Georgia’s Herrera enjoying breakout season

ATHENS -- Amarlo Herrera’s greatest accomplishment, in so far a quiet but very good career, might have occurred after practice Tuesday night.

He caused defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, notoriously stingy at dishing out praise, to gush.

“Amarlo’s doing OK. He’s practicing really well,” Pruitt said, before delivering the surprise money shot. “I’ve been real tickled with him.”

It was out of character for Pruitt, but it’s also hard to ignore what Herrera has done in Georgia’s first three games. The senior is going from the yeoman inside linebacker to potential force in the middle.

Herrera leads Georgia with three sacks, which is a shock considering that in his first years he had just one half-sack. He also leads the Bulldogs with 4.5 tackles for loss and 24 tackles.

“I’ve got the opportunity this year,” Herrera said of his sacks. “That’s the only difference.”

Why is that? Herrera said it’s a combination of just taking advantage of the plays and the confidence the coaches have in him to send him on a blitz.

“We’re just calling the plays,” Herrera said. “Because we had some of the same plays last year; they just didn’t get called.”

Don’t look to Herrera for any long or analytical quotes on his play. He keeps his comments to the point, although often with a good bit of wit.

Before the Clemson game, a media member asked Herrera if he was anxious to “hit some orange” to which Herrera replied, “I think they’re wearing white.”

But Herrera has long been known around the team as perhaps its most dependable defensive player. He has started 33 games at Georgia, including eight as a junior, when he supplanted two veteran inside linebackers in the lineup.

“He really has always been that leader on defense,” senior quarterback Hutson Mason said. “Even as a young guy, I remember he picked up the defense pretty quick, and even as a backup, you could really feel and understand that he was gonna be a leader of this defense one day. He just has that gamer mentality.

“You may not look at him on the streets and say that’s an SEC linebacker physically. But when he puts the pads, he just makes plays, and he gets guys in the right position and gets guys lined up right, which is what you need.”

That leadership was a big reason Herrera was named the team’s defensive MVP after last season, despite fellow inside linebacker Ramik Wilson being named first-team All-SEC. Wilson led the SEC in tackles and had four sacks and 11 tackles for loss.

But now it’s Herrera doing the extra things. It helps that he has been on the field more. The coaches have brought Wilson along slowly, saying they’re worried about his conditioning after he missed 10 days of preseason practice with a concussion.

Herrera, on the other hand, apparently is getting better.

“Ramik and those guys get a lot of recognition on defense, and Amarlo it seems never has gotten proper recognition,” Mason said. “But I’m happy he’s finally getting it.”

This story was originally published September 24, 2014 at 7:18 PM.