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Georgia Football: Dawgs Rack Up Awards

by Josh Cagliani
12/10/2007

Since the end of the season, awards have been rolling in for the Georgia Bulldogs.

Georgia’s freshmen have been the recipients, more often than not. Redshirt freshman Knowshon Moreno leads the way with 12 awards. Other award recipients are Trinton Sturdivant, Clint Boling, Rennie Curran, Chris Davis, Reshad Jones, Geno Atkins, Fernando Velasco, Dannell Ellerbe and Mikey Henderson.

Here is a list of awards each player has received:

Knowshon Moreno: SEC Freshman of the Year, SEC All-Freshman Team, CollegeFootballNews.com Freshman All-American First Team, AP SEC Freshman of the Year, AP All-SEC First-Team, Coaches All-SEC First Team, Rivals.com All-SEC First Team, Rivals.com Freshman All-American First Team, Sporting News SEC All-Freshman Team, Sporting News Freshman Offensive Player of the Year, Sporting News Freshman All-American First Team and Scout.com All-Freshman First Team.

Trinton Sturdivant: SEC All-Freshman Team, CollegeFootballNews.com Freshman All-American First Team, Sporting News SEC All-Freshman Team, Sporting News Freshman All-American First Team, Rivals.com Freshman All-American First Team and Scout.com All-Freshman First Team.

Clint Boling: SEC All-Freshman Team, CollegeFootballNews.com Freshman All-American Second Team, Sporting News SEC All-Freshman Team, Sporting News Freshman All-American Honorable Mention, Rivals.com Freshman All-American Second Team and Scout.com All-Freshman First Team.

Rennie Curran: CollegeFootballNews.com Freshman All-American Second Team, Sporting News Freshman All-American Honorable Mention, Rivals.com All-American First Team and Scout.com All-Freshman Second Team

Geno Atkins: AP All-SEC First Team and Rivals.com All-SEC First Team.

Chris Davis: CollegeFootballNews.com Freshman All-American Third Team and Scout.com All-Freshman Team Honorable Mention

Dannell Ellerbe: Coaches All-SEC Second Team and Rivals.com All-SEC Second Team.

Fernando Velasco: Coaches All-SEC Second Team

Mikey Henderson: Rivals.com All-SEC Second Team

Reshad Jones: CollegeFootballNews.com Freshman All-American Honorable Mention

The future looks bright for the Bulldogs. Of the ten players that received awards, there are only two seniors and one junior. That means the rest of the players on this list will be back for at least two more years.

Georgia had three freshmen offensive linemen win awards, and Moreno followed their blocking. These four players, along with quarterback Matthew Stafford, make the Bulldogs national championship contenders for the next few years.

Not since the days of Herschel Walker have the Georgia faithful been this excited about the future. The main reason for the excitement is the emergence of Knowshon Moreno. Many people consider him to be the second coming of Walker.

Moreno rushed for 1,273 yards and 12 touchdowns this season, and he did a lot of that as the backup. His 1,273 yards rushing in a single season ranks seventh all-time at Georgia and he ranks fourth behind Walker, Jamal Lewis and Emmitt Smith for most rushing yards by an SEC freshman.

Georgia went 10-2 this year after starting off 4-2, including wins over ranked Florida, Auburn and Kentucky teams. The six wins in a row put Georgia into the national championship hunt, something that was out of the question early in the season.

In the final polls the Bulldogs were jumped by LSU, who claimed a spot in the championship game. Georgia fans have a lot to be angry about. In the week before the final polls, the Bulldogs were ranked fourth behind Ohio State, and the two teams in front of them lost.

Georgia seemed to be in position to play in the championship game. It looked as though the Bulldogs would jump the two teams that lost but that didn’t happen. Instead, poll voters made it clear that a two-loss, non-conference champion, would not be given a chance to play for the national championship.

Georgia was relegated to the Sugar Bowl to face off against undefeated Hawaii. In years past that would have been cause for celebration for Georgia fans, but after dreams of a national championship were destroyed, it was not the outcome the Bulldog nation was looking for.

Georgia now knows what it’s like to be mentioned with the big boys of college football and that will make Georgia a scary team in the next few years. The question is whether or not the Bulldogs can use this experience and their young, award winning talent to bring home a national championship in the coming years?