Georgia’s Todd Gurley shares SEC freshman of week honor with Bama back
Freshman Todd Gurley high steps into the east end zone at Sanford Stadium after scoring his first of three touchdowns in his college debut. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
ATHENS – Georgia tailback Todd Gurley was named the Southeastern Conference Freshman Player of the Week following his performance versus Buffalo, which will probably come as no surprise.
What might come somewhat as a surprise is that he had to share the honor.
Alabama tailback T.J. Yeldon split the award with Gurley. Yeldon was fantastic in the No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide’s 41-14 win over No. 8 Michigan. He had 137 yards total yards on 12 touches (111 on 11 carries and one 26-yard reception) and one touchdown.
Gurley, a 6-foot-1, 218-pound freshman from Tarburo, N.C., had 227 yards on 10 touches (100 yards on 8 carries and 127 yards on two kickoff returns) and 3 TDs. Of course, Gurley’s work came against Buffalo, a Mid-American Conference team.
Nevertheless, Gurley is the first Bulldog to earn this honor in his first collegiate game. Gurley scored a touchdown on his second career carry — a 10-yard run off left tackle — then scored five minutes later on a 100-yard kickoff return. His 55-yard touchdown run, a gem in which he broke three tackles and stiff-armed two defenders to the ground, came on his final carry of the day midway through the fourth quarter. That made Gurley the first Bulldog freshman to go over 100 yards rushing in his season-opening debut since Danny Ware had 135 yards and 3 TDs against Georgia Southern in 2004.
Gurley’s 100-yard kickoff return tied the school, SEC and NCAA records. He was named the College Football Performance Awards National Kickoff Returner of the Week.
The question now is whether or not Gurley will get the start against Missouri on Saturday as the Bulldogs open their SEC slate on the road (7:45 p.m., ESPN2). This past Saturday’s starter, sophomore Ken Malcome, injured his left hand against Buffalo and was unable to return to the game. His injury was to be revaluated this week.
Coach Mark Richt was non-commital on Sunday. “Well, he’ll definitely get the ball, that’s for sure,” Richt said.
In the meantime, here were the other Week 1 award recipients in the SEC:
OFFENSIVE PLAYER
- Marcus Lattimore, RB, South Carolina: 110 yards on 23 carries, 2 TDs in 17-13 win over Vanderbilt
DEFENSIVE PLAYER
- Dee Milliner, CB, Alabama: 5 tackles, 4 pass break-ups, 1 interception in Alabama’s 41-14 win over Michigan
SPECIAL TEAMS
- Marcus Murphy, TB/PR, Missouri: Returned two punts for TDs and accumulated 206 all-purpose yards in Missouri’s 62-10 win against SE Louisiana.
OFFENSIVE LINEMAN
- Zach Fulton, G, Tennessee: Starting 16th consecutive game, helped pave way to 524 yards offense in 35-21 win over N.C. State in Atlanta.
Co-DEFENSIVE LINEMAN
- C.J. Johnson, DE Ole Miss: 6 tackles and a sack in Rebels’ 49-27 win over Central Arkansas.
- Chris Smith, DE, Arkansas: 6 tackles, a sack and a QB pressure in 49-24 win against Jacksonville State.
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179 comments Add your comment
megamicro
September 4th, 2012
10:24 am
The best back in the SEC is Hilliard at LSU. The best freshman back in the SEC is the Hill kid at LSU. End of story.
megamicro
September 4th, 2012
10:25 am
Ogletree and Rambo should serve their suspension immediately.
DawginLex
September 4th, 2012
10:25 am
Thanks for your opinion mega
Your opinion is like your rear end, everyone has one.
Chicago Dawg
September 4th, 2012
10:27 am
Explain to me how Marcus Lattimore’s stats are superior to Todd Gurley’s and he is the offensive player of the week. Gurley was more dynamic.
TallyDawg
September 4th, 2012
10:28 am
Outside of the debate of Ogletree and Rambo, do we get any of our other suspended players back this week?
megamicro
September 4th, 2012
10:28 am
My rear end and your face probaly have more in common than you know. How about shutting your mouth boy.
TallyDawg
September 4th, 2012
10:29 am
Everyone is making excuses for us since we were missing five players on defense, but outside of Mitchell MAYBE being healed enough to play, we will have the same lineup as we did against Buffalo…
megamicro
September 4th, 2012
10:31 am
Gurley played against BUFFALO! A 3-9 MAC squad last season. His numbers shouldn’t even be officially recognized.
WDE
September 4th, 2012
10:52 am
@megamicro and Yeldon was running behind the best OL in the nation what is your point moron? We won’t ding Yeldon, heck he looked great….as did Gurley now crawl back under your rock.
Tide Rising
September 4th, 2012
11:02 am
Good grief. A 27 point thrashing in a game that wasn’t even that close and all the dawg fans can talk about is Milliner’s push of the receiver? Geez.
Both backs did great and shouldn’t be any problem sharing it though I would have rather had Yeldon have it. I mean come on. 200+ yards against Buffalo??? Buffalo??? Had Yeldon ran against Buffalo behind our O-line he probably would have had 6,000 yards. Plus he had to share a lot of carries with 3 other tailbacks. In any event it was great to steamroll another out of conference team.
I watched the first half of the Buffalo- UGA game and other than Gurley’s kickoff return Buffalo looked like the better team. They certainly dominated Georgia for the first half and that’s a kind of shocking statement. If you have to struggle against Buffalo which is usually rated around 110-120 of 120 teams then you’re really going to have trouble in the SEC.
ELEPHANT SQUASHES BULLDOG EVERYTIME
September 4th, 2012
11:14 am
I must say that I thoroughly enjoy all the Bulldog boaster’s creativity when it comes to making excuses for why UGA stinks and truly stunk it up against the University of Buffalo Bulls not to be confused with The NFL franchise Buffalo Bills. For pete’s sake, one of these morons actually blamed the heat and humidity for Georgia’s pi$$ poor showing in their own stadium in the state of, drum roll please, Georgia. As if that team from New York, you know, in the North wasn’t feeling the same weather conditions on their half of the field or sidelines. Geez, and then when you have some individuals trying to post intelligent remarks like Tampa Gator or other more educated Bulldog fans that recognize the weaknesses in the Dawg’s game this past week attack them with remarks straight out of, well, elementary school.
_____________
I also truly enjoy how these moronic fans can talk crap about Alabama (that is 14X NCAA Football Champion) leading up to the game with Michigan and quickly turning on their own coach and asking why UGA is not as good as Alabama after the first quarter of that same game. The funny thing about this is we are doing this well using a good bit of Georgia’s high school talent. I am enjoying every minute of this and look forward to more excuses as to why Georgia sucks. I’m writing them down in case in the distant future Alabama starts to decline and Tide fans, being unuse to making excuses, have these to refer back to. Thanks Georgia fan year in and year out.
Larry
September 4th, 2012
11:17 am
Is Gurley for real? Of course he is. I expect that he’ll get a lot of yards Saturday; Mizzou’s job is to keep him from “hitting home runs”. I think the first two games actually offer no real clues to how it will go this Saturday night. Is it safe to say that “big plays” will make the difference? I just hope it doesn’t come down to a hacked receiver no-call, as in the SC-Vandy game!
DawginLex
September 4th, 2012
11:31 am
MEGA
Are you mad?
You need to get a grip son.
megamicro
September 4th, 2012
11:39 am
Whatever boy. Keep that mouth of yours closed and we’ll be ok.
Larry
September 4th, 2012
11:55 am
After Week 1, the pundits at CollegeFootballNews (Scout.com) rank Mizzou as the fifth-best team in the SEC.
AP Poll
September 4th, 2012
11:58 am
Congrats UGA, as a reflection of the efforts in your season opener to Sister Mary’s Jr High School for the Blind you have gone from #6 preseason to #7.
Tide Rising
September 4th, 2012
12:26 pm
Alabama is the new no. 1 in the nation by a wide margin. This is the 5th consecutive year dating back to 2008 that Alabama has attained the no. 1 ranking at some point in the season. WOW! That is incredible when you stop and think about it. I’m not even sure if that has ever been done before.
Also good to see Florida back in the polls again. I see that UGA fell back a notch. Not a big surprise given that their overrated to begin with. We can only surmise that their ranking was due solely to ease of schedule and not the overall skill of the team. Its still mind boggling that Buffalo dominated the dogs in the first half especially in the rushing game. I can’t fathom allowing a team like Buffalo to get a 100 yard rusher against Bama.
ELEPHANT SQUASHES BULLDOG EVERYTIME
September 4th, 2012
12:30 pm
Amazing what educated commentary and the backing of 14 National Championships does to quieten the hoardes of Bulldog homers excuses. See Tampa Gator, this is how you must approach Bulldog nation. Flash the bright, shiny Championship rings in front of the UGA backers, ask where their’s are, and then use one maybe two syllable words to explain your position with regards to the many faults UGA makes in football and the infinite excuses that follow for those faults translating to poor showing day in and day out every Saturday. At least they have, well, …still thinking, one of their athletic teams who claimed a National Championship recently, not sure where, they are pulling from, to fall back on and brag about. By the way, Alabama, NCAA football champions, softball champions, gymnastics champions, and for good measure women’s golf champions. That is just this past year. Holla!
BITTER TUR-D
September 4th, 2012
1:52 pm
Sharing a article with the inbread bamma trailer park lovers is like
sharing a hand gun with a grown adult with a child like mind
——Yes bamma looked sharp—kinda blackout like at half—31-0
But there supporters su_x—mouthie freaks chest pumpers
—bamma state flower—-satilite dish—-hahahahahah
ELEPHANT SQUASHES BULLDOG EVERYTIME
September 4th, 2012
2:29 pm
Point proven Mr. TUR-D. Georgia educated I can surmise (big word you might need to look up in that book that collects dust in your “reading material” collection near your outhouse. Of course, while you are at it, you may want to look up the word “satilite” and note if it exists versus “satellite” I believe you were trying to use to insult us 14x National Champions in football. Also, of note, it is sharing AN article not A article as you attempt grammar. How is that for us inbred (also spelled incorrectly in your comment) Bama trailer park lover who has lived in Georgia for 30 years and received my, drum roll please, yet again, education here when Georgia ranked 49th in the nation for education. I truly love living in this state and amonst most of the people here minus morons like yourself who proves daily that maybe 49th was a bit generous Okay, a lot generous. Excuse me while I get back to cataloguing, yes that is with a U, UGA fans excuses.
ELEPHANT SQUASHES BULLDOG EVERYTIME
September 4th, 2012
2:36 pm
“amongst”
Joey
September 4th, 2012
2:45 pm
Oh boy. More of who AltamahaDawg calls, “little old ladies who correct spelling on football blogs” . . .
ELEPHANT SQUASHES BULLDOG EVERYTIME
September 4th, 2012
3:00 pm
As long as you insert 14x National Champion “little old lady” I will be amicable to that characterization. I guess I should know better than to try and bump up the IQ of DAWG lovers on here.
Alabama Dog
September 4th, 2012
3:04 pm
AP Poll: it’s not where you are ranked in September, but where you are ranked in January that counts. Try not to get confused.
Larry
September 4th, 2012
3:38 pm
Rankings are 1/3 sense and 2/3 popularity contest. There will never be enough football games played in a single season to know who is truly best. Merely consider all the formidable teams your team (and mine) will not have to play! What’s most important is to enjoy exciting, well-played games, one by one, and to be man enough to lose with gentlemanly grace (do as I say, not as I do, I might add).
Larry
September 4th, 2012
4:02 pm
Mizzou coaches talk about recruiting in Atlanta, and about “spread vs. smash-mouth” football:
• Pinkel says the game could have positive ramifications for recruiting in Atlanta, where MU is trying to establish itself.
“Well, yeah, if you win it,” he said, smiling.
More seriously, he said the long-term process will be more about direct recruiting, evaluation of talent and positive experiences for those who do come to Mizzou — and their word of mouth thereafter. “We’ll do a good job of recruiting in Atlanta, regardless, but of course we want to win this game.”
• Offensive coordinator David Yost on the big-picture matter of MU’s spread offense vs. smash-mouth SEC defense:
“We believe in what we do, and we believe we can do what we do against anybody we play against … Now you’ve got to go do it. All the talk’s done. And Saturday night when the game’s over, they’ll be able to judge if what we attempted to execute works, and what doesn’t work and what we have to get better at, too.”
The foregoing copied from:
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/mizzou/tiger-tracker/a-sec-ond-look-at-mizzou-media-day/article_7ea01bd2-f6aa-11e1-98fd-0019bb30f31a.html
Alabama Dog
September 4th, 2012
4:15 pm
ELEPHANT SQUASHES BULLDOG: then get on an Alabama blog! We’re not asking for your presence, or opinions here! Beat it, pachyderm!
ELEPHANT SQUASHES BULLDOG EVERYTIME
September 4th, 2012
5:23 pm
Not that I need a reason to be here, but inital headline involved an Alabama player. But this is where I must troll for all the best excuses from a fan base for why their team underperforms and has since they last one a meaningful national championship back during the Reagan adminstration. That way I have them stored for when my team, ‘eh ghast!!!!!!!!’, becomes irrelevant. So here is it simplified for all you DAWG lovers; University of Georgia = Irrelevant / University of Alabama (Pachyderms) = Face of College Football. Keep posting so I can keep laughing.
Georgia’s Todd Gurley shares SEC freshman of week honor with Bama back – Georgia – Dawg News
September 4th, 2012
9:09 pm
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