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2B ♦ SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2006 Former GSU coach Erk Russell dies of stroke By Donald Heath Morris News Service SAVANNAH - He had that ‘lt.’ You can’t always describe ‘lt’ - that intangible qual ity which makes a person almost bigger than life. You just know former Georgia Southern football coach Erk Russell had ‘lt.’ And a university, a com munity, a sport and a family prospered from his presence. Friday, Russell died of an apparent stroke before crash ing his car in Statesboro, according to Bulloch County coroner Jake Futch. “It’s hard to believe we’re talking in the past tense now,” said former Georgia Georgia Tech cautious heading into /trap game’ By Adam Van Brimmer Morris News Service ATLANTA - Georgia Tech’s schedule lists Samford as this week’s opponent. Yet tailback Rashaun Grant said the Yellow Jackets must remember to read the fine print. “We call that a trap game,” Grant said. “When you get a team like Notre Dame and all the hype one week and then you play a team where there is not as much hype, you have to refocus.” Samford-like teams ambushed a couple of Georgia Tech’s peers last weekend. Duke and Colorado UGA ready for tough crowd at Williams-Brice Stadium By Metre Weiszer Morris News Service ATHENS - The annual South Carolina State Fair won’t be held in Columbia until next month, but recent experience • has taught Georgia that its trip to adja cent Williams-Brice Stadium every other year can be as stomach-churning as any rollercoaster. The 12th-ranked Bulldogs are prepared to buckle up and brace for another bumpy night at the place where they escaped with victories in two previous trips under coach Mark Richt but were pushed to the limit. “We go to Columbia, and we struggle mightily,” Richt said. “We’ve been very for tunate to win the last two times we’ve been there.” The third and fourth larg est crowds in Williams-Brice Stadium history came to the last two Georgia games, with more than 84,000 on hand at each, making the seventh largest SEC stadium to rival LSU or Tennessee for pump ing up the volume. “It was so loud in there one time that it seemed like the building was swaying,” said Georgia defensive end Quentin Moses, who played as a sophomore in 2004. “It’s pretty crazy,” run ning back Danny Ware said. “The stadium’s really not that big, but there’s so many people in there the way it’s built they can get to you and scream at you even better. It seems like the sidelines are right behind you. No matter if you’re in the game or on the sidelines, they’re always screaming at you and you can hear them clearly.” It gets cranked up with the music of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” considered by •Bait & Tackle •Deer Processing WE CLEAN FISH , 6am-7pm • 7 days a week. I 333 Hwy 96 • BonaireJ I* 478-922-1819 * Southern quarterback Raymond Gross. “He was genuine. He was the father a lot of guys never had. He was the mentor a lot of guys needed. He was the coach everyone wanted to play for.” Russell established a lega cy as a college coach. He took Georgia Southern’s football program from scratch and won three Division I-AA national championships in eight years before retiring after an undefeated 1989 season. His reputation among great coaches, however, had already been cemented while coordinating the University of Georgia’s Junkyard Dawg defense for 17 years under lost to Division I-AA oppo nents on the season’s open ing Saturday. A similar upset at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Bobby Dodd Stadium is unlikely. Georgia Tech’s 14-10 loss last week to then No. 2 Notre Dame should sharpen the team’s focus, head coach Chan Gailey said. “I think we realize we don’t need to take anything for granted,” he said. Assuming the Yellow Jackets avoid an emotion al letdown this weekend, Samford is a perfect non conference opponent. The Bulldogs run a wide-open passing offense that will some among the best entries in college football. “The atmosphere there is electric,” Richt said. “The way they open the game gets people real riled up.” Georgia fell behind 16-0 in 2004 before rallying with two second-half touchdowns to pull out a 20-16 victory. The Bulldogs did not score an offensive touchdown in 2002 in a 13-7 victory. David Pollack made a play that will live in Georgia lore with his end zone interception. “We will have to match their intensity,” Richt said. “If we give them any kind of excitement early on, wheth er we turn it over or they get a touchdown pass or what ever it might be, it will light them up even more.” South Carolina’s history is one of mediocrity as coach Steve Spurrier pointed out this summer when he cracked: “Our trophy case has got an Outback Bowl championship in it, and that’s the biggest one.” No matter, Gamecock fans show up faithfully. “It doesn’t matter if they’re 10-0 or 0-10, their fans are always going to be excited and really loud,” said quarterback Joe Tereshinski, who will make his first start in an opponent’s stadium. “Going into that environ ment, it is hostile for that team and then you throw Coach Spurrier into the mix. He’s the guy you want to beat when you’re growing up in Athens.” Georgia has won four straight in the series, but the Gamecocks have given Georgia fits home and away under Richt, except for a 31-7 Bulldogs win in 2003 at Sanford Stadium. The Gamecocks dealt Richt his first loss at Georgia, 14-9, Coach Vince Dooley. He won numerous Coach of the Year awardfe and was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1987. But Russell’s ‘lt’ didn’t remain on the football field. His bald head made him stand out from afar and his personality brought people together. He made the sport fun for everyone, even tak ing digs at himself. “I’ve been in Georgia so long that my picture gets in the paper a lot, so I’m bound to be recognizable. But I don’t consider that a compli ment. Hell, Frankenstein is recognizable,” Russell once said about his baldness. “I think everyone is going test a Jacket secondary that needs experience. Samford played three quarterbacks who complet ed passes to eight different receivers in a 37-7 win last week against Miles College. Georgia Tech cornerback Pat Clark said the Bulldogs won’t change their modus operandi this week. They will throw and throw and throw again, much like Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn did last Saturday. Quinn attempted 38 passes. “We are expecting that from every team we play, considering everyone thinks we have a weak secondary,” Clark said. “But that’s not in 2001, and Georgia was pushed in a 17-15 victory last year in Athens. Georgia is 19-2 in an opponent’s home stadium , ; |W . " ■ 1 .» j’TKiVj .• V V t ' ✓ Faster Visual Recovery ✓Safer, Blade-Free Tetimology /Unsurpassed LAS IK Experience With faster recovery time - combined with unsurpassed safety and precision - it’s no wonder Dr. Eisner’s CustomVue® IntraLase® procedure is the preferred LASIK procedure for the military. Call Eisner Laser Center today at 405-2020 to schedule your complimentary consultation. Unmatched experience, unsurpassed results. Call today 478-405-2020 CmfowN ue INDIVIDUALIZED LASER VISION CORRECTION Over SIOOO In LASIK Savings! A s £ R CENTER 'EXPERIENCE ‘TRUST* RESULTS www.dreisner.com SPORTS to miss him,” said Navy coach Paul Johnson, who coached on Russell’s staff for three years. “I don’t know anyone who didn’t like him. He gave me a chance to get started. I probably owe almost everything to him. Not many people could have done what he did at Georgia Southern.” Russell’s arrival in Statesboro came a year after he helped the Bulldogs capture a national cham pionship in 1980. Georgia Southern athletics director Bucky Wagner learned that Russell was looking for a new challenge. Wagner sold the Eagles’ new program as a challenge. Southern, which discon going to do anything but get us better and prepare us for the teams down the road in the ACC.” Georgia Tech’s offense could use the work too. The Yellow Jackets ran just 52 plays last week and have some kinks to work out in offensive coordinator Patrick Nix’s scheme in the next two weeks. The Jackets face Troy next Saturday before opening up Atlantic Coast Conference play Sept. 21 against Virginia. Georgia Tech rolled up yards early last week. The offense totaled 188 yards and scored 10 points on its under Richt, losing only to an LSU team that won the BCS national championship and an Auburn squad that went 13-0. 125 Plantation Centre Dr., Ste. 250 * IVlacon tinued its football program in 1941 because of World War 11, kicked off its first game in 1982. Three years later, the Eagles were the darlings of college football, celebrating a national cham pionship with a come-from behind 44-42 victory over Furman. “He taught the game of football, but it wasn’t until later in life that you realized he was teaching you some thing that could be applied in every day life,” said Eagles former kicker Terry Harvin. “His favorite saying was, ‘Just One More Time.’ That’s what you think every day you wake up.” For Gross, ‘Just one more time’ came true twice. His first five possessions against the Irish. The Yellow Jackets strug gled after halftime, though, once Notre Dame keyed its defense on wide receiv er Calvin Johnson. The Jackets gained just 71 yards and failed to convert a third down. Frank’s Golf Car Center | tJ * —'ll _sH m ? W- ill i i|nSPV| pi vr r intralase.H CORP SALES, SERVICE, & RENTALS Stacks dsoiEOsi? OasfiH? 1237 Watson Blvd. Warner Robins, Ga 31093 Phone: 478-918-0680 Fax: 478-918-0580 Cell: 478-396-5157 • 1-866-800-7722 uuu.ftan/i iyclfea teenier, com HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL late fumble inside the 10- yard line was a key play in a 17-12 loss to Furman in the 1988 national championship game. Russell hugged Gross and his mother after the game and said the Eagles would be back next year. Southern won titles the next two years. “I remember when we came back against Maine and everyone was asking what did Coach Russell say to the team at halftime,” Harvin said. “He didn’t have to say anything. He just had that ‘lt’ about him and we knew we let him down and there wasn’t anyone in that lock er who wanted to let him down.” “There’s no doubt we can go out there and execute,” Nix said. “It’s our job to score more than 10 points. It’s my job as coordinator to get more than that.” Reach reporter 'Adam, Van Brimmer at adam. vanbrimmer@morris.com or 404-589-8424. 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