Dawgs Awarded Scholarships

FOOTBALL

The attrition that has occurred since signing day opened the door for eight walk-ons to be placed on scholarship. UGA officials announced that seniors; Matthew DeGenova (linebacker), Jason Veal (linebacker), Eric Elliot (cornerback), juniors; Josh Bodin (offensive guard), Taylor Bradberry (wide receiver), Wes Van Dyk (tailback) along with sophomores; Brandon Harton (tailback) and Blake Sailors (cornerback) have all been placed on scholarship by coach Mark Richt.

Harton (20) has moved up to the number three position on the depth chart for the Boise State game and Sailors is a special teams superlative that played in all 13 games last season.

“I’ve been here three years and working hard to try and earn a scholarship,” said Sailors. “I wasn’t expecting it, but either way I was going to keep working as hard as I could on the field and in practice so they would give me an opportunity to get one.”

Bradberry caught a touchdown pass in yesterday’s scrimmage and has had an outstanding fall thus far. Bodin at 6-6, 321 pounds has the size to push the freshmen for a back-up spot on the offensive line.

Richt was also pleased with the team’s reaction to the announcement about the scholarships.

“I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it, but I ended up lining the eight guys up in front of the team and then said something about all of them receiving their scholarships,” said Richt. “The place went nuts and everyone came down to celebrate with them. I know there were some other walk-ons who were also worthy of getting one and those guys were probably hurting a little bit, but they were still down there congratulating these eight guys.”

Scholarships are currently one year offers for financial assistance, the NCAA is currently considering legislation that will allow each conference the opportunity to extend scholarships to four year commitments.