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The Recent Georgia Running Backs

Noah was told by God to build a boat.

So, he did.

In that boat, he loaded up every kind of animal in the world by twos. I have no idea how he pulled that off, or why the lions didn’t eat the water buffaloes, but that’s the way it was supposed to have happened. God flooded the world and it started all over again with the two of each animal breed.

Oops, Noah must have missed Bigfoot, and the Chupacabra. They must have both drowned in the flooding, and it’s no wonder they are still a mystery.

With the Georgia Bulldogs, in recent times, the great running backs seem to also come in pairs.

Now, they aren’t expected to reproduce literally, but they have certainly been productive on the playing field since 2012.

In the 2012 recruiting class, the Bulldogs signed the second highest rated running back in the nation on ESPN’s list, Keith Marshall.

That year, Keith Marshall was the top ranked player in the state of North Carolina and ranked behind only Johnathan Gray of Texas at the running back position.

But, the Bulldogs also signed another running back out of the great state of North Carolina by the

name of Todd Gurley. ESPN had Gurley rated as an athlete, and not even at the running back position. He was rated as the 22nd best athlete in the country and he was the 10th best player in his own state, supposedly.

Not to say anyone was wrong, or anything, but they sure were wrong about Todd Gurley. But, that’s the crap shoot known as recruiting.

Todd Gurley’s talent was obvious from day one and he ran for 1,385 yards and 17 touchdowns as a true freshman. The higher rated Marshall was good, too, running for 759 yards and 8 touchdowns. Nothing wrong with that at all, just that this Todd Gurley stole the limelight from Marshall.

The following season, in one of the strangest seasons to remember, injuries plagued the Bulldogs and Gurley had to miss 3 games. Gurley, being the beast that he is, was still able to run for just under a 1,000 yards to lead the team in rushing.

Marshall missed most of the season and ran for only 246 yards, but there was still hope that he would be a star for the Bulldogs.

Every bad break there was played against the Bulldogs in 2013, but mostly injuries to it’s star players. It was just one odd season for Georgia including the unlucky break at Jordan Hare stadium against the Auburn Tigers. Prayer at Jordan Hare

The 2014 recruiting class was the year of the running back and Georgia got their fair share again. Going along with the pairs theme, the Dogs signed the 2nd ranked running back in Sony Michel from Plantation, Florida. But, they also signed the 7th ranked back in Nick Chubb from Cedartown, Georgia.

Michel was ranked only behind some guy from New Orleans by the name of Leonard Fournette who did fairly well at LSU, one could say. 2014 running backs  2014 II

Georgia had some more bad luck in 2014 with Gurley being suspended for signing products and he

only got to play in 6 games and even injured his knee against Auburn.

But, Nick Chubb came through big time for the Bulldogs. Chubb was a super star, running for almost 1,550 yards and 14 touchdowns taking the spotlight off of losing Gurley and the more highly recruited Sony Michel. It was eerily similar to the Marshall/Gurley situation just two short years ago in 2012.

Michel was no slouch himself, running for 410 yards. But, it was Chubb that everyone was talking about including Georgia great Herschel Walker.

Gurley was able to run for 911 yards in his limited opportunities and finished his college career with 3,285 yards and 36 rushing touchdowns.

Teammate and former 2nd ranked running back in the nation, Keith Marshall, didn’t fare so well. In only 3 games, the often injured Marshall only ran for 24 yards on 12 carries. While Gurley left for the money of the NFL, Marshall didn’t have that luxury and he returned for his senior season.

The Los Angeles Rams, or still St Louis at that time, chose Gurley with the 10th selection of the 1st round of the 2015 NFL Draft. I thought he should have gone earlier, and he has proven that to be correct with his play.

Marshall did return and ran for 350 yards as a senior, and he did happen to finish with over 1,300 career yards. That’s not Herschel Walker kind of numbers, but it’s still not bad and was enough to get him drafted by the Washington Redskins in the 7th round.

The 2015 season was to be the year for sensational sophomore Nick Chubb. Gurley was in the NFL with the Rams and Chubb was the main man now.

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But, unlike the case with Keith Marshall and Todd Gurley, the other running back in this pair stepped up.

While not as impressive as Chubb, Sony Michel took over the starter’s role and ran for over 1,100 yards on the season. The Bulldogs finished the season with a 10-3 record which was still not good enough to save head coach Mark Richt’s job. He was fired and replaced by Kirby Smart the Alabama defensive coordinator. While, I was angry at the time, it still turned out to be a good move by the Bulldogs and Smart is another Nick Saban, at least recruiting wise. The past two recruiting classes by the Bulldogs have been spectacular.

Going into the 2016 season, the talk was whether Nick Chubb would be back at full strength. We knew Michelle could get it done, but Chubb was the star.

All that talk was put to rest in game one when Chubb ran for 222 yards against a pretty good North

Carolina team. But, even so, it was clear that something was different after his injury.

Chubb did run for over 1,100 yards on the season, but he only ran for 5.0 yards per carry and not the 7 to 8 yards per carry that he accomplished as a freshman and sophomore.

Michel ran for 840 yards to take up the slack.

Both star running backs announced they were returning to Georgia for their senior seasons. Both really needed to come back to improve their draft status and that they did.

2017 was a magical season for the Bulldogs up until they traveled to Auburn and got clubbed by the Tigers, 17-40. It wasn’t fun to watch.

The Bulldogs easily won the SEC East, which really wasn’t all that much of a task. The Auburn Tigers not only beat 2nd ranked Georgia, they also beat top ranked Alabama setting up a rematch between Georgia and Auburn in the SEC championship game.

This game was as boring and one sided as the first one, but in reverse. Georgia stunned Auburn and the nation by kicking the Tigers, 28-7.

As everyone knows, Georgia made the playoffs and beat Oklahoma in overtime and then lost to Alabama in the championship also in overtime.

Chubb finished his senior season with 1,345 yards rushing with 15 touchdowns. Over his four year career including an injured sophomore year, Chubb ran for an amazing 4,769 yards and 44 touchdowns.

Sony Michel actually looked better than Chubb late in 2017 and finished the season with over 1,200 yards. But, Michel looked really explosive. Over his 4 years at Georgia, he ran for 3,613 yards and 33 touchdowns.

Chubb was picked by the Cleveland Browns in the early 2nd round with the 35th pick overall. But, it was Sony Michel that was taken in the 1st round by the Pittsburgh Steelers that was the real story. Michel just came on strong late in the year and was just explosive and hard to tackle. Both will

probably be difference makers in the NFL.

With the recent history of the running backs at Georgia, it should have been no surprise that the Dogs signed Zamir White and James Cook in the 2018 recruiting class.

Zamir White was the top ranked running back in the 2018 class and James Cook was ranked third, again by the ESPN rankings. White, from Laurinburg, North Carolina was the crown jewel at running back. The 6-0, 205 White is fast with moves and the total package.

James Cook is the younger brother of former Florida State great Dalvin Cook. I would not overlook James Cook.

Does history really repeat itself? Georgia signed Keith Marshall and Todd Gurley. Marshall grabbed the headlines while Gurley became the star.

Georgia signed Sony Michel and Nick Chubb. We all know how that mostly played out, but Michel did redeem himself at the end.

What will happen with White and Cook? White has already been injured at Georgia before he played his first game. Georgia has some other star running backs such as D’Andre Swift, so will Cook rise up immediately and take the glory from White as it happened with the previous pairs of star running backs?

September is almost here and we will all find out together.

Stay tuned.

And, remember, there’s no Bigfoot. Chupacabra might be real, but there’s no Bigfoot. Again, you heard it here first.