UGA Returning Percentages 2011 Edition: Rushing

Yes I am reusing my photos.

So now football practice has resumed and it's springtime, which means there's really not going to be any real news other than funny little anecdotes and interviews with players/coaches for a while.  That means it's time for the fun stuff: NUMBERS.

You may remember last year when I looked at the numbers of what percentage of yards, touchdowns, tackles, sacks, and other fun stats were returning for Georgia's team. Maybe the most exciting fact I found was that UGA was returning EVERY rushing yard from 2009 to 2010.  Of course, that changed slightly when only days later running back Dontavius Jackson decided to transfer, leaving us 38 yards shy of that achievement.  But still, I thought that the returning rushing experience was a great sign for how the team would perform in that area in the fall of 2010, and I even found an interesting pattern that showed a correlation between large returning rushing percentages and success in the following season.  Needless to say, that didn't turn out to be the case in 2010.

But why not look at it again for this year?

Going into 2011, UGA is once again losing very little from the rushing department (percentage-wise).  This is mostly due to Georgia losing no running backs, but both experienced fullbacks (Shaun Chapas, Fred Munzenmaier) have departed, along with AJ Green and Logan Gray (both having a handful of rushing yards last season).

Even with those four players leaving and taking a total of 118 yards with them, the numbers look very, very nice.

• UGA is losing about 6% of the 1854 rushing yards from 2010, which means a return of 94%.

• Shaun Chapas did have 2 rushing TDs in 2010 which accounted for 9.5% of the 21 total rushing touchdowns, so without those, UGA returns just over 90% of rushing scores.

Now of course in 2010, the returning rushing percentages didn't account to much, which was unusual according to recent trends.  We'll have to wait and see if things will be different this season, and we have yet to see how Ken Malcome or new recruit Isaiah Crowell might contribute to the rushing numbers.