ATLANTAPARA:The oversized Caddy was driven by a heavy-set, middle-aged man. Beside him, decked in mink, was his wife. On the bumper of the automobile was a sticker which read: 'Herschel is our son.'PA -- The only thing that slowed Walker that freshman season was an ankle injury that kept him out of more than three quarters of the Texas Christian game and most of the Ole Miss game the following week. The next week, finally healthy again, he rushed for a career-high 283 yards against Vanderbilt.
'I never concern myself with what might have been,' said Walker. 'No one likes to be injured but I accept that as part of the game.'
Any doubt that Walker can play injured was dispelled in the 1981 Sugar Bowl. Coming off the field after his second carry of the game with a dislocated left shoulder, Walker returned to run for 150 yards and two touchdowns while leading Georgia to a 17-10 victory over Notre Dame that gave the Bulldogs the national championship.
'I don't know anyone else but Herschel who could have done that,' said Dooley. 'To his credit, he played with pain. He didn't carry the ball with his left hand the rest of the game.'
Walker, first college football player in modern times to have already been a two-time All-America while only a sophomore, is only 528 yards shy of the Southeastern Conference career rushing record (4,035 yards) established by LSU's Charles Alexander during the 1975-76-77-78 seasons.
Currently some 900 yards ahead of Tony Dorsett's pace during the Pitt star's first two seasons, he needs 2,576 more yards to break Dorsett's NCAA record.
If, as expected, Walker makes All-America again this year, he'll become the first running back since Doak Walker (1947-48-49) to become a three-time All-America. And if picked again in '83, he'd become the first four-time winner since the turn of the century when Yale lineman Gordon Brown was so honored.
Dooley says Georgia will be depending on Walker even more this season than the past two because the Bulldogs no longer have All-SEC quarterback Buck Belue.
'Going with an untried quarterback (junior John Lastinger) obviously will place more pressure on Herschel,' said Dooley. 'But if anyone is able to overcome that, he is. I haven't talked to him about it directly, but he's usually aware of all situations.'
Walker has a golden opportunity to start his bid for the 1982 Heisman Trophy in grand fashion. Georgia's first game will be on prime time national television on Labor Day night (Sept. 6) against defending national champion Clemson.
However, Walker has not fared well against Clemson in the past. He has yet to score against the Tigers in two outings and in last year's Clemson game he fumbled three times with the Tigers recovering twice.
'Some people contend that Herschel isn't as sharp as he should be early in the season because he skips spring practice (to run track where he is an Olympic-speed sprinter),' said Dooley. 'He doesn't appear to be in the groove early.
'I like to have our team play a good opponent early. I think it helps down the road. But opening against Clemson is carrying it to the extreme.
'Still, Walker is well aware that he hasn't done as well against Clemson as he might have and I'm sure he'll want to make a good showing. Any athlete feels that way and he's no exception.'
Dooley says he doesn't like Walker carrying the ball 35-40 times a game as he did last year.
'That's too much to ask of any player, even one as durable as Herschel. But we don't have anyone else who can do the things he can do.'
'I've never felt overworked,' said Walker. 'Anytime I've felt I had to have a rest, all I've had to do is raise my hand and they've gotten someone else in there right away.'
Walker may have created a problem for future Georgia football teams, the two after his eligibility runs out at the end of the '83 season.
'We've had some difficulty recruiting running backs since getting Herschel,' said Dooley. 'They know that as long as he is here he'll be doing most of the running for us. But having Herschel has helped our recruiting in other areas. We've been very pleased with the people we've gotten the past two years.'
Georgia's dream of Walker leading it to two more sensational football seasons almost turned into a nightmare when a rumor surfaced that he was considering a challenge of the NFL rule prohibiting signing players before they completed their college eligibility.
Walker's apparent indecision didn't help.
'It takes me a long time to make a decision,' he said when pressed about what he would do. 'That's why I wait until the last minute. But if you don't want to be an amateur and want to be a professional, you should have that right.'
Walker became so weary of being asked about whether he might try to turn pro, he started giving off-the-wall answers.
During an interview in a New Orleans hotel prior to this past Sugar Bowl, he claimed, with a straight face, to have three options.
'I might stay at Georgia. I might try to turn pro. Or I might go home and work in a filling station.'
The Bulldogs breathed a sigh of relief when Walker announced in March he would be playing for Georgia -- at least for the coming season.
'By challenging the rule, I think it could have some detrimental effects,' he said. 'Staying at Georgia will be the best for me in the long run.'
But Walker refused to say whether that also covered his senior season.
'I never try to predict the future,' he said. 'I didn't say I would challenge it next year. All I said was 'the doors are open.' Someone else might challenge it.'
Walker then went on to say that any uncertainty about 1983 would not be of his doing.
'I never brought this on,' he said. 'I think the reporters brought it on. If nobody mentioned it, I wouldn't have ever said anything about it.'
'I'm very pleased,' said Dooley. 'I think it is in the best interest of college football and the relationship we have with professional football. Once Herschel got all the information he needed for a decision, he made it.'
Walker's delay in making decisions also caused a problem for the Bulldogs when they were recruiting him. After scoring 46 touchdowns his senior season at Johnson County High School, he was as elusive about where he would go to college as he later was about his plans to challenge the NFL.
An Atlanta newspaper thought it had a scoop when one of its sportswriters learned a 'John Robinson' was registered at a motel in nearby Macon, Ga.
The sportswriter checked with the motel clerk and wrote, in a lead story, that Walker was about to sign with Southern California. The next day, a brief retraction on an inside page noted that the 'John Robinson' staying at the Macon motel was not the Southern Cal coach, but a salesman from Alabama.
There have been questions about Walker's $12,000 car and the $12,000-a-year premiums on his $1 million insurance policy supposedly paid for by his less-than-affluent parents.
Neither Walker, one of seven children, nor his family will comment on how the car and insurance premiums have been financed. According to the NCAA, a loan based on repayment after Walker turns pro would be illegal.
