University of Georgia Athletics
Inside the Booth with Scott Howard
September 16, 2009 | Football
I don’t know that the Brandon(en)s (Boykin and Smith) will ever reach the level of popularity that the Davids (Greene and Pollack) did at UGA earlier this decade, but after their speed-burning performance in Georgia’s 41-37 win over South Carolina, I’ve decided it sure will be fun watching them try.
We were treated to something we have never before seen. Not in Sanford Stadium, or even in a Bulldog uniform. A 100-yd kickoff return for a touchdown. Decades go by without witnessing something like that. In Georgia’s case, no coach, player or broadcaster had ever seen what we saw under the lights September 12th. Sophomore Brandon Boykin etched his name into Bulldog lore when he ran over one would-be Gamecock tackler and ran by all the rest, on his way to a UGA record 100-yd kickoff return for a score, the first in over 100 years of Georgia Football. He finished the night with 187 kickoff return yards, which was only 3 yards shy of a 32 year old school record held by former All-American Scott Woerner. Boykin’s length-of-the-field sprint also gave Georgia the lead it would not relinquish.
The other Branden, freshman Branden Smith, gave Bulldog opponents something to gameplan for this season. He has pure, unbridled speed. He left half of South Carolina’s defense in his wake on an amazing 61-yd touchdown run on a reverse. Smith, from Washington High School in Atlanta, told me this week he also had the fifth fastest 100 time ever recorded in this state at one point. As a senior at Washington, he caught 32 passes and averaged a whopping 34 yards per catch. That’s tall stuff, even in high school.
That old sports adage is certainly true, you can’t coach speed. You either have it or you don’t. And with the Brandon(en)s, the Dogs most definitely have it!
Go Dawgs!
We were treated to something we have never before seen. Not in Sanford Stadium, or even in a Bulldog uniform. A 100-yd kickoff return for a touchdown. Decades go by without witnessing something like that. In Georgia’s case, no coach, player or broadcaster had ever seen what we saw under the lights September 12th. Sophomore Brandon Boykin etched his name into Bulldog lore when he ran over one would-be Gamecock tackler and ran by all the rest, on his way to a UGA record 100-yd kickoff return for a score, the first in over 100 years of Georgia Football. He finished the night with 187 kickoff return yards, which was only 3 yards shy of a 32 year old school record held by former All-American Scott Woerner. Boykin’s length-of-the-field sprint also gave Georgia the lead it would not relinquish.
The other Branden, freshman Branden Smith, gave Bulldog opponents something to gameplan for this season. He has pure, unbridled speed. He left half of South Carolina’s defense in his wake on an amazing 61-yd touchdown run on a reverse. Smith, from Washington High School in Atlanta, told me this week he also had the fifth fastest 100 time ever recorded in this state at one point. As a senior at Washington, he caught 32 passes and averaged a whopping 34 yards per catch. That’s tall stuff, even in high school.
That old sports adage is certainly true, you can’t coach speed. You either have it or you don’t. And with the Brandon(en)s, the Dogs most definitely have it!
Go Dawgs!
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