The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
McKenzie measured by play
UGA’s smallest player comes up big in weight room, return game.
ATHENS — Isaiah McKenzie is the smallest player on Georgia’s team by a good bit. He’s listed at 5-foot-8, 175 pounds, but probably comes up short on both counts.
But that doesn’t mean he’s the weakest player on the team. Far from it, a according to his coaches and teammates.
“This is a little guy that pound for pound is as strong as anybody on our team,” offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said. “It doesn’t bother him one bit to mix it up.”
McKenzie validated that remark Thursday.
“It’s very accurate,” a grinning McKenzie said, declining to provide details.
When you’re a small guy playing a giant’s game, one is well-advised to have some special skills. Entering his third season with the Bulldogs as a wide receiver and return specialist, McKenzie has proved he belongs.
Now he wants to prove something more. This is why McKenzie has turned himself into a wee-
sized workout warrior
“When you’re the smallest ... I’ve got to try to figure out something,” McKenzie said. “I’ve got to try to bench more, squat more and be the fastest. So that’s why. That’s just my mindset.”
McKenzie might be the fastest Bulldog, though teammate Reggie Davis might put up an argument. Davis, a senior and former state sprint champion in Florida, also is a member of Georgia’s wide receiver corps. He and McKenzie have an ongoing dispute over which is actually the quickest. But then it gets bogged down in qualifiers like 40 yards versus 100 yards versus 100 meters, and so forth.
Suffice it to say, they’re both extremely fast. It’s why they’re both set to be in the Bulldogs’ receiver rotation and as kickoff and punt returners.
But when it comes to returning kicks, that’s where Davis gives McKenzie the nod.
“I’m rotating back there,” Davis said. “But, you know, Isaiah McKenzie, he’s definitely the man back there.”
McKenzie’s the man as long as he can stay out there. He has five career returns for touchdowns, four on punts and another on a kickoff. But the Bulldogs have had trouble keeping him on the field. Between chronic hamstring injuries and decision-making issues, McKenzie’s presence on returns was sporadic last season. He missed three games with injuries and finished with 17 punt returns and 21 overall, nine fewer than the previous season.
Perhaps that’s why SEC coaches placed him only on their second-team all-conference squad Thursday. But McKenzie was represented twice, both as an all-purpose player and as a return specialist.
McKenzie appreciated the mention. But, again, he wants more.
“I feel very honored to be put on the second team,” McKenzie said. “Hopefully, I can make first team when it’s over . ... I’m not offended. It just fuels me, keeps me going.”
Bulldogs chosen preseason All-SEC: Nick Chubb and Greg Pyke continue to earn the respect of SEC coaches, as the two Bulldogs led a group of six Georgia players placed on the preseason coaches All-SEC football team.
The league office unveiled the team, voted on by league coaches, Thursday morning. Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own players. Alabama and LSU led the way with 13 representatives each.
Chubb and Pyke were the only two Bulldogs who earned firstteam honors. Chubb, a junior, is coming off major knee surgery which cut short his season midway through last season. He has rushed for 2,294 yards and scored 24 touchdowns in a season-anda-half of play with the Bulldogs. Pyke, a senior, is making the transition from right guard to right tackle this season.
Senior center Brandon Kublanow, junior safety Dominick Sanders and McKenzie were included on the second team. McKenzie actually made it twice, once as an all-purpose player and also as a return specialist. Junior outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter was third team.