Remembering the Georgia careers of Scott Woerner and Marcus Stroud
Scott Woerner and Marcus Stroud joined this Georgia wing of the Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame this week.
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A pair of great Georgia defenders, Scott Woerner and Marcus Stroud, join Gator kicker Jeff Chandler and tight end Ben Troupe and will be honored in front of the Georgia-Florida crowd at Everbank Field on Saturday.
Both players are among the best players in Georgia’s rich football history. Woerner played on Georgia’s 1980 National championship squad, while Stroud played in the late 1990’s.
Here’s a quick look-back on the careers of the newest inductees into the red and black half of the Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame.
Scott Woerner
“Woerner the Returner” came to Athens from Jonesboro, Georgia in 1977. He arrived during the worst season of the Vince Dooley era, but he left after the best.
He made his fame as a kickoff returner in 1977 with 546 kickoff return yards including a 190 yard day against SEC Champs Kentucky (Yes you read that right). As a sophomore he had 277 yards and touchdown on 22 punt returns.
He finished his Georgia career with 1,077 punt return yards and 1,916 total return yards, which were school records. He also had 13 interceptions in just over two seasons as a starting cornerback.
Woerner moved up the defensive depth chart as a sophomore and by the time he was a senior in 1980, he was a stalwart in the defensive backfield. And he ended his career in the best way possible, a game clinching interception to help Georgia win the 1980 National Championship.
Woerner’s induction in 2016 is notable because his nephew Charlie Woerner makes his Georgia-Florida debut as a player tomorrow as a tight end.
Woerner is right up there with Jake Scott, Terry Hoage and Champ Bailey for the best defensive backs in Georgia’s history. He is also among Buzy Rosenburg, Damian Gary, Brandon Boykin and Isaiah McKenzie for Georgia’s best return men.
Marcus Stroud
Stroud fanned the flames of the Georgia-Florida rivalry before he even debuted as a Georgia Bulldog. Throughout 1995 he was committed to Florida, but on National Signing Day he switched to Georgia. Then he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated tearing a Florida shirt revealing a Georgia shirt underneath.
He appeared in all but one regular season game in his four years at Georgia and started 29 games regular season games. He finished with 142 tackles, 77 solo tackles, 10.5 tackles for a loss and 5.5 sacks.
Stroud was a major part of Georgia’s great defense of the late 1990’s which included Richard Seymour, Champ Bailey, and current head coach Kirby Smart. The Bulldogs went 35-13 in Stroud’s four years, a sharp improvement from the last four years before 1997.