Great article about Greg Blue, the hard hitting, All-American safety for UGA:

Dawgs' Blue collars opponents, degree

It would be difficult to paint Greg Blue's legacy at Georgia with the swipe of one broad brush.

He'll be remembered as the enforcer in the Bulldogs' secondary, a fearsome hitter who caused anyone who dared to venture across the middle to first look out the corner of his eye for that red, silver and black No. 17.

David Cutcliffe, Tennessee's new offensive coordinator, said Blue was the best tackler he saw play last season while monitoring the SEC for his radio talk show duties.

A 6-foot-2, 218-pound specimen, Blue heads into Monday's Nokia Sugar Bowl matchup with West Virginia as Georgia's leading tackler from his free safety position with 88 total hits.

"I want to be remembered as one of the hardest hitters to ever play here," said Blue, a consensus All-America selection this season.

He'll also be remembered as a winner. On and off the field.

In Blue's four seasons at Georgia, the Bulldogs are a combined 44-8 with two SEC championships, three SEC Championship game appearances and three consecutive top 10 finishes in the polls.

A win over the Mountaineers would make it four straight top 10 finishes.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the article, however:

When Blue showed up at Georgia in 2001, the truth is that there probably weren't many people banking on him leaving school with a diploma.

He was one of the last partial qualifiers admitted at Georgia before SEC schools stopped accepting players who weren't fully qualified academically.

Blue graduated earlier this month (1 semester early) with a degree in child family development.

...

Beating the odds is nothing new to Blue, who grew up in a drug-infested neighborhood in Atlanta and saw his father, Greg Blue Sr., sentenced to a 30-year prison term without parole. Several other uncles and cousins also ran into trouble with the law.

The elder Blue first landed in prison in 1980 and was in and out four more times for charges ranging from armed robbery to drug possession before being convicted in 2003 of drug trafficking. He's not scheduled for release until 2032.

Blue went to visit his father at Telfair State Prison in Helena, Ga., on Christmas Day.

"It was hard seeing him there," Blue said. "He knows he's made mistakes. We all do. But he told me he was proud of me and that I was an example for the rest of my family for years to come."

...

When his father went away to prison in 2003, Blue's greatest concern was for his four younger brothers and two younger sisters.

He didn't want them falling into the same trap he was able to avoid.

But what's happened, according to Blue's mother, is that Greg has become the example of the way it's supposed to be.

"He's going to be the one to break the cycle in our family," Blue's mother, Teresa Webb, told the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph. "Now, all his [siblings] talk about is Greg and how they're going to do what he does."

Nearly 50 family members and friends attended Blue's graduation ceremonies. He's the first member of his family to graduate from college, and they had a big party afterward.