Georgia Bulldogs awaiting Nick Marshall's return

photo Georgia's Amarlo Herrera (52) tackles Auburn quarterback Nick Marshall (14) during their 2013 game.

Saturday night's Auburn-Georgia football game will not be the first time Tigers quarterback Nick Marshall has faced his former team.

It will, however, be the first time Marshall has played in Sanford Stadium since he was a freshman cornerback for the 2011 Bulldogs.

"I don't know how he personally feels about the whole situation, and we'll have to see how he responds," Georgia senior linebacker Amarlo Herrera said after Saturday's 63-31 whipping of Kentucky in Lexington. "I think it's going to be like when we played him in Auburn. It's going to be a big game and an SEC game that we've got to win."

Marshall signed with the Bulldogs in 2011 as part of the heralded "Dream Team" class, but he was dismissed from the program in the winter of 2012 after reportedly stealing money from a teammate's dorm room. He transferred to Garden City Community College in Kansas, where he played quarterback in 2012, and then signed with Auburn.

The Tigers finished just 3-9 two years ago, but Marshall led the most meteoric rise in Southeastern Conference history last season, throwing for 1,976 yards and rushing for 1,068 on a program that won the league title and came within 13 seconds of capturing the national championship.

Included in Auburn's magical march last season was a 43-38 win over Georgia at Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium, in which Marshall rushed for two touchdowns and threw a 73-yard touchdown pass to Ricardo Louis on fourth-and-18 with 25 seconds remaining.

"We have to treat it like another game," Georgia senior receiver Chris Conley said in Lexington. "We know Nick, and a lot of our guys love Nick, but he's playing for that team, and we've got to play Georgia football. It's going to be an 11-on-11 game, and we have to have that kind of focus and prepare for a tough game, because Auburn is a great team and scores a lot of points.

"Nick is a gamer, but we have a lot of those guys over here, too. It will be a good contest and a good matchup."

Conley and Herrera are former classmates of Marshall. Herrera continues to keep in touch and expects to exchange texts with Marshall this week, and the two talked on the field after last season's stunning finish.

"I just congratulated him on the win and then went about my business," Herrera said.

Through nine games this season, the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Marshall has completed 114 of 187 passes (61.0 percent) for 1,576 yards with 14 touchdowns and four interceptions. He also has rushed 113 times for 698 yards (6.2 per carry) and 11 scores.

Auburn is 19-4 the past two seasons, but the Tigers are coming off a 41-38 home loss to Texas A&M in which miscommunication led to two fumbles in the final three minutes. Marshall addressed the media after Saturday's surprising setback but may not be available this week.

Matching Marshall blow for blow in last year's game against Georgia was former Bulldogs quarterback Aaron Murray, who was spectacular in throwing for 415 yards and had two rushing scores of his own. That would serve as Murray's last full game with the Bulldogs, as he tore his ACL the following week against Kentucky and was replaced in the second quarter by Hutson Mason.

Now it's Mason who will go start-to-finish opposite Marshall, not that he is delving much into that aspect of this week's game.

"I'll leave that for you guys to talk about," Mason said. "We're trying to win an SEC championship, and that's really what it's about and no other garbage. We come to Georgia for awesome home games like this."

Odds and ends

Georgia's final two home games against Charleston Southern (Nov. 22) and Georgia Tech (Nov. 29) will be noon kickoffs on the SEC Network. ... Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said on his radio show Monday night that Todd Gurley will be the starting tailback. ... In Saturday's win at Kentucky, freshman Isaiah McKenzie became just the 12th player in Bowl Subdivision history to return a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns in the same game. ... The Bulldogs practiced for 90 minutes Monday in shoulder pads and shorts.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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