Georgia Bulldog Senior Gala Report

The awards banquet for the Georgia Bulldog football team was held on Friday night at the Athens Classic Center. Richt and crew give out umpteen jillion awards at these things, and there is no possible way that I can remember them all.

I'll do the best I can to remember the biggest ones, but first some tidbits....

-- Richt: While introducing Dooley for the Team MVP trophy award, Coach Richt mentioned that he was glad that Dooley talked him into taking the job at UGA. Then Richt paused and said "I don't think I've told that story yet." Apparently, Richt "chickened out" (his words) and initially turned down the job at Georgia. Dooley told him that "he wasn't going to wait long. to make his mind up in a hurry." Richt went home to sleep on it. At 2:00 a.m. he called Dooley to confirm that he was definitely taking it. (paraphrase) "I was just thinking, 'what have I done. I've got to call him tonight before he changes his mind. I was just glad he picked up the phone." Funny and odd story.

-- Willie Martinez: I really enjoy listening to this guy speak. He has a great "coach voice" that booms out. He is also brutally honest and funny. For instance, when giving Paul Oliver the Most Improved Player of the Year for Defense award, he prefaced his comments by talking about how he and Garner wondered pre-season if Oliver was ever going pan out. Then he went on to talk about how Oliver really committed himself to being a great player this off season. Martinez also had the best line of the night. After Max Jean-Gilles walked off the stage after his 4th or 5th award, Martinez quipped "Oh, no. Coach Callaway, I think Max just cramped up again."

-- "Greg Battle": When Martinez called out Greg Blue's name for All-American he said something like, "How many of you saw Lee Corso butcher Greg's name last night on ESPN during the awards show? I can't believe Corso called him 'Greg Battle.' He's the only guy in America that doesn't know that he's Greg Blue."


Photo: Max, Willie and Greg at the ESPN Awards show on Thursday

-- Ron Corson: Joe Tereshinski Jr, assistant coach in charge of video, was the main MC for the evening. He said that the players refer to Ron Corson, the team doctor, as "Doctor Death."

-- Joe Tereshinski Jr (JT2): I finally saw one of JT2's videos that he produced for the team pre-game. These videos are legendary among the folks who have seen them. They showed the pre-game video for the 2005 UT game. I'll write about it later in its own post.

-- Recruits: It looked like they put all of the recruits together at one table. We had several existing recruits like Justin Anderson, Kris Durham, Asher Allen and I think Ricardo Crawford sitting with the uncommitted kids. The parents of some of those kids were sitting at tables with coaches for the main event.

-- Auction: I missed the silent auction because of work. The in person auction was way too long and drawn out. Also, the bidding was lower than usual.

As for the awards that I can remember, I was really hoping for a recap at Georgiadogs.com so that I wouldn't have to jog my memory for this.

Anyway, here goes as best I can remember. If anyone has a link to a recap on Rivals or Scout or another board, please post it in the comments area.

Team MVP: Shockley
Defensive MVP: Blue and Moses (I think)
Offensive MVP: Max Jean-Gilles
Special Teams MVP: don't remember (Coutu? or Gilliam)

Permanent Team Captain (voted on by the players):
Overall: Shockley
Defense: Golston and Blue
Offense: Max
Special Teams: Mike Gilliam

Most Improved Offensive: Martez Milner
Most Improved Defensive: Paul Oliver
Most Improved Special Teams: Gilliam and Henderson

Scout Team Players of the Year:
Offense: Joe Cox and Remarcus Brown (not a typo)
Defense: Two guys whose names I don't remember.
Special Teams; No idea

They said that Remarcus helps out all over the place on special teams, defense and offense, and they specifically commented that Cox has an extremely bright future at UGA.

Special Performance Awards (given to guys that had *really* special games above and beyond expectations for them):
-- Shockley vs. Boise State (6 total TDs)
-- Thomas Brown vs. SC (140+ yards rushing)
-- Southerland vs. UT (10 knockdown blocks)
-- Minter vs. UT (1 INT and 8 tackles)
-- Minter vs. LSU (1 INT and several big hits)
-- Jennings vs. GT (INT to clinch the game)
-- Jennings vs. LSU (INT for TD)
-- Brian Jordan (Snapper) for his entire career (500+ snaps of excellence)
I think there were others. I seem to remember one for Pope, but I can't be sure.

Additionally, all of the ALL-SEC, All-American, All-Academic and All-Freshman guys were honored with trophies. I can't remember who won the Iron Dawg or Iron Man awards, but it was a ton of folks.

Tweet