Murray finds life as Georgia’s No. 1 quarterback ‘pretty cool’

So what was it like, Aaron Murray’s first day on campus as Georgia’s No. 1 quarterback?

“It was cool,” Murray said Friday afternoon. “A couple of people said, ‘Congratulations.’ It was in the paper, I guess.

“It’s pretty cool. It’s exciting. It’s definitely something I’ve always looked forward to, taking this job. I’ve just got to keep working and make sure I solidify my spot for that first game of the year.”

Murray got another taste of the celebrity that comes with being Georgia’s quarterback when the school set up a mid-afternoon conference call Friday for him to speak with a half dozen reporters.

Coach Mark Richt announced Thursday that Murray is the No. 1 quarterback on the Bulldogs’ post-spring depth chart but cautioned that being the top Dog at this point doesn’t guarantee starting the season opener Sept. 4. Murray understands that caveat, even as he receives congratulatory calls and texts.

“I heard from family and friends who just said, ‘Congratulations thus far, just continue to work hard,’ basically stuff like that,” Murray said. “I’ve talked to my family, and they have the same feeling as I do –- it’s just one step and it’s not a done deal or anything like that.

“I’m No. 1 after spring. I’m not No. 1 for the season. I’m not No. 1 for Sept. 4. There’s still work to do, but they’re definitely happy for me, excited for me, that I’m doing well right now.”

Although Murray reached the top of the depth chart on the basis of his work throughout spring practice, he acknowledged that his performance in the G-Day intra-squad game was sub-par. He completed 10 of 22 passes for 96 yards, with one interception.

“I think I was maybe just a little amped up,” Murray said Friday.  “I talked to Coach [Mike] Bobo about it, and he thought I was little juiced up, a little too excited, and some of my passes were a little overthrown.

“You’re not going to have your best day every day. It wasn’t great that . . . G-Day wasn’t my best day. But I think [the coaches] just basically took the spring as a whole and based their [depth-chart] decision on that. . . . Hopefully next [season] I won’t be making the same mistakes I made in the G-Day game.”

Murray, a redshirt freshman, said he plans a summer of hard work to prepare for preseason camp and to prove to teammates “that even though I’m young . . . I’m not going to let them down when the season comes.”

Also:

Richt says Murray reminds him of Heisman runner-up Weldon, plus more from Richt’s visit with Bulldog Club in Columbus.

Full depth chart.

179 comments Add your comment

Brian

April 23rd, 2010
10:19 pm

Coach is the fn MAN! And hope he is for many more years!

Brian

April 23rd, 2010
10:22 pm

Like i said KEEP THA FAITH!!!!!!!!!! Dont hate!!

Wreckmaniac

April 23rd, 2010
10:22 pm

How could this possibly be decided in April ? But the humiliating point is that it is. How could all these dozens of Richt-recruited QB’s have a freshman as #1 and so many #2’s ? This guy may be the next Stafford by the 9th or 10 game but its what takes place during the first 8 games that counts. Probably 5 wins, 3 losses and another year of obscurity and back to the old “wait til next year” line. Gray may start games 1 and 2 out of senior respect but by the end of game 3 UGA will have a full-time fresh QB. Scarry.

RedPantsDawg

April 23rd, 2010
10:31 pm

Memo to Murray: Please stay away from the bars and keep you hands to yourself.

we have heard that before

April 23rd, 2010
10:32 pm

5-3 in first 8 games huh? that’s what they all said back in 2001, we finished #2 the next year.

Brian

April 23rd, 2010
10:34 pm

Dnt be scared! This is the SEC if you scared in this leage then stay at home and lock your doors, pull your blinds and hide in your closet! If you not scared then lets stand up and scream for these dawgs!

Georgia fans bunch dumb rednecks

April 23rd, 2010
10:40 pm

Georgia QB that has not took one snap, you clowns better worry about your house, not somebody’s else house.

we have heard that before

April 23rd, 2010
10:40 pm

After the 1st 8 games, everybody was saying the sky was falling. Surely UGA couldn’t make mid-seasons adjustments and finish with a winning record after starting 4-4?

Wrong, Richt made adjustments, went 3-1 to finish out the season with a big win over top 10 ranked Ga Tech.

Dooms dayers, wrong, again.

Lane Kiffen

April 23rd, 2010
10:42 pm

I did not lie ! I did beat Georgia ! HAHA

Stinger

April 23rd, 2010
10:45 pm

It won’t be so cool when they boo you off the field for throwing 2 or 3 pick sixes per game.

Smart dawg

April 23rd, 2010
10:45 pm

Every year, the illiterate imbeciles come out of the woodwork and blabber about 14-0 seasons: “We’re loaded with talent”, “This is the year”, etc. It’s always “We” at this point….
And then every year, the season takes a skid somewhere and the blame begins. Blame the refs, blame Willie, blame Bobo, blame St. Mark, blame various players, blame the lack of discipline. The discipline issue is a direct result of St. Mark’s time at Miami and FSU. At this point the “We” becomes “They”.

Hilarious

It’s been thirty years. And that championship belongs to Herschel. Without him (them), you would still be waiting.
PS– this is not going to be “The Year”. Again. Get used to it.
PPS–when does Pulpwood Smith, Jr arrive in Athens?

Lane Kiffin's Wife

April 23rd, 2010
10:46 pm

Your still an idiot Lane for ever coming to loserville UT!

Georgia is allways over rated

April 23rd, 2010
10:46 pm

After 2 – 3 games Mutt Nation will throw Murry under the bus, just like other past quarterbacks.

we have heard that before

April 23rd, 2010
10:49 pm

Is it 2001 all over again? the dooms day naysayers bring their glass is half full pessimism to the blog, eh?

we heard it all before in 2001. We went 13-1 and won the SEC the next year. Eevry time Richt had a bad year, he finished in the top 3 in the nation the next season, in 2002 & 2007.

Nothing new, Richt heard the same predictions back in 2001.

Lane Kiffen

April 23rd, 2010
10:51 pm

Honey you said Georgia was septic tank and their fans smells like corndawgs,

we have heard that before

April 23rd, 2010
10:51 pm

Heard all the same negative comments back in 1979 about Georgia.

Lots of dooms day predictions. Sounds so familiar.

UGA won the National Championship the next season in 1980.

They were all wrong.

Lane Kiffen

April 23rd, 2010
10:53 pm

I did beat Georgia and sung Rocky top all night long! Georgia and CMR is my bitch dawg. SWEET !

MVP

April 23rd, 2010
10:55 pm

Georgia fans been playing that same broken record for 100 years.

we have heard that before

April 23rd, 2010
10:56 pm

In 1979, Georgia went 6-5.

The pssimist came out of the woodwork with all their predictions of gloom and doom.

Worked out ok.

A certain Freshman led Georgia to a perfect season with 0 losses. 12-0. National Champs.

Now comes anaother Freshman, young Aaron Murray, after an 4-4 SEC season. All the naysayers say it can’t be done to go from 6-5 to National Champs in one season.

Look at 1979 and 1980, already been done, with a freshman, leading the way.

whydoestechwatchussomuch

April 23rd, 2010
10:58 pm

Orange Julius,
What does your statment have to do with this article?????? Are you that jealous????? Are you that stupid???????????????? You are pathetic…… and a LOSER!!!!!!!!!

MVP

April 23rd, 2010
11:00 pm

CHOKE! THE OFFICAL DRINK OF THE GEORGIA BULLDAWGS !

When will THUGA win another National Title?

April 23rd, 2010
11:03 pm

Never!! Not with this team or coaching staff.

we have heard that before

April 23rd, 2010
11:12 pm

a Freshman QB can’t win a National Championship and start every game, right?

in 1981, a qb won parade all-american, he was redshirted in 1982 when the team went a lackluster 7-4.

No one thought Miami could win it all in 1983 with a Freshman QB.

This freshman started all 12 games his freshman year at Miami. Bernie Kosar.

1983 Miami won their 1st National Championship, 300 yards passing, 2 td’s in Natl Champ, with a freshman QB.

By the way, Murray, like Kosar:
-Parade QB
-Red Shirted 1st season

Jones

April 23rd, 2010
11:44 pm

ESPN’s 150 Camp had the best athletes there.

ESPN said 1 guy, BY FAR, stood out of the 150 best in college football.

Who?

Aaron Murray.

They said his zip, accuracy, mechanics were very impressive to see in person.

The best, of the ESPN 150, by far.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/news/story?id=3346218

[...] Murray: First day on campus as No. 1 quarterback is ‘pretty cool.’ [...]

JGB

April 24th, 2010
8:17 am

Hutson Mason will give him a run for his money..

DAWG WANTS A TITLE

April 24th, 2010
9:38 am

Too early to talk much. Depth looks good. I wish we would have broke in QB last year. I would probably feel more confident with a DEFENSIVE minded Head Coach,(Smart or Muschamp) Good D wins championships, look back at history.

DAWG WANTS A TITLE

April 24th, 2010
9:42 am

And to all you rocky bottoms out there, You all cant accomplish anything without some good ole Georgia boy leading you in the right direction.

tim

April 24th, 2010
9:49 am

every spring you sorry dogs start crowing about how bad UF will be and how you defense will shut down the gators…guess what losers you’ll get your rear ends handed to you again in jax this year will be no different…Murry will spend most of the day on his back and the score will be somewhere around 48 to 13…the puppies will remain a middle of the pack team…just check your recruits..the beatdown might never end

Colorado Buffalo's 1990 Football National Champions

April 24th, 2010
9:50 am

Hey Techies remember to “Set Phasers for Stun” when your walking to the Varsity or you will get mugged.

Murray will be just fine. Let everyone keep h8ing but we are going to be fine come fall.

Chuck

April 24th, 2010
10:24 am

Every Spring, the Florida haters start spreading their negative dreams that finally, Richt will fail. And he just wins, and wins, and wins, 90 wins, in 9 seasons. And lasts longer than any other SEC coach. But they always come back, posing as ‘Georgia fans’, pleas,e no Georgia fan would expect Richt to fail after 90 wins in 9 seasons. But it’s Spring, and here come the critics. Wrong every year, but they always try.

tim

April 24th, 2010
10:30 am

hey chuck….richt just wins and wins…except when he plays Florida, Tenn, and Kentucky

Riley

April 24th, 2010
10:33 am

Since Joe Schad’s ESPN has Murray as a top 100 player to watch, and since Murraly won the Elite 11 camp with MVP and Leadership awards, and since Murray threw for 51 td’s and 5000 yards and ran for 900 yards on 90 carries for another 10 td’s in 1 season, and since he one a state championship, and since he got over 50 scholarship offers, and since Colt McCoy says Murray is “the most impressive player I’ve ever seen”, since Richt has had 3 qb’s finish #1 or #2 for the Heisman and a 4th QB go #1 in the NFL draft–I think Richt’s qualified to pick his #1 QB and Richt says he feels great about the QB, I’ll go with those guys opinion of Murray, instead of some blogger who obviously is not pro Georgia or Pro Richt, and has no answer for all these experts.

Chuck

April 24th, 2010
10:44 am

Nobody beats Richt but Richt. When Richt commits 0 turnovers, Richt is 15-0. You can’t beat him straight up, nobody can, he’ll outcoach you. So people recently have gone to the ‘force turnover’ strategy. And it’s worked in the past. Florida has been the best at using this one secret strategy to beat Richt. 14 to’s against Florida in the last 4 games. But Richt beats Meyer when Richt wins the turnover battle. Only Richt beats Richt. In the last 5 games, Richt stopped making turnovers for the most part, showing he figured it out. And over the last 5 games, Georgia started running the ball as a top 5 rushing team in the country, over 200 yards rushing a game. That’s why 2010 will be different. Richt FINALLY figured it out, and made the adjustment, and teams stopped beating him.

GT51

April 24th, 2010
10:54 am

enjoy it now. because as soon as you make a couple of mistakes, the dogg fans will turn on you.

Brian

April 24th, 2010
10:54 am

Rhict is going to be one of the greatest of alltime he is already proving it! Murray is goin to be ok as well even as a freshman! Now if dawg fans want to worry bout something it needs to be defense we have suckd at defense the past couple of years! And thats right defense WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS! And all you haters glad you are so worried about UGA FOOTBALL cause you very well should be!!

Chuck

April 24th, 2010
11:07 am

The best way yo make sure the fans don’t turn on you is to win every game. Richt has a great record against every team on our schedule in 2010 except Florida.

If we can just not turn that ball over in that game, should win em’ all. Florida hasn’t been a better team against Georgia, just better at the turnover margin.

Probably play Auburn or Alabama in the SEC Championship– Richt is 7-1 against those 2 teams.

ugaexpert

April 24th, 2010
11:24 am

did you forget that mettenbeber was kicked off the football team. yall are itodits. i think aaron murry will make a good qb. i may just be a 12 year old girl but i bet i know more than you do

ugaexpert

April 24th, 2010
11:26 am

i was talking about the people who hate aaron murry and uga

Borodawg

April 24th, 2010
11:34 am

Everybody…re-read ’smart dawg’ @ 10:45PM. I agree.

First, we gotta win the first two games (the first game doesn’t really count; AA ball). Dont’ forget, other teams have great players too. Badmouthing Brantley doesn’t get it; he wasn’t any worse than Murray in the Gators spring game.

I’m just saying, be careful with predicting 12-0, beating Flawduh, winning the East, etc. We’ve got unproven QB’s and an unproven D. And don’t get too excited about the 3-4 D until it’s proven that we have the players that fit that scheme. I’m just saying, don’t get too hyped and then start the blame game if things don’t look so cherry.

Hopefully we WILL go undefeated; beat Flawduh; and play for the SEC championship, etc etc. Who knows?

Gooooo Dawgs! THWT!

Brian

April 24th, 2010
11:48 am

Thats right borodwag!!!!!

UGAgrad71

April 24th, 2010
11:57 am

The dogs have added three quality defense coaches that dramatically up-grade the play of the dogs on that side of the ball. I remember the late 60’s and Erk on the sidelines. I do feel we have a DC that will coach the players up and bring an energy that the defense needs in the SEC. Let’s win the games and the dogs will be rewarded with appropriate rankings and recruits.

Here we go again!!!!!!!!

April 24th, 2010
11:59 am

Here we go again. Murray is not the answer!! I was at G-Day last year and this year and he was the worst of all QBs. Heck this year I thought it was Joe Cox on the field, but realized he was making pop corn. Guess Murray cut Mr. Screen Pass (BoBo) grass better than Gray did. We wont win the east, SEC, or National Championship. CMR should have sent BoBo with Willie out the door. Watch he will have AJ Green hurt with his famous screen pass. Toni Ball called a better game than he did at G-Day.

chicken little

April 24th, 2010
12:22 pm

the sky is falling. UGA will be lucky to win 1 game this year. Coach Richt has never had a bad year followed by a good year. All the experts on Murray are wrong, including McCoy, what does he know about QB’s? Coahc Richt got lucky with his 90 wins. Murray had a bad G-Day, no one has ever had a bad G-Day and gone on to become a good QB. Georgia had 3 players arrested and kicked off the team in last few weeks, proves bad kharma is in the air. Coach Richt has never won a Championship at Georgia and no coahc has ever gone on to win one who didn’t in their first 9 seasons. Florida’s new QB will be better than Tebow, and their new defensive coach, will be better than Strong was, Alabama will receover fine from losing 9 starters on defense, so it’s a 1-11 year for Coahc Richt. Should win the first gamer, then it’s all downhill from there.

chicken little

April 24th, 2010
12:26 pm

There are dark, dark skies over Athens, and little chunks coming down everywhere, the sky is falling. I see nothing good about thsi year, nothing at all.

Brian

April 24th, 2010
12:37 pm

What do you know chicken little!!!! Your name fits you perfect!! You ar scared aswell as you should be!!!

Dawg Straight

April 24th, 2010
12:47 pm

Murray is a lot taller than everyone saying—he’s at last 6 feet and maybe taller—plus, he’s got a strong arm and can move around in the pocket. Murray’s going to put up big numbers in bobo’s offense—take it to the bank. The Dawgs will upset florida—they are way down this year with a shaky QB and no good receivers.

chicken little

April 24th, 2010
12:48 pm

r.e.m. was right out of athens, and they sang about it:

it’s the end of the world as we know it.

how2fish

April 24th, 2010
12:49 pm

Here we go again!!!!!!!! Troll on big guy troll on…listen CMR knows QB’s check the guys he has coached AM is at THIS point is in his mind the best option he has…we shall see what we shall see as always…deep breaths folks…Congrats Mr.Murray and good luck!

chicken little

April 24th, 2010
12:53 pm

Here’s a trailer to a movie based on my life. I am warning you, the sky is indeed falling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjI0qAFve3Q