QB Aaron Murray’s ‘nerdy’ approach helps him net records, wins for Bulldogs
Aaron Murray's record-setting pace of production for Georgia has been as much the result of preparation as it has been inherent talent. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
ATHENS — Georgia’s Aaron Murray is the proverbial big man on campus. Coeds fawn when he walks past the bus stop. TV broadcasters and opposing coaches wax eloquent about his athletic ability and uncanny decision-making skills. Sanford Stadium is dotted every Saturday with little boys wearing No. 11 jerseys and dreaming of growing up to be like him.
But that’s not the way his teammates think of him.
“He’s a nerd,” said wide receiver Tavarres King, one of Murray’s closer friends. “He’s always studying, and he already knows so much. It’s hard to even talk to him outside of football because it’s always going to get back to football, whatever we’re talking about.”
Said wideout Michael Bennett: “He’s got some weird study habits when it comes to quarterback. He’s in here [at the football complex] all the time. He spends a weird amount of hours in here. … Sundays he’s in here real early. Saturdays he comes back here right after a game. He’s here five or six hours a day. It’s all football with him.”
Sure, Murray is physically gifted. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound quarterback is faster than most think, bigger and stronger than generally given credit for and in possession of a throwing arm that’s starting to give NFL scouts cause for pause.
But that’s not what has made him into the record-setting passer he has become for the Bulldogs. That, those around him contend, is a result of his bookish approach to the position.
“Aaron just prepares really like no one we’ve had,” said Georgia coach Mark Richt, who has had David Greene, the quarterback with the most wins in NCAA history when he left, and Matthew Stafford, an NFL No. 1 draft pick, among his quarterbacks. “And we’ve had guys that work hard. All of our guys work hard at preparing, but Murray just takes it to another level in how he prepares for the game.”
An exceptional student, Murray has found a way to take an academic approach to football. The fourth-year junior already holds an undergraduate degree in psychology. Now he’s well into his graduate studies in industrial-organizational psychology. It’s actually a doctoral program in which students can get a master’s degree along the way.
Murray has found a way to use his field of study to help him on the field of play. His first step was to write a paper on the leadership qualities of successful NFL quarterbacks. Murray studied quarterbacks such as Drew Brees of the Saints and Tom Brady of the Patriots and looked for similarities in their leadership qualities and styles of play.
This summer he took that project a step further. He fashioned the information he had gathered into a long and detailed survey. He distributed them to the entire team, coaches included.
“I wanted to assess my leadership skills and just figure out ways in which I could improve different aspects of my leadership,” Murray said. “One of my main goals coming into the season was to become the best leader I could be. So I got some great feedback.”
Murray figures 60 to 70 players returned the surveys. Some of them weren’t sure what to make of it.
“I was like, ‘why do we have to fill this out, man? I don’t want to do this,’” Bennett said with a laugh. “I think everybody on the team was thinking that.”
Said Richt: “I thought it took a little bravery to do that, to hear what your peers have to say, to hear what your coaches have to say. He was looking for a gut-level answer and he had to be willing to do something about it. I thought it was good.”
So what did Murray learn?
“The majority [of the feedback] was actually very good,” he said. “I think the one area that was lowest was me getting onto the guys more. Not being so nice, basically. So that was one improvement I needed to make. Sometimes you’ve got to get tough as a leader and make sure guys are focused and doing the right thing.”
Hard to argue with the production Georgia is getting out of Murray this season. He enters Saturday’s game against Tennessee ranked eighth in the nation in pass efficiency (182.43) and tops in the country among quarterbacks with 100 or more attempts in yards per attempt (10.5) and yards per completion (15.83).
Murray already has passed for 1,092 yards and 10 touchdowns with only two interceptions. More important, he is directing an offense that leads the SEC in points (47.5 pg) and total yards (530 pg).
It’s unclear whether it’s the result of leadership surveys, hours in the film room or just the plain and simple fact that he will start his 32nd game as Georgia’s quarterback Saturday. More than likely it’s a combination of it all.
“Aaron has always done a great job of preparing himself and recognizing what’s going on,” offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Bobo said. “He’s just kind of taken it to another level.”
It’s not like Murray had been dogging it. He established a school record with 35 touchdowns passes last season. Heading into Saturday’s game he needs just four more to surpass Greene’s record of 72 career TD passes.
“It took me four years to do that,” said Greene, who graduated in 2005, and now lives in Grayson and runs a corporate insurance business. “To do what he’s done over the three-year period has been phenomenal. He’s special. He’s doing something that’s never been done at the University of Georgia. We’ve been fortunate to have Aaron Murray.”
Yes, being a nerd can be cool.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
181 comments Add your comment
slydog
September 25th, 2012
11:23 pm
Allow me to repost:
slydog
September 25th, 2012
8:58 pm
NC_Dawg
September 25th, 2012
7:47 pm
“Great article Chip. I have been critical of Murray in the past. He has a tendency to overthrow his recievers and has not played well in big games. Then he came out Saturday and had the game of his career….”
Dam Dawg, it was only Vanderbilt….lol. His defining moment for me will be against South Carolina, Florida, and the SEC championship game. I’m not asking him to help win them all, but to at least duplicate what David Greene accomplished before we all lose our minds and proclaim him the best QB in Georgia football history. It’s easy to accumulate numbers when one starts as a freshman. Just my thoughts.
So I’m an idiot, jackass, troll for making an astute judgement as to the current state of Murray’s greatness? You stat nerds need to go back and watch baseball. This is about football. Football is about shining big in the biggest moments against the best competition available. It’s about winning championships, not how many Pro Bowls I went to or how many All SEC accolades I’ve won. All that being said, I like Murray, but just like Matt Ryan, he has accomplished nothing of significance. YET!!! You same idiots jumped off the bandwagon when Georgia went 0-2 last year so STFU. IMHO, Georgia and Murray are doing exactly what they should be doing: dominating inferior competition. South Carolina, Florida, and the SEC Championship game awaits. Screw those records. His legacy will be defined this year. A wait and see approach is better than going all in on the blowjob like the rest of you kool-aid drinkers.
L.A. BULLDAWG
September 26th, 2012
12:12 am
TAMPA, PLANT HIGH SCHOOL’S FINEST! AARON MURRAY, HAS TURNED OUT TO BE BETTER THAN ADVERTISED! MURRAY, IS BETTER THAN HIGHLY TOUTED, MATT BARKLEY!
foxdog
September 26th, 2012
12:28 am
@slydog Astute judgement? That’s how you fancy that potshot ‘assessment’ (I know you love quotation marks) that you put forth? Stat nerd? Mett’s 4:2 TD/INT ratio not fit into the ‘Mett would’ve been the starting QB if not for (x)’ narrative that you’re promoting? I suppose you’re referring to those all important and suspicously immeasurable intangibles. And shining big on the big stage? I’m sure you can elucidate the rest of us as to how you accomplish that on a daily basis. Like Charlie Sheen, I’m sure you’re straight #winning, playa. I’m also confident I can find you on another comment section feting your exceptionally cunning (sly?) talents as a $500k/yr earner complete with the usual misspelling every five words. Because, you know, they’re normally an uneducated lot…into statistics and all that stuff.
Really?
September 26th, 2012
1:47 am
Since some pathetic idiot mentioned mettenberger in this thread, has anyone seen his new facial hair? I have to question whether the 70’s molester mustache he is sporting is the best choice considering his past problems with gropeing.
A thought or two on Aaron Murray | Run Lindsay Run
September 26th, 2012
2:57 am
[...] far this year, with maybe one or two minor mental lapses in garbage time. His numbers are sick. He’s issued surveys to his teammates to find out what he can do better, and wrote a paper abou…But the thing that has stood out to me, since the Mizzou game at least, is that even with a green [...]
ZinoDawg
September 26th, 2012
4:36 am
Mettenburger looked clueless against Auburn. Big arm, small brain.
I’ll take Murray any day.
GATA!
Columbus
September 26th, 2012
5:15 am
Good one….@Maconbulldog.
Murray is having his best year so far but…..the defensive competition hasnt been too tough yet though and lets hope he has amistake free game against Tenn and South Carolina and Florida. Particularly South Carolina since we gifted them so many ppints last year. The only real weaknesses I see in Murray is his overthrows and him not seeing the linebackers sometimes when they drop back into coverage…..if he deals with the linebackers and cuts down on his overthrows, he could lead the team to the SEC championship.
JB
September 26th, 2012
6:00 am
Gators and LSU would kill to have him starting for them.
RiffRaff
September 26th, 2012
6:20 am
Kid has a great work ethic about him. This team has a chance to do something special this year.
tenn.DAWG
September 26th, 2012
6:27 am
Funny how the more production you get out of the O-line,the more production you get out of the not just the QB,but the whole offense.
Neutral
September 26th, 2012
6:33 am
Correcto JB and tennDAWG!!!
Jt
September 26th, 2012
6:37 am
Sounds like you want to make it with him lol
Neutral
September 26th, 2012
6:48 am
Funny someone mentioned Fran Tarkenton earlier. Folks would always say, “Tarkenton could not win the big game”. That was such a stupid comment because it was totally untrue and to my point with Murray. I remember a championship game with (I think) the Dallas Cowboys. Fran drove the Vikings down the field in a spectacular and dramatic manner and scored with 1-2 minutes left in the game. Guess what? Dallas then scored with a few seconds left to win and all I heard for years was Fran Tarkenton could not win the big game. It was the defense folks who lost that game after Fran set the stage for the big win. Sometimes I think those same ignorant trolls are still around and spewing their venom at Murray. It is a team sport guys and Murray is just part of that team. Go DAWGs!!! P.S. Fran did help lead UGa to a SEC Championship while at UGa
Toccoa Dawg
September 26th, 2012
7:08 am
From now until the end of Oct. will tell what kind of Team we have. You can’t lay it all on one player. It’s a “team” sport. It’s true that Offense scores points but it’s Defense that wins championships.
Sic Em Dawgs GATA
BobDawg
September 26th, 2012
7:16 am
All I know is Murray is one tough son of a gun… He gets rocked occasionally and just keeps going like the energizer bunny. I think he hurt his hand at one point against Vandy, shook it off and kept going…
BobDawg
September 26th, 2012
7:18 am
When Murray & the Dawgs won last year against UF, that is all I needed to see…Kid from Tampa winning the biggest game of the year for us and helped us clinch the East Div… Kid is a winner, plain and simple. I’m not a stat guy like some of you but I can tell a winner and Murray fits the bill….
Whopper Dawg
September 26th, 2012
7:30 am
Impressive stats. Kind of like Ryan, ring it up against the lessors in the “regular” season, but when the big boys roll into town, not so much.
Maybe both will be better in the big games this year.
DawginLex
September 26th, 2012
7:46 am
It’s amazing how people have to complain no matter what. The same people predicting we would lose to Mizzou and that Vandy would be “a 4 quarter slugfest” are now complaining that we haven’t played anyone.
Maybe this team is pretty good?
The next few weeks will tell if we can be classified as great.
When we were 6-7 a couple of years ago, did anyone see this coming?
I did. I predicted we would rebound. I also predicted our OL and RB would be better in 2012 than 2011. Right again.
Coach Richt is opnely talking about UT 2004 and rightfully so. We crushed LSU the week before a looked crappy against UT the next week.
Hopefully, the players are listening.
slydog
September 26th, 2012
7:59 am
@foxdog
The funny part? You trying to impress me with your grammar and vocabulary. Instead, you are just blabbering about, running your mouth, and talking about the subject. This thread is about Murray, not Mettenberger. And you know as well as I, that if he were still around, this job would have been a toss up two years ago. But anyway, back to Murray. Or do you need some more to time to elucidate with Charlie Crack Sheen? This is a sports blog. If you want to jab me with your English, meet me at a Starbucks….lmao
slydog
September 26th, 2012
8:02 am
And of course Mettenberger looks clueless. Just guess who his HC is? A boob who has a team full of talented players. He wins by sheer luck and domination. Our nerdy team of talented players were crushed by them. Go figure?
RedandBlackDAWG
September 26th, 2012
8:07 am
Thank God for Reggie Ball
September 25th, 2012
7:55 pm
I am interested to know how you came up with the statement, that he is 10X the play caller Bobo is. You don’t actually feel he is calling the plays do you? Bobo is still calling the plays. About the only thing that could be said about Bobo in the past was he was too conservative on third downs, but as can be seen now, if you have decent running, that goes away also. Murray brings all of the skills you could want to the table, and he is outstanding so far this year, but make no mistake about it, he is running Bobo’s offense, so give the man some credit as well.
Old Dawg
September 26th, 2012
8:11 am
Nice feature story, Chip. I miss a few things from my sports writing days, and putting together a feature story on a person like Murray is at the top of my list.
Keep the keys poppin’!
RedandBlackDAWG
September 26th, 2012
8:12 am
I heart Fran the Man
September 25th, 2012
11:36 pm
Tarketon was not possessed of a strong arm, and played in an entirely different era. His ability to scramble, in an era where the QB was mostly a pocket passer, is what made Tarketon unique. In today’s football world, he most likely would have had trouble surviving the big men that plow through lines and the sophisticated defenses that mask coverage so well. He would not have the body size to survive the hits the QB’s take at both the college and PRO. levels these days.
Showmeyurtd's
September 26th, 2012
8:21 am
Has Murray ever beaten a top 10 ranked team? Let’s hope he starts with the cocks! Go dawgs!
Neutral
September 26th, 2012
8:24 am
Slydog,
I believe LSU was a physically more dominant team last year, but it looks like that advantage over UGa is not the case this year. I’d love for them to knock-off Bama and play us again in the SEC championship game. But, we have a lot of work ahead of us to just win the “east”….which may be the overall toughest side of the conference.
WDE
September 26th, 2012
8:33 am
Chip this would have been a great article if it was more timely, sadly the national media has just crowned the Driskell kid from UF as the best QB in the SEC…he has less yards and TD’s than Murray but hey who are we to argue with their vast knowledge? Oh and don’t forget Murray is too shot to play QB he threw all 35 TD passes last year wearing elevated cleats.And slydog pigs fly the day you ever make a “astute” anything…
Craig
September 26th, 2012
8:36 am
Like I said- lets see what Murray and the team does in the next few games….
Joey
September 26th, 2012
8:54 am
Another excellent item, Chip.
Hope all Dawg fans appreciate the good stuff you’re bringing us.
Resident Georgia Fan
September 26th, 2012
8:57 am
I saw GTBob crawling out of a Waffle House dumpster this morning near Lawrenceville.
Neutral
September 26th, 2012
8:58 am
@showme…..
Do you mean, “has UGa beaten a a top 10 team”? Murray is just one player on a team. He doesn’t play on special teams, defense, punt, block, catch passes, etc. He is just part of a TEAM. Jarvis Jones, Gurley, Rambo, etc. Haven’t beaten a top 10 team either. Hang in there dude….it will happen this year…..I hope!!!
dawg-it
September 26th, 2012
9:06 am
Murray is a very good QB. But he still OVERTHROWS every reciever on the long ball.
Joey
September 26th, 2012
9:07 am
He may be a nerd, but he’s dang sure a tough nerd.
MA English 75
September 26th, 2012
9:13 am
Hairy Dawg, Grad school at UGA isn’t a walk in the park. Murry is still a student. He manages his time well.
Murray Schmurray, where is your undergrad degree from? What was your major?
WDE
September 26th, 2012
9:14 am
One of the keys to this years success is keeping Murray from taking all the shots he took last year.
Joey
September 26th, 2012
9:15 am
dawg-it, Murray’s made several long ones this season – 2 to Bennent in one game. My opinion is that underthrows get intercepted, and Murray is avoiding that.
2Dawgs
September 26th, 2012
9:27 am
Bury Tenn and SoCo.
flo-ri-duh
September 26th, 2012
9:34 am
Murray started as a red shirt freshman and Stafford started as a true freshman – big difference.
ISAIAH WHO?????
September 26th, 2012
9:36 am
I really expect Murray to continue to develop into a superior QB, We have to make sure that we protect the edges and the line has to continue to give him time to get the ball down field. I am so proud of these guys. We are starting a lot of freshman and that a great sign becasue it will allow these guys to become a solid unit as they grow with UGA. THIS IS OUR YEAR. I FEEL CONFIDENT IN OUR TEAM. We really havent faced anyone that would give us any hell yet, but with SC and FLA coming up, we must conitue to focus on” one game at a time”. With THE FOUR HOURSEMAN back in the game, (VESSER, TREE, RAMBO AND COMMINGS) I know we can do it. Continue to pray for these guys and support them in everyway possible. GO DAWGS!!!!
BigDawg
September 26th, 2012
9:36 am
Brainiac—- a little information David Greene also started as a Redshirt Freshman not as a true Freshman as you stated. But you made a very good point about Aaron Murray. Also David Greene played on better overall teams in his first two years as a starter than has Murray as they were able to run the football on a more consistent basis giving him time in the pocket as defenses had to respect the possibility that it would be a running play.
Now as to other commenters- the jury is still out but we will definitely know more about this team after Saturday’s game with Tennessee and especially the following Saturday against South Carolina. And as most of you know it is a team sport and most of the Dawgs problems the last 4 years are due to numerous problems having nothing to do with Aaron Murray, Joe Cox, or Matt Stafford but injuries, bad behavior on the part of certain individuals being suspended or kicked out of school and lack of recruiting in the most important positions in football the offensive and defensive lines.
Go Dawgs
ARdawg
September 26th, 2012
9:40 am
Bullkaka…Special Teams has improved 100%. That’s not to say there isn’t room for much more improvement. We have been awful in the last several years but, we are much better. Kudo’s to Blake Sailors on the coverage, we still need the “go to guy” on returns though
ARdawg
September 26th, 2012
9:44 am
MA English
Schmurray’s MA is from GT in basket weaving and bottle washing
Lonnie
September 26th, 2012
9:52 am
Auburn and Georgia Tech were ranked last year correct? Aaron Murray is top 3 all time dawg quarterbacks. The others are Zier and David Greene! Of course Greene was an awesome winner but Eric struggled with good teams as well. Aaron has improved and with the creative play calling he will continue to excel!!!
shankit
September 26th, 2012
9:55 am
Murray now has a running game to take pressure off him,
which he did not have the last two years. Think you will
see him vying for the Heisman, if he continues with the
performance he had against Vandy.
Valyboy35
September 26th, 2012
10:00 am
What does GATA mean DAWG NATION!!!
Neutral
September 26th, 2012
10:03 am
Great point Shankit. He could have had that last year if IC had his act together, but we came out of that mess smelling like a rose!
Neutral
September 26th, 2012
10:06 am
I think it was an old Erk Russell term for Get After Their A$$
ARdawg
September 26th, 2012
10:09 am
skankit
Agree. The development of a running game and an effective OL makes Murray lethal and a much different QB than we’ve seen
Lonnie
September 26th, 2012
10:12 am
Fran Tarkenton as well but of course he was a scrambler
Nothing Could Be Finer
September 26th, 2012
10:15 am
Murray will be scrambling for his life vs Clowney and Co….
The dogs weak o-line will be exposed on Oct. 6.
Neutral
September 26th, 2012
10:26 am
There are a few great “scramblers” out there like: M.Vick and R2D2 or whatever his name is (Baylor and Redskins)!!!