This ESPN thought piece is by and large pretty worthless, especially Gene Wojciechowski’s part (a selection committee cam? Ugh…), but you gotta love this bit from Mark Schlabach:
Running backs seem to be largely an afterthought in the NFL draft nowadays, but it’s still one of the most important positions in college football. Gurley, the Bulldogs’ sensational junior star, is the kind of running back who can carry a team on his shoulders. When Gurley is healthy, he might be the most valuable player in the sport. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, he was banged up too much last season, missing long stretches with groin and ankle injuries. Gurley still managed to run for 989 yards with 10 touchdowns last season, after gaining 1,385 yards with 17 touchdowns as a freshman in 2012. Gurley is too good to be sitting on the sideline. If he stays healthy, he might become a Heisman Trophy finalist and a potential top-10 NFL draft pick.
I just hope everyone’s writing about Gurley’s production as positively during and after this season.
Get The Picture 
Please don’t shoot me, but is Gurley getting over-hyped? I love him and think he’s the best rb we have had in 30 years when healthy, but we’ve rarlely seen him healthy and he’s apparently not healthy now.
Even when healthy, I didn’t hear the cries of love (outside uga) last year. This stinks of the media cycle reinforcing itself, or at least has all the trademarks of such a thing. With all the above in mind, I’d suggest it’s possible there is some overhype going on. Then again, my eyes tell me that he may be that good.
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No, he’s not over-hyped. At least not if he’s healthy. And even then, as we saw against Florida and Tech, he’s still pretty special.
But what’s with this “rarely” stuff? I don’t recall him struggling with injuries much in his freshman season.
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He was healthy for 14 games as a freshman. He was an absolute warrior and a true difference maker.
The groin injury didn’t slow him down. Sure, he had to come out of the Clemson game for a while, but he still had close to 130 yards in Death Valley. He was a beast against South Carolina and, until the injury on a tackle, was dominant against LSU. He was never fully the same the rest of the season mainly because he got out of condition in mid-season. I don’t see why people are saying he isn’t healthy now.
Todd Gurley is the least of our worries entering the 2014 season.
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He was hurt all of last season, and the issues against UF were absolutely not conditioning related. He just wasn’t the same ever since the Clemson game.
And I’m saying people are saying he’s not healthy now because he’s not healthy now. http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/college/ugas-gurley-still-dealing-with-injuries-may-or-may/nd6Wh/
I love him and will say again he’s the best we’ve had in 30 years, when healthy. My point is just that this media hype has all the markings of over hyping someone. Just hope this time it’s deserved.
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As for the AJ-C piece, he played a lot more in the G-Day game than expected. Just sayin’.
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Speaking of AJC pieces http://www.ajc.com/feed/sports/college/gurley-gurley-gurley/fc5bW/
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you mean!?!? Atlanta has a newspaper!!!???
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I still haven’t heard a report that he’s at 100%. I read he played through a lot of pain. If you have heard he’s back to full strength and the mysterious quad issue is resolved, that’d be the greatest dawg porn of all (actually “the greatest dawg porn of all” is my favorite Whitney Houston song).
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I suspect Richt won’t mind if there’s a question in other people’s minds about Gurley’s condition going into the opener.
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This AJC article is three months old. A finely tuned athlete with top flight services at his disposal can do a lot in three months. We still have almost that until that orange pile of litter box leftovers roles into Athens.
Enjoy the moment now. I’d rather be positive now and digest whatever happens next season next season than spend my summer pissing and moaning over AJC articles, who if you judge the reading audience by the comments section alone, isn’t fit to line said litter box. I swore off that rag a long time ago. We came very close to winning several of those last year with a pair of freshman RB’s and one of them isn’t even on the O anymore. Now look at what’s in the stable.
God I miss Larry every game day and several times in between usually person. “Georgia… drops back in the I…”
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“and the issues against UF were absolutely not conditioning related”
They weren’t? Gurley sawed off that lengthy TD catch and run on Georgia’s second possession and looked dead tired right after. Had to go back to the locker room for fluids, if memory serves.
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That should have been obvious to everyone watching.
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He couldn’t do any running because of the high-ankle sprain. Go back and watch the replay of the play against LSU when he got hurt. Those types of injuries are really hard to get over during the season.
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“Todd Gurley is the least of our worries entering the 2014 season.” – True that.
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“Please don’t shoot me, but is Gurley getting over-hyped?”
I don’t know but my horoscope and Magic 8 Ball in my side pocket says strap on a vest and, “Ask again later”
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GÜRLS, GÜRLS, GÜRLS!
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I believe it is safe to assume that the O-line will take a step back this season with both Theus and Houston handling the LT and RT spots and question marks at LG. A new starting QB + a subpar O-line = opposing team loading the box to stop the run and daring Mason to beat them. This situation equates to a less than stellar year for any RB. It will be sad to waste a talent such as Gurley, but that is Georgia football as we know it. On the bright side, at least the offensive line (with the rest of college football players) will get paid soon!
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lol
Ultra-pessimistic but there are some kernels of truth…
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Years from now I think we will be amazed that we had Gurley, Marshall, Sony and Chubb all on the same team for a season
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Keese my grandest hope is that THIS offensive line will look around Today and be amazed right now. So much so, that when fall camp rolls around they collectively have the season of their lives. True, that would be a tall order but gosh what a year it would be. Talk about the Stadium rocking and the Girders bending. Man, Jesus would not have to come get me I would walk to Heaven!
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Instead of people calling Gurley injury prone, he should be getting a lot more credit for playing hurt. He had two injuries last year that would have sidelined most backs for much longer. A groin and a high ankle are two of the toughest injuries to heal unless you just stop playing all together. Kudos to Todd and I’m looking forward to a monster season from him.
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+!
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Gurley is a tough dude. Not injury-prone. He played an awful lot of tough football as a freshman. Go watch him in the Alabama game if you have any doubts. Injuries added to the fact that he was out of shape last season.
I hope he works harder this season. He has survived largely on natural talent thus far. If he works hard, he could take it another step forward — which is scary if you can even imagine.
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It really matters little whether Gurley’s overhyped. None of our opponents will be influenced one way or the other. They see the film; they know his history. And while I believe he’s the best in the country, if he isn’t healthy in large spells again this season, the roof won’t fall in (unless, of course, the OL is so bad that . . . well, odds are that won’t happen).
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Gurley is not overhyped! The young man is a beast and has been since he got here. This was a young man that stepped in as a true freshman who could run like the wind AND run over you. Ask Clemson if Gurley is overhyped. Ask LSU. Ask South Carolina. Let them load the box to stop the run and watch Mason throw an out to Gurley out of the backfield. This guy has done everything asked of him with grace. I hope he stays another year, but I know thats just wishful thinking, but he is not overhyped, he’s that damn good!
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All this Oline is not going to be good talk is a little silly. Great backs can make average Olines look great. If the back is great he only needs a crease to explode. The 1980, 1981 and 1982 Olines were not great, they were good but HW made them look all world. We will have potentially the best group of running backs ever to dress out in one season at UGA. If our opponent DC’s don’t stack the box they are idiots. Hell I would run blitz on every down. If Mason can throw quick passes like he did in high school we will destroy the defense of all but the best.
In conclusion I seem to remember our average Oline driving the ball down the throat of The Ole Ball Sack and literally having him throw in the towel. That was the sweetest non-scoring drive in my 67 years. RUN THE DAMN BALL it demoralizes teams and hurts them.
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