The 1980 Tennessee game is my first distinct memory of UGA football, so Herschel’s debut in Knoxville has always been a special moment for me. At five years old, I huddled with five family members around an old, staticky radio at my grandparents’ place deep in the mountains of Jonas Ridge, N.C. I remember we could barely tell what was going on. The radio static was that bad. Still, I’d like to think we all somehow knew that the “kid out of Johnson County” was something extraordinary. I still smile recalling how my Granddaddy Nick pronounced his name, “Herschel,” with a strong Southern accent.
More than 43 years later, the thought of how quickly and abruptly a true freshman was made the focal point of the Georgia offense is still a wonder. But Herschel was that special. He had entered the game as the team’s third-string tailback behind Donnie McMickens and Carnie Norris (and would have been the No. 4 tailback if Matt Simon, the Bulldogs’ leading rusher in 1979, had not suffered a hip pointer early in the summer). Nevertheless, after McMickens and Norris had combined for a 12-carry, 39-yard effort—as the Bulldogs trailed 9-0 in the second half—Georgia started to feed the ball to Walker.
Early on, there were flashes of him being a suitable player: a couple of good runs, a nine-yard reception, an alert recovery of a teammate's fumble… But nothing was affirmed that Walker was ready to start at tailback, much more, carry the Bulldogs' offense. That is, until he plowed through Tennessee’s Bill Bates and split two other would-be tacklers into the end zone with just a minute remaining in the third quarter.
In the end, Herschel’s 84 hard-earned yards on 24 carries and two touchdowns at Tennessee remains one of the greatest performances by an individual in UGA football history—even exceeding rushing outings totaling two and three times the yardage. Herschel’s stats that night in Knoxville were far from flashy. But, when it comes to the significance behind those numbers, few performances can compare.
