By BJ Bennett
SouthernPigskin.com

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Aaron Murray nudged his way up next to Doug Flutie, Kevin Moen and, in his own backyard, Lindsay Scott, and came damn close to fitting right in.

Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray enters his senior season as one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in college football history. Barring injury, he will continue to reach new milestones, rewrite the SEC record books and set marks that may not soon be reached. He is the bright-eyed leader of a program that has made consecutive SEC Championship Games, finished last year ranked in the national top five and will start this season is the exact same position.

In a dozen games against traditional rivals Auburn, Florida, Georgia Tech and Tennessee, Murray boasts a telling 10-2 record, undefeated since his freshman year. He finished 2012 ranked second in the nation with a passer rating of 174.82, less than a half-point behind A.J. McCarron for best in the game. For point of reference, Andrew Luck’s single-season career-high was 170.03. Murray ranked fifth in the country with 36 touchdown passes and paced all of college football with 10.1 yards per pass attempt; the only other signal callers to top that mark over the last decade are Robert Griffin III, Cam Newton and Russell Wilson, all starters in the NFL. 

For all that Murray has done, many most-regard him for what he didn’t quite do. Down four late to top-ranked, defending national champion Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, Murray led the Bulldogs the length of the field in a scene better suited for the vinyl of the big screen than the Georgia Dome’s trampled turf. After a Murray strike to tight end Arthur Lynch very nearly flipped the script, a barely-tipped pass instinctively caught by receiver Chris Conley left dreams of a 1980 national title rematch with Notre Dame mere feet from reality. It left Murray, Georgia and a state buzzing with bewilderment in a sudden state of disbelief.   

“I can tell you this, I was more nervous watching that drive than I was during any snap I took while I was at Georgia,” admitted former UGA quarterback David Greene, who finished his career as the winningest quarterback in NCAA Division I history. “It’s one thing when you are actually in control and you are tired, sweating and competing, you’re not that nervous. Just sitting in the stands, I was a nervous wreck.”

Within those final moments stood a nation with their mouths wide-open. Within those five yards, perceptual purgatory, stood a signal caller with nothing left to give. There was no margin for error, no timeouts and 85 yards to nothing short of immortality. Facing a defense deemed by some the best in modern college football history, Murray nudged his way up next to Doug Flutie, Kevin Moen and, in his own backyard, Lindsay Scott, and came damn close to fitting right in.  

Had Murray’s final throw whizzed through the fingers of Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley, it might be he, not McCarron, involved in discussions about the greatest of all time.    

“Sitting up there in the stands watching the whole thing unfold, I just had chills. I almost witnessed probably the greatest drive in Georgia history. Obviously we fell short by five yards, but if we would have completed that pass, went on to the national championship game and won it, it would have been the greatest drive in the history of Georgia football,” Greene explained on the Southern Pigskin Radio Network.

Even in defeat, the finish was an inspiring one. Though much more dramatic, it was far from the first time Murray shouldered his way through adversity for his team. He provided a stabilizing hand and steady play as a freshman starter, leading by example through a suspension to receiver A.J. Green and job security rumors around head coach Mark Richt and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. After starting the season 0-2 as a sophomore, Murray rallied the Bulldogs to ten straight victories and a berth in the SEC Championship Game. Last fall, he led Georgia to the second-most wins in school history. 

Murray’s perseverance and persistence continue to resonate.

“Just his maturity, the way he is able to bounce back,” Greene continued. “When we thought the ball was picked off on that last drive, it seems like it took 20-30 minutes on the field for them to figure out what the call was going to be. To be able to make some of those plays on that last drive with that much pressure on your shoulders, as a former player, I was just fired up.”

As the hype for Georgia’s high-profile season-opener with Clemson builds, every caption and column references the upset that almost was — but wasn’t. Right or wrong, it’s an easily-identifiable theme for Richt and this current crop of players. For Murray, in particular, the final drive of the 2012 SEC Championship Game will long linger. Those memories will likely be front and center for years to come. Considering the struggle, however, they might should come with a silver frame and a fireplace mantle.  

“I know a lot of fans get so tied up in the winning and losing,” Greene acknowledged. “I’m using tennis as an example because I play tennis now. There have been times here lately where I lose a tennis match but I love the battle that I was in. It’s the same thing in football, where it was just a hard-fought game and you have to find a way to love the competition. I guess ultimately we are all judged on wins and losses, but you have to be able to embrace the competition.”

Given his track record, Murray is poised for a banner senior season. A lot, for both he and Georgia, is yet to be determined. A conference championship, a national title could leave a tale unlike any other. That said, Murray’s impact on the UGA program has long been established. From six wins his first year in Athens, Murray has gone on to win ten and 12 games, respectively. The Bulldogs are on the brink making the SEC Championship Game three times in a row for the first time ever.  

Murray, with a full year left to go, hasn’t hung up his responsibility with his cleats each Saturday. In an era where athletes oftentimes make headlines for the wrong reasons, he was recently recognized as one of ten UGA student-athletes with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average. Murray’s volunteer work at Camp Sunshine, various Florida and Georgia hospitals and involvement with student-athlete fundraisers is well-documented. Last season, he was named to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, a distinction bestowed upon just eleven FBS players each year. 

A tipped pass isn’t enough to deflect all that has been done.    

A generation from now, Murray, at worst, will be remembered as a record-setting player, a key figure in one of the greatest games college football has ever seen. An improbable drive. An unthinkable finish. Perhaps without the fanfare it deserves, a storied legacy, for now, lies somewhere in between.