Georgia Bulldogs: Simply Amazing

When college football fans think of the University of Georgia football program, most think of Vince Dooley, Hershel Walker, long rides back from Jacksonville, and Mark Richt. This is year however is a little different.

There is a little different feel and buzz surrounding the city of Athens, as well as the state of Georiga, coming from this team this season. Some would say it is because of the rapid development of Matthew Stafford in the last three games last season.

Others would say the whole team turned around after those three huge wins at the end of, what seemed like, a hopeless season. Still some would want to mention the tremendous speed of the defense and speed of the whole team. No doubt the buzz starts with the players and goes through the school and entire bulldog nation.

It is my opinion that the buzz comes from 4 guys that the team may have rallied around. They all have tremendous stories and have worked incredibly hard to get back and get better than where they were before their injuries. Thomas Brown, Demiko Goodman, Sean Bailey, and Antavious Coates have all had huge setbacks in there career.

WR Sean Bailey suffered a torn ACL after the 2005 SEC championship game. RB Thomas Brown tore his ACL on the opening kickoff of the second half in the heart breaking loss to Vanderbilt this past season. WR Demiko Goodman also tore his ACL in the 2006 season in a loss to Kentucky but amazingly played the rest of the game only to later find out that he had, in fact, torn his ACL. I think the fact that he played the rest of the game could turn non-believers into believers.

Then go on to safety Antavious Coates; He was a highly recruited prep star with a very bright future in Athens. He had everything you could want out of the safety position, 6'4" somewhere around 205lbs. He also had a little thing they call an Injury bug but I think its safe to say it was more like an injury Rhinoceros. He was a redshirted sophmore, unfortunately he never played in a real game in a Georgia uniform, and his career came to an end during this seasons fall practice due to the fact that he had torn his ACL for the fourth time. YES I SAID FOURTH TIME!!!! That was two to each leg.

The thing that makes these stories so great was that each of these guys could have come back, with in less than a year. There was a delima at the start of 2006 because Bailey was ready to play however, the coaching staff chose to redshirt him for the 2006 season. Now Bailey is leading the team in receptions and recieving yards. 

If you asked any fan and probably any coach their prediction after the bowl season would have been that Thomas Brown would redshirt. But Thomas is not your ordinary average Joe, everyone raves about his work ethic and it has shown. He finished off his 10 month rehab and started the first game of the season against Oklahoma State and scored 2 TD's. 

Demiko Goodman has comeback quicker than all three, although yet to start a game he had some very nice catches including a diving touchdown catch against Western Carolina. He could be a key ingrediant in the bulldogs passing game due to his tremendous hands and his ability to flat out fly down the field. 

As for Antavious Coates, He has stayed on as an assistant coach but was planning on playing this season after his first three ACL tears. Yeah, I think its safe to say that this team is playing on the inspiration of four amazingly tough players with huge hearts and a "never say die" attitude. I think it is safe to say that something beyond a trainer and facility has been at work on all of these stories.