Georgia freshman tailback Todd Gurley goes through a drill during Georgia’s first football practice in Athens, Ga.Whenever Georgia freshman tailback Todd Gurley makes the trip to Athens from his Tarboro, N.C., hometown, he passes exits for five Atlantic Coast Conference schools.
There are signs for North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke and Wake Forest off Interstate 40, and there is an exit for Clemson off I-85. The 6-foot-1, 218-pounder didn’t make the most popular choice in his area in February when he picked the Bulldogs over UNC and N.C. State, but there is no looking back now.
“I had to make a decision for me,” Gurley said Friday. “Most of my friends are UNC, N.C. State and East Carolina fans, and they wanted me to stay in-state, but I think they can respect my decision. If they all knew Georgia’s coaching staff the way I do, they would definitely understand why I came here.”
Gurley rushed for 2,600 yards and 38 touchdowns last season and had 242 yards and four scores in the 2A state championship game, and he is producing early results for the Bulldogs. After Gurley led all rushers in Wednesday’s scrimmage with 58 yards and a touchdown on six carries, Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said Friday that Gurley and fellow freshman Keith Marshall will play this season.
Marshall, a fellow North Carolinian from Raleigh, enrolled at Georgia in January.