Counting the Days – Day 47

Dave McMahon and Patrick Garbin

Welcome to our countdown! We are on the second half of it, and are less than seven weeks before the first game. Each day leading up to the season opener, Patrick Garbin and I will show three unique and creative ways why we believe that number is special to the Dawgs. Black 47 was a celtic rock band that debuted in 1989. One of their earlier members was Geoff Blyth, a tenor saxophonist who also played with Dexys Midnight Runners, which would have a No. 1 hit, Come on Eileen, after Blyth was no longer in the band. Even though I’ve heard Come on Eileen ad nausea, I do have a fond memory in regards to Dexys Midnight Runners: when the band was mentioned on The Simpsons (see at the 1:20 mark).

By @dave_mc_stats

3 – In terms of most rushes in a single game by a Georgia Bulldog, Herschel Walker has seven of the top 11 marks ever, including the top three and a tie for the fourth. The top mark is an SEC-record 47 rushes against Florida in 1981, in which Walker gained 192 yards and scored four touchdowns in the Cocktail Party. In the 26-21 victory, Herschel’s scores were the only four touchdowns of the game for Georgia. The most single-game rushes by a Bulldog last season was 26 by Sony Michel, who did so twice.

2 – Nick Chubb has appeared in just 19 games in his collegiate career, but already has 2,294 yards rushing and 21 touchdown rushes. His first game for the Red and Black was against Clemson in 2014, whereby he had just four rushes, but gained 70 yards, including a fourth-quarter 47-yard touchdown. If you recall that play, Chubb broke some tackles, and ran wearing just one shoe the majority of the way, resulting in his first career collegiate touchdown in the 45-21 Bulldogs’ win:

1 – I will continue the theme of running backs, including a former No. 47 from the 1990s… As many of you know, Robert Edwards did not start his Georgia career at running back, but played 17 games at cornerback, including starting each game during his sophomore season of 1994. That year, he totaled 64 tackles and four interceptions. In 1995, Edwards switched to scatback, and was dominated for six-plus quarters. In his first game against South Carolina, he rushed for 169 yards and scored a school-record five touchdowns. Edwards was perhaps even better his second game, rushing for 156 yards and two touchdown rushes on the road at eighth-ranked Tennessee. But, early in the third quarter, he fractured his foot and missed the remainder of the season (hmmm, a season-ending injury at Tennessee?). Edwards came back in 1996 to score 10 touchdowns. Then, as a senior in 1997, he scored 13 touchdowns, not including three he had in the Outback Bowl against Wisconsin. Edwards’ 2,033 career rushing yards rank 14th all time at Georgia.

By PGarbinDT

3—At Tennessee in 2013—a game whereby he would sustain a season-ending injury—Keith Marshall became the 47th Georgia player in the modern era (since the beginning of the 1940s) to reach the 1,000-yard rushing mark for a career. The first Bulldog to join the school’s 1,000-yard rushing list was the legendary Frank Sinkwich in 1941. Since Marshall, 48th Nick Chubb and 49th Sony Michel have become 1,000-yard career rushers, as well.

2—A whopping 47 pounds: the rounded difference between the average weight of Georgia’s starting offensive line from its 1980 national championship team (249.2) and the Bulldogs’ “projected” starters (or, at least, what Phil Steele projects) along their offensive line for this season (296.6).

1—His career stats are beyond impressive—283 tackles, 36 sacks, 23 other tackles for loss, 18 passes broken up, 117 quarterback hurries, seven forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, and four blocked kicks—and he is Georgia’s most decorated defensive player of all time (whose listing of honors and awards would be a countdown entry all in itself), but what might be more notable concerning No. 47 David Pollack is the fact he wasn’t a highly-touted recruit. Believe me, I totally trust in the “star system” for high school prospects; on the whole, four- and five-star prospects generally perform in college as four- and five-star players. However, there certainly are exceptions, like Pollack—a two-star fullback-turned-three-star defensive lineman out of Shiloh High School in Snellville, Ga. Just for kicks, the Bulldogs’ 2001 signing class—head coach Mark Richt’s first—according to Rivals’ “stars”: