The Red and Black

Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: SARA GUEVARA [Click to enlarge]

When the Bulldogs fall behind, there is only one thing for them to do.

"Crank dat."

In a craze that has swept much of the nation, the "Soulja Boy" dance has caught on in a big way with Georgia football. During home games against Ole Miss and Auburn when the Bulldogs were down, the song has cranked through the speakers and pumped up the players on the sideline, to the delight of the fans.

"It's just a high-energy song," said running back Thomas Brown. "They usually play it when we're losing - they played it in the Ole Miss game when we were losing, and they played it this past game when we were losing."

In fact, against Auburn, the Tigers had just gone up 20-17 in the second half right before the song came on the first time (it played again later as an encore). From that point on, the Bulldogs reeled off 28 straight unanswered points.

"(The song) definitely loosens us up a little bit," said running back Knowshon Moreno.

The "Soulja Boy" dance originated from the song "Crank Dat (Soulja Boy)" by the artist - you guessed it - Soulja Boy. Soulja Boy, whose real name is DeAndre Way, was born in Chicago but moved to Atlanta at age 6.

Defensive tackle Jeff Owens said that Soulja Boy's Atlanta origin is one of the reasons why the song has caught on with the Bulldogs.

"It's from Georgia, it's from Atlanta," Owens said. "You've got to think - we've got a lot of guys on our team from Atlanta. So you know they listen to a lot of Atlanta music, so that's what they do - they do the 'Soulja Boy.'"

The dance isn't overwhelmingly hard and performances by numerous people can be found on YouTube.

At one point against Auburn, most, if not all, of the team was dancing on the sidelines. It prompted CBS commentators Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson to do their own version of, well, some kind of dance in the television network's booth.

If anything, the Bulldogs simply are having more fun than they've ever had before, and part of the reason is because of head coach Mark Richt's new approach to relax his players and let them have fun on the sideline.

"There were a couple of games last year where you had to stay back (behind the sideline), you had better be behind the coaches and if you weren't playing, you better be on the bench," safety Kelin Johnson said. "Coach Richt realized that was taking away from the team morale."

Continued...

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