LOS ANGELES – If Darnell Washington’s injured ankle does in fact limit him in Monday’s National Championship, freshman Oscar Delp said he’ll be ready to fill the role as best he can.
Delp certainly did an admirable job for the Bulldogs in Georgia’s 42-41 win over Ohio State in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. When Washington went out, Delp stepped right in, taking 21 of the most important reps he’s seen to date in his young college career.
“We prepare for it every week. It’s the next man up mentality,” Delp said Saturday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. “I was ready. Everyone was counting on me, so I knew I had to step up.”
Position coach Todd Hartley was happy for his young protégé.
“I’m very proud. You never know as a young kid, you preach to them all the time, especially when you’ve got two guys ahead of him like he does, that you can’t think of it as your role’s diminished,” Hartley said. “You’re one ankle away from being thrown into a college football semifinal against Ohio State. You’ve got to prepare as if you’re the starter, man, and he’s done that.”
Hartley credited Delp’s calm demeanor that helped him excel with the game on the line.
“A lot of times, with young players, they’re forced into action and the moment might be too big for them,” Hartley said. “That was the thing I was most proud about. It didn’t get to him. It was not overwhelming. He was calm under pressure and did his job at a very, very high level.”
Although Delp does not receive many opportunities to catch the football with playing behind Brock Bowers and Washington, the one touchdown he did score this year is one he will never forget.
The score came during Georgia’s Week 3 win at South Carolina, the school he almost committed to.
“That was definitely up there,” Delp said. “It was a really incredible moment. I had all my family there, they were watching. It was pretty cool to be in that stadium, one I’ve grown up watching all those games in. To get my first score there was awesome.”
Hartley agreed.
"Everybody knows the story there, his background at South Carolina, so he really wanted that one. The fact (Todd) Monken was able to dial it up and the ball went to him, was kind of the perfect scenario,” Hartley said. “His first college catch, his first college touchdown, at South Carolina, if that had been my best recruiting pitch, you could have scripted that any better, you know?"
The Gamecocks’ pain has been the Bulldogs’ gain as Delp said he’s never regretted his decision to come to Athens for a minute.
“I think it’s been great. I made a great decision to come here, getting to learn from Brock and Darnell, there’s no better tight end room to learn from,” he said. “I think I’ve learned a lot, I think I’ve grown a lot as a player, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.”
The opportunity to sit under the learning tree with Bowers and Washington is an opportunity he relishes daily.
“Every day in practice, I watch everything Darnell does in the run game. Everything he does is just so dominant. Learning the little details from him, getting to watch him, how he approaches certain plays and certain blocks, you can’t learn any better than being there,” Delp said. “With Brock, it’s everything he does in the passing game. They’re both going to be great players at the next level. It’s been awesome to learn from them.”
