SEC Media Days kick off this week on Wednesday July 23. The University of Georgia is scheduled for Thursday from 8:40 – 10:40 a.m. (central time I believe). The Dawgs will be represented by Head Coach Mark Richt, WR M. Massaquoi, and DT Jeff Owens. Coaches tend to select seniors and team captains to bring to Media Day, but this isn’t always the case. Florida is bringing Tim Tebow.

So you have to wonder why Knowshon Moreno is not going to be at Media Day. He’s the guy everyone wants to talk to… not Massaquoi. Chris Low of ESPN.com said “Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno: Why even have a so-called Media Days if you’re not going to bring the best running back in the league and a guy who could push the 3,000-yard career rushing mark by the end of his sophomore season?”

It makes sense right?

Knowshon Moreno is a trouble maker! At least according to some university officials he is. No, Knowshon wasn’t caught with drugs and no he wasn’t caught with a gun. Nor was he in a street fight outside of a club at 3 a.m. In a recent Red & Black online article, it is stated that Knowshon Moreno and his teammate Akeem Hebron were cited in October 2006 for noise violation. Apparently they were cranking the stereo too loud on a Saturday night in their apartment!

The punishment for such a heinous crime? Knowshon Moreno was assigned to write a 2 page essay on noise and noise pollution. Thank god students have access to Wikipedia. I’m sure Knowshon was able to knock this paper out in a couple of minutes, or at least have his in-house tutor help him.

It’s a funny story and I’m glad it’s the worst we’ve heard of Knowshon. All indications point to him being a good kid and solid citizen. It’s been almost 2 years since this happened and in that time we’ve never heard his name come up for any other off the field issues.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution posted a question to their reads on their website. Do you think UGA should utitlize a two-back system? You can read the entire article here. Basically it starts with a mention about how the Dawgs fullback Brannan Southerland had foot surgery and will miss the first 5 games of the season. It’s a big loss because Sutherland is probably the best fullback in the country. So do the Dawgs rely on a backup fullback, or do they use both Knowshon Moreno and Caleb King on the field at the same time?

The overwhelming response from the fans was “no” to the two-back system, but a few people suggested UGA run Moreno and king similar to what Auburn did with Cadillac and Brown in 2004. I think that the Dawgs will be fine running their backup fullbacks. Chapas has been playing very well and should be able to fill the roll for the first few months.

I would expect Knowshon Moreno‘s statistics to drop some because of the lack of quality blocking he’ll receive, but that just means he’ll have to make more plays himself.

Taking a look at the 2008 Georgia Football Schedule (which I need to post on this website soon), you can see that Georgia has a VERY tough schedule following their Homecoming game on October 18. They have 4 road games in a row.

• At LSU
• At Florida (Jacksonville)
• At Kentucky
• At Auburn

That is going to be one hell of a road trip.

So how does this affect Knowshon Moreno. Well it could be seen as a positive or a negative for those of you wanting him to win the Heisman. One, if Georgia is playing good football, Knowshon will be in the spotlight and given a ton of props because the Dawgs tore up 4 opponents on the road. The Heisman voters won’t overlook this. On the other hand, because it will be such a hard road trip, should the Dawgs lose one of these games on national TV it will hurt his chances.

Ultimately, we’ll have to wait an see what happens. I like to think of this stretch of games as an opportunity for Knowshon Moreno to show what he’s made of.

Does anyone else think Knowshon Moreno and the Georgia Bulldogs have the hardest schedule in college football. For a team ranked in the top 5 last year, and possible preseason #1 this year… this is a damn hard schedule. Looking at it makes me sick, especially when I see teams like LSU with 8 home games and Florida with a JOKE of a non-conference schedule.

Georgia has to play 4 away games in a row starting on October 25 and finally playing a home game again 1 month later on November 29. That’s just insane.

08/30/08      Georgia Southern Eagles
09/06/08     Central Michigan Chippewas
09/13/08     at South Carolina Gamecocks
09/20/08     at Arizona State Sun Devils
09/27/08     Alabama Crimson Tide
10/04/08     Open Date     N/A
10/11/08     Tennessee Volunteers
10/18/08     Vanderbilt Commodores
10/25/08     at LSU Tigers
11/01/08     Florida Gators (Jacksonville, FL)
11/08/08     at Kentucky Wildcats
11/15/08     at Auburn Tigers
11/22/08     Open Date     N/A
11/29/08     Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets