ATHENS, Ga. – Left tackle Trinton Sturdivant is the premier story of perseverance on Georgia’s football team, but it’s a tale he chooses not to discuss.
Sturdivant was in the starting lineup last Saturday against Tennessee for the first time since last year’s opener at Oklahoma State, when he tore his left ACL for a second time. His first tear occurred in August 2008, and he knows any interviews about his admirable comeback would involve him having to relive some pain.
“He does not want to talk about the knee, and I don’t want to talk about the knee,” line coach Stacy Searels said. “I want to talk about him playing well and us playing well as a group.”
The 6-foot-5, 312-pound redshirt junior from Wadesboro, N.C., played 60 out of 61 possible snaps during the 41-14 win over the Volunteers after playing two-thirds of the way the previous week at Colorado. Sturdivant missed the opener against Louisiana-Lafayette with a stomach bug and played three snaps the following week at South Carolina and 17 against Arkansas.
Head coach Mark Richt said the steady increase in playing time has been by design and that Sturdivant has been more comfortable in pass protection compared to blocking on runs.
“When it comes to getting used to playing again after those injuries, the run blocks are the ones that sometimes you feel might put you at most risk, but that’s really not true,” Richt said. “The harder you play, the safer you are, and he’s figuring that out.”
Sturdivant signed with the Bulldogs in 2007 out of Anson County High, where he was student council president, compiled a 4.1 grade point average and was rated by Scout.com as the nation’s No. 18 tackle prospect. He enrolled early and earned a starting spot for the ’07 opener against Oklahoma State, becoming the first Georgia freshman to do so at that position since Mike Fellows in 1989.
Georgia finished the ’07 season with an 11-2 record and No. 2 ranking, and Sturdivant was tabbed as a freshman All-American.
Is he back to where he was then?
“I think he’s close,” offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said. “I think he’s got to keep coming along mentally – that everything is OK and 100 percent. You can understand the caution of the kid having two knee surgeries being ginger at times, if that’s the word, but he’s playing more snaps every week and getting closer to where he needs to be.”
The Bulldogs host Vanderbilt this week after amassing 402 yards against the Vols, including 353 through the first three quarters, but most of that success was through the air. Georgia rushed for 136 yards, mirroring its average of 136.8 a game that ranks 10th in the SEC.
“We still need to finish blocks, and we still need to get better in the run game,” Searels said. “We allowed two sacks, and that’s not acceptable for what we want to do. I thought our kids competed on both sides of the ball, but we want to be a bigger part of it as far as being able to be effective running the football and effective protecting the quarterback.”
Odds and ends
Richt said after Wednesday’s practice that receiver Marlon Brown (shoulder) and outside linebacker Cornelius Washington (concussion) should play this week. … Georgia inside linebackers coach Warren Belin, who spent the past eight years at Vanderbilt: “I’ve had to answer a few questions this week.”