Todd Gurley's Complicated College Football Legacy
Todd Gurley's legacy at Georgia is one of supreme talent, unquestioned leadership and missed opportunity.
The true junior from Tarboro, North Carolina, missed the final two games of Georgia's season after tearing his ACL late in the victory over Auburn, but according to Anthony Dasher of UGASports.com, head coach Mark Richt said Gurley has opted to rehab while preparing for the NFL draft:
Despite missing six games—two due to injury and four due to his suspension after admitting that he received money for autographs—Gurley rushed for 911 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior.
He wrapped up his storied three-year career with 3,285 rushing yards, 36 rushing touchdowns, 615 receiving yards, six receiving touchdowns, 422 kickoff return yards and two touchdowns.
What's his legacy?
Redefined Greatness
Every top-tier running back who has come through Athens since the early 1980s has seemingly been billed as the "next Herschel Walker."
While players like Garrison Hearst, Robert Edwards, Jasper Sanks, Musa Smith, Knowshon Moreno and others have enjoyed a reasonable amount of success at Georgia, none lived up to what seemed like insurmountable hype.
Gurley did.
He did in the face of adversity, injury and pressure.
Future running backs who sign on the dotted line at Georgia won't be saddled with the Herschel hype—they'll be compared to Gurley.
If you're 6'1" and hovering around 230 pounds with track star speed, you won't be expected to be a bruiser. You'll be expected to be an all-purpose back who doubles as a receiver and triples as a special teams force who can run over, around, through and leap over just about anybody.
Is that fair?
Of course it isn't. The Walker comparisons weren't either. Gurley didn't care.
He embraced expectations and redefined greatness from the moment he stepped between the white lines. In his first game with the Bulldogs, Gurley rushed for 100 yards, two touchdowns and returned a kickoff 100 yards for another touchdown in win over Buffalo.
It wasn't an anomaly against a weak opponent. It was Gurley saying, "I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."
Complete, Yet Incomplete
Gurley will be remembered as a legend, but he will also be remembered for what might have been. He averaged 1,095 rushing yards per season despite missing a total of nine games and change due to injuries and suspensions during his three seasons in Athens.
The Bulldogs won every game Gurley played between the hedges yet lost two important ones in which he didn't.
Gurley missed three games in the middle of the 2013 season due to an ankle injury. The Bulldogs lost two of those, one of which was a home loss to Missouri which cost the program its third straight SEC East title.
Last weekend, after this year's SEC East title disappeared thanks to Missouri's win the day before, Georgia fell to Georgia Tech between the hedges—only the third loss to the Yellow Jackets since the Y2K bug was a legitimate concern.
The four-game autograph suspension put Georgia fans into a bind. The running back they loved admitted to breaking rules many think are clearly antiquated but still widely known.
It complicated the perception of Gurley.
Was he wrong for doing what he did? Absolutely. Was it selfish? Sure. Should it have cost him four games in this day and age of the college football business? Of course not.
In the end, he'll likely become a sympathetic figure and a bit of a trailblazer. Ten years ago, Gurley would be criticized for taking money for autographs and putting himself in front of his team. In this day and age of impending NCAA reform, he became a sympathetic figure and the poster child for advocates of players making money off of their likeness.
The combination of injuries and self-created adversity created a sense of an incomplete career. One that was great, but flawed.
However you view Gurley, though, his impact on the field and off will be felt for decades to come.
Continuing a Trend
Other schools around the country can make the claim that they're "Running Back U," Miami and Auburn in particular. There's plenty of room in that party for several programs, and Georgia is one of them.
Walker, Moreno, Smith, Terrell Davis and several other former Bulldogs have moved on from Athens to prosper as professionals.
Despite the ACL injury, Bleacher Report Lead Draft Analyst Matt Miller has mentioned Gurley alongside likely Heisman Trophy finalist Melvin Gordon of Wisconsin in regard to the 2015 NFL draft:
Gurley will continue the trend of talented Georgia running backs making a splash at the next level, which boosts Georgia's recruiting and keeps the cycle of talented running backs coming through Athens with NFL hopes spinning in their heads.
Gurley's success, and future success, may not redefine Georgia as the true "Running Back U," but it's a major bullet point to a resume that will only be boosted when—not if—he tears up the NFL, which has become known for chewing up and spitting out running backs.
It seemed like only yesterday when Gurley was taking a kickoff back 100 yards against Buffalo and announcing his college presence with authority.
In the blink of an eye, he redefined greatness for a program that was dripping with running back greatness.
He is a legend.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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