Try to remember a really good decision from your past. Like that neck tattoo you didn’t get. The Enron stock you didn’t buy. The day you broke up with the vegan cat blogger.
This one rose to the level of those kind of momentous calls. Four promising UGA football players – two running backs, two linebackers – came to a fork in the road a year ago, and, as Yogi Berra would say, they took it.
They bet the pass line, took the optimistic view. Deciding against throwing themselves into the uncertainty of the NFL draft for a quick payout, they instead returned for their senior Bulldogs season. It couldn’t have been an easy choice. They were coming off a 7-5 regular season and the Liberty Bowl loomed, no bucket-list destination. They were busing to an alternate practice site as construction on the new indoor facility was completed. They couldn’t be certain the new coach with the chronically scorched vocal cords was the answer every Georgia loyalist sought, though they had a suspicion.
Today, here is the firm of Chubb, Michel, Carter & Bellamy, flush with vindication.
They thus far have survived the ordeals of a long season without tearing anything important. The Bulldogs are SEC champions, off to play Oklahoma in the playoffs on New Year’s Day. And they, for their act of faith, are the dominant symbols of a special season, guaranteed to hold of rank of “Damn Good Dawg” until something better than football comes along.
A year ago, there were certain visions that accompanied their decision to return for a senior season – some practical, others fanciful. And then there’s the current reality.
“Reality has gone above and beyond,” linebacker Lorenzo Carter said.
Yeah, good call.
The four Bulldogs who stayed and played, point men of a resurgence, are kind of a big deal. They are:
Nick Chubb – This season he became the second rusher in Georgia history to exceed 4,000 career yards. Some relic named Herschel Walker is the other. Chubb’s 4,599 career rushing yards stand as the second most in SEC history.
Sony Michel – He requires but 52 more rushing yards to join Chubb as the Bulldogs second 1,000-yard runner of 2017. His 7.2 yards per carry average this season ranks first in the SEC and eighth nationally. Had touchdown runs of 74 and 45 yards against Florida.
Davin Bellamy – He was the author of Big Moment No. 1 for the Bulldogs defense this season when he blindsided Notre Dame quarterback Brandon Wimbush, forcing the fumble that sealed with game with less than two minutes to play. He has the tendency to do that kind of thing in large moments. As in Big Moment No. 2, a momentum-changing strip sack vs. Auburn in the SEC Championship.
Carter – It was Bellamy’s fellow linebacker who actually was named the SEC’s defensive player of the week after the Notre Dame game, for his two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Carter forced another fumble in the SEC Championship as well. It’s his job to make quarterbacks wake up screaming in the night (15 hurries and 5.5 sacks this season).
We’ll never know exactly where these four would have gone in the 2017 NFL draft. Thus, you can’t know for certain how much each improved his standing with another year in college – be it Chubb putting one more season between himself and a major knee injury or Michel having added opportunity to show off his explosiveness. Bellamy, for one, went through a statistical drop-off from last season to this – dropping in tackles (51 last season to 29 this season), sacks (5 to 3.5) and tackles for a loss (9 to 6).
They all traded in one year of earning – in a business with an exceedingly small window of opportunity – on the belief that the Bulldogs were on the upswing and that they could ride that wave of improvement to a happier place. In unison in advance of the bowl game all four announced that they were returning for a senior season. None were interested in milking the last drop of suspense or drama from the decision. Had to focus in on the Liberty Bowl.
What the four represented to Kirby Smart was more than can be measured statistically. They gave his second season an immediate jolt of credibility. And getting them all to come back was much like a major recruiting coup, only with proven blue chips instead of the speculative penny stocks of national signing day.
When asked how much of 2017’s success is the work of four players who deferred their professional dream, Smart said, “Probably more than they have been given credit.”
“I think the greatest impact (their return) had was it gave the younger players confidence in the regime,” Smart said. “It showed them that, hey, man, these guys have only been with this staff one year, but they're willing to stay. I think that gave a quiet confidence to the spring.
“Then, I think the leadership of the seven, eight seniors was tremendous for the off-season workouts and setting the tone. There’s the value of experience. You could have a freshman that's better than the senior, but the senior plays better in the big moments because he's got poise. He's got an understanding of it. You think of Davin's play against Notre Dame, his play against Auburn, both kind of momentum-changing plays. I don't think you can put a number of wins on that. I think it played a major factor for us.”
What the four lent was a sense of trust, and added to both sides of the ball a rare mix of experience and leadership that may be difficult to duplicate in the years to come. It was imperative for the Bulldogs to try to maximize the moment.
“I believe everybody plays a lot harder for those guys and all us seniors,” senior tackle Isaiah Wynn said. “We know they came back for a reason.”
“Leadership takes you a long way in a program because you have guys out there playing for the seniors,” said senior nose tackle John Atkins. “For every big game Coach Smart always says do it for the seniors. Once he says that the team goes to a whole other level.”
At the first team meeting before winter workouts, Carter said, he, Chubb, Michel and Bellamy sat together on the first row, sort of looked at each other and came to an unspoken understanding. “We realized we have a pretty good team, we have to take advantage of it,” he said.
An outline of the possibilities slowly took shape. “You kind of see it,” Chubb said. “It was a little blurry (at first), but you have to work for it.”
These days, the only thing harder to find around this program than a Georgia Tech course catalogue is a regret.
Testified Michel: “It couldn’t have been any better. We’ve had a great season together. This team is one of a kind, from the younger players to the older players. It’s extremely special to be with these guys. It just means a lot.”
“It’s awesome when you’re winning,” he said. “I think this team deserves it.”
Carter adds his voice to the chorus: “It’s extremely gratifying. We put in the work. We put in the extra time, blood, sweat and tears to be able to say we’re competing for championships.
“I didn’t have any doubts. There weren’t any risks, really. Just getting a chance to spend more time with my brothers here, getting a chance to be on campus with all the great people at UGA and Athens. There were no negatives to coming back.
“I got one ring so far (SEC Championship). I’m growing as a player, growing as a leader. I’m proud to be able to say I came back and I was a part of this team.”
If only all of life’s decisions tilted so clearly toward the good.
Unlike that timeshare you bought.
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