By John Frierson
Staff Writer

If the offense had the ball, Garrison Hearst never wanted to come out of the game. While gifted with tremendous speed, quickness and agility, the former Georgia running back’s versatility was in many ways his greatest asset.

Whether it was first down, third-and-long, a goal-line situation, or anything in between, Hearst wanted his skill set to match the situation. 

“I try to tell young running backs, and my kids, you don’t want to come off the field for somebody else,” Hearst said this week. “That always bothered me. I didn’t want to come off the field because the coaches felt like somebody else could make a catch or a block or run better than me in certain situations. I wanted to be out there for every situation. I wanted them to be like, every situation we got on offense, Garrison can do.”

Hearst showed that versatility throughout his three seasons at Georgia (1990-92) and during his long NFL career. Last month, Hearst was announced as one of the members of the College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026. Hearst will be officially inducted on Dec. 8, during the 68th NFF Annual Award Dinner at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

“I feel like it’s another Bulldog getting a chance to represent the University of Georgia, and that’s probably the best part for me,” Hearst said.

In high school, Hearst was a star back for Georgia powerhouse Lincoln County High School, and he didn’t need long to make an impact for the Bulldogs. As a freshman in 1990, he started six games and finished the season with 717 yards rushing and five touchdowns. As a sophomore, he started seven games and finished with 968 yards and nine touchdowns. His yards-per-carry average jumped from 4.4 as a freshman to 6.3 as a sophomore.

It was during his junior season in 1992 that Hearst emerged as one of the best running backs in the country, winning the Doak Walker Award. He started every game and ran for 1,547 yards and 19 touchdowns, while also catching 22 passes for 324 yards and two scores.

“It was fun to be a Bulldog that season,” Hearst said. “It was our second year with that offense and with (quarterback Eric Zeier) and (wide receiver Andre Hastings) in the passing game. It was hard to put a bunch of people in the box (to stop the run), so we were able to make some plays on the ground. That offense was very fun to play in.”

His yards-per-carry average of 6.8 in 1992 was the highest in SEC history, topping the mark of 6.4 set by Auburn legend Bo Jackson. Hearst also broke Georgia legend Herschel Walker’s record for points scored in a season by scoring 126, as well as the mark for rushing touchdowns (19) and total touchdowns (21). Hearst’s 1,910 all-purpose yards in 1992 ranked second all-time in SEC history, behind Walker’s 2,067 in 1981. His records for touchdowns in a season, rushing and total, are still No. 1 at Georgia.

Breaking any record set by Walker or Jackson is impressive, and now Hearst joins them as a Hall of Famer.

“At the time, I wasn’t thinking, I got to do this or that so I can pass these guys. It was more like, Man, I want to do everything I can so we can win,” Hearst said of breaking Walker and Jackson’s records. “Winning was first, and what happened with the individual accolades was cool.”

Hearst was in a three-way battle with Miami quarterback Gino Toretta and San Diego State running back Marshall Faulk for the Heisman Trophy. Toretta wound up winning the award, Faulk was second, and Hearst came in third. In the final game of the regular season, a 31-17 win over Georgia Tech in Sanford Stadium, Hearst struck the Heisman pose after scoring a touchdown. Head coach Ray Goff had told him not to do it, Hearst said, but he couldn’t resist the opportunity to have a little fun with it.

“The guys (on offense) wanted me to do it when we had talked about it, but Coach Goff had said don’t do it. We were all going to do it together, but I was a little nervous and scared because Coach Goff had said not to,” Hearst said. “I was like, I’m not going to get everybody in trouble by doing it together, so I just decided I was going to do it on my own real quick if I scored. That’s why I did it so fast.”

Hearst, whose son Gannon was a reserve running back on the football team for the past two seasons, played in the NFL for 10 seasons and made the Pro Bowl in 1998 and 2001. He battled major injuries in his career and always came back strong, twice winning the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards four times, including a career-best 1,570 with the San Francisco 49ers in 2001.

He finished his career with 7,966 rushing yards, 2,065 receiving yards, and 39 total touchdowns. He was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.

“Having those injuries and coming back just showed the type of person I was trying to be,” he said. “I look on my 49ers days as the years in the NFL were the most fun for me. I took what I learned at Georgia to the pros. You don’t want to come off the field if you don’t have to — you want to still try to be the toughest guy on the field. Everything from Georgia for me transferred to the pros.”

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.