UGA starts only 3 on defense as big as Hurd
Georgia expects to have hands full vs. Vols’ physical Hurd
IN SPORTS › D1
ATHENS, Ga. — If the Georgia Bulldogs employ the same starting defense Saturday afternoon against Tennessee as they did last week at Ole Miss, there will be just three defenders as large as Volunteers running back Jalen Hurd.
Georgia’s three defensive linemen who started in Oxford are bigger than the 6-foot-4, 240-pound junior, and junior inside linebacker Reggie Carter (6-3, 238) is close. The rest of the Georgia defenders, however, can be categorized as smaller or significantly smaller.
“From personal experience, he’s a big back,” said Aaron Davis, a 6-1, 189-pound Bulldogs junior safety. “He runs very hard, which I commend him for that. He’s definitely a challenge to tackle, so we need guys out there flying to the football because he’s going to be a hard back to take down.”
The punishing Hurd has amassed 2,552 career rushing yards near the midway mark of his third season in Knoxville, and he is 526 yards shy of the school record (3,078) set by Travis Henry from 1997 to 2000. Hurd became the first true sophomore in Tennessee history to post a 1,000-yard season when he tallied 1,288 a year ago.
In two games against Georgia, Hurd
“From personal experience, he’s a big back . ... He’s definitely a challenge to tackle, so we need guys out there flying to the football because he’s going to be a hard back to take down.”
— AARON DAVIS, GEORGIA SAFETY
has rushed 45 times for 199 yards, with that 4.4-yard average nearly mirroring his 4.6-yard career clip, and the Bulldogs know that bringing him down is no easy task.
“It is very challenging, but Nick Chubb is the best running back in the country,” Georgia sophomore defensive end DaQuan Hawkins-Muckle said before mentioning three other teammates. “Sony Michel and Brian Herrien and Elijah Holyfield are really good, too, so it is nothing new to me.
“In practice, sometimes they get the best of me and sometimes I get the best of them, but there is no running back in the nation that we are scared to face, because we believe we have the best ones.”
The biggest running backs Georgia has faced this season are North Carolina’s Elijah Hood (6-0, 220) and Ole Miss’s Akeem Judd (5-11, 224).
Although much attention has been placed on Georgia’s faltering pass defense after the Rebels racked up 233 aerial yards in the first half of last Saturday’s 45-14 thrashing, the Bulldogs also have been erratic against the run. Georgia held Missouri to 95 yards on 37 carries, but the Bulldogs yielded a combined 339 yards on 50 carries against the two ranked teams — North Carolina and Ole Miss — they’ve played to this point.
The Tar Heels and Rebels combined to average 6.8 yards per carry against Georgia, and first-year Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart has challenged his defense to become more physical this week. Smart specifically targeted outside linebackers Davin Bellamy and Lorenzo Carter, who have combined for a measly 0.5 tackles for loss this season.
“The role for those guys is to play really physical,” Smart said. “Sometimes both of those guys can’t be on the field, but Tennessee has a big offensive front and they run the ball well. Their job might be to strike the tight end, or it might be to strike the tackle. Both of those guys are 240 or 245 pounds, and they’ve got to play against bigger people.
“They’ve got to be able to hold up when they play against bigger people, especially in the run game. They don’t get any smaller in the SEC the rest of the way.”
Georgia has not allowed a 100-yard rusher this season and has not allowed one since Florida’s Kelvin Taylor had 121 last October. The last one before Taylor was Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs, who passed for 312 yards and rushed for 118 a year ago in Knoxville as the Vols rallied from a 24-3 deficit for a 38-31 win.
Hurd rushed 21 times for 80 yards a year ago to complement Dobbs on an offense that amassed 510 yards, and Hurd’s 119-yard performance two years ago during Georgia’s 35-32 win in Athens marked the first 100yard game of his career.
“I remember how hard he runs,” Davis said. “He ran that way last year, and he ran that way the year before that. I just remember him running his feet on contact and doing the best he can to fall forward and continue the run.”
Keeping the mindset
Although Chubb is questionable for Saturday’s game with an ankle injury, Smart said the offense will not be altered.
“We’ve got an offensive mindset about us, and that’s what we’re sticking with,” Smart said. “We’re trying to be as balanced as we can, and I don’t think it will be markedly different, because we have other capable backs. Some of them are young and inexperienced and don’t have the same capabilities as Nick, but they’re good players.
“We were looking all spring at having to play without him, so we’re prepared to do so if we have to.”
Chubb was not present for a third straight practice during the portion that is open to the media.