Spring Break
Receivers look to step up, replace senior
FLETCHER PAGE
Issue date: 4/10/09 Section: First & Goal
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The depth at the position makes Durham's absence, although a glaring loss, bearable, as a battle should ensue to fill the void.
Tony Wilson, Israel Troupe and Tavarres King will have the opportunity in Saturday's G-Day game to take over the vacancy.
"When somebody gets hurt, I feel their pain," said Wilson, a redshirt junior. "One day you may hear a lot of people say they don't feel like doing this or doing that on a day, but when it's taken from you, you want to be out there more and more."
Wilson knows about injuries and lost opportunity. The Daytona Beach native had to redshirt his first year on campus following a shoulder injury. After starting for much of his redshirt freshman season, another injury cost him all of last year.
"When I got hurt [receiver] Mike Moore stepped in and you didn't even notice that Tony Wilson was out," Wilson, who stated he is only 60 percent, said. "That's a great attribute to the coaches and everybody else on the team, getting more than one person ready to play. I've been talking a lot to the coaches and it's like déjà vu all over again. Nobody knew about Tony Wilson in high school until his 11th grade year, and when the opportunity came I made the most of it. All I can do is go out there and play hard all game."
Moore finished last season with 451 yards receiving, third best on the team, with two scores. Moore was part of a triumvirate of successful receivers in 2008, with Mohamed Massaquoi and A.J. Green each totaling more than 900 yards through the air. Massaquoi is a projected third or fourth round pick in the upcoming NFL draft. Green joins Moore solidly in the starting lineup, awaiting a third receiver to stand out.
"With Mohamed gone, it gives me a little bit of opportunity, and it's unfortunate Kris got hurt, but I just go out and take it day-by-day," Troupe said. "When opportunity comes you have to take advantage of it."
Troupe, a heralded recruit from Tift County, is entering his third year in the system, having caught only four passes for 39 yards in his career.
"It's not really pressure, but it's due time," Troupe said. "I've been here two years now and I think it's time to establish myself. Not really as far as pressure goes, but for myself to prove to everybody coming out of high school that I am the guy that Georgia wanted me to be."
King caught two passes for 66 yards last season before an ankle injury ended his year. But he is 100 percent now, adding to the competition.
Incoming freshmen Marlon Brown and Rantavious Wooten will join the crowd in summer, adding to the log-jam.
"They all are going to compete with me," Wilson said. "That's what competing is about, one of us has to win and one has to lose. ... Every opportunity I get to go out there and contribute I give it my all, because I know I already had the opportunity taken from me."
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