If you can’t make it in Athens as a running back…
Georgia’s tailback depth is a little thinner this spring without reserve A.J. Turman.
The redshirt sophomore from Orlando was not listed on the updated roster the school provided on Tuesday. He was earlier listed with other players in the bios in the spring media guide.
A team spokesman said simply that Turman is no longer on the roster.
Get The Picture 
There will likely be more of this as part of the buy-in process.
I wish A.J. well.
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When they write the book about the end of the Richt era at Georgia, I hope they devote plenty of ink to that kid’s story. By all accounts he was a serious talent, but if you weren’t able to get onto the field last season at tailback… woo, there must have been something seriously wrong.
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Exactly. I have no idea what happened there. Not even a coaching change made an impact. Something transpired but no one has ever said anything. They never really ever considered playing him.
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My guess has always been ball-protection issues.
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This is pretty simple guys. There’s always two potential scenarios in these types of cases:
Talent shines. If the kid had the right stuff he would have seen the field.
Head case. Didn’t put in the effort in practice and or had a bad attitude.
Injuries… I don’t think so. Chubb has a major injury, but as soon as his knee gets clearance he’ll be back on the field toting the rock. Why? He’s got Heisman Trophy talent, phenomenal attitude and is a tireless worker!
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“Talent shines”. Not so sure I’d agree our coaches always went with the best talent. We had Danny Ware and his 7+ yard average riding the bench in favor of Thomas Brown and his 4+ yard average. And I won’t even mention the Knowshon redshirt fiasco. We let productive sub JJ Green go to gtu and followed that up by signing Crowder, who seemed like a pretty big reach (we’ll see).
Truth is, we won’t know if Turman has talent unless he shows it at another school. I’m not so sure we gave him a legit chance. I wish AJ well.
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Going back a little further we let Terrell Davis ride the bench when he was in Athens.
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Ray Goff: the only man to hold Terrell Davis to under 100 yards per game (although for one of those years, Garrison Hearst was an eyelash from winning the Heisman Trophy)
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Pretty sure he played for Donnan, too, and was underutilized by him as well. I can recall him going in and ripping off 7-8 yards, then coming out in favor of a tunnel screen that didn’t get the first down.
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Nope, his last season in Athens was 1994.
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Terrell Davis transferred from Long Beach State for his Junior season and was Garrison Hearst’s backup that year. All Garrison did was score more TD’s than anyone else that season, lead the nation in scoring, rush for 1500 yards and finish 3rd in Heisman voting. Hearst turned out to be a pretty good back in the NFL too.
Davis hurt is hamstring in preseason of his Senior Year, hurt it worse against Tennessee which made him and Goff hate each other.
http://www.si.com/vault/1996/10/28/218266/late-bloomer-from-relative-obscurity-broncos-back-terrell-davis-has-emerged-as-the-nfls-leading-rusher
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And win the Doak Walker Award and the ESPY as college football player of the year – Hearst was an absolute beast in 1992.
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I blame Bobo for keeping Terrell on the bench;-)
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I blame McGarity.
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Richt lost control of Terrell…
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Hearst, Hasting, and Zeier, it was almost the best of times, almost the worst of times.
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’92 was a true example of “One Play Away” Ray. Lose a game by 3 when you score 30+ and turn it over 6(!) times. Lose a heartbreaker to a rival when you give up a 3rd and forever that enables them to run out the clock.
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I remember reading that Davis was also plagued with debilitating migraines, which he was better able to manage as a pro due to getting better medical care.
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He has been gone since January. I don’t know why he left, but I wish him luck in whatever he decides to do. Sometimes, kids lose the passion or realize big time college football is not for them. The commitment from the kids and the amount of work on football and in the classroom is sometimes more than a kid is able or willing to do.
I don’t think any less of AJ, he was never in trouble and never seemed to be a problem in any way. Good luck to him.
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+1
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He did battle injuries. I remember him having turf toe. I wish him well. Unlike some posters I want our current players to rise up and shine not just thrown away.
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If he had turf toe, then I think it could of been something a simple as this. That’s a nasty injury that often gets overlooked. Crippled Deon Sanders when he was a pro.
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This one goes right up there with the mystery of “The Missing Keith Marshall” from last season as well. Although less certain about the situation with Thurman, it’s pretty clear KM should’ve seen a lot more playing time and never did for whatever unknown reason. They were good guys who other than being injured never got into trouble or caused any public issues, so I wish both of them the best of luck with their future endeavors. In the mean time, it leaves us pretty thin at TB in terms of game experience if Chubb isn’t able to play right away or something happens to Sony.
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No it is not necessarily clear that Keith Marshall should have been on the field. To put perspective on his combine performance there is this …
“However, at Georgia’s Pro Day, Marshall has to complete his workout. The scouts noticed he didn’t do any change-of-direction drills at the combine. So, all he really proved was that he can run really fast in a straight line and that he’s strong.
“He didn’t do the broad jump,” NFC scout No. 2 said. “He didn’t do the short shuttles, the long shuttles or the three-cone drill. That’s something that he’s going to have to do at his Pro Day.”
If Marshall backs out of those drills, “that’s a red flag,” NFC scout No. 2 said.”
https://www.dawgnation.com/football/nfl-scouts-curious-keith-marshall
I wish both Keith and AJ the best in the life and their continuing football careers and I am proud to have had them as Bulldogs.
However, let’s not assume that they didn’t get on the field because of ineptitude of the coaching staff or they were a head case etc. If they were physically able to play and play at a high level, I have no doubt that the would have seen the field.
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DawgPost @Dawg_Post 30m30 minutes ago
Keith Marshall in a drill. pic.twitter.com/YZEZ1S9BXC
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What does the broad jump have to do with football talent especially at running back? No football player has to stand still and see how far he can jump in a game. I understand the shuttles and the cone drill, but the broad jump MAY be valuable to assess a wide receiver. But, the broad jump for a running back, who cares?
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RBs need to go from stop to top speed fast–I would think the broad jump is an indication of that kind of explosive movement.
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Just seems to me that I really don’t care how far a guy can jump from a squat when the same guy ran a laser-timed 4.31 if I want to know if he could be explosive.
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All I know is when Marshall was in the game last year, he ran the ball with authority and looked good. He showed excellent power running with the ball (that stiff arm he used in the KY game still makes me wince in pain), made his blocks to protect the QB and showed no signs of being injured or limited. He’s a very smart player in and out of the classroom with no hints of being a slacker or malcontent. I have no idea as to why he seldom saw the field especially once Chubb went down, but this is also the coaching staff that decided to start Faton Bauta against Florida with no other change in the game plan, but I’m sure that’s not a sign of ineptitude either.
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Not to mention the way they used (or didn’t use) Isaiah Macenzie (sp) in the return game was also baffling at times…
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If someone does not want to play, can not force that issue.
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Sometimes things are personal and none of our business. While we usually hear inside information and/or rumors, sometimes the silent approach is the classy way to go. Since this happened in January and hasn’t been publicized, I’d say this it probably one of those instances.
Best of luck to AJ.
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Agreed best of luck with AJ, I had hopes for him this season, seemed like he had the potential to be a big time player, hopefully all is well with him.
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This is an interesting test case for UGA’s transfer policies under Kirby. Richt famously released kids to go where they wanted to go – hence JJ to the flats. Bama doesn’t play that game. So, I’m looking forward to knowing if there’s a list of places AJ cannot transfer.
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I also wish him the best where ever he goes, he never contributed but did no harm. But like you, I assume this is what you were implying, I don’t think a guy should get to go to another SEC school, or school on our immediate schedule. There are plenty of opportunities for him to choose outside that small circle.
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+1
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NFL scouts are all idiots. Anything they say as an anonymous source should be immediately ignored. If you know any NFL scout, you should punch him in the nuts next time you see him.
They didnt have Marshall on their board. He blew up everyone they did have on their board at the combine, they must now dawgrade him to explain why he wasnt on their board.
You could replace every NFL scout with a magic 8 ball and a random number generator and do better in the draft every single year.
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Not defending anything affiliated with the NFL but I don’t buy this as a CYA. He did only run in a straight line speed drill and deliberately avoided others. It is their job to know all they can about a prospect so this seems reasonable to me. If their intent was to bury him, how did he get an invite to the Combine in the first place? Seems he was given a shot despite not performing much for two years, hope he has a great career. One thing about the NFL, if he performs, he will get definitely get a chance to play. KM is a really nice young man, can’t see anyone pulling against him.
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I saw video of him running cones.
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