Thomas Brown

As football fans, we all have our favorite players. One of mine was a 5'8" scatback from Tucker named Thomas Brown. During his UGA career, number 20 ran for 2,646 yards and 23 touchdowns. But, some of his greatest plays went unnoticed by statisticians.

In 2007, Knowshon Moreno burst onto the scene, rushing for 1,334 yards and 13 scores. But, one of my favorite plays transpired with Thomas Brown in the Bulldogs backfield. On a playaction pass with 3:09 left in the first quarter, Brown threw a key block on a blitzing Auburn defender, allowing Matt Stafford to launch a 58 yard six-strike to wide open receiver, Mohamed Massaquoi. The score gave Georgia a 10-3 lead and electrified the sellout crowd at Sanford Stadium on Blackout Saturday.

Bolstered by tremendous efforts from Brown, Moreno, Sean Bailey, and a defense that played with clean, old fashioned junkyard tenacity, the Dawgs finished the drill by defeating Auburn 45-20. The last score of the game was a 1 yard touchdown by Brown with 6:48 left in the fourth quarter.

As a member of the Georgia Bulldogs, the Tucker native led by example in all aspects of his life. Brown was a leader in the classroom, the weight room, and on the field. If you ask Mark Richt about the strongest player, pound for pound in UGA history, I'm sure he'll say, "Thomas did it the right way...as a matter of fact, he did it the Georgia way."

Joe Cox is Ready

Just 22 days away from the 2009 college football season, most of the talk coming out of Athens is centered around Joe Cox. There is much speculation about how much of "Matt Stafford's shoes" he can fill. Don't worry about that. More knowledgeable people than myself, (Buck Belue, for one) have compared #14 to a David Greene-like leader. Not because of the number on his back, but because of his leadership both on and off the field. Cox may not have the strongest arm in college football, but he does have a very good grasp on the Georgia offense.

Following a stellar career at Independence H.S. in North Carolina, Joe Cox was rated the #7 QB prospect by Rivals.com. The 5th year senior is poised and able to perform under pressure. For further evidence, one shouldn't look any further than 2006. Trailing Colorado by 13 points in the 3rd quarter, Coach Richt benched some dude named Stafford and sent Cox into the game. Joe took control and calmly led the Bulldog offense to 2 tremendous TDs. The Dawgs were down 13-7, as 50 stingy little seconds began to tick off the 4th quarter clock. Taking command of the moment, Cox threw a 21 yard 6-strike to Martrez Milner. All of a sudden, the game was tied at 13. It seemed surreal, when Brandon Coutu's PAT gave Georgia it's first lead of the day. It was a scrawny, little one point lead. But, that's all it took to defeat the Buffaloes. "If we can't score two times, we don't deserve to wear Gs on our helmets," Cox later told the press.

On that breath taking day in Athens, glory didn't come easily. But, Joe Cox was able to do something Matt Stafford couldn't. He led a previously ineffective Georgia offense into the endzone. More importantly, he delivered his team from a long afternoon of adversity, and drove the Dawgs to victory. Georgia fans, don't worry about Joe Cox. The signal caller from North Carolina will do just fine in 2009.

*Click on the title of this post to see Joe Cox save UGA from a likely defeat.