Another Bulldog dynasty? Why today's Georgia team is reminiscent of Walker-fueled 1980 run

This is a commentary by Mark Murphy, a Savannah physician and author. He is a longtime contributor to the Savannah Morning News.

In the spring of 1980, a running back from Johnson County High School chose, after a protracted recruitment, to attend the University of Georgia.

Herschel Walker was the No. 1 prep player in the country. His decision was a recruiting coup for Vince Dooley, the Georgia head football coach, as Herschel had been rumored to be considering college football blueblood Southern Cal.

Shortly after Herschel made his decision, a far less well-known football player from Savannah’s Calvary Day School also decided to attend school in Athens.

That was me.

I looked at lots of other places. I liked William and Mary in 10th grade primarily because it was in historic Williamsburg, Virginia. I was enthralled with Cornell in 11th grade because I was a big fan of astronomer Carl Sagan, who taught there. But I was a southern boy, and I ultimately realized I wanted to stay closer to home.

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My two finalists were UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Georgia.  By the spring of 1980, I had paid my housing deposit and registered for classes at UNC, certain I was Chapel Hill-bound.

But when Herschel picked Georgia, I viewed it as a sign from God.

Maybe it was, and maybe it was not, but either way, I changed my collegiate destination to UGA in late spring.

The following fall, with Herschel at the all-important tailback position, Georgia won its first NCAA football title since 1942.

Winning ignites passion for Dawgs

Walker catalyzed an unprecedented run of success for the Bulldogs.  During the four years I spent in Athens, Georgia had a 43-4-1 record, winning one national title and three SEC championships. They were ranked in the top-5 all four seasons, and Herschel Walker ended up winning the Heisman trophy.

Daphne, who I was dating at the time, came to school there, too, and we both ended up as Georgia graduates.

I’ve loved college football ever since. I enjoy the pageantry, the rivalries, and the traditions. As I’ve grown older, going back to Athens every fall has become something else: A way to reconnect with a younger version of myself.

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A few years ago, I wrote a column about why I go to Athens. I concluded that my trips to Athens aren’t really about football, although that is the ostensible reason for our annual fall pilgrimage.

Going back to Athens is more about recalling a time when the whole world lay before us, when the possibilities were endless, when we pushed the envelope of what we thought we were capable of and ruptured it.

Fall Saturdays in Athens are a reminder of the carefree nature of youth, of the ability to lose oneself in the excitement of a brilliant play in Sanford Stadium, or the hedonistic pleasures of a glass of wine with a good meal and good friends while the young and the beautiful cavort about, unconcerned about tomorrow because of the limitless possibilities of tonight.

Today’s Athens trips are spiritual excavations, unearthing memories of the intellectual and personal discoveries that made me the man I am today.

So here, over 40 years hence, The University of Georgia once again enters a college football season as the defending national champions.

That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it (pun intended)?

Big expectations for new season

The potential for another great Georgia season is right there for 2022. Even after having a record 15 players drafted into the NFL, The Dawgs are routinely ranked among the top three teams in the nation.

I’ll be seeing many of the games in person, just like I was last season. My wife and children, who are all Georgia alumni, will be there, too. Georgia football has become part of the fabric of our family’s existence, and after the forced isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the experience is even more sweet.

One added facet: We hope to introduce my granddaughter Violet to our peculiar red and black obsession in person for the first time this fall. Violet already has her UGA cheerleader outfit, so she’s good to go.

Headlines scream dire pronouncements about inflation and taxes. The political atmosphere in America is as toxic as ever. Hurricane season is afoot, and war in Ukraine shows no signs of ending anytime soon.

But college football season is back, baby. Over the next four months, for at least for a few hours each weekend, we can all lose ourselves in its collective delirium.

So once more, with feeling, I say, in honor of the defending national champions: Go Dawgs!

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Bulldog football fans anticipate repeat run at national title