Former Panther Kirk on life as a Bulldog

mbrown@sunmulti.com

Georgia Bulldog football fans do remember oh so well the agony of those five yards, the five yards from the goal line when the 2012 Southeastern Conference championship game ended and Alabama survived to win 32-28.

What about those actually on the playing field and the bench wearing the Georgia uniform? One in particular felt pretty sick. Perry High School’s Clint Kirk didn’t play in a game all season, but he earned his spot to stand as a part of Mark Richt’s second-straight Eastern Division championship team and gained the experience of a lifetime.

“I felt sick after that one,” said Kirk during a chance to reflect on 2012 Bulldog football last week in Perry. “To be so close to Alabama, and then it got taken right back away. And to see what they did to Notre Dame in the national championship game. It was a bad feeling after that game.”

The irony, however, is that the Kirk family is originally from Alabama and are major fans of the Crimson Tide.

“They were in a weird situation for that game,” said Kirk. “They are pulling for Alabama because that’s what they love. They are pulling for Georgia because of me. It was a win-win.”

But those sick feelings carried over for Kirk and his teammates going to the Capital One Bowl against Nebraska. Georgia had won six games in a row to win the Eastern Division after a sickening loss of a different kind, a 35-7 rout at the hands of South Carolina. Kirk said everyone was already down going into Columbia when Michael Bennett, wide receiver, was injured for the season on the last play of a practice.

“We had to rebound really quick,” said Kirk. “So we could get back to the SEC championship.”

The 6-3, 289-pound former Panther knew, as a walk-on who had not played football since graduating from Perry High in 2008, he would most likely have a Rudy-esque role for Georgia when he was granted the chance to be a Bulldog. His past calendar year included a lot of training and scout team work.

Richt, the head coach, didn’t have any part in Kirk’s path to this opportunity. The coach, though, does know what he has in his program, for Kirk earned the spring football 2013 award for Outstanding Walk-On for defense.

“It was really weird how people acted,” said Kirk about his first impressions of being a Bulldog. “I went from being this normal person … you walk out in public and people see you and just freak out.

“The biggest thing was the strength part of it. Summer … it’s hard. And the coaches up there know what they are talking about. It’s unbelievable how well they can teach. I’m a completely different person.”

Kirk did get his chance to play on the Sanford Stadium grass during last month’s G-Day spring game. With the walk-on award, Kirk said things are looking up for him to get his name called to take the field against somebody different, like perhaps the Clemson Tigers on Aug. 31.

“(Richt) thanked me for all my hard work,” said Kirk when the coach presented him that spring honor at the banquet. “He told me to keep working hard.

“We have meetings with him all the time. He’s around a pretty good bit. We had a meeting not too long ago for the seniors. I’ve talked to him a few times in the weight room, but never one-on-one in his office.”

Kirk said all of the Georgia coaches have impacted him in some way or another. Among those with the most impact he cited were Joe Tereshinski, the director of strength and conditioning, and his workout coach last summer, Justin Lovett, the assistant strength and conditioning coach.

“(Lovett) always pushed me, even when I thought I was about to die,” said Kirk. It was Lovett’s first season with Georgia after two with the Denver Broncos. “Me and him kind of connected, being our first year with the Dogs.”

As for players who influenced Kirk the most, he first mentioned Jarvis Jones.

“To be so great as he was, he was so humble with it,” said Kirk. “He talked to you like a normal guy. To everyone else, he’s this big star, NFL prospect. He put in the work like everyone else.”

Kirk also clicked well with Northside High’s Abry Jones from the start. Both are defensive ends, and Kirk said the entire defensive line from starters to walk-ons are “brothers. He will room with fellow end and senior Garrison Smith.

“We have to be back (June 5),” said Kirk. “We’ll start back at it this summer working out, running one day and working on speed another day and getting ready for camp, which will start at the beginning of August.”

Kirk also goes from the newcomer to one who can help welcome the 2013 incoming class. That’s already happened because 15 new players enrolled early and took part in spring drills, and only 12 to 15 more are expected to join them in August.

It all points to opening day at Clemson. Kirk would like his last games to be back in Atlanta for another SEC title shot and in a BCS bowl, preferably the national title game in Pasadena, Calif. In the middle of all that, Kirk plans on graduating from the Terry College of Business in December.

“Hopefully I can do something good on the special teams and make a pro team,” he said. “That would be the ideal situation. But if that doesn’t happen, I would like to start my own business. Not sure what yet.”

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