The Word

After a night of watching the presidential debate all while going through my notes of today’s media sessions with the Georgia Bulldogs I have come a conclusion: We should all vote Rennie Curran for president. 

For those of you that have followed my Bulldogs coverage of late, you’ve read that I believe we witnessed the fatal flaw that could keep the team out the national championship conversation. If you haven’t, read here, then continue. 

Today, amidst the carnage left by Alabama, there was a glimmer of hope that could disprove my theory. Hope for Bulldogs Nation. 

Over the course of talking to a number of Bulldogs about what the difference will be in the team over the bye week, there was relatively little change. Except from one man — Curran. Though only a sophomore, he has been by far the leader of this team, both statistically where he leads the team in tackles with 43, Darryl Gamble is second with 20 — and now vocally. Yet, before I bring you Curran’s words, let me prefice it with a quote from Mark Richt before the season. This was on the topic of how he thinks a team with high expectations transforms into one that produces results. 

“You’ve got to have player motivation, player leadership,” Richt said. “You’ve got to have it within the ranks. I haven’t seen many great teams that are coach driven. The only great teams I’ve seen were player-driven. Practice, offseason, meetings. When things get rough, usually the player has to step up, not the coach.” 

Now hearing that, here is what Curran had to say – something that I have not heard any semblance of anywhere. And though Curran may only be one man, it only takes one leader to turn the tide and infect the entire team with an attitude. To be “presidential,” if you will. 

“One of those things we stress is just accountability,” Curran said. “I don’t think there’s enough of us getting on each other. It’s more the coaches have been pounding on us that we need to do things like communicate, be disciplined, play harder and things like that. I think the more emphasis we put on holding each other accountable at every single position, coaching those younger guys not to make mistakes, I feel like that’s what’s going to take us to the next level. There’s no reason why a guy like Deangelo Tyson should be making mistakes when you’ve got Geno Atkins and other guys who have been there before. We’ve just all got to set each other straight.” 

How about more frustration from Curran:  

“Somebody will make a penalty or somebody won’t make a play, and it’s kind of like we just let it slide by, nobody will say anything. I feel like we’ve definitely changed that over the bye week, just staying hard on each other and holding each other accountable, making sure that if a play goes undone, even if it’s against the scout team, even if it’s whatever drill, we’ve got to do it at game tempo. That’s been the main emphasis.”   

Is Curran now holding himself responsible for this problem:  

“I’ve taken it on myself. Just looking at the games, Coach Martinez, as much as he yells at us and tries to set us straight and Coach G, they’re not going to be on the field with us. It’s going to be us as a team, it’s going to be us individual players. And I know for me, when I go to war, I want to look next to me and see that the guy I’m looking at has worked as hard as he could in practice and knows what he’s supposed to do.” 

Hail to the chief, indeed.