The 2016 college football season began with Sony Michel on the sideline, as Georgia’s versatile tailback sat out the Chick-fil-A Kickoff win over North Carolina while wrapping up his recovery from a fractured forearm suffered in July.
It’s how last year ended that has Michel and Bulldogs fans excited about the road ahead.
The 5-foot-11, 222-pounder from Plantation, Fla., capped his junior season with a stirring performance in Georgia’s 31-23 triumph over TCU in the Liberty Bowl. Amassing 126 total yards on 17 touches, Michel averaged 5.8 yards per carry and provided the top highlight play, shaking multiple tacklers on a 33-yard touchdown catch that began Georgia’s rally from a 16-7 deficit.
“He affected that TCU game probably more than anybody,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said earlier this week in a news conference. “When you get him the ball in space, he tends to make things happen, so finding ways to get Sony the ball and creative ways to use his ability is important for us. He finished off the year really well.”
Georgia held its second of 15 spring practices Thursday, working out for more than two hours.
Michel’s performance in Memphis followed a November in which he rushed 19 times for 127 yards in the 27-24 win at Kentucky and rushed 19 times for 170 yards in the 28-27 loss to Georgia Tech. He finished last season with 840 rushing yards despite having just 23 carries for 106 yards throughout September as he was eased back in from his injury.
“I can build on a lot,” Michel told reporters this week. “I would like to start faster, because we don’t want to get in the same position we were in last year. We want to take how we ended and build from there.”
The Bulldogs were 4-4 through the first two months last season, a stretch that included a humiliating 45-14 loss at Ole Miss and a stunning 17-16 setback against visiting Vanderbilt. They closed with four wins in their final five games, including a 13-7 topping of No. 9 Auburn, and already were looking to better days before leaving Memphis.
Michel, who has compiled 2,001 rushing yards the past two seasons, and fellow tailback Nick Chubb were among the leaders on last year’s team, and they’re expected to expand those roles this year.
“I want to be the voice of the coaches so the coaches won’t have to say much,” Michel said.
Given the praise Michel received from Smart this week, that already may be the case.
“He impacted our team more off the field last year than probably anybody,” Smart said. “He’s not a guy who’s afraid to speak out. He’s not afraid to challenge others. I appreciate that as a coach, having been around a lot of players like that in my past.
“He has that ‘it’ factor to do that.”
Odds and ends
Georgia’s first-team offensive line during Thursday’s portion of practice open to the media had Isaiah Wynn at left tackle, Dyshon Sims at left guard, Lamont Gaillard at center, Solomon Kindley at right guard and Aulden Bynum at right tackle. Julian Rochester, John Atkins and Jonathan Ledbetter comprised the first-team defensive front as Trenton Thompson, who is not enrolled in classes this spring due to a medical condition, watched from the sideline. The Bulldogs will practice again Saturday morning.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.