Herschel Walker excited about Georgia football program

MOULTRIE — Georgia’s G-Day spring football game is Saturday and nobody is more excited about new coach Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs than Heisman Trophy winner and legendary Georgia running back Herschel Walker.

Walker, who made an appearance in Moultrie Thursday to serve as the keynote speaker for the “Effective Approaches for Clinical Success” workshop hosted by Turning Point Hospital, said it’s important for Georgia fans to support Smart and the Georgia coaching staff.

“I feel he’s doing a great job,” Walker said of Smart. “I had the opportunity to be up there last Saturday and I got a chance to see the team practice. I tell you, it’s a different atmosphere. He’s changed it a bit. It’s sad to see coach (Mark) Richt leave. He’s done a great job and you have to acknowledge the great job that he’s done at the University of Georgia.

“I reckon it was time for a changing of the guard.”

Smart inherits 15 returning starters from last season’s 10-3 squad that defeated Penn State 24-17 in the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla. One of the Georgia returners is tailback Nick Chubb, who was having a Heisman-like season before suffering a season-ending knee injury on the first play of the Tennessee game. The Bulldogs are hoping he can regain his form that saw him rush for 742 yards with seven touchdowns in six games last season before his injury.

His return along with tailback Sony Michel combine to give the Bulldogs one of the conference’s top rushing tandems, something Walker still believes is a key ingredient to winning football games.

“I’ve talked to Nick a couple of times and one of the things I’m so proud of, not just with Nick but with (Sony) Michel, that Georgia has a lot of great backs,” Walker said. “The running back position has sort of like diminished in college football and pro football and being a running back myself, I keep preaching, ‘Guys, you ain’t going to win too many games unless you have a running game.’

“I still say that, you see it today, you have to be able to control the ball. Nick Chubb is one of the best. It was sad when he got hurt. I think now he’s getting himself back. One thing about Nick is that he worked extremely hard and I think that accounts for a lot. He’s a quiet guy who doesn’t say that much, does what he’s supposed to do and that’s leader quality. That’s what you look for in a player.”

One area that does concern the Georgia coaching staff is a pair of key positions on the offensive line left by the graduation of offensive tackle John Theus and guard Kolton Houston. They do, however, return guard Greg Pyke, center Brandon Kublanow and tackle Isaiah Wynn.

“Those people down front, those big offensive and defensive linemen, they are the ones that control this game,” Walker said. “If they can control the game, you are going to have a good running game. You see Alabama sometime, one of the things about Alabama and I tell people this, ‘Guys, when you play Alabama, what they are going to do is they are going to beat you up the first two quarters, they don’t care what the score is, then the third quarter is when they are going to start taking over.’

“If you’re not ready to take a beating, then you’re playing the wrong team. They are going to come out, they are going to hit you, throw everything against you, then in the third quarter they are going to start playing football. When they start playing football, they come to play.”

But Walker emphasized the importance of supporting the coaching staff and the players.

“I think coach Smart is going to do a great job,” he said. “He’s got the team moving and he’s getting good players in there and I think that’s going to count. We’ve got to support him and I’m going to support him.”