David Jones

FLORIDA TODAY

In 2011, Mark Richt's tenure at the University of Georgia was in trouble. The Bulldogs were coming off a 6-7 season and there was speculation that he'd have to have a big year to save his job.

Georgia responded with a 10-4 season and sophomore quarterback Aaron Murray led the way. The following season, the Bulldogs came within five yards of winning the league title and playing for the national championship. Last year was expected to be a big year but an 8-5 finish resulted instead. Murray is gone but UGA won 30 games in three years and there's no more talk about job stability for Richt.

Now what?

"Aaron, obviously a great player, a great leader, just a great person," Richt said. "When you lose a guy like that, it can be tough. The blessing for us is Hutson Mason being in the program going into his fifth season, a guy that got to watch Aaron's work ethic, to see how he ran the offseason program, how he would organize pass skeleton and those types of things.

"Just the fact that Hutson has the respect of his teammates, the confidence of his teammates and coaches, to take on that leadership role. Not to say we don't miss Aaron, because we do, but it was time for him to go. That's just college athletics. After four seasons, you're out of here. We wish him well."

But it's a new time in Athens.

"He has the blessing of being with Coach (Mike) Bobo the entire time, being in the same system the entire time, seeing Murray doing it and having a chance to start a few games last year as well," Richt said of Mason, who completed 67-of-110 passes for 968 yards and five TDs while taking over after Murray went down with a season-ending knee injury on Nov. 23 against Kentucky. "I think we'll transition well."

Mason went to Richt several times to have discussions about his predicament of being the backup to one of the SEC's top quarterbacks.

"The thing I appreciate about him is when he came to me, he was like, 'Hey, coach, if I was your son, what would you tell me?' " Richt recalls. "And I didn't say, 'Hey, I think you should stay no matter what.' But I talked about, 'If you stay, this could happen. If you go, there's no guarantee of anything good happening for you.' "

He stayed. Now something good could happen for Georgia, if it is able to rebound from last year's injury-filled season. Three different receivers are back who have had seasons in which they caught 40 passes in the past. Todd Gurley has rushed for more than 2,000 yards in two seasons, but last year was slowed by injuries.

And it's Mason's turn. Finally.

Georgia redshirted Mason in 2013. It turned out to be a brilliant decision for all parties.

"He's really sacrificed a lot for this team," Richt said. "He's staying because he loves Georgia and he especially loves his teammates."

Richt realizes Gurley could be the key, though.

"If he stays healthy, I think he's one of the better players in America, no doubt about it," Richt said. "Hopefully, he stays healthy. I see that he's getting into great condition. If we continue to get him in great condition for this season, I think the sky's the limit for him."

The series

Each of the 14 SEC teams is being featured over two weeks. On Sunday Kentucky coach Mark Stoops continues battle to turn around program. Previous stories on South Carolina, Florida, LSU, Alabama, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Auburn are also available at: www.floridatoday.com/sports/college-sports.