By Steve Carter/News Editor
Talk about timing.
On a night when the University of Georgia football team honored Chance Veazey, Tifton native and Georgia footbal player Israel Troupe caught his first touchdown pass as a Bulldog.
It was not an ordinary catch either, Georgia had just lost star receiver A.J. Green and was down 14-0 to a very good Auburn team.
That meant Troupe’s touchdown not only got Georgia back into the game, it helped give them the impetus to go on to a 31-24 win.
Everyone knows of Veazey’s situation, but I was happy for Troupe, as well. He has worked hard at Georgia, and has been a good student-athlete. I was excited that he got a chance to make a big play.
As he told reporters Tuesday at Georgia’s weekly press conference, he knew he would get an opportunity.
“I kept my head up the whole time. I knew that sooner or later my chance would come around, so I went out and practiced hard every week and practice pays off,” said Troupe.
The pattern Troupe caught his touchdown on was similar to the one he had run to get several TDs while at Tift County.
But having seen limited playing time, and with Green having gone down the play before, Troupe worked double time with his head and athletic ability to pull the Joe Cox aerial in for the score.
“I just couldn’t believe it was coming to me actually. I just blocked everything out and just concentrated on the ball, and when I caught it and saw the end zone I was just like ‘get there as fast as I can.’ I kind of stumbled getting in there, but I made it,” Troupe said.
He added, “I went out and worked hard every day. I knew that one day, and you don’t want it to happen the way it did with A.J. (Green) going down, but I knew that one day my opportunity would come. It came, and I made the best of it.”
With Green down for at least this week, and possibly longer, Troupe may become a bigger focal point of the Georgia offense. And as you can guess, he is excited about the prospect.
“I’m just trying to be level-headed and work hard like I do at practice. I’m not really worried about starting this week. We’ll see what happens when game day comes along, but I’m pretty sure I’ll get my snaps as the day goes along,” said Troupe. “We’re just working on preparing to beat a real good Kentucky team. We watched them on film. They are a real physical team. Their defense has played well and they actually held Auburn to less points than we did, so they are going to come out ready to play. We got to be on our ‘A’ game to play them this weekend.”
As far as Veazey is concerned, things are going well in his rehab at the Shepherd Center. Thanks to his many friends, and family, he seems to be in high spirits.
He spent Saturday night watching the Auburn football game with UGA head baseball coach David Perno. From what I have been told, he was very excited for Troupe’s heroics.
Living and working for a small-town newspaper, it’s hard to maintain a professional decorum about the young athletes that I know and have written about. It may not be “professional” in journalism circles, but I don’t care — I know Chance and Israel as good men, first, and as of athletes, second.
I will do my best to maintain my journalistic integrity while I write stories about them. But I am never going to hide the fact that I am pulling for both of them when I write my columns.
