Murray bypasses NFL draft to stay at UGA (updated w/ Richt reaction)
Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray ended the speculation Sunday night about whether he’s staying in school or going to the NFL. He’s staying, Murray announced via Twitter.
“Blessed to be the QB for the Dawgs, not ready to leave just yet,” Murray tweeted to his 64,000-plus followers. “Time to get back to work & help lead this team to a championship.”
Murray could not be immediately reached for further comment, and UGA made no official announcement of his decision. (UPDATE: Georgia coach Mark Richt reacted to Murray’s decision in a statement Monday morning: “I’m certainly pleased that after weighing his options Aaron has decided to remain at Georgia for his senior year. His leadership and productivity have been tremendous during what has been an outstanding career. This is great for Aaron and great for Georgia.”)
A three-year starter for the Bulldogs, Murray had been weighing whether to return for his final season of college eligibility or to enter the 2013 NFL draft.
He said previously that the NFL’s underclassmen advisory committee informed him he likely would be a second or third-round pick if he entered the draft.
Murray graduated from UGA last spring with a degree in psychology, and he enrolled in a graduate program in industrial-organizational psychology in the fall.
He is the first quarterback in SEC history to pass for more than 3,000 yards in three consecutive seasons. This past season, he passed for 3,893 yards and 36 touchdowns. In Georgia’s Capital One Bowl victory over Nebraska, he passed for 427 yards and five touchdowns. He leads the nation in pass efficiency rating for the 2012 season, just ahead of Alabama’s AJ McCarron, who plays in the BCS title game Monday night.
Murray has led Georgia to back-to-back SEC Eastern Division titles, although the Bulldogs lost in the SEC Championship game both times.
Murray’s return is a boon for the 2013 Georgia team, which expects to return all but two starters – receivers Tavarres King and Marlon Brown – from an offense that averaged 37.8 points per game.
– Tim Tucker, AJC
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513 comments Add your comment
My-Guy
January 7th, 2013
8:46 am
Do you ignorant people think we could go into @ Clemson, South Carolina, & LSU with inexpierenced QBs (Lemay & Mason), y’all are really stupid. Fully expierenced QB Aaron Murray would help us with that TOUGH schedule next year. I never seen so many idiots on the blog before, oh wait, yes I have! We’ve seen Lemay on the field and hell no his passing rating is nothing like Aaron Murray’s. Mason should be a backup next year, DEFINATELY not the starter with those first four games. The most hated team, the Florida Gaytors, will be out for REVENGE next year! Remember what happened to us in 2002, 2005, & 2008, when the Gaytors upset us and ruined our season. We need Aaron Murray to help us out for those games as well. Thank You Jesus that Aaron Murray will be back!
bubba4dawgs
January 7th, 2013
8:48 am
DAWG Nation: Don’t you just love these negative idiots who don’t know dootely squat about football nor appreciate Aaron Murray’s play as a qb. Murray knows what he’s doing! He knows when to hold’em and when to fold’em and that’s a helluva lot more than most anyone else knows! He will put up some mighty big numbers in 2013, no doubt and increase his value as a qb at the next level. I would go so far as to say he may even be mentioned in the Heisman running unless Johnny Football has that locked up. GO DAWGS, GO MURRAY!
Neutral
January 7th, 2013
8:51 am
BOTTOM LINE IS UGA WILL FINISH IN THE TOP 5 in the nation ahead of: FL, LSU, SC, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, OHIO STATE, MICHIGAN, WISCONSIN, CLEMSON, FSU, NEBRASKA, OKLAHOMA, USC, TEXAS, KANSAS STATE, etc, etc, etc. So what’s your point? I’m proud of the DAWGS this year and much of the team success was due to AM. Fact dudes, live with it!!!
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
8:52 am
Football is a TEAM SPORT, where you are judged by BIG WINS against GOOD TEAMS.
By that measure, Connor Shaw, AJ, Johnny, and Zach are BETTER than Murray.
Golf, sure, Murray’s INDIVIDUAL STATS AGAINST UNRANKED TEAMS would matter a little more, football, they don’t.
My-Guy
January 7th, 2013
8:52 am
It’s a lot of fake people on this blog obviously, FLORIDA GAYTURD FANS, AWWBURN TIGERD FANS, and definately GEORGIA TECH YELLOW FAGGOT FANS on this blog pretending to be Georgia fans, afraid to face the dominant Georgia offense next year, oh, lets not forget, our young defense is about to shock the world as well!
UGAly
January 7th, 2013
8:53 am
Georgia’s 2013 season rests on the shoulders of Todd Grantham.
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
8:55 am
Hutson Mason has a HIGHER PASSING EFFICIENCY than Aaron Murray in EVERY SINGLE GAME HE’S EVER PLAYED IN AT GEORGIA.
So yes, Mason would give you a HIGHER CHANCE of winning than Murray.
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
8:56 am
Hutson Mason has had a higher accuracy numbers than Murray at ALL 3 G-Day games at UGA than Aaron Murray.
Murray is 0-3 at trying to beat Mason’s accuracy.
My-Guy
January 7th, 2013
8:57 am
Did Hutson Mason start against Alabama’s dominant defense and the #1 Nebraska Secondary, I don’t think so! Hutson Mason would’ve started over Murray in 2010 & 2011 if the coaches knew that he was better. RoJo=FAKE
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
8:58 am
No QB, from outside of the state of Georgia, has EVER won an SEC Championship at UGA in over 100 years.
Mason is from Georgia, Murray is from Florida.
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:00 am
How did the other ranked SEC QB’s do against Alabama?
Both Metterberger AND Manziel had career highs.
Murray, as usual, tanked.
Neutral
January 7th, 2013
9:02 am
@my guy and bubba4dawgs
You are both spot on. The negative trolls are trying to act like disgruntled Dawg fans, but we all know they are techies or rival morons. It also irritates me when fans get greedy and don’t appreciate being a top 5 team. Yes, I would love to have a NC like all fans,but it is not everything…..just ask Auburn, TN, GT, etc. I’d rather have a 10-12 win team every year than a NC and then non-stop losing seasons!!!! Thanks AM for returning to finish your PhD and lead our DAWGS!!!! BTW, he also made us proud by being a recipient of the Allstate Community Service award. How could we not be proud of this guy?
DawginLex
January 7th, 2013
9:02 am
Thanks to our AD, Greg McGarity, we now have official titles for 2 of our posters;
King and Queen of the Society of the Miserable
King-flat tire
Queen-SSIGator
Congratulations from Bulldog Nation
My-Guy
January 7th, 2013
9:03 am
Mettenberger! You are kidding me, his passing rating is FAR WORSE than Aaron Murray! It’s a TEAM efford! OFFENSE, DEFENSE, and SPECIAL TEAMS will help you win football games. Aaron Murray has done his job at UGA! You let your teammates down when a DEFENSE & SPECIAL TEAMS allows 21 points in the first quarter, or a DEFENSE that gives up over 300 rushing yards!
LogicalUS
January 7th, 2013
9:03 am
AMurray is a good kid but honestly little if any place for him to go other than return to UGA.
When it came time for brass tacks, only the desperate NFL teams would have drafted an average sized QB like Murray who simply can not get over the turnover bug. Sure Murray was bailed out of many of his more egegious mistakes, but that is small comfort to NFL teams where teams simply have NO room for such repeated mistakes.
Without the whitewashing play by JJones in the UF game Murray’s horrid play would have had the UGA fans at his throat. People easily forget just how awful Murray was during that debacle.
Neutral
January 7th, 2013
9:04 am
How did Mettinberger do against Clemson? Just asking
Old Dawg
January 7th, 2013
9:05 am
Wow! A late Christmas present. I’m very excited about the 2013 season!
Go Dawgs!!
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:06 am
By any TRUE TEAM WIN measure, Bowl record (1-2), SEC Championship record(0-2), or record against teams that finish top 25(2-11),
Murray’s career at UGA has been an abysmal failure.
My-Guy
January 7th, 2013
9:06 am
@ Neutral, thank you, I’ll accept that!
I agree, it’s tough to win a National Championship, how many schools are in the NCAA! A LOT! & only 1 out of all the schools can win a National Championship, look at all the other conferences who may not have football programs like UGA! Be blessed guys, be appreciative of what Mark Richt has done for UGA since 2001!
Neutral
January 7th, 2013
9:06 am
Is “horrid play” what you call the MVP in a bowl game vs the #1 passing defense in the Country.
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:10 am
Murray plays GREAT against teams with losing records.
Murray’s rankings against UNRANKED teams NATIONALLY:
#1 in passing efficiency
#5 in accuracy
Murray plays HORRIBLY against RANKED teams.
Murray’s rankings against RANKED teams NATIONALLY:
#45 in passing efficiency
#90 in accuracy
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:12 am
Murray’s 1-2 Bowl record, and 8 turnovers in 3 Bowl games?
Horrid is the word.
Buzz-off
January 7th, 2013
9:12 am
Your comments at 8:51 and 9:02 are incredible and so true. I believe real Dawg fans would agree with everything you said.
Standawg
January 7th, 2013
9:13 am
Just post what you got and move on with life. This ain’t no chat room you losers.
Offense should be awesome next year, many questions for the defense, but I think they’ll figure it out.
Go Dawgs, f^ck Bama
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:15 am
No, under Aaron Murray, the UGA offense, against ranked teams, will never be awesome.
Buzz-off
January 7th, 2013
9:16 am
Rojo = techie = moron
We are all laughing at you Rojo because we know who and what you are. Dualing with you is like shooting down an unarmed man!!!
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:17 am
Sure, a techie would want Richt to bench Murray, who has beat the unranked team all 3 times. Makes a lot of sense.
Dawg4Life
January 7th, 2013
9:18 am
He had two years of experience and he still choked in the big games. He should have went to the NFL this year!!!
tripledart
January 7th, 2013
9:20 am
Arron is a great role model keeps his image clean an his mouth shut.It is his choice and you dumb ass
fans need to accept that.With the easy schedule from last season blame the people who make the schedule.If you don’t play the best you will fold under when you do.
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:20 am
All people that want Murray to remain the starter, since Murray is 0-3 against South Carolina, must be South Carolina fans then?
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:23 am
Since Murray is 2-11 vs. teams that finish top 25, all people that want Murray to remain the starter, must be from top 25 teams UGA will face like Clemson, South Carolina, LSU, and Florida? Makes a lot of sense.
My-Guy
January 7th, 2013
9:24 am
Everybody, lets go for Alabama in the BCS National Championship to support the SEC, a lot of Notre Dame fans want to trash talk about our conference and ruin our SEC winning streak! By the way, something in my gut says that Auburn may be back in business next year! What makes our 2013 schedule tougher is that we will be @ Auburn again, the deep south’s oldest rivalry will be back next year, Auburn won’t be the 2012 team again! Trust me! I’ve read some Auburn posts on the bleacher report! This makes the 2013 schedule more nervous racking, but Senior QB Aaron Murray will go lights out and show what he can do!
My-Guy
January 7th, 2013
9:25 am
Ok I’m done for today!
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:26 am
If you’re an SEC West team, you have to be THRILLED 0-2 in SEC Championships starter Murray, is returning.
LSU, Alabama, Texas A & M, are all VERY EXCITED to hear the wonderful news.
LoyalDog
January 7th, 2013
9:26 am
Aaron Murray is great for the University of Georgia and the students and University of Georgia is great for Aaron Murray. The few lunatics are clueless. The coaches and staff as well as the Unvesity does a great job at assimilating the athletes into the academic environment at Georgia. This is exciting.
Moist Dawg
January 7th, 2013
9:27 am
Buzz off, I approve of your opinion on rojo. Murray should be a top three hiseman candidate next year and anyone that thinks mason is better then Murray is stupid and ignorant.
Murray will lead us to the promised land and the rest of you can stick it.
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:30 am
Florida must be excited to hear Jarvis Jones is gone. He had a hand in 3 turnovers in 2012 against Florida.
Wonder how Murray will beat Florida without 6 turnovers and Jarvis Jones?
fayncdawg
January 7th, 2013
9:30 am
rojo
Manziel is a heck of a QB and what he did against Bammer is very noteworthy. I cannot say the same thing about Mettenburger. And when Mettenburger needed to make plays against Bammer AND Clemson, he flopped royally, worse than anything Murray ha sdone the last 2 years In other words don’t mention Mettenburger in the same sentence as Murray or esp. Manziel. Murray and Manziel will make the NFL. Mettenberger won’t!
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:35 am
Mettenberger and Manziel BOTH won more games against teasm that finished in the top 25 in their rookie years as a starter, than Murray has in 3 years.
Alabama is ranked 73rd in pass defense against ranked teams, Mettenberger and Manziel wern’t intimidated and played their best game, Murray did not play his best game.
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:36 am
I guess all the other 13 SEC starting QB’s are “heck of QB’s”, because all 13 had a higher accuracy % than Murray against ranked teams.
Or maybe Murray just isn’t very good? Or else all 13 are better.
JB
January 7th, 2013
9:39 am
Ask the other 119 D1 coach’s in the NCAA this question. Would you like to play Murray next year with what you’ve seen and know about him….. Or an unproven Hutson Mason?? I think we know what ALL 119 of them would say. Go Dawgs.
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:44 am
Glad you brought up the other NCAA teams, 89 QB’s rank better than Murray nationally, in accuracy, against ranked teams.
About 75% of all NCAA Qb’s ranked better than Murray.
I’m sure if you polled top 25 teams, and asked them if they’d be excited about facing a QB, like Murray, who had a 2-11 record against teams that finish top 25, all would be very excited.
JB
January 7th, 2013
9:46 am
Give a link of that 75% number…..ALL BS…. All I know is Dawgs went 12-2 in the SEC and played Bama to the final whistle. Take your made up stats and shove them RoHo
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:46 am
I’m sure if you polled all 119 teams, and asked them if they preferred to play a QB with a LOWER pass efficiency, or a higfher pass efficiency, most would say they’d prefer to play the QB with the lower pass efficiency.
Mason’s pass efficiency has been higher than Murray’s in EVERY SINGLE GAME they’ve ever both played in.
LeeDawg47
January 7th, 2013
9:47 am
Aaron, glad to have you back! Go Dawgs!
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:48 am
If you polled teams, and asked them, which qb would you rather face
One who has thrown 30+ interpetions in 3 seasons?
or
One who has NEVER thrown an interception?
Hutson has never thrown a SINGLE INTERCEPTION in a regular season game at Georgia.
JB
January 7th, 2013
9:50 am
RoJo……go back in the kitchen and tell Mrs. Hutson no matter how many times I post, It looks like our boy will be the back up next year…..Go ahead , tell her…..and eat your oatmeal.
Vampire Bill
January 7th, 2013
9:50 am
Boy this thread really turned into garbage. Especially from Rojo, Hey Rojo, change your name to Dumbo…
RoJo
January 7th, 2013
9:51 am
Look it up yourself at cfbstats dot com.
JB
January 7th, 2013
9:52 am
RoJo……This time next year when Murray holds every NCAA passing record in Yards and TD passes, I guess you’ll say he should of never started LOL……