — can focus on the task at hand and behave as the Bulldogs arrive on the players' home turf for eight days.
“As many big games as they’ve played in, I don’t think it will be a factor,” Richt said. “Maybe a freshman or a sophomore who hasn’t played that many games it would be, but I don’t think it will be for those guys.”
The Bulldogs arrived here late Monday afternoon to resume Outback Bowl preparations after five days off for Christmas break. More than 100 players arranged their own transportation to the team hotel.
Tampa is the stomping grounds of three of the Bulldogs’ biggest offensive stars. Of course, everybody knows about the quarterback Murray and the All-American tight end Charles, his favorite target. The two of them famously signed with Georgia out of the perennial powerhouse Plant High School. Wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell’s nickname is “Tampa” because he lived there for many years before moving to Valdosta as a teen-ager.
Also, linebacker Ramik Wilson hails from Jefferson High in Tampa. Freshman offensive lineman Zach DeBell and walk-on linebacker Kosta Vavlas are from nearby Tarpon Springs. Including walk-ons, a dozen players on Georgia’s roster are from Florida.
“It’s going to be great,” Murray said before leaving Athens. “I know a lot people who have been wanting to come up and watch Orson and me play, old teammates and old friends. Now they have the opportunity, and they don’t have to go anywhere. They can just stay home and watch it. So they’re going to be excited, and I know I’m excited to be at home.”
Said Charles: “It’s a blessing to be back in Tampa. I definitely can’t wait to have my family come to a game real close by and not have to use that much money. I’m just excited.”
Georgia has long recruited well in Florida, especially since Richt, whose hometown is Boca Raton, has been its coach. But landing the likes of Charles and Murray — elite prospects who were vigorously pursued by the state’s big three, Florida, FSU, Miami — out of the same high school, was an accomplishment of the first order.
“Those guys we were very fortunate to get out of the state of Florida, and both of them out of Tampa and off the same high school team,” Richt said. “And they were both big-time players. Sometimes you take teammates, and some people might say one’s better than the other, that you’re doing it to get the cow and you end up with the calf. But both of those guys were big-time players, and we’re just thankful they came to Georgia. I hope they have a lot of fun this trip.”
Georgia certainly has benefited from their presence. Charles leads the Bulldogs with 572 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns on 44 receptions this season. He has caught 93 passes for 1,368 yards and 10 scores in his three seasons with the Bulldogs.
Murray has proved to be one of the more prolific quarterbacks in Georgia history. In two seasons as the Dogs’ starter, he has thrown for 5,910 yards with 57 touchdowns with 20 interceptions. His 33 touchdowns this season are a school record, and he’s the SEC’s leading active player in total offense (6,193), completions (427), touchdown responsibility (63), touchdown passes and passing yards.
But other numbers are on Murray’s mind this week.
“We get six tickets for bowl games, and you’re allowed to trade them between players if no one is using them,” Murray said. “My mom called and said we need like 16 extra tickets. I’m like, ‘whoa.’ So it’s my job to find tickets because we’ve got a lot of friends and family coming to the game.”
As for “cutting loose,” Murray said he’ll leave that to his family and friends to do before the Jan. 2 game.
Lauren Murray, Aaron’s mom, is planning a night-before-the-game dinner and dance at the Tahitian Inn, near the stadium, complete with a disc jockey who has been ordered to find Georgia tunes. The family also rounded up a couple of sponsors and organized a pregame and postgame tailgate at the stadium for players’ families and friends.
“Everyone up there has been so great to us that we really wanted to do something and host the families and friends while they were here,” Lauren Murray said. “We know what it’s like when you’re traveling from out of town: Where do you tailgate, where do you go, what should we do? It’s one way to thank everybody who has been so kind to us.”
Murray and his teammates will abstain. Their good times will come after what they hope will be their 11th victory of the season.
“A couple of the guys are probably going to stay with us after. Christian [Robinson], Ty [Frix], Arthur [Lynch], maybe a few other guys, are going to hang out a little longer,” Murray said. “A couple of the guys will probably stop by. My house is welcomed to everyone.”
Staff writer Steve Hummer contributed to this article.
About the Author
