Curran Makes Official Announcement

FOOTBALL

All-Southeastern Conference junior linebacker Rennie Curran announced today plans to forego his final collegiate season and enter the NFL draft.

A 5-11, 225-pound native of Snellville, Curran has appeared in 37 games for the Dawgs including 30 starts. In three seasons Curran amassed 298 tackles. In 2009, Curran led the SEC in tackles with 130, collected All-SEC honors for the second straight year and was named a permanent team captain. He was a finalist for the Rotary Lombardi and Chuck Bednarik awards.

"This has been a really difficult decision," said Curran. "I love the Dawgs and my time at Georgia has been great. But weighing all the factors over the last couple of weeks, I finally reached the decision Saturday that entering the NFL draft this year is the right decision for me at this time."

Curran is the first Dawg to have back-to-back seasons with 100+ tackles since Greg Bright in 1997. Curran had a career-high 16 stops versus No. 4 LSU and tallied 15 tackles in the road win over No. 7 Georgia Tech.

"Rennie has been a cornerstone of our defense over the last couple years and even as a freshman, made tremendous contributions,² said UGA head coach Mark Richt. ³I think our team¹s fondness for Rennie was demonstrated by his election by his teammates as one of our permanent defensive captains for 2009. He will be sorely missed not only on the field but in the locker room and at the University. We certainly wish him the very best.²

Curran arrived at Georgia in 2007 from Brookwood High School and made an immediate impact. He appeared in 11 games with five starts in 2007, tallying 53 tackles and three sacks as the Dawgs went 11-2 and won the Sugar Bowl over No. 10 Hawaii.

As a sophomore in 2008, he earned All-SEC honors after starting all 13 games and finished second in the SEC with a team-best 115 tackles. His tackle total was the most by a Bulldog in 10 seasons. Also, Curran was a finalist for the Butkus Award. He received the team's Most Valuable Defensive Player Award. He helped Georgia to a Capital One Bowl victory over No. 19 Michigan State as the Bulldogs finished 10-3.