Tuskers Linebackers Have Georgia On Their Minds

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Ray Charles famously had Georgia on his mind in 1960. Tuskers fans may be singing that same tune 50 years later when they get a glimpse of their team’s linebacker corps this season. Odell Thurman, who returns for his second season as a Tusker this year, will be joined by new Tuskers Tony Taylor and Arnold Harrison this summer. Harrison, Taylor, and Thurman all attended the University of Georgia at various points from 2000-2006, overlapping for two years in 2003 and 2004.

It’s still early in training camp, but already the three teammates are reminiscing. “It’s fun to be back and see everybody again,” said Taylor. “It brings back a lot of memories. We’ve already been talking about a lot of stuff. Hopefully we can go out and help the team the same way we did back in Georgia.”

“It’s great to be back with the Tuskers and I excited that Arnold and Tony are here,” Thurman said. “It makes me more excited knowing that we all played together, started together. Hopefully when camp is over it’ll be the same way again.”

Harrison was the first to become a Bulldog, joining the team with a redshirt designation in 2000. In 2001, he got his first playing time as part of a defense that allowed an average of 108.8 rushing yards per game, helping his team along to an 8-4 record. Taylor joined the team the next year, and was part of a defense that allowed 63.1 fewer passing yards per game than the previous year.

“Tony Taylor came and it was obvious that he was talented and very smart, so you knew he would be a good player,” Harrison said. The 2002 Bulldogs posted a 13-1 record on the year, with the lone loss a 20-13 defeat against the University of Florida. Georgia would go on to stomp Arkansas 30-3 in the SEC Championship Game before a New Year’s Day 26-13 drubbing of Florida State in the Sugar Bowl.

Thurman came to Athens, GA in 2003 and, as a starter along with Harrison, was part of a defense that was ranked fourth best in the country in total yards allowed. “Odell came, and instantly we knew we were the future of the defense,” Harrison said. “We sat behind Tony Gilbert and Boss Bailey waiting for our time to shine.” “We ran the D,” said Thurman of the three’s time starting. “We had a lot of help with the safeties, but our coach demanded that we know every position on the field. We studied longer than the quarterbacks.”

The team went 11-3 with narrow losses to LSU and Florida during the regular season and a 34-13 beating at the hands of LSU in the SEC Championship Game. The team finished the year with another New Year’s victory, this one a 34-27 overtime defeat of Purdue in the Capital One Bowl in the Citrus Bowl. Harrison has positive memories of his first time playing in the Citrus Bowl six years before anybody knew what a Tusker was. “It was probably one of the most exciting games I ever played in,” Harrison said. “They were touting a high flying offense, but we had the big, mean defense. We scored first in overtime and then on defense we stopped them on first down. On second and third down, I had two pass deflections in the end zone. On fourth down Tony Taylor ended the game with an interception. It was a great way to win and great way to close out the season.”

“I remember being on the edge of my seat, worried Purdue was going to come back and beat us,” Thurman said. “But Tony sealed the deal. They threw me the ball at the end of the game,” Taylor said simply.

Thurman’s Bulldog legacy lives on in the form of “YouTube” videos of his first game against Auburn. Jason Campbell had led the Tigers to the Georgia 2-yard-line early in the fourth quarter, but a third-and-goal pass was deflected and intercepted by Thurman, who then raced 99 yards for a touchdown to make the score 26-0. “That’s one of my most memorable plays in my personal football history,” Thurman said. “It’s funny, on the play sheet, I got two minuses for not being lined up right and not being in the right position. They always joke about how I’ll be out of position but make a big play.” “That’s one of those plays you’ll never forget as long as you live,” Taylor said. “I remember hitting the ball. I think Arnold’s going to tell you he hit it but I think that’s a lie, personally,” Taylor said with a laugh.

The Bulldogs of 2004 were the first with this trio of linebackers to not compete in the SEC Championship due to losses to Tennessee and Auburn, but finished their third Jan. 1 bowl game with a 24-21 victory over Tuskers’ quarterback Brooks Bollinger’s alma mater Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl. “We’re definitely going to give Brooks a hard time about that,” Taylor said.

Harrison and Thurman would depart for the NFL after 2004, having posted a 42-10 record in three years. Georgia finished in the Top 10 each of those years as well. Thurman was a semi-finalist for the 2004 Dick Butkus Award.

Harrison’s playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Thurman going to the division rival Cincinnati Bengals didn’t slow down the Bulldogs in 2005, though. With Taylor’s help, Georgia posted a 10-3 record. The Bulldogs played in their third SEC Championship Game in four years, where they savaged LSU 34-14. Unfortunately, Taylor and the rest of the Bulldogs closed the season with a loss to West Virginia in the Sugar Bowl.

Taylor was named a defensive captain for the 2006 season and the Bulldogs started out strong, outscoring their first five opponents 128-34, including two shutouts. “Those are crazy numbers, but that’s just the way we were programmed. Work hard, put in the hours, and it pays off on the field,” Taylor said. While four losses in their final five regular season games kept them out of SEC contention, the Bulldogs finished strong, beating three ranked opponents in a row.

“Everybody was starting to doubt us and write us off,” Taylor said. An early afternoon road game against #5 Auburn got the Bulldogs started on their turnaround. “It was a 12 o’clock game,” Taylor said. “I think they were asleep on us. It was like we were in practice, we just killed them.”

A home game against #15 Georgia Tech closed out the regular season for Georgia, a game Taylor described as “a good hard-fought battle.” Georgia then defeated #14 Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl to cap the season with an exclamation point.

With Taylor’s departure for the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2007, the three former teammates were all working on taking their games to the next level.

Their NFL careers, however, mirrored the 2005 Bulldogs’ campaign: successful, but ultimately not as successful as they may have liked. Harrison’s Steelers won two Super Bowls while he was on the roster: once in 2005 without making any appearances and again in 2008 while he was out on injured reserve. Thurman was a candidate for the 2005 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, but ultimately lost out to Shawne Merriman; Taylor’s Falcons had such a rough 2007 that their head coach Bobby Petrino resigned to coach the Arkansas Razorbacks. But like the 2006 Bulldogs, this trio seems poised to overcome disappointments.

Harrison wants to continue the tradition of defensive dominance the three displayed in college. “We prided ourselves on being great on defense,” Harrison said. “It started in the linebacker room. Coach VanGorder, the defensive coordinator and linebacker coach held us to an extremely high standard.”

Those high standards still ring true for all three players. “Coach Gruden and his assistants say the main thing is to get back to your ultimate goal, the NFL” Thurman said. “It’s just another opportunity to show people I can still play. The coaches are 100% behind us for that.”

Gruden had high praise for the Georgia linebacker he knows best: “Odell is exactly what you want in a linebacker and we’re happy to get him back,” Gruden said. “He’s probably the most explosive linebacker in our league and maybe in any league, really. He’s a dominant player. He can run and he’s got a great nose for the football. He’s a physical specimen. He’s going to have an even better year this year with another year under his belt with Coach Bresnahan.”

Coach Gruden didn’t hesitate to discuss possible defensive schemes using the trio, either. “Taylor has the ability to play all three positions,” he said. “Harrison’s more of an outside guy, more of a strong side backer, but we’ll let them compete and see what happens. We feel really, really good about our linebacker corps and the competition there is going to be fierce. It’s been fun watching them compete in training camp.”

Ultimately, Coach Gruden may have had Georgia on his mind as he scouted players for this year, and for good reason. “We know Georgia’s always had great defenses and the years they played together they were unbelievable on defense for a reason: those three guys were all over the place, flying to the ball,” Gruden said.

“It was an honor and a privilege to play with Tony and Odell then and I look forward to reuniting with them this season,” Harrison said. “I’ve probably been stalking the Tuskers online for the last couple of months, just watching the highlight tapes of everybody, trying to get back in the mood of football,” Taylor said. “I think it’s a great opportunity to come out here and be with the guys. It’s exciting to me.”

Thurman made it known what he expects from himself and his teammates this season. “Remember last year,” he said. “We were undefeated. When it’s time to put the hammer down, just put it down. Don’t stop, don’t let up, we’ve got to finish it this time.”

Switching Positions Nothing New to Tuskers' Foster

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It’s not often that a football player changes positions on the offensive side of the ball after high school. Occasionally tackles and guards will get shuffled on the line as the routine wear and tear of a season takes its toll, but converting a quarterback to wide receiver is almost unheard of.The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Antwaan Randle El is probably the most famous example of a college quarterback moving to receiver in the pros, but second-year Tuskers wide receiver Jayson Foster not only switched positions for the pros, he switched multiple times in college at Georgia Southern.

“My freshman year I moved around a lot,” said Foster. “I got the opportunity to be on punt return and kick return and they gave me a chance to get in a few plays at quarterback when we went up by a lot, so I got to move around a lot and it worked out for me.”

During that first season in 2004, GSU coaches moved Foster to wide receiver where he played in all 12 games and started three on his way to being the first player at Georgia Southern to score a touchdown five different ways: rushing, passing, receiving, punt and kick return. Small wonder he was named “Freshman of the Year” by the Southern Conference coaches.

For his sophomore year, Foster moved to the starting quarterback position, but the homework he put in during his first year helped make the switch easier.

“In practice my freshman year I would do quarterback drills then some receiver drills,” Foster said. “We had two guys graduate and in the offseason doing quarterback drills, I finally won the starting job.”

Foster set more records in 2005 as the only player in NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, formerly Division 1-AA) history to score at least one rushing touchdown in 12 games, a feat he downplays. “When you run the option as QB, you get the ball a lot. We had a good team that year; I just seemed to find the end zone a lot.”

He finished the season with 1,481 yards rushing, third best for quarterbacks in FCS history, and an average of 123.4 yards per game.

Foster was moved back to receiver for 2006, his junior year, but the accolades kept coming for him as he was named First Team All-Southern Conference wide receiver by the conference coaches and as a return specialist by the media.

He again set a school record as the only player to have at least one rush, reception, punt return, and kick return for 80 yards or more.

“The punt return was probably one I shouldn’t have returned, I got lucky with that one,” Foster said. “The play I had the longest reception on, I actually got a penalty right before that so they moved us back to give us the 80 yards. I had to make up for the penalty.”

In 2007, Foster’s senior year, he moved back to quarterback and lead Georgia Southern to a 7-4 record while averaging 167.6 yards rushing per game and amassing 3,047 yards of total offense- for yet another school record. Foster won the 2007 Walter Payton Award, as the nation’s top player in FCS and was also named the Southern Conference “Offensive Player of the Year.”

Foster moved into the NFL after graduation as an undrafted free agent, spending time with the Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos, and the Baltimore Ravens before finding a home with the Tuskers in 2009.

While he didn’t put up the same record-setting numbers he did at Georgia Southern, Foster had a solid year with the Tuskers, catching 21 passes for 308 yards and three touchdowns.

“The adjustment was a little difficult,” Foster said of moving back to wide receiver. “When you don’t know the lingo and you haven’t made those receiver steps in two years… It’s a different type of running and you’ve got to get used to all that.”

As the second full day of training camp ended, Foster said he was more comfortable with his role as a receiver. “When I first started out, I didn’t know the names of the routes, the uniqueness of the routes,” Foster said. “You just have to pick up on the lingo when it comes around. Coming back for this second year, I know a lot more terminology so I think I’ll do a lot better.”

Tuskers Head Coach Jay Gruden also expects an improvement in Foster’s production this year.

“He’s got the ability and the speed obviously,” Gruden said. “He was just a little bit raw last year, but he worked through it. We expect huge things from Jayson, both outside and inside the slot.”

And what of gadget plays like the pass Randle El threw to Hines Ward (another quarterback-to-receiver convert) in Super Bowl XL- do the Tuskers have anything like that in the works for Foster? Neither Foster nor Gruden ruled it out completely.

“Not yet, but Jay has a lot of plays drawn up,” Foster said. “Who knows what he has in his offense?”

“He’s more of a running quarterback than a passing quarterback,” Gruden said. “But you never know.”