There’s a moment before each Georgia game, just before the Bulldogs retreat into the locker room for the last time before running out for kickoff, when the players circle up on the field. No coaches, just players.
It was at that time before the South Carolina game Sept. 7 when Amarlo Herrera took the opportunity to deliver a message to his teammates. Exactly what Herrera said, nobody on the team is willing to share. But by all accounts it was intense, and it was entertaining.
“I can’t repeat it,” fellow linebacker Ramik Wilson said with a chuckle. “He was fired up, and he got us fired up.”
Herrera wasn’t willing to share either.
“It was between us,” the junior middle linebacker said with a grin. “We came out pretty good though, didn’t we?”
They did. And Herrera played more of a part than just motivational speaker.
In Bulldogs’ 41-30 win over No. 6 South Carolina, Herrera was a 6-foot-2, 244-pound tackling machine. He racked up 12 stops and half of a sack. He also caused a fumble that thwarted a potential go-ahead scoring drive for the Gamecocks in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Herrera made the initial hit that brought down running back Mike Davis on fourth-and-goal from the 6-inch line.
Not coincidentally, Herrera was named the Bulldogs’ defensive captain for Saturday’s game against North Texas. The distinction was a big deal for him.
“It’s my first time here,” Herrera said. “It means a lot. Only a few people get to do that.”
We’re seeing only the tip of the iceberg, said folks who know Herrera best. What Herrera displayed in the South Carolina game — making key plays at critical times — is something that Rodney Hackney saw with regularity when he was head coach at North Clayton High.
“If it’s a crucial situation in a crucial game, he’s going to make something happen,” said Hackney, who’s now head coach at Washington High. “He has this explosive ability, and he just seems to make plays at the right time. He changes games.”
Like the time Herrera scooped up a fumble and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown as North Clayton knocked off rival Griffin when he was a sophomore. Or on the fourth-down play against the Gamecocks when Herrera chased down quarterback Connor Shaw, who already had first-down yardage, and caught just enough of the ball on a diving tackle that the ball came loose on the way to the ground. Josh Harvey-Clemons fell on it to end a threat deep in Georgia territory.
Hackney said such plays should come more often now that Herrera has settled into his role with the Bulldogs.
“It’s the same thing I was seeing from him his junior and senior year at North Clayton,” Hackney said. “Once he gets comfortable he’s able to play a lot faster. He still made plays the last couple of years at Georgia, but you could tell he wasn’t comfortable. Once he gets going and he’s confident in what he’s doing, the more aggressive he becomes and the more plays he makes. That’s why you’re seeing the high number of tackles you’re seeing right now because he’s comfortable with the system.”
Herrera leads the SEC with an average of 12 tackles per game. He also has two pass breakups and a quarterback pressure. He had 70 tackles as sophomore last season, but that came while sharing snaps with Christian Robinson and Michael Gilliard.
If it’s up to defensive coordinator Todd Grantham — and it is — Herrera will play every snap of every meaningful game this season. He played all 61 plays against South Carolina.
Afterward, coach Mark Richt talked of needing to create more of rotation at inside linebacker, as Herrera and Wilson took nearly every snap in the first two games. But when the subject was broached with Grantham, he made it clear that won’t apply to Herrera.
“He’ll keep playing all the snaps,” Grantham stated flatly.
That’s fine with Herrera.
“I think I can be effective every play,” he said. “I’m in on almost every tackle. I’m by the ball every play. I’m going to be effective, and I’m going to make a play if I’m in the game.”
The moxie reflected in that statement is the attitude with which Herrera plays all the time. The one adjective used by every person asked to describe him was “tough.” That also happens to be the single-most important attribute for playing the position, according to UGA linebackers coach Kirk Olivadotti.
That characteristic likely was instilled in Herrera during his upbringing. He was reared primarily by his grandmother, Sylvia Dallas, and his mother, Stacy Dallas, in and around Atlanta. His father, Ablio, is a first-generation Cuban-American from Miami. He only recently came back into Herrera’s life and now lives in Atlanta. Other than that Herrera turns cryptic when the conversation turns to his family.
When it comes to details, such as the number of brothers and sisters he has, Herrera says only “lots.” He said that his father was a good football player before a car accident derailed his career. And he has one older brother, Joel Burgess, who played small-college basketball. But Burgess lasted only one season before quitting school. Burgess has since become a police officer and is raising a family in Atlanta.
“They really didn’t have a support system behind them, so they didn’t make it,” he said. “They just work like the rest of America.”
By contrast, Herrera is on track to graduate in May with a degree in psychology. And at the rate he’s progressing on the football field, his dreams of an NFL career don’t seem far-fetched.
“That’s my desire,” Herrera said. And nobody in the Georgia huddle doubts.
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