COMPARING THE TAILBACKS
Player, school; Ht., Wt.; Class; 2012 rushing; 2013 rushing
Todd Gurley, UGA; 6-1, 232; So.; 1,385 yds., 17 TD; 377 yds., 4 TD*
Jeremy Hill, LSU; 6-2, 235; So.; 755 yds., 12 TD; 351 yds., 6 TD
* Gurley also has one touchdown receiving
If not for all of the attention riveted on the quarterback matchup of ex-roommates Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenberger, the tailbacks would be front-and-center entering Saturday’s Georgia-LSU game.
Todd Gurley of Georgia and Jeremy Hill of LSU — both sophomores, both 230-plus pounds, both averaging well over 100 yards rushing per game — are two of the nation’s top running backs. Either of them is capable of driving the outcome of this showdown between top-10 teams.
“It’s exciting,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said of the talented tailbacks who will converge in Sanford Stadium. “We like ours. And I’m sure they like theirs. And I like theirs. And they probably like ours, too.
“They’re just great players, and it’s going to be fun to watch.”
Powerful and physical backs, they rank Nos. 1 and 3 in the SEC in rushing, separated by less than 9 yards per game: Gurley No. 1 at 125.7 yards per game, Hill No. 3 at 117 yards. They rank Nos. 1 and 2 in the league in scoring: Hill averaging 12 points per game, Gurley 10.
They’ve taken note of each other’s games, prompting Gurley to reach out a couple of weeks back.
“He got in touch with me,” Hill told reporters in Baton Rouge this week. “He’s a cool kid. I’ll probably talk to him before the game, just holler at him and wish him luck.
“I like the way he runs hard, man. He’s a vicious runner, and he has deceptive speed. I like that about him. And he makes guys miss in space. I think we’re similar in some ways.”
Last week, Hill ran for 184 yards on 25 carries against Auburn, scoring the first two times he touched the ball. In Georgia’s two previous games against top-10 opponents this season, Gurley ran for 154 yards on 12 carries against Clemson and 132 on 30 against South Carolina.
Georgia and LSU have depth at tailback, too. Behind Gurley, the Bulldogs have Keith Marshall, who ran for 759 yards last season. And behind Hill, the Tigers have three others with 100-yard games in their college careers — Alfred Blue, Kenny Hilliard and Terrence Magee.
In fact, when asked his thoughts on LSU’s star tailback, Georgia linebacker Amarlo Herrera replied: “Which one?”
Both teams also have big, bruising fullbacks who clear paths for the tailbacks and occasionally carry the ball themselves — Georgia’s 6-foot-2, 260-pound Quayvon Hicks and LSU’s 6-foot, 270-pound J.C. Copeland, a Georgia native who attended Troup County High.
For all of the Murray-Mettenberger hype and both teams’ ability to throw the ball, the Bulldogs and Tigers know they must stop — or at least slow — the other’s running game to win Saturday.
“It’s going to be a pretty nasty game for us if we don’t stop the run early on,” UGA linebacker Jordan Jenkins said. “I feel like our mindset is really going to be toward stopping the run. Pressuring Mettenberger, that’s our second goal.”
“They’re going to try to run it on you, so you got to be ready — they’re coming,” Georgia defensive lineman Garrison Smith said. “They don’t make it any secret.”
Gurley and Hill were two of the SEC’s top freshmen last season. Gurley found success immediately, rushing for 100-plus yards in four of Georgia’s first five games en route to a 1,385-yard season. Hill played sparingly in the first half of the season before injuries to other running backs gave him an opportunity, which he seized by rushing for 755 yards.
The twice-arrested Hill seemed in danger of not making it to his sophomore season.
But LSU coach Les Miles suspended him for only one game after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery for punching a man outside a bar in April. Hill received a six-month suspended sentence and two years of probation in the case. He already was on probation from a guilty plea in January 2012 to misdemeanor carnal knowledge of a juvenile. He originally was charged with sexual battery in that case.
Since the one-game benching, Hill has rejoined the starting lineup as LSU has built a 4-0 record and No. 6 national ranking.
Gurley, who has not been available for interviews this week, fell short of 130 yards rushing for the first time this season last week, gaining 91 as North Texas’ emphasis on stopping the run enabled the Bulldogs to pass for 450 yards.
Rushing defense will be “huge, obviously” for both Georgia and LSU on Saturday, Richt said.
“If (either) defense can’t at least get some control over the running game, then I think they’ll lose control of the game,” Richt said. “I think the team that has the best chance of winning is the one that can (stop the run well enough to) force some third-down situations where the quarterback … has to throw it and people can try to pressure the guy and force him to make a mistake.”
