Georgia Football: A sad end to Malkom Parrish’s UGA career
Monday night was a disappointing end to the careers of many Georgia football players. But of all the seniors, no one’s last game was as rough as Malkom Parrish’s.
The loss still hurts doesn’t it? Us fans waited so long to see Georgia football win a National Championship, and our hopes were dashed on one play. Now imagine being a player like Nick Chubb or Lorenzo Carter who suited up in the red and black for the last time before going to the NFL. All that hard work to become one of the best in the game and nothing to show for it.
Or how about the players who played their last organized football game. Men who will not have careers in the NFL. This game was it for them. No going out on top. A career ending with a loss in the game’s biggest stage. But even that’s not the worst way to end your college career.
How about losing in your last organized football game when you know you should probably be looking forward to the NFL Draft? That’s exactly what senior cornerback Malkom Parrish had to deal with Monday night. And not just that, he was the corner that Alabama targeted on almost every big pass play, including the game-winning touchdown.
I’ve seen a lot people throwing Parrish under the bus these past few days. And while he’s the obvious goat of the game, lets remember one thing about Parrish; He was our best cornerback until this season.
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How quickly did a lot of the Bulldog Nation forget just how great Parrish was in 2015 and 2016. He was a true shutdown corner. He didn’t have DeAandre Baker’s size and physicality, but he used his smaller body well. Parrish had the speed to keep up with most receivers and a vertical that allowed him to prevent them from getting to leap to catch passes.
Going into 2017, Parrish only needed to stay healthy and continue playing at the same level and he’d be a draft pick for sure. Only he didn’t stay healthy, he didn’t even play in Georgia’s first few games.
back in August, Parrish injured his foot in practice. The injury required surgery that ended with him needing a screw in his foot. And if you watched as much Georgia football as I did, you know that he just wasn’t the same player. He lost everything that made him a good cornerback. His speed and quickness were both gone, as was his leaping ability.
And honestly, I’m surprised no one tried to picking on him before besides Missouri. Drew Lock was the only quarterback Georgia faced all year that targeted Parrish. No one else did and Georgia promptly shut down their offenses with relative ease.
Alabama was the first team since Missouri to make it a point to go after Parrish and we never had an answer. There wasn’t much depth at corner and no amount of pressure will prohibit good quarterbacks from completing passes to receivers who are wide open immediately.
For as bad as we felt after the loss, I can’t imagine how bad Parrish felt. He knew he had the talent to shut those passes down. But he no longer had the ability because of an injury he could never fully recover from. An injury that ruined his chances at playing in the NFL and caused him to be the weak-link in the loss to Alabama.
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However, we shouldn’t just dwell on Parrish’s injury and performance Monday night. He still recovered enough to become a vital part of our defense this season. He helped Georgia go 11-1 in the regular season, win the SEC Championship and the Rose Bowl.
Parrish helped speed up the process in turning Georgia into the contenders we want to be. For that, the Bulldog Nation is thankful and we should remember his time in Athens fondly.